Do It With Gusto

2 Kings 13:18-19 (ERV)–”Elisha said, “Take the arrows.” Jehoash took the arrows. Then Elisha said to him, “Hit on the ground.” Jehoash hit the ground three times. Then he stopped. ¹⁹ The man of God was angry with Jehoash. Elisha said, “You should have hit five or six times! Then you would have defeated Aram until you destroyed it! But now, you will defeat Aram only three times.”

From our scripture today we see that when God provides an opportunity to conquer a fear, defeat an enemy or overcome a problem; we should do more than just enough to get by or to meet the minimal requirements.  Elisha previously had given Jehoash instructions to shoot an arrow out of the window and now he tells him to take the arrows and strike them upon the ground.  Chances are his quiver was full of arrows because he had only shot one out of the window; so he had plenty left to use for the follow-up instructions.  God wants to challenge not only our faith but our ability to follow instructions beyond the obvious.  We must go the extra mile; hold on just a little bit longer; go beyond the norm and give God our very best plus some.  We must never be satisfied with doing just enough to get by. Our God is not a god of just enough; he is a God of overflow, ubiquity and abundance.  In striving to be more "Christ-like" it would only seem rational and reasonable that we go above and beyond.  Christ fed the multitude and had lots of leftovers.  When the disciples had given up after an unsuccessful fishing trip, simple instructions from Jesus landed them so many fish they could hardly haul them to shore.  Whatever God has put on your plate - do it with gusto and watch out for the overflow!

Every day is a good day; it is up to us to make it a GREAT day! Be blessed!  Dr. JoAnn