It’s Not Automatic! January 16, 2019

3FAC48FB-3028-449A-ABEE-74B4AF13E0E1-768x558

It was embarrassing to say the least. There I stood in a public restroom waving my hands furiously under the faucet, grumbling that someone really should fix the sensor. Why on earth wouldn’t the water come out?

Then I realized – it’s not automatic. That’s right, it was one of the old fashioned kind. The kind you have to turn on! No one was there to enjoy the spectacle but I had a good laugh at myself, and a reminder that everything in life is not automatic.

Our world has become so automated. Everything it seems is automatic! With all of our smart technology we rarely think about so many things that other generations labored to have. But, is that really progress…or is it distraction?

While our auto-pilot lives can bring convenience and comfort, they can also bring complacency. We take too much for granted. We assume. We fail to work at those things that cannot be automatically given.

God will speak to you. But you have to open His Word and prepare your heart. The Lord does answer prayer. But you have to seek Him faithfully and fervently. An all-wise God will guide your life. But you have to be willing to follow.

The God of the universe will supply your need. But you must work, live by faith, and steward what He puts in your hand. The Holy Spirit will use you to witness to others but you must stay armed with the gospel and ready to speak for Him. Christ will make you holy but you must keep yourself “unspotted from the world.” 

The applications are endless, but the principle is plain: Don’t expect God to do what He plainly told you to do. 

Our generation wants the fruit without the labor, the victory without the struggle, the crown without the race, the product without the process, the blessing without the obedience, the privileges without the responsibility. There is only one thing you don’t have to work at and that is salvation. Jesus did all of the work for that. 

Paul said it this way:

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partakes of the fruits. (2 Timothy 2:3-6)

Perhaps you are waving your hands violently under the faucet waiting for something to change. Remember that some things are not automatic. You have to do it the old-fashioned way…you have to work at it.

Post Author

More from similar topics

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Recent Posts

A bee takes flight from a flower on the Western Hill in Jerusalem. This hill is in the fertile highlands, but is close to the less arable lands to the south where shepherds such as David pastured their flocks in the wilderness.
Photo by John Buckner

Milk and Honey

2205-12 Cries from the Cross SLIDE_1400x897

Special Easter Week Youtube Series: Cries From the Cross

IMG_2529

It Is Well in Zion

IMG_2577

Jonah and Peter in Joppa

8 Comments

  1. Hollis & Heidi Whitaker on January 16, 2019 at 1:01 PM

    Amen, Brother Scott. I recently had the same experience with a faucet!

    Praise the Lord for your message. I like the old-fashioned Bible Way!

    We are praying for you and your family.

    Happy in The Lord,

    Hollis Whitaker

    • Scott Pauley on January 16, 2019 at 7:45 PM

      Amen! Great to hear from you and grateful for your friendship.

  2. Delbert Hawley on January 16, 2019 at 1:43 PM

    Wow, what a powerful example for all including this Old Preacher. Thank You Scott for sharing this experience, it is so applicable.

    • Scott Pauley on January 16, 2019 at 7:46 PM

      Thanks for taking time to read the articles. God bless you, sir.

  3. Josh Reeves on January 16, 2019 at 8:44 PM

    Amen what a blessing!

    • Scott Pauley on January 16, 2019 at 9:01 PM

      Thanks for taking time to read my friend!

  4. Michael Olin on January 17, 2019 at 8:39 AM

    Thank you Scott, that was just what I needed to hear.

    • Scott Pauley on January 17, 2019 at 3:51 PM

      Thanks for letting me know! God bless you.

Leave a Comment