some thoughts during the holiday season

This was actually a journal entry I wrote on the 24th of this month, Christmas Eve:

"Well, it's actually going to happen, Christmas in Slovakia. I can't believe this is about to happen. I don't have many other thoughts about it. Rachel did make one good point that being away from home can be good b/c it can force us to really focus on Christ this year and not necessarily our families or friends; just the birth of our Savior Christ.

I was just reading in Luke about the parable of the sower. I started to think about how the sower was obedient to what God wanted him to do, sow the word of God into people's hearts and lives. Most of the times the sower put seed out it got trampled or taken away or choked out. Only 25% of the time did the seed he threw come to bear fruit. But he wasn't worried about all that, he knew what his task was and kept the results truly up to God. We so often talk about how we should leave the results up to God, but many times that is really hard to do.

But a lot of things in life are hard; life is hard. I must press on with faith and ask the Spirit to change me. It is said that successful sharing is sharing Christ by the Holy Spirit and leaving the results up to God. If I look at this definition and measure myself to it I have failed horribly. I often share out of my own strength and then get upset when I dont' see results. How selfish am I really? How selfish do I have to be in order to expect God to bless what I do out of my own power? I've got to be a total idiot.

If God's truth does endure to all generations then I can rejoice that He is working still among all the sin of this generation. It often seems hard to find, though."

I can honestly say this has been my semester; most of the time failing at sharing the gospel with the power of the Spirit. But I'm learning and God is showing me the true meaning and purpose behind sharing my faith.


cheers,
Matt

ps - Christmas in Slovakia was great!