02.04.04

Today’s devotional was written by my son, Clark Wrather, who is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Clark may be contacted at fbcbb@pine-net.com.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2.

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. - 1 Thessalonians 3:12-14.

A couple of weeks ago, a group of ladies from our church took a shopping trip to McKinney, Texas. To prepare for the trip, I cleaned up the vans and gave them a good washing. I wanted the vans to be perfect for their trip. I gassed them up and checked the oil. Neither was low, but surprisingly one was too full.

On the morning of the trip, I arrived early and started up the vans. I wanted them to be warm and cozy for the ladies going to Texas. Everything was prepared. The vans were ready to go, but then something happened.

While I was waiting for people to arrive, I took the opportunity to finish up some work in the office. After several minutes, people started to arrive and then one lady burst in and asked how many keys we had to one of the vans. I thought it was a strange question and arched an eyebrow. She confessed that she had locked the keys inside one of the vans, which was running.

I did some quick thinking and knew one van only had one set of keys. Unfortunately, that was the set of keys locked up inside the van. We made an attempt at opening up the van with a hanger, but it was to no avail. It was past time to leave and everyone could squeeze into one van. They did and left me behind to unlock the van that was all cleaned up, gassed up, warmed up and ready to go.

Sometimes our relationship with Christ seems like its going nowhere. It seems like He is not listening to our prayers or that we are not growing any closer to Him. We may be coming to church, reading our Bible and even serving God in some way, but nothing is happening. We’re like that van - all geared up and ready to grow, but nothing happens.

When this is happening, even though you seem to be doing all of the right things, there are two possibilities. The first is that you have some kind of habitual sin and you will not let it go. If God speaks to you over and over again, convicting you of a certain sin and you hold on to it…don’t expect to grow. The second is that your heart may not be seeking God. You may just be going through the motions at church, when you pray, and when you read the Bible. Your heart and its devotion is the only key that opens the door for you to grow anywhere.