Natural Advantages in our cyber neighborhood.

NATURAL ADVANTAGES

“But recall those early days……” Hebrews 10: 32

I was reading the other day about a time when a great debate was going on in the House of Commons. A speaker was giving statistics on Brussels sprouts. According to the story, Winston Churchill saw an aged member in the back of the House, leaning forward with an old-fashioned ear trumpet. In a voice heard by all, Churchill said, “Who is that idiot denying himself his natural advantages?” Sometimes we don’t know what we have!

Gail is always reminding me of the natural beauty that surrounds us. Isn’t it easy to become so accustomed to the beauty of our surroundings that we don’t even notice them? These are our natural advantages. God keeps us always aware of the beauty of all that he has given us.

One time I visited with a family. Their thirteen year old was telling me how excited she is about her faith, even more than some of her friends who became Christians early in their lives. She became a Christian and was baptized just two years ago. I thought that that is an example of how we deny our natural advantages. We have been believers so long that we have forgotten about that excitement of first believing. I think Paul was referring to this concept when he reminded the Hebrews in his letter to “remember” when they first believed. I want to encourage all of us to recall this time and allow God to renew us.

If you are a person reading this who has never come to Christ in a personal way, then take a moment and admit your sins, thank Him for forgiving you and invite him to be your Lord. He is anyway! All we do is respond to God’s love. But it is when we respond that we begin to become aware of God’s awesome grace in our lives.

Finally, let us look at our natural advantages. In what ways are we ignoring our natural advantages? Surely we have some. What are they? How could we use them to bring the gospel to people in our neighborhood, even if it is a cyber neighborhood? The Lord has given each of us, natural advantages, which are gifts and graces. Some of our gifts may even be what we have thought was an infirmity, like the man in the story who was hard of hearing. I challenge us to evaluate our community and become keenly aware of natural advantages we have, so that we can use them to share Christ!

Revdoc Welch