What if...

Do you sometimes imagine how things ‘could be’?
Play them out in your mind?
When Ruth and I first starting dating my imagination would work overtime trying to imagine how the evening would pan out. I’d think about what I’d say, and then what she’d say and how perfect it would be.
Things never always turned out that way; sometimes it would be better and at others I would manage to get things wrong in such an unexpected manner.

This morning [during my cubicled quiet time] I read something stunning in Paul’s letter to Christians in Rome. It was just one verse, but it winded me. Each sentence I read made me repent and desire God more simultaneously.
In fact read it for yourself and imagine what your life would be like if you used this as a motto to live by (not aspiring to it but actually living to, using it as a road map for life to get you to where you want to be).

“Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.” Rom 12:13

Paul wrote this down, not because it sounded good or would make him popular, but to encourage us. He wanted to help us live an enjoyable and exiting life – and this is how you do it!
But how often does God find me hungry and smouldering rather than fuelled and aflame?
Would God describe me as ‘cheerfully expectant’, or does He need to scream for my attention? Jesus said that we would define ourselves as friends of God if we were obedient, but how quickly I neglect my servant nature assuming that our friendship is just the way things are and requires nothing of me. In fact when was the last time I woke up in the morning and asked, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do for you today?’ and actually waiting around to hear what He says, rather than shrugging off uncomfortable requests as though they were a bad dream.
How often have I thrown up my hands and quit, rather than bent my knees and prayed.
How many Christians have parted company with me just as needy as they were before hand (or perhaps even more needy). Some of these I may never have met, separated by continents and our lives touch as I choose what to put in my shopping basket.
How often am I predictably hospitable?

Lord, keep me fuelled and aflame so that people will know that You live in me by my attitude and actions. Help me be a signpost of salvation to someone.