This is something that most of our world needs to learn. How can we be content with what we have, not what those around us have? This seems to be what most of the world just can’t understand. Nations want things that other countries have, whether land or resources and covetousness is behind all of it.
Sin is defined in the Bible and most of us know when we commit a sin, regardless of our religion. How can our world recover from being sinful? By reading God’s Word and obeying it, that’s how.
Some people in the church wonder where they can get the joy spoken of in the Bible. If you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you should have this joy already. The joy spoken of refers to your Savior and your salvation; if you are born-again, you were chosen to receive it. God chooses those who are called to be in His family through Jesus.
I know, I’m getting into “predestination”, but Jesus says that His sacrifice was ordained before the foundation of the world. God knew that mankind would need a Savior and that Jesus would be that Savior. No part of your day surprises God. History is part of His daily thoughts, from beginning to end. He knows what will happen and when, so there are no surprises for Him. Make sure of your eternal future by seeking Him today because the Church will be leaving someday soon and you don’t want to be left here when that happens, although many will be. I pray that all who read this will seek to know Jesus as their Savior.
When you are young you don’t notice pain much unless it is a bee sting or a wasp sting. Falls and scrapes go unnoticed because you just bounce back from it and move on. When you get a few decades counted in your birthday roster, those falls and scrapes and other inconveniences hurt more. Not just because of your age but because your body doesn’t heal as easily as it did when you were young.
You will hear some people say “I don’t bounce like I used to”, and in a true sense, we don’t bounce at all. Most of us land pretty hard regardless of the surface we land on. So, why am I talking about this today? Because when you are young, you don’t think about getting older. It’s not a priority at the time. It is in the future and it hasn’t happened yet, so it isn’t important.
God created us to have a relationship with Him but for a portion of our lives, we try to fill that “empty place” with all kinds of things and people who don’t belong in that spot. Only God belongs there. God made a way for us to know Him and to be with Him into eternity and that is by having a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Your belief in His redemptive work on the cross and His resurrection is the only way to have this relationship. You can’t work your way into it or buy your way into it. It is God’s gift to you through Jesus.
We can medicate our pains in this life and you can do lots of good things if you have the means to do so but your salvation only comes through belief in Jesus Christ.
Many times in our lives we get blind-sided by the news of a friend’s death or of a sudden death in our immediate family and we don’t know how to handle it. We must seek Jesus in our grief and let Him have the pain and the suffering. It sounds easy but it isn’t, particularly at the time of the loss. Why am I bringing this up today? Because, yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my Dachshund, Trixie, passing away and I need to write about it.
The months after her death were hard because she was only a month or two from her 15th birthday. It happened during the first months of COVID so we couldn’t be in the office with her which hurt. It felt like losing a child because it was so sudden. One of the girls came to the door and told us we needed to come in quickly. They had taken an x-ray of her and she had an enlarged heart and by the time we got inside, she was taking her last breath. Even four years after the event just thinking about it hurts.
Grief doesn’t go away. Time may help eventually but grief and the pain of loss never really go away. We must give those feelings to Jesus and let Him help us with them. God knows the pain and the feelings that we have when a beloved family member dies and we have to trust Him in the pain so we can move through it one day at a time.
The Living Message of Christ 