I know what you’re going to say – I’m never satisfied, right? Last week I said I wanted a raise in attendance and enthusiasm. Now I’d like another raise – a raise in our expectations. Pessimism makes us self-defeating. If we think, “I can’t,” then we probably won’t even try. Israel wandered in the wilderness forty long years because their expectations were too low! We can do anything God wants us to do (Phil. 4:13). “I want a raise!”
I want another raise – a raise in evangelism. We have good news, and God will not hold us guiltless if we remain silent (study 2Kings 7:3-9). Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). His last recorded words before He ascended back to Heaven were of world evangelism (Acts 1:8). When persecution scattered the early Christians, they “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Will it take being persecuted for us to do the same? Let our purpose be that of our Lord. “I want a raise!”
I want another raise – a raise in our love (for God and for each other). When you get right down to it, everything else is symptomatic. Do we not attend? That’s a symptom of lack of love for the Lord and for each other. Do we not evangelize? That’s a symptom of lack of love for the lost as well as for the Lord. If we truly love God, one another, and the lost, other matters will fall into place. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). And John said we cannot love God unless we love our brother also (1John 4:20). I think we do love each other. However, like the Thessalonians, let us “increase more and more” in it (1Thess. 4:9, 10). “I want a raise!
