Typical. We've all done it. We know that if we do something now it could prevent extra work later but it is not a problem now so we ignore it. It can be anything from bill payments to spilt milk. You know what I mean. You see the milk container is too close to the counter edge but you just leave it because it isn't really a problem. Two minutes later you, or someone else bumps against it. Now you have to spend the next ten minutes trying to clean it up.
We refer to it as "preventative medicine". Insurance companies are getting good at this in order to save money. They come in and inspect your property to see if there are any dangers. They then give you a list of things like broken tiles, piled boxes, torn carpet that need to be fixed or they will cancel your insurance. It makes sense doesn't it? Why pay out money after the fact for something that can be prevented with a simple repair.
I once saw an episode of "Malcom In The Middle" where their dad had discovered he had forgotten to send in the cheque to the medical insurance. This meant they had no medical coverage. Suddenly everywhere he looked he saw potential hazards. Of course he spent the rest of the episode comically accident proofing his house.
There are many things in our lives that we should look at in order to prevent hardship and heartache in the future. Our reading this morning is another example of this in our relationship with Jesus.
Joshua had just won a great victory and was ready to move on. He had no idea that a hazard had shown up in the form of hidden sin. You may think "How could he know about something that was hidden?" Because he had access to our God who sees everything. Joshua's mistake came in not asking the Lord for direction. He made some assumptions and lost in a big way. This could have been prevented if only he had taken the time to ask. God would have told him and Joshua would have taken care of it. Instead they went into battle without the strength of the Lord and lives were lost. They put on a big effort to petition the Lord but it would have been an easy matter if they had asked first.
This lesson can be carried into every aspect of our life. It is always best to take care of the little details, put everything in order, don't be lazy about it, don't assume and you will save yourself a lot of work later. on.
A good example for my students is their school work. So many of them have milk sitting on the edge of the counter. They can take care of it by putting a little effort into completing the task to move it from the edge. It would be better to do that than to try to clean up the mess later. Afterall, who enjoys cleaning up a mess (or attending summer school). If there are things preventing victory in this area of your life ask God and he will reveal the problem to you.
13 comments:
I saw that episode and you spelt something wrong because when you said when there dad you spelt it they dad that just sounds werid.I have learned a lesson from you and i'm going to try to learn more and that i will close the milk thing.
It makes sense to do things like move the milk, and fix the floors, and stuff like that. Just think, it'll be saving you some work in the future!
I think that is something that happen very often in our lives and it real , we should take care of our school work or we will have to clean the mess.
Okay, it's always best to just put the milk back in the fridge. I wonder what would have happened if Joshua had asked the Lord for instructions.
It is more difficult to write a comment for this blog, because it pretty much says it all already. Preventative medicine is very important, and it is widely practiced in a variety of our tasks. For example, when scoring a PACE, we are practicing preventative medicine by catching our mistakes so we won't make them again. On the other hand, checking the PACE before scoring is even more preventative, as we would not have to do as much work scoring later.
I never thought of the concept of checking everything with God through prayer first, but I guess I really should have. This is something I am going to have to try to practice in future.
That's something that happens quite often in our lives, we should take care of it or we will have to face the consequences.
I agree with Jonathan on how it's hard to comment on the devotions when it's pretty much all already said, most people probably don't take care of the "spilt milk" right away, because at first it just starts out as a few drops, and doesn't get any bigger, and we just get used to seeing it there, and don't notice how big it gets.
I have made alot of those things. where something affects me later on because I didn't take care of it when I was supposed to. We always ned to ask God.
Well i guess that we should take better care of our school work and put more effort in it, just a little bit a day, and we will succed in the end and we can also avoid going to summer school.
I think that we take too many things for granted all the time. We see things but don't react to it, instead we ignore it and only take action when someone makes us remember it or when someone want us to move it or notice it.
Pastor Paul, contrary to popular belief, there are people out there in this world who do like Summer school. Or, at least, prefer it to "normal" school. Then again... our school is normal.... which would explain a whoooole lot....
I saw that episode, and you need to learn to spell.Plus I think that episode shows a lot more than putting things off till the last minute. It shows its ok to lie sometimes. I do put off some stuff for a long time. But isnt it more important to lead people to Christ
I am sorry for insulting you and I regret it deeply. I ask for your forgivness
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