Life Notes

New Life in an Old Field
By Tim Russ

(Matthew 13:44 NIV) "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“I’ve been a Christian for 25 years!”

You’ve seen the type. They’ve done it all. They know it all. They cannot be moved. Decades ago they had their conversion experience and they can tell tales of adventures they had helping to build the kingdom of the Lord.

They come from another time. Perhaps the dinosaur age. They are slow to take on any new venture and they have to have all sorts of safety nets before they finally do accept something new. You can easily tell that they know Christ in a deep way and that they love him a great deal. So, you just kind of accept that it is their way and move on.

What if it isn’t just their way? What if you’re seeing the symptoms of a field left fallow? I mean, what happened to these on-fire Christians that they are no longer experiencing the kind of adventures they talk about when they were younger? It is hard to say. What is easy to say is that God isn’t finished with us as long as there is breath in our bodies.

So why not bypass them and move on? That’s like building a house without a foundation. The better way to handle this is to involve those dead rocks in a live rock concert of activity for Christ. Gold was discovered in very old mountains. Go mining for the greatness that you can find in these people and open them up to a wealth of service to the body of Christ.

It may be that they just haven’t been invited to join the adventure. You never know who is sitting on the edge of their ego waiting to be tapped on the shoulder. People often have many talents beyond our knowledge and are eager to serve but simply don’t feel like they are part of the church.

They rationalize that they don’t fit in. They’re too old, they don’t understand the project, they don’t have the time, they have other things to do anyway, etc. It is often nothing more than the tale of the fox and the grapes. When they aren’t invited to join they can find all sorts of ways to see the project as being sour.

Like it or not, though, if you’re one of those dried up Christians you need to realize that your energy is from God and you need to be investing it in his kingdom.

(Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV) He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. {30} Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; {31} but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Copyright © 2008 Tim Russ.  All rights reserved.