The need to Read

    

    Imagine if you will there is a married couple and they are madly in love. with one another. Things are going great in there marriage and it would appear that their relationship will last.

    However one day the husband gets news from his boss that he has to go for a year overseas to a job site and unfortunately he will have to go alone. He goes home and talks it over with his wife. While she is not particularly fond of the idea of her husband leaving she knows that he has to do it to keep his job. He packs his bags and kisses his wife good bye and boards the plane. Before he leaves he promises his wife that he will write her every day. 

    Sure enough the Husband is devoted to writing a letter to his wife every day. He spends time sharing in his letters all that he is doing, how much he misses her. He spends money every week getting stamps and rushes out send to the mail room. 

    There is just one problem, his letters never arrived at the house and to make matters worse. His work was in a remote location where he had little to no access to a telephone for several weeks. 

    So what might be the response you suppose that husband is going to get when he finally gets ahold of his wife? What do you think his wife is thinking not getting any of those promised letters from her husband? I don't know exactly but I am sure it would not be good. I think we could all agree that the couple would have a little bit of a difficult time on there hands. 

    It has been proven time and time again that the number one problem in most relationships is either a lack of communication or poor communication. Sometimes it is that the people are not talking to one another. Other times the problem comes from not understanding what the other one is saying. Sometimes the problem is that they misunderstand what had been said or written down. 

    When we talk about our relationship with God communication is key as well. So many Christians fail to take the time to actually listen to what God has said in His word. So many Christians have never read ALL of the bible for themselves. There are so many Christians today who don't even take there bible with them to church. That would be like never opening any letters from your husband and answering the phone when he calls. 

    It really is sad to say this but for the first time in church history. The church is filled with people who are educated enough to read the bible. They have access to read the bible for themselves. They have various options to read the bible in a variety of translations. Yet the church is filled with Christians who are biblically illiterate. They can read it, they could read it, they just refuse to read it. 

    But does it really matter? Well here are just a few quotes from America's historically prominent men:

"That Book, sir, (the bible) is the rock on which our republic rests"- President Andrew Jackson

"It is impossible to righteously govern the world without God and the Bible- President George Washington

"The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world" - Charles Dickens

"It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a bible reading people- Horace Greeley

"I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on we realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily pursual of this Book (the bible) - President Woodrow Wilson 

     Reading the Bible is not just a good thing. Reading the bible and following it's instructions will enable you to find Christ as your all sufficient Savior. It will minimize your anxieties, decrease your appetite for lying, cheating, stealing, immorality and all manner of vice and sin. It will realize what true peace, lasting joy and unconditional love really is. Through it you will draw closer to God, and begin to align your life to God's purpose. Reading the bible is not just a good thing, it is vital for every believer in Christ.

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[a] may be complete, equipped for every good work.- 2 Tim 3:16

The blessing of Giving.

    William Allen White, a famous newspaper editor in Emporia, Kansas, once gave a 50 acre tract of land to the city for a park. 

    At the dedication of the park, Mr. White walked up to the poem and gave a small speech. In that speech Mr. White shared with the audience about the blessing of giving. Mr. White said this; 

    "There are three kicks in every dollar. One kick is when you make it, and boy how I love to make a dollar! One kick is when you save it and I have the Yankee's lust for saving a buck. The third kick is when you give it away, and that is the biggest kick of all" 

    Generosity is a virtue that we are grateful being the recipients of. Look back on your life and I am sure you will find a time in your life when someone was generous with you. When someone gave you some time to listen to you. Times when someone helped you with a problem you were having. Times when someone out of their own generosity gave you some money or some possession when you desperately needed it.

    The generosity of others has a way of bringing hope into a hopeless situation. It has a way of helping struggling individuals to get a little help that they need. It has a way of brightening someone's day. You and I have both felt those moments and we both know the blessings that they brought to our lives. 

    When I was 18 years old I had been going through one of the hardest experiences of my life. I remember how I had several people who came into my life at that time to help me out. I remember a man who helped me to get a checking account and walked me through it. I remember my Guidance Councilor who helped me get the help I needed and supported me though my last remaining months of Highschool. I remember a man who invited me to eat with him at a Fathers Day dinner. I remember how one of my best friends had helped me get my drivers license. All of these times and so much more blessed me in way's I am sure they never thought much about. All of these small acts of kindness and generosity gave me light in a very dark place. 

    However, I want you to know that generosity does not just bless those who are the recipients. I have found that generosity also blesses those who give as well. You see Generosity causes us to look beyond our own needs to meet the needs of others. It causes us to see the things that God has given us in our lives not to consume but to be generous with. It gives us a since of purpose and value as we meet the needs of others. It brings us joy seeing that our generosity has helped in some way to bring a little light in someone's life. 

    This is what Luke wanted his readers to remember about what Jesus said;

I have shown you all things, that working in this way we ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.-    (Act 20:35)

    What would the world look like if more and more of us would understand the blessings of being generous? Perhaps we would find that many of the troubles in this world could be resolved. We might find that the poor and needy among us would get the help they need. We might see the depressed and hurting people of the world would get the comfort they are looking for. We might see more and more people see the Light of Christ in us and be drawn from the darkness of this world. 

    And all of us would realize that it is truly more blessed to give than it is to receive.

A different perspective

     One question that I have heard many times before and you may have heard this question before. You may have even asked this question yourself. It's a question that many people ask after certain traumatic events. Events like the New Orleans attack this past week where 14 people were killed. 

    That question goes something like this "Why would God allow Good people to suffer?" or "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

    I remember a couple of years back I had a conversation with a man who was asking that very question. Which gave me an opportunity to share with him a few things that I have learned both from God's word and my own personal experiences with grief and hardships.

    The first thing I remember telling that man was that one of the major reasons why bad things happen is because we are filled with bad people. This man view point was that God was the source of all these troubles. In fact many times when this question is asked it is asked with the idea to put the blame on God. However, it's important to remember that this world is filled with sinful and depraved human beings in this world. 

    I continued telling this man that God's original design was created with perfection in mind. No disease, no sickness and no sin. All things that God had made was perfect and was in perfect order.

    So what happened? What went wrong? If God created the world in perfection where there is no diseases, sickness or sin, then why is there these things in the world today? Well the answer to that question is that we messed it all up. 

    God had given the two humans that He had created in his own image one simple rule to follow. We find in the book of  Genesis, that God told Adam not to eat of one tree. Simple right? Yet wouldn't you know it Adam and Eve failed to follow that one instruction. They turned from following God's design and went there own way (that is really what sin is; going our own way instead of following God's original design) 

    From that day on the mankind along with the entire world had been cursed and filled with all sorts of things that God has never designed or intended for us. 

    It's easy for us to try to point our finger at God and say it is all his fault. However, the truth of the matter it really is ours. All of us are sinful, and we live in a sinful world. All of us have been guilty of hurting other people to one degree or another. We have all said things that have caused pain and heartbreak to other people. All of us have acted selfishly. 

    So, Why do bad things happen to Good people...Well one reason is because we are all sinners who lived in a world of sin, that's why. 

    However I shared with that man something else that I think is important as we think about loss, and tragedy to keep in mind.  I told that man that we often look at situations in our lives from the wrong vantage point. As we look at situations in our lives we often look at it with a pessimistic point of view. We focus on a job that we lost, instead of focusing on the job God gave us for so many years. We focus on our declining health instead of focusing on the years we spent in good health. We will focus on losing someone we loved, instead of focusing on the years we were given with them as a blessing. 

    In fact we rarely thank God for the blessings in our lives, until those blessings in our lives are gone. That is when we tend to acknowledge God. When we feel the hurt and pain of losing a blessing God had given us, that we simply took for granted. Rarely do we look around us and look for the blessings that God has given us. Instead we look around us and look for the things that are missing, the things that are not right or as they should be.  

    Take tithing for instance. When we talk about tithing we often focus on the 10% we are called to give. There are many today who view tithing as an antiquated idea, one that we are no longer bound by. Really? You have a problem with giving 10% to God? You see the problem is that we have the wrong perspective. We look at the 10% we have to give, but not the 90% we get to keep. Does not 100% of what you have belong to God anyway? Without God you would not even have the tithe to give in the first place. 

    Here is the point that I want to make. Let's strive to focus on our blessings instead of our losses. When we are dealing with some tragic situation that we don't just focus on the negative. Instead, we look to God in it. That along with our grieving over our losses and pain, we don't fail to be reminded of the blessings we have been given to even experience our losses we have felt. That when tragedy strikes we don't jump to pointing our fingers at God, but instead we direct our prayers to Him. Lets try to remember that God is trying to fix the messes that we as mankind has made. 

As it is written, "He scattered; he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever." Now He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for eating, may He supply and multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your righteousness you being enriched in everything to all generosity, which works out thanksgiving to God through us.  - (2Co 9:9-11)