23 Sep Fill the Gaps
We’re all created with gifts, and we’re all created with gaps.
I’m a firm believer that God gave us those gaps for a reason. We lack certain strengths so that we can experience well the love of others. We all have our own temptations we’re predisposed to, and our best life comes when we work to fill those gaps, not with skill or striving but with friends. Friends who see our blind spots and help us to avoid danger.
The fact is— Satan knows that if he can distract you, deceive you, or cause you to disobey, he can destroy God’s dreams for your life. So he works through our blind spots. We outsmart him when we connect with people who see them clearly. When we choose friends who submit their lives to God, they can help us avoid danger and walk into all that God has for us. But if we choose ones who are just as blind as we are, we’ll head straight for danger together!
This truth is proven through a couple in the Bible. Their names were Ananias and Sapphira. They had sold a piece of property and received a good chunk of money for it. They had full knowledge that they were to give a certain portion from their earnings, but they both were inclined toward selfishness. Since neither of them was submitted to God enough to see clearly in their blind spot, they walked right into danger.
With his wife’s full knowledge, Ananias withheld the money from God. God told Peter what had happened, and he asked Ananias point-blank.
“Ananias, how has Satan so filled your heart that you would keep for yourself some of God’s money?”
Instantly, Ananias dropped down dead, and they carried him out. Disobedience always destroys dreams.
A few hours later, Sapphira walked into the temple. Peter asked her about the situation, too.
“Did you know the price that Ananias got for the land and the amount he gave to God?”
As soon as she answered yes, he responded, “How could you treat your God that way? The feet of the men who carried your husband to his grave will carry you to yours.”
And with that Sapphira too lost her life.
I’m not saying that if we don’t give properly, we will drop down dead. There was more to this couple’s story than that. Their life is an example that when we do what’s wrong in God’s sight, nobody suffers more because of it than us.
What I am saying is that if we, like Ananias and Sapphira, connect ourselves to people who will walk with us down the path of danger instead of help us to avoid it, we too will end up destroyed.
Friendships are a big deal, guys. So let’s choose people who will love us enough to point out our blind spots. Let’s keep people near who care about our futures enough to call out any discrepancies in our presents. That’s what friends are for!