Good advice


good adviceThis little bit of advice showed up on my Facebook page today and I wanted to share it. Not only with you but with the world. It is true that many people follow their hearts in times of stress and trouble, if they have the courage to do so. Although, many of us don’t have the courage to do it and we end up with regrets later in life. We all have regrets of course, but some more than others.

Why didn’t I stay in school? Why didn’t I go to college? Why didn’t I stay in the military and retire from it? There are many others besides these, but the point is we make decisions sometimes based on incomplete knowledge and fear. We are afraid of where it might take us or what we may have to do if we follow one path over another. It is a fear that we have all of our lives and it seems to cause all sorts of problems and heartache, at least for those of us who take the safe or easy path rather than the one that our heart is telling us is the right one.

Advice is only good when it gives you something which will make your life better. A job or a promotion is only good when it helps you more than hurting your health and your family life. We all see things clearer when we look back on our lives and realize that if we had followed our hearts, we might actually be in a worse condition now and not the one that we thought the decision would bring. The only time that following your heart will truly bring you to a place of happiness and peace is when you follow that longing for Him. Your heart before Christ is missing something or rather Someone and it feels empty and hollow. Many of us have tried different ways to fill that space with something, but it never satisfied our longing until we found Jesus.

He is the missing piece of your life and your heart, so as long as you are following Him then your life means more because you can give Him away to others and yet…He is still with you! God loves us all, He may not be pleased with our lifestyle or with the things that we have done but that doesn’t mean that His love for you and me is any less. God doesn’t change and His love for you…for all of us is no less today than it was before the creation of the world. The very best advice that I can give anyone is to seek Him in His Word and in prayer. To learn more about Him, read the Bible because that is His Wisdom and His instructions for how we should be living according to it.

Many people have said that the Old Testament is irrelevant today because Christ made a new covenant with us in His blood. That is true because He fulfilled all of the prophecies about Himself when He came and lived and died and then rose again. Even though the New Testament reveals the Old and fulfils much of what is spoken of in it, you need to read both to get a complete picture.

Advice like life is what you take from it and use, if you don’t then it is useless. Wisdom from God’s Word is the same, if you aren’t willing to use it and learn from it, then it will be like an empty container of water to a thirsty man.

So many things happening


It seems that every day there is something new happening. It could be a new disease or some decision by our government that is going to change things or it may be something happening in the Middle East. It seems that much of the news every day has something to do with that area and it gets more and more intense each day. Every day more people die from diseases which were eradicated years ago, but now they have come back and are more resistant to treatment. Some of the diseases are not old ones but new ones or even some that are familiar but different in a bad way. Life just seems to be getting worse in some ways for everyone. Of course if you have the money to pay for the treatment, then your problems don’t seem to be so bad.

The problem with the money is that many people tend to use it as their “god” and depend upon it and what it can do for them more than they depend upon God. That is why Jesus spoke these words: “23And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”…. (Matthew 19:23,24) Rich people rely on their riches, their money, more than they rely and depend on God. They don’t think that they need Him because with their money they believe that they can do anything. The problem is that money can’t and won’t take care of you like that. It is just paper and that is all that it is!

We have been trying hard and succeeding at getting the Bible and its teachings watered down and taken out of educational settings, particularly in the past fifty years or so. It’s really not a stretch to see why our world is so crazy today because of the influence of the world and the culture which pervades our everyday life. Can it be fixed? Not by us!

We need to pray and get God and the Bible back into our culture and our country! Our laws were based on the Ten Commandments in the Bible, but our judges and our government have watered them down and changed words around so much, that most of our laws bear little resemblance to the ones that were put into the constitution in the past. God’s Truth and His laws are the only way to get our world back on the right path. I am not saying that we need to be a theocracy, but our world needs Christ not just America! I know, I am offending some by saying this but it is the truth!

One day in the not too distant future, people will wake up to a world where all of the Christians have gone missing. They are no longer working or flying planes or driving their cars, and their disappearance will happen while people are asleep in some parts of the world, but in others there will be wrecks of all kinds. Planes falling from the sky because there are no pilots, people missing from buses and trains, cars crashing because their drivers just vanished. I don’t know the date, no one does except for God. The world is going to be a very messed up place at that time, because many who have been in church but have never given their hearts to Jesus are going to know what is going on. It will frighten many people to the point of suicide, many will be going to churches and trying to find the answer.

It isn’t too late at that point, to come to Christ, but you will have missed the rapture of the Church. Life will not be easy for Christians because they will be blamed for all of the deaths in the world. Persecution will increase everywhere. If you become a Christian after the rapture, then you may need to go into hiding, but never give up on your faith in God. He will strengthen you and carry you through this time, even if it means that you have to give your life or have it taken from you, you will live in eternity with Him. Our redemption draws near. Seek Him in Scripture, pray and attend a Bible teaching church, ask Jesus to become your Savior before this time comes upon the world.

Shifting Christianity


In an article titled “Trends in Christianity”, the author writes “Today the majority of the world’s Christians live in the southern hemisphere, in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Christianity in these regions tends to be very conservative and traditional.” At one point in our past, America was the evangelizing arm of Christ. Our country and Great Britain took the leading roles in telling the world about Christ. It seems that we have done a good job of it in the past two hundred years since our Christian base has dwindled and those of other countries have bloomed.

There are other disturbing trends in Christianity as well, like the “new age” type of worship service where the old traditional hymns have been replaced with praise songs and choruses that repeat a phrase over and over again. Then, there is the trend of huge mega-churches where few people know the people with whom they are worshipping because of the size of the congregation numbering into the thousands.

We look around us at all of the problems in the world and our own problems and we can’t see any way to fix them. Jesus said, “Why do  you worry about your clothes or what you will eat? The flowers of the field are more beautiful than anything that Solomon in his riches could wear, and the birds of the field never worry about their food because God feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than the grass or the birds?” Granted, I paraphrased that a bit, but you get the idea. We shift from one belief or doctrine from year to year at times, looking for a church or a preacher who won’t step on our toes too hard, when we should be looking at our own beliefs and our own hearts.

Christians and those who claim to be need to examine themselves more closely and try to divine whether we fit in with Jesus’ disciples or not. Are you a doubter like Thomas or a loud and brash person who speaks before thinking, like Peter did? Is your faith little and weak? Mine is, but if you have a grain of faith THAT IS ALL THAT YOU NEED!!! Our God is AWESOME! He placed the stars in their orbits and the galaxies too, so don’t you think your problems are smaller than the universe? A universe which He spoke into being in less than six days!!

He is bigger than your problems and your emotions and your bank account or your mortgage. God loves you enough to take care of it all, if you will give it and yourself to Him. This is the very heart of the problem though, many people think that when they give their hearts to Jesus all of the fun in life will end. That is a lie from Satan! The fun doesn’t stop, it begins. It’s just the type of fun that you have after becoming a Christian changes. It is fun, to me, to make Satan uncomfortable by getting online and telling people about Jesus. I don’t go out and get drunk or high like I did many years ago, but I do enjoy telling people about my Lord and Savior!

God loves us with an overpowered love that we can’t fathom because we can’t imagine anyone as awesome as God! Our imagination just doesn’t go that far because there is nothing in the universe, let alone here on our little planet, that is as powerful or as awe-inspiring as God is. To put it another way, “It would bust your head wide open to try to imagine God, so don’t!”.

Is your life cracked or broken?


 

(This post is my 500th post on this blog! I would’ve never thought that it would grow this big, but God is good and has allowed me to do this. I pray that you are all finding some bit of wisdom and knowledge that He has given me while I have been writing here. This knowledge comes from the Bible and from the wisdom that God has given me. I never would nor could I come up with these ideas or writings without His influence. Thank you for being here with me.)

I know, I have asked this before but it seems that our world and the people in it are more like this than they are whole and happy. We have more shootings and killings over nothing these days than we have ever had in the past fifty years. I know, there were many senseless killings during the time when our country was still divided by race relations but isn’t that what we are seeing today? It seems that there is so many problems with race relations, particularly in the past ten years or so. I thought that we were past this! What happened to the so-called “age of Aquarius” that was supposed to take over when the new millennium began? What became of the racial equality and tolerance that was supposed to be part of our culture when we elected an African-American President?

Our country and the culture that we once enjoyed has become cracked and broken, but there seems to be nobody who has a clue how to fix this mess! Any ideas?

My only idea is that we need to bring God and the Bible back into our cultural world. In the schools, in businesses, in society and especially in our homes! If we don’t repent of our ways, and turn back to God and ask for His forgiveness for all of the atrocities that we have allowed to happen in the past fifty years, then this country and the world itself is headed for a big wake up one day.

I am not going to try to bring this post up to a sermon level, but I do want anyone who reads this to think about what you can do to make this happen. In your church or community or your state even. If we don’t get started, and we should have done this many years ago, then we have gone too far to be able to turn back. Mostly what we can do is to seek God out in His Word and in prayer. We can also try to get others involved in putting the Bible and prayer back into our schools.

Individually, we can pray and seek Him out in the Bible and at church or in home Bible study. God wants to have a relationship with you and me, but He will not force this relationship on us.We have to initiate the contact by seeking Him out and learning more about Him. Occasionally, you will feel a prompting from Him or rather the Holy Spirit and that is Him calling to you. If you have felt it, but have ignored it please seek Him out! He will keep the contact and the prompting going for a while, but at some point He will let you go your own way. Don’t wait until that point. If you can feel even the smallest voice or nudge to come to know Him please do so!

 

The way to Life


This is the most important question of your life. Your joy or your sorrow for all eternity depends upon your answer. The question is: Are you saved? It is not a question of how good you are, nor if you are a church member, but are you saved? Are you sure you will go to Heaven when you die?

God says that in order to go to Heaven, you must be born again. In John 3:7, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.”

In the Bible, God gives us the plan of how to be born again which means to be saved. His plan is simple! This is the plan and the way, all that you need to do is believe!

First you must realize you are a sinner. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Because you are a sinner, you are condemned to death. “For the wages [payment] of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This includes eternal separation from God in Hell.

“ . . . it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

But God loved you and me so much, He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, to bear your sin and die in your place. “ . . . He hath made Him [Jesus, Who knew no sin] to be sin for us . . . that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus had to shed His blood and die. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11). “ . . . without shedding of blood is no remission [pardon]” (Hebrews 9:22).

“ . . . God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Although we cannot understand how, God said my sins and your sins were laid upon Jesus and He died in our place. He became our substitute. It is true. God cannot lie.

“God . . . commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). This repentance is a change of mind that agrees with God that one is a sinner, and also agrees with what Jesus did for us on the Cross.

In Acts 16:30-31, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas: “ . . . ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . . .’ ”

Simply believe on Him as the one who bore your sin, died in your place, was buried, and whom God resurrected. His resurrection powerfully assures that the believer can claim everlasting life when Jesus is received as Savior.

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).

Whosoever includes you. Shall be saved means not maybe, nor can, but shall be saved.

Surely, you realize you are a sinner. Right now, wherever you are, lift your heart to God in prayer.

In Luke 18:13, the sinner prayed: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Just pray: “Oh God, I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus was my substitute when He died on the Cross. I believe His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection were for me. I now receive Him as my Savior. I thank You for the forgiveness of my sins, the gift of salvation and everlasting life, because of Your merciful grace. Amen.”

How much does it take?


We ask this many times in our lives, if you aren’t wealthy to the point of not asking the price that is. “How much is that?”, is usually how we look at all sorts of things from cell phone contracts and phones to Internet service and food from the grocery store. Most of us have to look at the price of things and decide if it is worth the price and whether we want to or can pay the price for it. Looking at our economic situation in this country it is easy to see that our government has no problem with skipping over this question, they just print more money and keep going. What a wonderful world they live in!

People don’t have that luxury because if we try to print money we will be put in jail, but they do it legally. I am not going to get off on this tangent today, but the world does exactly what it wishes and nobody seems to be watching or paying attention. We are all too interested in our Facebook friends and their lives or the cute picture of a baby or a kitten to care about what is happening all around us. So-called “reality” shows have taken over the TV and cable industry and people are being paid for ridiculous shows which chronicle their lives in order to cash in on this trend.

What for? Is it educational? Most of it is not, but all of this was foretold in the Bible. Not specifically, but that we who live in the “latter days” will be lovers of self and money, running here and there and we have many people and industries which are taking advantage of our intelligence by genetically modifying our food and all sorts of things. The Bible puts it as “knowledge will increase”, but knowledge without wisdom to guide it is not really smart at all. Living in this time is intoxicating at times because of the advances in medicine and technology, but it is also dangerous.

I don’t mean that we are in danger every day from something like wars, although some people are very much in danger from this, but much of the GMO food that we have been eating for years is very likely responsible for our health conditions. Especially those so-called “new” conditions which doctors seem to have trouble pinning down the cause of, but of course it isn’t the fault of our government approved food. Yes, our knowledge of genetics and technology has increased a lot over the past thirty years or so BUT did we gain the wisdom of how to use and when to use it to benefit the most from it? Are we using this knowledge to help as many people as possible to live healthy lives or have we pushed the envelope in order to make more money?

In the “real” world of business, I believe that we have done the latter. Cancer research has stagnated so that the treatments only treat symptoms and not the cause. Chemical companies, whether they produce medicines or herbicides, have not fully tested the outcome of the ingredients that they push out to consumers because it would cost too much to do that. They would rather do limited testing, get it stamped as being safe under certain conditions but with all sorts of legal jargon warning of possible side effects and then push it out so that they can reap the cash off of it before the lawsuits start coming in.

Wisdom comes from the fear and admonition of God and we have not exercised that kind of wisdom in a long time! We have stepped away from God and the Bible. We have allowed the schools to push out any reading of it or study of it in the sense that we will offend someone or that we might be seen as promoting a “state religion”. Then the schools and teachers wonder why we have such delinquent behavior in our schools and so many in the prison system. Come on! The Ivy League schools like Princeton and Yale and Harvard were begun as theological schools to teach ministers, it was only recently that they became so focused upon “higher learning” within the past 150 years or so.

How much does it take, really, for us to learn that we can’t live our lives in a vacuum or look at life-like it was a test tube? We are and were created to be dependent upon God’s wisdom and knowledge and fellowship with Him in our lives. We are not created to be “self-gods” because we can’t be! Romans 8:28 states this: 28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church: 2 Corinthians 5:17: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

We are new in Christ because the Spirit renews you from the inside out when you become a Christian. Life without Him can be fun for a moment or a day, but your life here is but a speck compared to eternity. Consider this: if you were to die tonight or even today, where would your eternity be spent? Many people think that they would enjoy hell, but the rich man told Abraham that he was in torment and that he needed just one drop of cool water. How long would you think the so-called “party” will last in torment and heat for an eternity?

If you aren’t sure of your salvation today, then you need to seek Him out and make sure of your decision while you can.

So many who need Him, so little time!


I know, I am trying to scare people into accepting Christ…right? NO! But I am trying to make you realize that regardless of how young you are or how long you may have lived without Jesus, your life does have an expiration date. It is known only to God, but we all have one. Mine may be in the morning or next week, yours…? Why am I starting off like this?

Because in the past few weeks, if you have been following my blog here, two teens in our community were killed in a wreck. Did they know the Lord? Yes! Both of them did and they are enjoying eternity and their life in Heaven right now! I know, the families are still hurting and they will be for a long time, but they do have the assurance that those girls are in their homes with Jesus.

God sent Jesus to provide all of us with salvation, if we will accept it. That is like a rich man who might give you one million dollars, but you have to accept it with some limitations. You can only use it to help people in ways that make a difference, like helping with their medical bills or building someone a better home to live in. You can use it for yourself, but only for things that you NEED. It can’t be used for buying a sports car or a mansion. If you can accept those limitations, then you can have it. If you can’t or won’t, then it will be offered to someone else.

Salvation is the best gift that we can be given. Why is it so good? Because you are being saved from an eternity away from God’s love and in the torment that was reserved for Satan and his demons. Salvation also gives you eternal life, which everyone seems to be chasing on Earth, yet we can’t get it in this life. We all have an eternal soul, but unless it is rejuvenated by Jesus and the Holy Spirit it will spend eternity with Satan and it is not going to be a party!

The Life that we get from the Holy Spirit is a gift from God for our belief in Jesus and His atonement for our sins. We can’t do anything to get it, purchase it or work for it because anything that is done in our own strength during this life is left here when we die. No tickets that we buy, no amount of gold or silver that we own, absolutely nothing that we acquire during this life will go with us when we die. The only part of me or you which goes to the judgement after we die is our soul. If you are a believing Christian when you die, all of your sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. If you are not, then you will be judged according to what you did and the words that you said during this life…ALL of them!

Seek Him while you have the chance and the time to make the commitment to live your days for Him by reading the Bible, prayer and learning about Him. Even if you only have a week left to live from some illness or if you may live for fifty more years, do it while you can. Because if  you were to have an accident on the highway tomorrow and get killed, you will be standing in front of God then and there won’t be a second chance.

Rainbows, Light and Love


In the late sixties it seemed that everyone was into rainbows and “free love” was everywhere. It was all just noise to me that I heard on the radio or on the news, I wasn’t old enough to participate. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t conjure up some imaginative thoughts though. I was about eight or so at the time, didn’t really like girls too much, but there were some that I thought were sorta cute.

Anyway, the rainbows were being used on flags and on the TV, I don’t remember exactly for what but I remember seeing them on there a lot. You have to realize, 1968 has been a while back and parts of my memory don’t work perfectly like they used to. The entire country was caught up in the Viet Nam war and the astronauts going to the moon, as well as a couple of people being shot. To a young mind at the time, it was just news and not very important.

What else was happening? My parents got divorced or were in the process of doing so, I really don’t remember much about it. I think my mind blocked a lot of it out. Dad dropped us off at my grandfather’s house when I was five and I rarely saw him from that point on.

My point in bringing up my childhood? Mainly it is about what you may remember and what you don’t. I can remember going to church with my parents when I was three and going to work with my Dad about the same time, once. But, again, why am I bringing this up for you to read? So that some of you will know that I am just as normal, just as messed up from my past as the rest of us. My life has not been perfect, never was and never really came close to it.

Later, after their divorce, when I became a teen I rebelled a lot. I didn’t get put into jail, but I drank alcohol before I was old enough to do so. I wrecked cars and put myself in the hospital because I was drunk. I smoked marijuana although I didn’t get into anything any worse than that. Now, I am ashamed of my past, but it is a past that doesn’t seem to be out of the ordinary today. Actually, it seems pretty tame compared to what you see and hear on the news.

The Light which I reference in the title is the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. At the time that I was speaking of there was a song out by the name of “Jesus Christ, Superstar” and a play too I believe. The funny thing is, they were actually making fun of Him and of those who believe in Him. I never understood that and still don’t. Jesus is the answer for many of the world’s problems today, individually and collectively but many people don’t see it that way.

God loves you and me. He loved me when I was being rebellious, though He didn’t like what I was doing at the time. He kept me in His love and protection though because He had something for me to do later. He has something for you to do as well. I don’t know what it is and you won’t find out what it is unless you ask Him into your life so that you can work for Him. It doesn’t matter how much longer you have in your life, even if you only have a week or a month, God will use your testimony to touch someone else. He will also welcome you into Heaven when you arrive.

Christianity, the step-child


So many truths to be spoken of and told to those who will listen and yet many will still not hear them. The job, the command which our Lord gave to us in His words: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation..” (Mark 16:15) It has been nearly two millennia since He ascended to His place at the right hand of God, and there are still those who will not accept the gospel as the Truth. Why is this?

Mainly, because of the atrocities of the church, in ages past, which persecuted people horribly for believing a doctrine different from that which it taught or they followed a different religion entirely. This is my opinion of course, not the real reason. The actual reason is that Satan and his legions have been perverting the gospel in ways through the reasoning of man over the centuries. Changing it subtly, a little at a time, so that the change wouldn’t be evident immediately. Also, because he wants to cause people to think that they are serving God, when in fact they are serving him and worshipping him.

How else could we have so many doctrines and beliefs in our world today. Many of them professing to be “the true church”, serving God in ways that would not be acceptable if Jesus were here. Changing scripture ever so slightly in words or by paraphrase so that the meaning is close to the gospel, but not quite. Counterfeit gospels like counterfeit money sound good and look good to the eye and to the ear, but they are worthless.

How can we, as Christians, show others the Truth of the gospel? One way would be by living it ourselves, another would be by telling others about Jesus and His love for them. While it is true that some will not want to listen or accept Jesus as their Savior, they need to be told. Because without hearing the gospel and its Truth, how will they know?

Why do I call Christianity a step-child? Because that is how it is treated by the world today. There are older religions in the world, but none make the claims of Christianity. There are newer religions in the world today, but many of them are only made up or based upon the imaginings or “visions” of one man. The difference between Christianity and all of the other religions is permission and accountability.

Christianity sets rules and boundaries which morally make sense and whether you are a Christian or not, those boundaries are known. The Truths which go along with them are known, whether you are a believer or not. These are known as the Ten Commandments and they are accepted as moral laws whether you are a believer or not. The problem which most have with them is that they tell you what you should do or not and they convict you of the things that you have done wrong.

This is what many people can’t stand. It is the conviction and the “rules” in Christianity. These rules are not so restrictive as to tell you what to wear or what to eat or who to marry or not, but they do show each of us that we are sinners regardless of how “righteous and holy” we think we may be! Without the grace extended to us from God through Jesus’ sacrifice, our holiness means nothing! When you accept Jesus as your Savior, then your life will be very different from what it was before. When, like Saul, you meet Him then your life and your heart changes and you are a new person. No longer caught up in this world and its problems and heartaches, even though there may be some afterward.

Jesus didn’t promise His followers that life would be without trouble. Satan doesn’t care about you or your life unless you decide to follow Jesus and tell others about Him. Then, you and those you love have a target on you and he will be after you from that point on. God’s angels will protect you and keep you safe, but if you let your guard down and allow him to get into your life somehow…even by accident, then he will cause you pain enough to turn you from God if he can.

Do you have everything that you need?


Many in the world’s countries don’t, at least from the world’s viewpoint. You notice that I put in the title “everything that you need“? I did not say anything about stuff that you want!

Wanting things and more things doesn’t give you anything but a storage building that you didn’t need but it is necessary because of the stuff that you wanted. So, now what will you do with it all? Store it in a building? What good does that do you?

What about the garage with status symbols in it that cost you more than your house payment every month? You have to put a hundred dollars worth of gas or diesel in those every week at least to keep them going. You have to replace the tires on them at about two hundred dollars apiece every so often. I know that they are necessary for you to go to work or maybe you use one of them for your job, and that’s fine. They are useful, but some stuff just isn’t and it gets your money and barely any notice after that, at times.

Our needs involve food, shelter, clothing, and health. I am not speaking of having more of any of these than others but just what you truly need. The best is good as long as it doesn’t cost you more than you can afford. Enough food is great for anyone, but more than you need is bad for you. Everyone knows this, but there are many who don’t seem to care because they want more.

Did you also notice that in your needs list, I didn’t have wealth. Why is that? Because in order to have your needs met you don’t need more money, you only need enough to take care of your needs. Wealth is for those who want to do it all and have it all and it is a good thing for some people. But, Jesus said that is would be “harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle”. Why is that? Simply because a rich or wealthy person doesn’t feel that they need Jesus, because they have every “thing” that they want and they have money to get what they need if that need arises.

Wealth can’t buy happiness or health though. Yes, you can pay your bills so it makes the stress level go down somewhat, but that isn’t happiness. If your health takes a turn toward the cancer ward or something happens to your child, your money can help you to have the best care that money can buy. But, what if that isn’t enough? What if there is no cure or amount of medication which will take care of the problem? Money’s just paper at that point.

Your needs, your life, your happiness, and your health are all important to God because He created you for a purpose. He cares for you and loves you far more than you even love yourself. I am not saying that all of your needs will automatically be taken care of if you trust in Jesus for your salvation. Your bank account won’t suddenly swell up with cash after you become a Christian (although that wouldn’t be a bad thing as long as you give God the glory for it). But, the love and the peace which comes with knowing Jesus and His Father will make even a diagnosis of incurable cancer bearable because you now have eternity in Heaven to thank Him for His love and grace for you. No amount of money or fame will ever fill that void in your life unless Jesus fills it.