The power to act if we would but only take it - Proverbs 3:27 with a story and an observation

SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 3:27
“Do not without good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”

STORY:
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said that he could get any number of men who were "willing to shed their last drop of blood." The problem, said Lincoln, was that he found it difficult to get anyone willing to shed that first drop!

OBSERVATION:
The power to act ... the power to do good works ... the power that is within our grasps but seldom used. Why? Is it out of fear – fear of failure, fear of being misunderstood, fear of rejection? There is something that holds us back from using the power within us to act in a positive and transforming way.

Maybe the story from Lincoln’s day speaks to our reality. It is not the last drop of blood, but that first. We don’t want to be the first to step forward. We don’t want to be the first to speak up. We don’t want to be the first to react. We don’t want to be first because it might draw attention to ourselves. We don’t want to be first just in case we could be wrong. We don’t want to be first so, we don’t do anything.

And yet the power is within us to act in a way that no one else can – a God given way.

PRAYER:
Help us to be aware of what is happening around us, O Lord, and give us the courage to act with the power that comes from above. Amen.