Just As If You Were Never There

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. James 1:22

… and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation … Acts 17:26

Ever watched rain slide off your car after you’ve put a coat of wax or rain shield on it? Each drop lands and then slithers away. You hardly have to use your windshield wipers. You’ve got that protective coat on, and the water beads up and runs off without penetrating or making a difference.

Unfortunately, that’s also how some people are when it comes to God’s Word. They go to church every week, sit through the message, listen to the way God would have them live, the way they should treat others, the way their mind should be renewed in its thinking, the power available to them to overcome sin and live an abundant life of victory, etc. When the service ends, they get up, thank the pastor for the message and leave, returning to their same old way of living and doing things, their same old way of treating people badly, their same old way of living for themselves. Like the water that rolls off your car, the truth of God rolls off them, remaining in the church where they heard it and leaving them unchanged. It’s as if they were never in the service.

One author I’m reading says these people lack a theology or understanding of place; they haven’t a clue as to where it is they’re to live out what they’ve just heard. So they listen, get up, dust themselves off and exit, leaving what they’ve just heard in the place they just heard it. It doesn’t penetrate their lives and neither the people they live with nor places they frequent are touched or positively affected by the truths they’ve heard. They’re still screaming at their spouse, belittling their children, blaming the world for things they don’t like, giving in to every sinful thought, word and deed as though they “can’t help it; it’s just who I am.”

But, according to the Scripture above in Acts 17:26, God has placed each of us in a particular location … in a particular family, neighborhood, job, city, etc. He has made each of us to live here on earth, in a particular time and in a particular place or environs and within circumstances that hem us in. And it is in those places and in those circumstances … whether family, job, school, neighborhood, sickness, health, poverty, wealth, etc., that we’re to live out the life of Christ through His power and Spirit dwelling within us. He has planted us there, and we’re to bloom there, bringing beauty, a beautiful fragrance, new life and potential for even more growth to that place and to those lives around us.

Just as God placed Adam and Eve in a particular place -- in the Garden of Eden -- gave them dominion over it and told them to care for and nurture it, He has placed you and me in a particular place, and it is there that His Word, living in us, is to be lived out. It is our area of responsibility, our sphere of influence, our place to infuse with God’s truth, God’s righteousness, God’s love, in a way that makes a difference and helps people understand His grace, goodness, forgiveness, provision, etc.

Maybe you’re living with cancer; maybe you’re a caregiver. When you read God’s Word, apply it to your life that day. When you go to church, take the message and begin to live it out among the people around you. Let it penetrate your relationships, your perspective, your priorities, your place. Live out God’s truth in your circumstances to the people around you. Live out God’s truth in your home, in the doctor’s office, in the hospital. Live out God’s truth in the stores you frequent, to your family members, to your neighbors, to your coworkers. Let it get a hold of you and impact you so you can, in turn, impact your place for the better … don’t live your life in a way that reveals that while you may have occupied a pew during services, in reality, it’s as if you were really never there.

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