2009-06-09 - Someone Else

Someone has written that "someone else" must be a very busy person, and I agree. On the way to work recently, I saw a huge object on a busy roadway, blocking an entire lane. Cars were nearly swerving into each other, in their efforts to avoid it, since we really didn't know what was in the overstuffed bag. I considered calling 911, but like apparently everyone else, I assumed that 'someone else' had done it or would do it. I figured it was just a matter of minutes before it was reported, or an officer would drive by and remove it from the roadway. But amazingly, eight hours later, I found on the way home, that the traffic hazard was exactly in the same spot it had been in all day! "Someone" had fallen down on the job; no one had called 911 or moved it.

Sometimes it's like that in our Christian walk too, isn't it? We are asked to chair a committee, but we know that "someone else will do it." We consider offering to drive a shut-in to services, but surely "someone else" will think of it. We don't share our faith, because we are confident that "someone else" will do it. Will God send someone to Hell if I don't share my faith with them? Of course not. Regardless of what some errant preachers tell us, people's blood isn't on our hands (as I heard in several revivals when I was growing up). That is unbiblical; that would mean God is unjust and capricious, to send someone to eternal punishment because of someone else's sin. No - if we don't share our faith, the Holy Spirit will simply use another means to reach the person. But if we don't do our part in serving, we miss out on the joy of being part of God's purpose.

Does that mean we should always say yes to every request of us? Absolutely not. Sometimes God's will is "no;" Christ Himself said "no" when the request or timing wasn't right. And sometimes God's will is "later," but sometimes it's "yes, now." The next time you start to hand off something to "someone else," why not stop, pray and ask God to show you whether you are the "someone else" this time.

Jan

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