TGIF
We all know God works in mysterious ways! That is the way I began last week’s message, and that is the same way I feel again today! Last week God pointed me back to Max Lucado’s book He Still Moves Stones, and I couldn’t understand why. When I went back to that book to review the chapter I wrote a year ago, I happened to notice another chapter that stood out to me this time. That chapter was titled Forever Young with the subheading How to Love Growing Old. This story intrigued me so I read it and it is the motivation for today’s message. So maybe God’s plan last week was to get me back to Max Lucado to find this new chapter for this week – who knows, but I will stick by that story! This story is based on the following scripture:
Luke 17:33 – Whoever strives to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it.
In this message, Max tells us “There are two ways to view life,” Jesus is saying, “those who protect it or those who pursue it. The wisest are not the ones with the most years left in their life, but the most life in their years.” ….. Jesus says the options are clear. On one side there is the voice of safety. You can build a fire in the hearth, stay inside, and stay warm and dry and safe. You can’t get hurt if you if you never get out, right? ….. Or you can hear the voice of adventure – God’s adventure. Instead of building a fire in your hearth, build a fire in your heart. Follow God’s impulses.
Max then provides a quote from General Douglas MacArthur when he was 78 years old – “Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.”
Max continues And look at John, the aged apostle John. The last of the apostles. The dear friend of Jesus. Surely his final years will be quiet and restful. Surely John has done what he came to do. Nope. Don’t tell that to John. And don’t tell that to God. For neither of them was finished. John had one more chapter to write. What was intended to be an island of isolation became a place of inspiration, and in his final years John wrote the final book of the Bible. Could it be that all of John’s life had led to this moment? ….. Winston Churchill was worthy of taking a rest after World War II, but he didn’t take it. Instead, he took up a pen and won the Nobel Prize in literature at the age of 79. ….. As we get older, our vision should improve. Not our vision of earth but our vision of heaven. Those who have spent their life looking for heaven gain a skip in their step as the city comes into view.
What is my purpose in sending this message today? I have felt for awhile now a lot of frustration with the direction of our country and world. It seems like everything is spinning out of control more and more, including how people treat each other. There is so much hatred and anger and name calling being spewed today by so many people that one thing is clear to me – as a country and world we have lost our godliness! For the entire history of our country, we have had strong political feelings yet after an election people went back to being friends and they respected others different political opinions. Today that is not the case at all – too many people in our country and world will have nothing to do with those who have different political feelings.
I am convinced that this nastiness that has become so prevalent in our world today is mainly due to a lack of godliness in our country and world. The decline in people of faith – and of people showing their faith – has been going on for a long time in our country. I believe that the COVID experience we have gone through the past 3 years has exacerbated the decline in godliness in our world, of course along with the impact of social media! I believe there are two things we all must do immediately to change our world for the better.
One thing we need to do is make godliness the centerpiece of our individual lives. We need to be proud of our faith and want to share it with others. We cannot expect that it must be done by younger people, we have the experience, wisdom and love in our hearts to make the critical difference in our world. We need to set the example for our children and grandchildren to know God’s Word and to proudly share it with everyone we come into contact with in our world. We are in the prime of our life for this mission!
The second thing we need to do is pray that this US upcoming election will include a record number of Christians voting. I know that will include Godly people voting both for Democrats and Republicans for office, but we need people who are voting for people for the right reasons, that we can bring God back into our country and once again be a country who In God We Trust and that we are still One Nation Under God.
If we do not turn our nation back to a more Godly nation, we will allow our trust to be with human leaders rather than God.
Deuteronomy 6:5 – And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Be proud of the Lord and Savior who controls your heart and soul, be proud to share Him with others, make this your priority in life going forward.
1 Peter 3:15 – but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a .defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect.
May God continue to bless the United States of America as we continue to share our belief and be in His service …. as long as we have the breath of life!