The Word for you Today

This year, get out of your rut! - December 31

December 31, 2019 • Bob Gass

A biologist experimented with what he called “processional caterpillars.” He lined up caterpillars on the rim of a pot that held a plant so that the lead caterpillar was head-to-tail with the last caterpillar, with no break in the parade. The tiny creatures walked around the rim of the pot for a full week before they died of exhaustion and starvation. Not once did any of them break out of line and venture over to the plant to eat. Food was only inches away, but their follow-the-crowd instinct was stronger than the drive to eat and survive. The same thing happened to an entire generation of Israelites. They walked in circles in the wilderness for forty years, even though they were only eleven miles from the Promised Land. If you’re in a rut today, ask yourself these three questions: (1) Is this rut of my own making? You choose a rut because it’s comfortable and requires no risk. And getting out of it requires courage and a willingness to make tough choices you follow through on. (2) Who am I following? You adopt certain patterns because someone has taught them to you directly or by example. Instead of mindlessly following the crowd, seek God’s will for your life and commit yourself to doing it. (3) Where am I going? The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). If you want to get out of the rut you’re in today, ask God to give you a vision for your life—He will! And when He does, pour yourself into it.

Taking responsibility and risks (3) - December 30

December 30, 2019 • Bob Gass

Guess which big company felt like “choking on its own candies” after it elected not to feature one of its products in the 1982 blockbuster film E.T.? If you said M&M’s, you’d be right! How did it happen? Turns out the Mars candy bar company executives decided nothing could be gained from allowing their M&M’s candies to be used in what some of them considered “a silly movie.” Consequently, the little boy Elliott wound up luring the loveable alien E.T. with Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces. That one scene drew millions of customers worldwide into candy stores in quest of Reese’s Pieces! Thanks to this movie mega-hit, Hershey’s sales shot up 65 percent! It’s interesting that the Mars executives who said “No” probably lived in big houses, drove big cars, and earned big salaries. Yep, doubt and fear stalk the rich as well as the poor; you’ll find nay-sayers at the top and bottom of the corporate ladder. Recall these words from the famous poem by John Greenleaf Whittier: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’” Think of all the times opportunity knocked and nobody answered. Are you standing before a door of opportunity today? Are you afraid to walk through it? Don’t be. God is with you. His Word says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” When God gives you a gift, He gives you the grace and grit to use it. So step out in faith, “commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3 NLT).

Taking responsibility and risks (2) - December 29

December 29, 2019 • Bob Gass

In 1975, a low-level Hewlett-Packard engineer called Steve Wozniak, whom nobody had ever heard of, shared a dream with his pal, Steve Jobs. It was about building an easy-to-use personal computer to sell to the masses around the world. The pair worked around the clock to create their compact PC. But when they offered it to Hewlett-Packard, one of the world’s great companies, the powers-that-be failed to see its incredible potential and gave it the thumbs down. So Wozniak and Jobs went off on their own and founded a little company called Apple Computers—and revolutionized the computer industry! There’s no shortage of people who will tell you, “It can’t be done” or “It won’t work.” There’s a name for those people: dream killers—and if you listen to them, you’ll give up before you even begin. Behind every major accomplishment you’ll find ordinary people with dreams who are willing to take responsibility and risks. They are the people who enjoy the rewards! Jesus wrapped up one of His parables with these words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” In spite of your failures, your struggles, and your limitations, if you’re willing to disregard the naysayers, step out in faith, and use the gifts God has given you, He will see to it that you succeed.

Taking responsibility and risks (1) - December 28

December 28, 2019 • Bob Gass

One missionary evangelist wrote, “There are times and seasons in God’s will. And we can easily become frustrated if we don’t understand that just as there are times and seasons in nature, there are also times and seasons in the process of fulfilling God’s will for our lives. Years ago a group of senior missionaries came together to discuss life principles they had discovered…their purpose was to share this wealth of experience with succeeding generations…They had all encountered common stages of transition in their ministries, and collectively they identified a five-step cyclical process God had taken them through.” Bottom line: timing is all-important! When executives at Decca Records told the Beatles, “Groups with guitars are on the way out,” they signed up with EMI—and the rest is history! Don’t miss the lesson here. Each of us has been placed on earth as a caretaker of God’s business. And that’s true whether you are a judge or a janitor. You’ve been given an allotment of life and charged with the responsibility of taking care of it, investing it, increasing it, and presenting it back to God. Simply saying, “I was afraid of failing” or “I was worried about being criticized” or “I didn’t think I was good enough” won’t work. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Excuses always replace progress.” God will accept your trials and errors, but He won’t accept your excuses for not having tried. So pray, accept responsibility, and step out in faith. You may fail many times on your way to success, but if you keep trying and trusting God, you will eventually succeed.

It’s a necessary part of the process - December 27

December 27, 2019 • Bob Gass

Why are you still here? When Jesus saved you, why didn’t He simply take you to heaven to be with Him? Because He’s not only interested in your final destination; He wants to do a work in you and through you on the way to it. We get impatient when it comes to God’s will for our lives. We just want to get there! But a great deal of time usually elapses between when God calls us and when we’ve fulfilled His will for our lives. And until we accept that, we’re not ready to go anywhere! We need to understand that the journey is an important process. It matters to God what you become on the way to where you’re going. And following Him in obedience through many unknowns, trials, and difficulties is an integral and indispensable part of your preparation. God uses the journey to teach you faith, refine your character, and equip you for greater challenges that lie ahead. In fact, if you’re in the process of seeking God’s will right now, you’re already fulfilling part of it in your life. God said, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you don’t know all you’d like to, you’re not making progress. Something is happening right now. Your faith is being stretched, your patience is being developed, your doubts are being confronted and conquered, and your relationship with God is growing deeper. He always prepares us in advance for what He has planned ahead for us. Yes, the struggle is uncomfortable—but it’s a necessary part of the process.

Trust God’s timing (2) - December 26

December 26, 2019 • Bob Gass

God has a plan for your life that requires certain things to happen at a particular time. And since He sees the big picture and you’re working with limited information, you must trust Him—even when you don’t see how it will all come together. God can take the loss of a relationship or a job and make it work for your good. The trouble is, while He’s doing all this, you can feel uncomfortable and downright miserable. Seven hundred and eighty-two years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Micah said that He would be born in Bethlehem (see Micah 5:2). But Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth. So how did God solve the problem? The Roman emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken: “All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son” (Luke 2:3-7 NLT). Are you worried about the future? “Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing” (Psalm 37:34 TLB). Relax: the God who arranged for His Son to be born into the right family, at the right time, in the right place, is looking out for you today.