Is it time to change your lightbulb?

Tonight I came home, turned on the light in my bedroom for it to do that stellar "pop-and-die" move, leaving me with only 1 of 4 lightbulbs functioning and a considerably dark room. No, contrary to what you might believe, 3 lightbulbs did not die at once [which I find interesting if they all were put in at the same time...but that's another topic]--instead, I had put off changing my lightbulbs until it was a complete necessity. Have you ever been this way with your relationship with God?--putting repairing things or keeping up with responsibilities until it was the last straw and you HAD to talk to Him, forgive that person, take that step, or whatever your situation entailed? I have. In fact, I have a pretty recent example of one. My sophomore year of High School I heard a sermon on Matthew 18:15-19, which talks about going to your brother and forgiving him. Well, it just so happened I had been holding something inside me about what a peer had said to me in 8th grade, and when I heard that sermon God was like "hi, you need to take care of that..." And I of course made up as many reasons why I could not as possible (such as, I didn't ever see this guy and to just call him up 3 years down the road and ask forgiveness for something he didn't remember was not culturally 'normal,' or that it wasn't that big of a deal and I'd forgive him in my heart on my own, or that [since I had a crush on him in our previous life long before] he would once again assume that I liked him-which would be awkward, etc. etc. But God, amazingly, wasn't convinced by my reasons and was ultimately wise, and so my feeling of needing to do this still did not go away. When I got home from church that afternoon, I looked up the phone # and I called this guy. I told him about the situation, read him the scripture, and asked his forgiveness. It went pretty smooth and it was over, right? Well not exactly--minor detail about his reception was that he seemed a little under the influence and was not exactly receptive of what I said. So I felt like I should call him again--God wanted me to cut right to the chase...give the guy the spill about the issue and let it be...I had decided that I was going to do it my way and would in fact befriend him and then slowly tell Him about Christ and such over time. Well, of course, my way didn't work and it became obvious that it was weird that I had called. So this point would be like the lightbulb dimming, having a little less juice right before the change. Then I just started to push this off. Now notice what started as a simple phone call is growing into something much larger--it now became the elephant that followed me everywhere--that made me feel almost guilty all the time, but I wouldn't. So the lightbulb went out, and I walked around with less light for a few months, and then a year, and then...5 years. Wow. That quick huh? Come to think of it at that point it was 20% of my life that this had followed me around, was something I needed to do, and that I ultimately ignored. It wasn't until I had a huge scare in my life this past fall that I decided to finally do it. That's right, my grandfather who has a very delicate heart and history of about 15 heart attacks was going to have a major and risky procedure and I was scared out of my mind that I would lose this man I loved so dear. I felt like a voice spoke to me that it was now or never and I better get my tail in gear and go witness to this guy. So I wrote this guy a facebook message telling him about the phone call 5 years ago, what I felt, and what I needed to do--that Christ wanted to offer him salvation, and I was there if he ever needed to talk or had questions. The point of this story is this: are there any lightbulbs that have gone out in your life? Maybe you've made your prayer life a side item, or you've pushed God down from #1 to just below your job...my warning to you is this--if you pass up an opportunity when God tells you to, you may push it off until next week, next year, or maybe you'll never have the opportunity again. Don't let the lightbulbs in your life go out, but instead continually check the status of the light in your life. Make sure that you are putting your full effort into your relationship with Christ, that friends or coworkers or bf/gf, husband/wife, don't accidently bump into a lightbulb and unscrew it just a little bit--til it goes out. I can tell you from experience that if you don't embrace what God is talking to you about the day to do so may never come. Matthew 25:1-13 tells us the parable of the ten virgins--that at the time of Christ's return 5 were prepared and 5 were not prepared with enough oil to light their lamps. When the time for Christ's return came 5 were unprepared and were not allowed into the 'wedding banquet'--which we know as the picture of Christ coming for us--His church, His bride--for He said He did not know them. Make sure today that whether it be that you need to accept Christ into your heart, rededicate your life and commitment to Him, or forgive a brother or sister that's keeping you from completely unity with Christ, make sure you change that lightbulb that when the time comes you will be ready. :) By the way--the give of grace [aka God's lightbulb supply] is absolutely free. You just have to be willing to put forth the effort to make the change and keep a watch on them.