Immediate Obedience {Carrying Your Sign}

Being bold for Christ is not always easy. Especially for me. It is a battle that I am always fighting.

I admire those who can be so bold about the Gospel. Fellow friends who can witness to anyone, anywhere. Friends who can stand on a corner holding their sign for Jesus. A former pastor and his Cardboard Ministry.

I want that courage.

One random morning I was running a few errands in town. I was singing with my daughter while at a red light and noticed two ladies on the corner holding signs for Jesus. As I admired them, knowing my own struggle, I quietly prayed for Jesus to help me be bold for Him.

Hold the sign with them.

The excuses started flooding in as I wrestled with what I knew I should do. I have my daughter with me. I have so many things to get in before her nap. I don't even know those ladies. And the biggest one- what will people think of me when they see me standing on the corner with my sign.

What will they think... that's always what stops us, isn't it.

I headed to pay our water bill, trying to get it out of my mind. If you ignore the Holy Spirit's promptings long enough, He will become less and less audible.

As I walk out the door of the utilities board, again...

Why are you waiting? Hold the sign.

Instead of excuses, I start coming up with alternative ideas. Immediately my spare Bible comes to mind. I always keep one or two new ones in my car to give to someone when needed. Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll give the ladies the Bibles to pass out. Conscience relieved. Problem solved, right?

I park the car, grab the Bibles and my daughter and walk up to one of the ladies {who is struggling because she has one sign in each hand}. I tell her of my admiration for her, give her the extra Bibles, and tell her to pass them out to anyone she witnesses to. A total of two minutes, tops, and I am back in my car on my merry little way.

You took the easy way out. Hold the sign.

The easy way. That's so common. It's easier to donate money than your time. It's easier to say 'I'll pray for you' rather than helping them fight the battle. It's easier. I took the easy way. It was my way. It wasn't His.

I start giving the big excuse again....'what will people think?'. Oh, how He sends me scriptures.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and that of the Father and the holy angels. Luke 9:26

Ouch.

I pray for boldness, courage. Before I realize it I am heading to the Nannie's to drop off my daughter.

I pull back up and park the car. As I am walking to the corner I don't see them standing there. Then, I spot them getting back into their truck and leaving.

Immediate Obedience.

Ouch. I was too late. I wrestled for to long trying to convince God that now was not the best time. That this was not the best way to use me. I made excuses and took the quick, easy way out instead of submitting and showing immediate obedience. See, it wasn't about the difference I could have made for Christ, it was really about the difference being bold for Him would have made in me.

I missed an opportunity to be a servant and experience God move. I missed a chance to grow. Never again.

When God asks something of us, He expects immediate obedience. Not excuses. Not our own alternative plans. Look at Jonah. Instead of submitting to God's call, he ran. He tried to hide. And we all know how that worked out for him. In the end, he did go where God had asked, but think of the trouble he could have saved himself had he showed immediate obedience.

Next time I am asked to hold the sign, I will.

Not long after that day, I was running errands with a friend when I saw the lady that I had given the Bibles too. I told her who I was and she remembered me. I told her my struggles that day and the lesson I had learned the hard way.

We all hold signs anyway, whether we realize it or not. When we reach out to others we hold a sign that says Love. When we skip church for fill in the blank, we are holding a sign that says 'God is not my priority.' We don't have to stand on a corner with a cardboard sign in order for the world to know who we serve.

What does your sign say?