Someone Else Will

I'm new to the whole birdfeeder-in-the-backyard thing. After all, I've been retired less than 2 years. I'm learning about the bird population in my area and what they like to eat, but word has spread in the bird community lately, and there are more birds coming to my backyard this spring than there were last year.

I realized I hadn't been keeping up with the feeder as well and I meant to when I noticed it was empty again.

"I let the birdfeeder get empty again, and the birds are going hungry," I thought to myself.

Now, the Lord doesn't speak to me audibly, but I sometimes I just get a sense of what He's saying. In my spirit I felt Him say:

"I won't let them starve. I use many different means to feed the birds."

Ok. There are two of the things I know I'm called to do. First, all Christians are called to the Great Commission of sharing the Good News about Jesus with the lost. The second one, encouraging others, is one of my spiritual gifts. I realized this early in my walk with Christ, and it's still one of the things I'm called to do. It's one of the reasons I write this blog.

So I'm standing in my kitchen, looking out into my backyard. The thought occurred suddenly to me that sometimes we rationalize this way about sharing the Gospel and encouraging others.

Well, if I don't do it someone else will.

Yes, someone else will, because God desires for all to come to Him and be saved. He is "not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9 NASB

But...someone else will get the reward for that lost soul being saved.

Someone else will be rewarded in heaven for encouraging that person that was on my heart, but I couldn't be bothered to reach out to them when I felt the tug on my heart to do so.

This revelation was earth-shattering to me.

Something inside me broke. I was convicted of my actions, or lack thereof:

I'm guilty of not sharing Jesus every time I feel like I'm supposed to.

There are times I know I need to write a note of encouragement to someone and I don't do it.

There are times when I really, truly know I'm supposed to write a blog post about something for some person to see someday, probably someone I don't even know. I'll write it in the morning, I tell myself.

In the morning, I can't recall what I was going to write about. IF I even remember it at all.

Someone else could do it, but I'm committed afresh to not let someone else do what God asked me to do.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing.1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB