A Willing Mind

In dealing with the attitude of the church in Corinth concerning their giving to the wants of the needy saints, Paul said, "For if there first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have" (2 Cor. 8:12).

It occurs to me that this same principle has application in every sphere of our work as Christians. God is not so much concerned as to how much ability we mayor may not have, but is rather more concerned about what we do with those abilities we do possess and the motivat­ing force behind the carrying out of those abilities.

Then what we do or don't do is deter­mined by our willingness concerning the matter at hand. A man may have all the talent and ability in the 'world, and yet it is wasted because he is unwilling to use it. Far better to see one with limited abilities trying and willing to get a work done and fail at it than see one perfectly equipped and capable of doing the job and refusing to do it.

How refreshing to see someone "stum­ble through" a public prayer, doing his best because he has that willing mind! Or to see one, with halting words, try­ing to encourage another because he cares about their plight than to . see an­other who could adequately express his feelings of concern and unfeelingly goes his way and speaks no encourag­ing words.

Consider the public worship of the church. Are we willing to do our part? to go ahead and help wait on the Lord's table, or to lead in prayer, even if we may not "feel up to it?" Are we con­cerned with our young people that we gladly give of our time and talents to teach classes for them? How willing are we in these or other areas? We need to consider this.

When Israel was called upon to build the tabernacle, they were so willing to  give and work that they had to be stopped, with God telling them effect, "you have done enough" (Exo. 36:5- 7). How that same willingness and zeal needs to permeate the lives of God's people today! Certainly we should never halt, our work for God, but - that is hardly the point. The crux of the matter lies in our willingness to do whatever we can, in spite of being "tired" or don't "feel like it" or whatever sorry and lame excuse we can think of at the moment. Herein is the key to acceptable service - a willing mind. - Bill Moseley

 

 

 

People are interesting, and "people­-watching" is a diversion that can help pass the time. Airports are excellent places to "people watch" - and since I haven't written about that for some time, here we go. I also found another excellent place for this interesting ex­ercise one time - the State Fair. Boy, you can find some real interesting folks there!

I think the biggest person I saw at the fair was a lady - and guess what she was doing? She was eating the biggest cinnamon roll I ever saw! Maybe that's how folks get that way. The shortest people I saw at the fair were always those at the back of the crowd trying to see over all the others. Now I know how Zacchaeus felt. Then the loudest ones were always on the wild­est rides, and you could hear these for blocks away.

I think my favorite was probably the tallest guy I saw, and what I really liked about him was the method he had to keep people from asking him the obvious question. On the front of his T shirt was the statement: "No, I don't play basketball!"

A few days later I was thinking about this, and it dawned on me: "I wonder what all those folks thought about me?" Puts things in a different per­spective, doesn't it? Just a face in the crowd? Probably so ... I hope so. – Bill Moseley