THOUGHTLESS THINKING!
Sunday’s Monday
I have noticed a growing trend of people posting thoughtless questions to God or people posting those feel-good prayers that have little to no substance. The latest example of this showed up on my page this morning: “I just want the whole world back to normal, to be healthy, happy, and loved.” This has only happened once in the history of the earth and that was before the introduction of sin. In man’s beginning, everything was perfect, and man’s world was healthy, happy, and loved, however that did not prove to be normal. As a man under the influence of Satan changed everything when Eve and Adam sinned against God. These requests are not biblical as the bible tells us just the opposite will happen. This world is spiraling downward into the depths of darkness, and we see it more prevalent with each new generation that comes along. What we see, is where we are in bible prophecy as a consequence of our continual selfish desire to sin.
It seems the world has taken a seat on the feel-good bus and lost sight of the end times and what that means. Think in terms of the birth of Jesus who is the only son of God and the fact He was born to die. His life on this earth was not that of which a royal would live, nor did things get any better as He got older. The prophecy written in Isaiah 53 explains the purpose of Jesus beyond any words I can think of. An extremely short version taken from Christianity.com reads, The person. (1-3) sufferings. (4-9) humiliation, and exaltation of Christ, are minutely described; with the blessings to mankind from his death (10-12). We tend to dismiss this part and rest in the assurance we belong to Jesus. Again, we downplay the fact that Jesus bought and paid for our freedom us with His Blood, as is described in 1 Peter 2:24-25 (NRSV), 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Jesus made a way for us to be reconciled with the Father.
Keep in mind that many people in countries which had heard of Jesus’s arrival failed to believe. They chose to ignore prophecy because of doubt, bigotry, and a host of self-centered reasons. Not much has changed over the thousands of years since Jesus was born. Just as then bible prophecy is being fulfilled a little more with each passing generation and all we see is what we desire. We repeatedly ask the same moronic questions as they did way back when. Questions like, what is this world coming to, or can you believe the kids today? We simply can’t see the truth behind what’s happening because our selfish shadow is blocking out the light. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NRSV) does an excellent job of explaining what is happening today, 3 You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!
Ronald Wallace author of Many Things in Parables says, “Jesus Christ never taught that the movement of earth’s history would take the form of a slow but steady development of the good upon this earth accompanied by the gradual elimination of evil. He taught rather that the more the good developed, the more evil might also develop to ripen with the good.” This world as a place is doomed to grow worse until Jesus returns to end it. However, this doesn’t mean our personal world of family, friends, spiritual brothers, and sisters can’t get better as we go. If we are truly preparing to meet Jesus our little world will get better as a side effect of our closeness with God. Our relationship with God is the key to our world as I realize I am powerless to help this big blue planet as a whole however, I’ve been given the God-given power to make the people I know, the places I go and the life I show, better because of Jesus. Looking at Mr. Wallace’s comment, I see the age-old situation of good versus evil not on a global scale but rather as, spirit versus flesh, which is a very personal situation. Again, Jesus is the answer to improve our personal immediate little world as God has already made the necessary arrangements for this planet as a whole.
Dear Lord, please give us the remembrance of Luke 10:27 (NRSV), 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” as our guide for making our world a better place. Help us to make someone’s world a little better place and in the process bring joy to you, them, and ourselves. Amen
HAVE A BLESSED WEEK BY BEING A BLESSING TO OTHERS!
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