Good morning church and welcome to the last Saturday of January. It is hard to believe that one month of this new year is gone already.
I hope that you can join us tomorrow morning to hear Pastor Fitsum preach. The ordination service last week was an incredibly special time. It is amazing what God is doing in and through His church.
One day I was making the exciting trek between KC and Columbia. Since I have read all of the billboards numerous times I was passing the time watching the semis race one another. If you have traveled that stretch of highway, you have likely seen the large amount of truck that use that roadway. It is always amusing to watch (unless you are in a hurry) as one semi decides to pass another. You will see what appears to be two semis driving side by side for miles and miles. Then you realize that the one in the left lane is going .003187465 miles per hour faster than the one on the right. Then it dawns on you, “oh, it makes perfect sense you are in the passing lane!” From your vantage point stuck in the traffic behind them, you get to watch as the slow down climbing each hill, and then speed up on the downhill side. This can go on an on for miles. Slowly, incrementally, painstakingly, the one truck will overtake its rival and finally pull ahead. As soon as the truck is almost out of the passing lane, the road is unclogged like a toilet that has been properly plunged. The long line of cars take off like the flag has been dropped at the Daytona 500. Only to race along for the next mile or two until the next pair of trucks is found engaged in the same epic game of who can pass over the greatest length of time.
As I made by way passed one of these road warriors I happened to notice the name on the side of the truck. It wasn’t like some of the rest. It didn’t say A-1 Best, Ultimate, Elite, Pinnacle, Extraordinary, Stupendous or anything like that. Nope, it simply said So So Trucking. I had to take a second look to make sure that I read it correctly and that it wasn’t missing a letter or something. Nope, as near as I could tell it was So So. Maybe it’s someone’s name, I am not sure. However, the implication of a company being So So is a bit humorous. I mean, what would their slogan be? We strive to be mediocre? We’re not the best but at least we aren’t awful? Your order was wrong, what did you expect? It reminds me of the commercial that says, “Just okay is not okay.”
Anyway, having humored myself by thinking about the name of their company, I began to think about other things. For instance, what areas of life is it ok to be so-so at? Obviously, you don’t have to dress in your nicest clothes to take the trash can out. You don’t really need to have on matching clothes. Although you should wear something since the neighbors are always watching your every move. Besides that, it is still winter. There are other areas that it is probably ok not spend an inordinate amount of time trying to be the absolute best at. For instance, you don’t have to eat Alphabet soup in alphabetical order. You don’t have to wash your car every day that it gets above 33 degrees in the winter. It may even be ok if you mispronounce one of the names or a person or place listed in your Bible.
However, one area that we shouldn’t be ok with being so-so is in our walk with the Lord. Rather, it is something that we should really work on to cultivate. It should be our desire to grow closer to Him. We should want to understand His Word and make application in our lives. Granted, there may be times where we feel like we are only doing so-so at it. That is actually when we need to take action because we don’t want to stay there any longer than we have to. Please let me encourage you to pursue Christ more and more this year. Seek to make this year a time of growth in your spiritual life. Allow God to work in you so that you can be all that He desires you to be for the cause of Christ.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
Love God. Love others. Impact our community. Change the world.
Pastor Larry
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