lists

At the end of the account of Jesus healing a man in John 5 a conflict breaks out because the man had been healed and was carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Carrying a mat on the sabbath was not on the list of what the Pharisees considered to be allowed on the sabbath. They missed out on what God was doing because they were focussed on their list. a man who had been paralysed for 38 years had been healed, but they weren't rejoicing because it conflicted with their list of what God could/couldn't or should/shouldn't do!

In what ways do we do the same thing? Are we missing out on what God is doing because we only want him doing it in certain ways? 

Are we asking God to do things in our lives, but only want him to fit it in with an hour on a sunday and nothing else -  because that's the amount of time I've allocated for god - he'll have to work within that because reading the bible every day or meeting with someone to pray isn’t on my “list”. 

Are we praying for a friend or family member to become a Christian but not willing to step out of our comfort zone and ask them round for a meal, ask them deeper questions, offer to pray for them, talk about Jesus or invite them to church because those things aren't on my “list” of what I normally do or talk about with that person? 

God operates outside of your list! The Pharisees missed out on what God was doing because of their list. Let's not do the same.