Off the Sidelines
Theme of the Week: Mixing It Up
Robert Lewis
Thursday, July 3, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it" (Matthew 10:39). Bonus Reading:Mark 10:28-31
Jim Phillips was watching a basketball game when the thought hit him: My faith is a spectator sport; I watch it more than I live it. Jim was making a good living as a CPA, had a wonderful family, and was involved in our Fellow-ship Bible Church. But he sensed he lacked a life-giving passion. He went home and told his wife, Connie, that he felt it was time to step off the sidelines and into the painful reality of the world. They'd have to do something intentional. But what?
After much soul-searching, they felt God leading them to move the family out of its carefully crafted comfort zone. They'd pull their kids from Christian schools and enroll them in a public school system that was struggling under mounting problems. Then they'd get involved as parents in that school and look for opportunities to serve.
When Connie went to pick up her four children after their first day of public school, she got her first taste of the cost of their courageous journey of faith to reach their world with God's love. She found them huddled together and alone on a bench in front of the school. [Continued on 7/4]
—Robert Lewis in The Church of Irresistible Influence
My Response: I view the Phillips's drafting of their children for their venture as …
Thought to Apply: People divide into three groups: those who make things happen, who watch things happen, and who wonder what happened.
—John Newbern
Adapted from The Church of Irresistible Influence (Zondervan, 2001) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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Lord, don't let my belief remain private and detached. Push me out into Your world to demonstrate Your love.
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