Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

“The sluggard says, 'There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!' As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.”¹

Alan Smith in his “Thought for the Day” tells about the man who, upon entering the little country store, noticed a sign saying, “Danger! Beware of the Dog!” posted on the glass door. Inside he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor beside the cash register.

He asked the store manager, “Is that the dog folks are supposed to beware of?”

"Yep, that's him,” he replied.

The stranger couldn't help but be amused. “That certainly doesn't look like a dangerous dog to me. Why in the world would you post that sign?”

"Because,” said the owner, “before I posted that sign people kept tripping over him.”²

I’m sure that most people reading this Daily Encounter aren’t lazy in their everyday life, but sometimes when it comes to the church there’s almost always a trouble-maker or two, a control freak, or someone who is quick to criticize but never does a thing to lift a helping hand and, like the “dog” in the store mentioned above, just hangs around and gets in the way.

Let’s always remember that if we criticize and don’t do anything to help in some way, we don’t have a right to criticize; rather we could at least offer and try to help. He who can and does, does well; but he who can and doesn’t do, very often is the one who criticizes!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be a doer and a good helper in the work You want done in the world in which I live, and also help in some way in the wider world. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 26:13-15 (NIV).
2. Alan Smith, “Thought for the Day,” http://www.tftd-online.com.

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