To Do or Not To Do? That is the Question

    Some questions are easy to answer and others are more difficult.  That was not a profound statement but one that is rather obvious.  Easy questions are those that you can answer quickly and that require little thought.  Others, might take a bit more time.  The rich young man came to the Lord Jesus Christ and asked a question, "What do I need to do in order to have eternal life?"  He figured that there must be one major thing that he could do and then have eternal life in the end.  For him, it was all about works.    First john 5:11-13 says, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.   These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
       The  response in unbelief of the rich young man's question, might be "Duh!"  This would indicate that to us the answer is indeed simple.  It is so simple that one shouldn't even ask the question.  People, however, do ask the question and for many they go away sad because they refuse the answer that is so obvious.  It is an obvious answer, but it is also a simple answer, and we don't like things that are simple.  We want to complicate them with a long list of things to do.  This was the problem with the rich young man.  He wanted to know what he could "do."  This was my problem for many years.  I wanted to find something that I could do that would make me have a good standing with God, and then in the end, have eternal life.  That's when my fellow clarinet instructor and best man at our wedding, Ron Riley, came by my teaching "cubicle" and quoted First John 5:11-12 and then left.  He said nothing else.  Those verses answered my question,  If you have the Son, then you have eternal life.  If you don't have the Son, you don't have life.  Now, if the Bible's answer doesn't square with the world's answer, which one do you chose as being right?  Again, Duh!  We take the answer that is Biblical over any other view, opinion, guesswork or imagination.  He that has the Son has life.  Praise God today that He still is in the business of granting eternal life.

When Trouble Comes

       Our church decided not to have services on Sunday evening, October 29.  Well, it came time to go to church and my wife wanted to go somewhere so I chose two churches that would be a possibility.  One large church near us has changed their Sunday evening activity to what they call "Campus Groups."   I had no idea what that meant, so decided to go to Grace Church in Roanoke.  Upon arriving at the church, there was a sign on the door which said, "No Evening Services on October 29."  So, we left.  I could have chose a couple of churches of different doctrines, but ended up at home.  I tuned in Sermon Audio on the internet and found a church in Greenville, NC.  I tuned it in and was blessed beyond measure with a message from the new president of Bob Jones University, Dr. Pettit.  My spelling of his name is questionable, but it was an excellent message on "trouble."   James 1:2 says, " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;"  
      What do you do when "trouble" comes into your life?  That was the major question that the speaker addressed in his message.  Certainly, we all are confronted with "trouble" in our lives.  It can come from sickness, loss of a job or a loved one, discouragement, depression, or any other interruption into our perfect lives.  One of things mentioned of course in the Book of James is the consideration of joy.  Now, who wants to do that?  When trouble comes into our lives, it is rather hard for us to be happy about it.  God, on the other hand, uses trouble to develop our faith.  James goes on to say that this trouble is going to improve your faith.  Once the trouble gets taken care of, guess what?  You get another one.  Not only that, you might get two or three, or even four more at the same time.  The speaker went on to say that when trouble comes into his life, he immediately goes to the Book of Psalms.  He stated that the Book of Psalms is like a medical IV for trouble.  All of the Psalms are good.  They all work.  So, praise God today even for the trouble that comes into your life.  That means you are still growing in your faith.

What Is This Stuff?

        Have you ever come to a place in your life where you didn't know where the provisions for the next day would come?  I have long trusted in God and that He would provide during different times in my life.  I am at the point now where I can say that God has never failed me in the past so i don't expect He is going to start now.  One of the biggest changes in our lives occurred when I entered Washington Bible College as a full time student with a family to support, house payments, car payments and the list goes on.  We lived comfortably in our home in Alexandria, Virginia and I was working with A. T. and T. at the time when I decided to go into the ministry.  We never missed a house payment, car payment or any other bill during those years, even the bills that came in regard to my education.  I can and do say that God provided in each and every situation.  Exodus 16:4 says, "Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no."
       The Israelites had, what they considered to be, a good life in Egypt.  They continually reminded Moses of all the wonderful food and water they had while living and being the slaves of the Pharaoh. So, while in Egypt, they complained and God answered.  It wasn't perhaps the answer that they expected, but God rained down a new "food" for them to eat.  They simply called it "Manna" which means, "What is this stuff?"  There was no Kroger or Safeway or Seven Eleven around the next bend.  They woke up and there it was.  Instructions were given and the people had a new food.  The lessons grew from this supply to the people as they wandered in the wilderness.  The bread continued to fall as God prescribed until they entered the Promised Land.  Then, the provision stopped and they ate the "corn of the land."  God always supplies our needs.  There may be those times today, tomorrow and the days to come, where you don't know how you are going to make it, but God will take care of you.  We can have perfect peace by trusting in God as the Scripture reminds us in Isaiah 26:3.  We often worry and fret over the things of this life when they are always in God's hands.  So, praise God today for His provision and you will soon realize that God has never failed you in the past and He isn't about to start.

God is Faithful

      They say that there are two words that we should not use.  One of them is "always" and the other one is "never."  If I say that I always obey the law when I am driving my car, I am probably not 100% correct.  If I also say that I will "never" break the law while driving, I would be equally in the wrong.  These are two words that we can't use.  We don't know what circumstances are going to come into our lives that will suddenly thrust us right in the middle of the thing that we have been so ardently against.  There is only one who can use these words.  That is God.  Notice the following verse.  Hebrews 13:5 says, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."  
       Did you notice that word "never?"  Now, if I were to say that I will "never leave thee nor forsake thee" it wouldn't be worth very much.  But, when God says the same thing it is worth a whole lot.  In fact, we can rest in the truth of this verse of Scripture because of the character of God.  People change and they change quite often.  God, on the other hand, doesn't change.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  There is nothing about Him that is going to change.  Therefore, we can rest in the promises that He has made such as this one which reminds us that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  He won't give up on us when we fall down.  He won't cast us aside just because we did the wrong thing.  God never gives up on His own.  This is why we have His Book, the Bible, to inform us of what we are supposed to be doing and how we are to live this life.  Now, there might be times when you feel as if God has left you and given up on you but know that this is not the case.  How can we say that?  Because God has said in His infallible Word that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  You can rest in that truth no matter how you feel nor how many things happen to you.  So, praise God today for His presence in your life and the fact that He won't forget you.  You can also praise Him that He will "never" leave you because that is one of His promises to us.

Doing the Good Things

        I mentioned recently about instructions that one gets in products that you have to assemble or at least put some batteries in somewhere.  The instructions also tell us some of the benefits of the new device before you.  You may even find out that it does more than you expected.  My Kindle woke up one day and said that "Alexa" could help me.  I didn't even know I could get Alexa on my Kindle.  Then, it said for me to ask it a question when the blue light was on.  I wondered, "What blue light?  I don't see any blue light."  Then, I held my finger on a little circle for longer than usual and suddenly a blue light appeared.  I spoke and Alexa answered.  There are a lot of things in this life that we don't know fully all that we have.  I don't understand all of the features of my microwave, camera, computer, Kindle and the list goes on.  Nevertheless, they are all capable of doing more than I expected.   James 4:17 says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 
     We may not know all of the benefits or instructions about our spiritual lives.  We are sometimes even surprised when God responds and we suddenly know that it was God Who did it.  There is another side of this when we realize that there are instructions for us to do but we fail to do them.  When we stay in God's Word, we do get a set of instructions that tell us how to live.  I am always reminded about the 38 imperatives in the Book of Ephesians.  These are all good things to do.  Imperatives are statements that tell us to do something and there should be no question about it.  James reminds us that to fail to do those "good" things is sin.  We sometimes think that doing bad things is sin.  That is true, but also failing to do the good things are also considered to be sins.  You can dump a pail of cold water on a believer who is being blessed by the Spirit in his life and you have then "quenched the Spirit."  You may also fail to forgive someone.  It  would have been good if you had done so, but you failed to do it and held on to the grudge in spite of God's instruction.  You may have failed to show love to that person who is hurting or you may have held back financially in spite of a brother's or sister's need.  There may be a lot of blessings that we don't know about in our Christian life but there are many things in this same life that we know that we should do but fail to do so.  Guess what?  That's sin.  You may have been successful in keeping from the temptations of sin this week, but you may have also failed to do the "good things" that God required of you in your relationships with others.  Praise God today He guides us in our spiritual lives.  Are you following His instructions?

Step by Step

     Many of the things I purchase these days have a little pamphlet in them which will say something similar to "quick start", or "Introducing your product."  The steps are set forth in the most simple way indicating how you can begin using your product.  I got a new blood sugar monitoring meter recently and there were two pamphlets inside, well actually three as one of them was in Spanish.  The English ones included the full instruction booklet of over a hundred pages and then there was the quick start one that had the list of easy steps.  It would begin with a listing of what was in the box and where to insert or check the battery and then went through a number of steps all the way down to measuring your sugar level in your blood.  Steps are important in the simple things in life.  If you follow them, things turn out the way they should.  When you skip a step, forget a step or ignore a step, things don't come out all right.   Psalm 37:23-24 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand." 
     This is a comforting thought for the believer.  There are steps in our Christian life.  We don't even know all that they entail, but we know they are there.  A verse or thought like today's verse, reminds us that God is the one who set up the steps in the first place.  He knows the way in which we should go and how we are going to get there.  That is contained in the word,"ordered."  One definition includes the following:  "to be firm, be stable, be established."  God establishes our steps.   Do you sometimes wonder what God is doing in your life?  I recall going down the steps at one of the churches where I was the associate pastor.  It was dark and I thought I was at the bottom, but there was one more step.  I had quite a fall because I missed the last step.  It will be comforting for us to know that God has our steps all lined up and you will not miss one that He has for you.  You may not understand all of them, but God does.  You can go out in confidence today realizing that God has ordered, or established, your steps today and actually each and every day.  Praise God today that He has a hold on our hands.

Misplaced Priorities

     What's important in your life?  Where do you have your priorities?  What things are important in your life and what things don't really matter too much at all?  I mentioned a few days ago about getting rid of things that we don't need within a year.  We may consider out hoarding of earthly treasures as "recycling" or giving our accumulated boxes of unused material some other fancy name.  I often have to defend my own collection of used faucet parts as being somewhat necessary for the preservation of life.  I think, though, that the issue comes down to priorities.  It is an issue in which I have been challenged in my own life and especially for the church in America whose abundance in technological advances, information and devices to instill comfort have lulled it into a sense of apathy as a result of misplaced priorities.  What is important?   Matthew 19:21-22 says,  "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions."  
     In the account of the young rich man, we find an individual who had a lot of concern for his earthly possessions.  He asked the right question.  He was concerned about eternal life.  He wanted to have eternal life, but obviously, didn't like the answer that Jesus gave him.  What was more important to the rich young m his possessions?  In the end, of course as the narration goes on, the man walked away empty handed.  He refused to do what Christ told him to do.  He went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.  The priority had been placed on the possessions rather than the eternal life.  He didn't like the answer.  There are many affluent believers in the world today who have the same goals of the rich young man.  They want to have their cake and eat it too, as the saying goes.  They want to have their possessions and get eternal life in the end anyway.  Riches are not wrong, but they become more like idols in our lives.  Riches are also the things that we accumulate in our lives that also bring responsibility.  I probably will always be haunted by the fact that 96% of the church's money goes to minister to 4% of the people, i.e., the believers of the American church.  Money for missions is reduced to a ridiculous level.  One man quoted that we spend more on dog food than we do on missions.  The priority has shifted and the material things are more important in our lives than the spreading of the gospel.  It is sad that many will end up missing eternal life because of their own desire for material things in their lives.  Where are your priorities in life?  What is important to you?  Don't be like the rich young man who walked away sad.  Praise God today that He offers the best gift ever and that it is free to all who would receive it.