It's a Sign

Today I opened the closet door to add some dirty clothes to the hamper and here is what I saw. It's a sign.
I'm not one that often puts a lot of faith in signs. Gideon put out the fleece to get confirmation from God about his call, and God obliged him with some dew, and again with lack of dew. (Read about it in Judges 6:36-40.) How reassuring that must have been for Gideon.

In my own personal walk with Christ, seldom has God ever given me a "sign" to assure me of His plan for my life. I'll admit that I've asked for skywriting more than once, but I've never seen any. Typically I sense the Spirit asking me to simply have faith and do my best to obey all that is already written in God's Word. If God has granted me a sign as obvious as dew on the fleece, I must have missed it.

I'm not saying that God does not give some people "obvious signs" of conformation after calling them to a task. I believe that He does. But I also believe that if we rely too heavily on a sign from God, we can be mislead. We can sometimes want something so badly that we will seek a sign that we know we will find, whether God is behind it or not.

So, I seldom ask God for signs. I ask Him to put me where he wants me, put people in my life who will help me to accomplish His perfect will for my life, lead me through His Word and my circumstances, and to forgive me when I miss the mark. Then I live each day with a little faith and a lot of grace.

There are some signs though that we all need notice. A child's high fever is a sign that something is wrong and the caring adult in her life should take some action to help restore her to good health. A dark rotating cloud overhead is a sign that you should take shelter quickly. When your gas gauge is on E it is a pretty sure sign that you should stop and fill the tank. And when dirty clothes are spilling from the hamper, it's a sign that I need to find some quarters and do the laundry.

More important than an overfilled hamper, a needle pointing to E, dark clouds, or even a high fever are the signs of our culture, our times, and of humanity. Found in 2 Timothy 3: 1-12, these billboards are everywhere , unable to be missed, if only we will open our eyes and look. "But realize this, that in the last days difficult time will come...Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money...disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy...lovers of pleasure rather than God...always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth..." Again in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 the Bible tells us that a final day is coming. There will be an end to this life and this world--a day of destruction. Please pick up your Bible and read the passages for yourself.

Read on. In verses 4-6 of 1 Thessalonians 5 we are told that we, who are are "sons of light" should not be surprised nor overtaken by that last day because we can see the signs.

Once we see those signs, there are some things we should be doing. (I challenge you to read the rest of the chapter.) After you have finished reading it, you can join me in rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, giving thanks, holding fast to what is good, being patient with all men, abstaining from every form of evil,...and doing the laundry!