Month: July 2019

There seems to be a feeling of despair and hopelessness that is growing and growing. It isn’t limited to a certain age group, a social class, a race or even a country. Everywhere I look, so many people are feeling worse and worse.

It feels like there is nothing that one can do to make things right again. Not only is the world spinning out of control, but day-to-day living and decisions seem almost impossible to deal with.

Someone recently told me they were tired of “adulting”. As that individual was well into their thirties, it seemed a pretty strange thing to say.

That was, until I gave it more thought. What they were saying was that they wished that they still were a child and that they had a parent to deal with all of the struggles of life. A parent who would protect them and keep them safe at times when safety seems to be so far away.

For much of the human race, the prospect of living this life seems to be a arduous task. Not only that, at the end of it all, you die. That makes it tough for the non-Christians in this world to even want to try to make it through.

They may think it would be easier to just give up. That may be one of the reasons that euthanasia has been growing in popularity. That’s a fancy word for allowing people to kill themselves without trying to stop them.

Sadly, it is also something that they do to their own children. In some countries, this is legal and doesn’t take a tremendously high bar to meet in order to get it accomplished.

It must be that they are hopeless either for themselves or for their family. It’s that same sort of wrong-headed feeling that leads some parents to kill their spouses and children when they, themselves, decide to commit suicide.

It is a deep and dark cloud. I’ve experienced it myself. It can only be God who stopped me short of actually killing myself. Sometime in the future, I will talk about this period of my life in greater detail. But, for the moment, I want to say I understand.

It feels like everything will be better or there will be an end to suffering and sadness. I can only speak for myself and say, I was wrong to ever think that way. When I realized that I wasn’t going to die, I was so thankful. I was only a teenager but I knew that I wanted to live after all.

It was still several years before I became a Christian. During those years, I did all sorts of things that I regret to this day. While I wanted to live, I felt as if I should do what I wanted because there was nothing special to live for. It was a matter of doing what I thought would make me happy from moment to moment.

The problem is, nothing really made me happy beyond a fleeting feeling of satisfaction at doing my own thing and breaking rules that my mother had tried to enforce on me. I was so lonely and no one and nothing seemed to break through.

I was still feeling hopeless about the future. Every time I thought I saw a way to a better future, something would come up and smack me right back down.

For instance, because I was poor, there was only one way for me to go to college and that was through a scholarship.

I was well on my way to getting that dream accomplished when, due to where we moved, I had to change schools mid-semester in high school. Because the Los Angeles school district didn’t teach the advanced classes I was taking, they gave me drop fails. I plummeted from a straight A average to B- average in the blink of an eye.

There went my hopes for a scholarship. No one had ever bothered to talk to me about grants or student loans. I guess that B- average didn’t merit that type of discussion.

To tell the truth, looking back, I can see that this type of disappointment was minor compared to what other people struggle through. Notwithstanding that, it still gave me the same feeling that life was going to beat me down each time I started to raise up and that I would never be able to lift myself up again permanently.

It was when I was at my lowest point in life, when I knew that I was as much of a monster as any that I had had in my life, that I was ready to look for the true answer.

You see, I could not love myself but I discovered that Jesus loved me just as I was. He looked at me, all those years ago, and said you are worth love; you are worth my sacrifice. I want to spend eternity with you. I want to help you and to lift the burden from your shoulders.

I remembering crying and crying because I was loved. I knew that I didn’t deserve it but I knew that it was real. It amazed me that the same God who created the universe and was all good and all holy, could find it in his heart to care about me in all my wretchedness.

When I woke up the next morning, life had changed. At the time, it felt like the world was brighter and that the sun was shining more. I walked out into the daylight and was happy.

Today, I realize that the world didn’t change. What changed was me. I was no longer looking at the world as a dark and forbidding place that was going to drag me down. I had something to believe in. I had a future. I was never going to be alone again.

I had hope.

Ever since then, even through many trials, struggles and very sad times, I have never lost that feeling of hope.

Jesus came into a world that was hopelessly broken. Because of him, the people of the world were given hope of a new future. We know there will come a time when this world will pass away and God will create a new and pristine one. That is where those who have accepted Jesus as their savior will live with God forever and ever.

That is the promise and hope that I cling to. I know that God has me in his hands and will protect me. Someday I will die because all of us will. That is when the hope I have lived with since I was eighteen will be fulfilled.

In the meantime, God wants his believers to do the tasks he has called us to do. One of the most important of these tasks is to tell others about him and how they can have the peace of hope in their lives, too.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Some days it feels like the circumstances of life are overwhelming. The problems and issues that I face seem beyond me. What’s interesting is that this is how I have felt for what seems like forever.

Maybe when I was a young child, I was unaware of the troubles of life and my view of problems had more to do with my siblings and whether or not I would get what I wanted for my birthday.

Once I was old enough to think about things from a more worldly perspective, I became troubled. Some nights it was difficult to find sleep. My brain would start trying to work through problems or simply relive, over and over again, the simple fact that the problems existed.

I don’t think I am alone in this. I think that most people are troubled by the world around them. They worry about everything from what vacation to take, what fancy car to buy to those who are seriously worried about how to put food on the table, provide shelter for their family or any of the other necessities of life.

Worry and anxiety are real. They can bring a person low and keep them there. For some, there is a chemical imbalance and seeing a doctor for medicine is needed.

For others, it is important to talk through their problems. Having a counselor that you can trust is a great way to air these issues out loud.

It’s interesting that many people will take medicine and that many more, including those individuals, are not willing to talk to counselors. I guess taking medicine means you have an illness and the pills will make you well.

Seeing a counselor means you have a mental health issue and not many people are willing to admit that. They would rather just hold onto their problems than to admit they need a different kind of help.

Although these types solutions work for some, what is needed by everyone is the ability and the willingness to talk to the Great Counselor. God is there and is waiting to hear everything you have to say. He won’t judge you, during this life, by what is going on in your head. He loves you and wants to spend time with you.

The only truly unforgivable thing that can happen, according to God, is if you fail to accept Jesus as your savior during your lifetime. This failure will, indeed, cause you to be judged for your sins with the time comes for God to judge the world.

In the meantime, you can solve this problem by becoming a follower of Christ. That will open the avenue of conversation between you and God. You can talk to him and he will answer.

That’s not to say that you will like his answer but his answer will be what is good and true. It will be just what you need when you need it instead of what you want.

God doesn’t want us to live fretfully. He wants us to live a life that is filled with joy. He wants us to give thanks in our circumstances no matter how dire those times may seem.

It’s awfully hard to say thank you when the thing you are thanking God for is hurtful, painful or worse. Still, he has a plan and what you are going through is part of that plan.

It may be that the hard time is what is needed to bring you to God and to Jesus as your savior. As a Christian, it may be that the circumstance that is so difficult is what is needed to put you back on the path that God has asked you to walk.

We have a hearing problem sometimes. We ask for help but seem to be deaf when the answer is something we don’t like. We need to open our ears and our hearts to see our lives from God’s perspective.

When we do, we will find that there is something bigger and better waiting for us. It may be in this life or it may be once we are in heaven, but whichever it is, it will help put the problems of life in their place. It will change our focus and allow us to stop worrying so much and to have God’s joy once again.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

There seems to be a huge focus on apocalyptic movies, television shows and books today. There is a fear that is growing that the world is going to come to a horrific end. The reasons vary from nuclear war, alien invasion, asteroids, pandemics, volcanos, earthquakes and whatever is the disaster of the week, that week.

Most people speak of this time with a sense of foreboding. They don’t know why these things are happening more and more often. They look for reasons that are man-made and thus, are under the control of man to correct.

They say, stop doing whatever it is that we are doing that, in truth, they simply disagree with. They are using fear tactics to draw others into agreement with them on whatever issue it is.

Others are simply afraid. Is the end going to be because of nuclear war? Stop using nuclear power! Maybe the end will come because of climate change (a fancy word for weather), so stop using oil-based power and instead use nuclear power. These arguments can go in circular fashion until it makes your mind want to spin out of your head and across the room.

To be honest, fear of a pandemic is merited. We have caused superbugs to grow with our use of antibiotics. I remember when the antibiotic soap craze started. My concern, at that time, was that we would start killing off bacteria indiscriminately and cause more issues in the end. That is certainly one of the things that has contributed to this issue.

People are avoiding vaccinations because of the potential issues that can arise because of the shots. While there may be merit to their argument for a small segment of people, we seem to have forgotten that these diseases were almost uncontrollable killers in the past. When they arise again, they will kill more and more people because of the speed with which the virus can spread today.

I remember when I first read a book by Hal Lindsey. It was called, “The Late Great Planet Earth”. I wasn’t Christian when I read it and I didn’t turn to Christianity because of it. However, it was the first time I had read about what the Bible has to say about the end of our times and the destruction that would be poured out on the earth during a period called The Great Tribulation.

What was interesting to me then and now, is that the chapters in the Bible that deal with this issue made sense. In previous generations, the descriptions would have been unfathomable and would and did cause people to consider them to be allegorical. They would consider them simply a story that meant something else.

For me, reading the prophesy about end times sounded realistic and chilling. Today, it sounds almost like something you would read on the day-to-day internet news.

People have a reason to be concerned about disaster. The Bible tells us that there will be seven years of increasing disasters with the final three and a half years accelerating at an incredible rate. It tells us that this is God’s way of trying to get the attention of those who are stiff-necked and hard of heart.

It will simply take that much to get some individuals to stop and realize that the God of creation is, in fact, who he says he is. Some of them will understand that there is still time to accept the salvation of Jesus. Sadly, many will not turn to the God of the Bible. They will turn to a man who represents himself as a god.

It isn’t that God is allowing this to happen because he hates people. He loves them. He is going to do whatever he has to do to get their attention.

The things that we fear will all come to pass (well, except for the alien invasion, though the forces of Satan that are poured out over the land may feel like an invasion.)

There will be terrible catastrophes. Earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, things falling from the sky. These disasters will kill people, animals and vegetation. They will poison the air and water. They will cause men (and women) to die from fear even before the actual events kill them. There will also be pandemics (more than one.)

In the Bible, Jesus talks about this period of time. He tells us that we will know that the end is coming when all of these types of events start happening with increasing frequency and intensity. He compares them to the labor pains of a woman.

Women who have had children will understand what this means. It will start slow as something that can be tolerated and then build to a point of incredible suffering. However, unlike birth pains which result in the birth of a baby, these events will result in the death of our planet.

The good news for Christians is that God has promised a new heaven and a new earth for those who have accepted the gift of salvation that Jesus died to provide to them.

The bad news is for those who don’t accept Jesus. This world is going to end one day and then eternity will begin. For those who are not born-again Christians, eternity will be a place of untold suffering and eternal separation from God.

It doesn’t have to be like that. It takes only the smallest of faith to look to Jesus and accept him as God in flesh. You only have to accept that he lived sinlessly and died in our place to provide us with a covering for our sins. And finally, accept that he arose from the dead by his own power.

That last one is a sticking point for some including some who profess to be Christians. How can anyone rise from the dead? If you believe that Jesus is the Creator of the Universe, how can you question that he can restore life to himself? He created everything because he is the Word of God that spoke and it all came into being instantaneously. It is that same power that caused him to breathe again and for life to pour back into his buried body.

This time, though, his body had changed. It had become eternal and is the promise of what his believers will someday have as well.

So, for me, the stories in the news of the end of the world aren’t ridiculous (again, except for those aliens.) They are something that tells me that Jesus is coming again soon for his believers. It tells me that time is short and I need to tell others about him before it is too late.

Matthew 24:29-35

“Immediately after the distress of those days

‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

It is difficult to talk with people about anything of importance. Discussions seem to be about trivial or superficial subjects. Even at that, is getting increasingly more difficult those as well.

Today, talking to one another about the weather or how much the cost of groceries have gone up can bring about an argument of epic proportions. Talking about your favorite TV show, movie, or song seem like easy topics of conversation but only if you talk about them lightly without expressing much of an opinion.

When you think about speaking of things that are of importance, that it is very easy to retreat and not say anything at all. You don’t want to offend anyone, after all.

However, today, it is almost impossible to open your mouth and say anything without offending someone somewhere. If, for instance, you talk about the weather that day, it might turn into a heated discourse on climate change theory. Better just not to go there at all.

Movies, TV shows, songs and books also can suffer a similar fate. I don’t like many modern movies or TV shows, so talking to me about them is a bit like talking to a wall. Your words will probably bounce off me and won’t mean a thing at all. To some people, your opinion would be the opposite of theirs and there are those would will take offense at what you like or don’t like about such things.

If you look around, odds are good, that you will see that where people group together, the individuals who used to speak to one another are now grouping together and then individually spending time checking out their phones and social media accounts. In the end, why bother to join a group if all you are doing is spending time by yourself?

It’s almost gotten to the point where most people would rather hole up in their homes and let the rest of the world simply fade away. That way there is no danger of offending anyone. You never know when someone who takes offense at your words, turns out to be more than slightly crazy and may threaten you or your family.

Think about how often you hear about individuals receiving death threats for things that they have done or said. For that matter, some people get death threats based on what the media has said that they have done or said when they never really said or did any such thing.

In the area of discourse, there topics of discussion which are generally avoided at all costs. Politics and religion. Well, people have deep-rooted ties to the political party or affiliation they vote for.

It used to be that people could have a fairly civil talk about politics… who am I kidding? Look back at some of the slurs that politicians cast at each other even back in the early 1800s. The thing is that more people are likely to take insane actions today. It is more than just heated discussions, it can be taking your life in your hands (or mouth.)

If talking about politics is hard to do, religion is even more difficult to talk about. That is, if you are discussing Christianity. It seems that any other religion or spiritual discussion is allowed and even sometimes promoted.

Christianity seems to have been singled out to be, at the same time, the most loved and most hated of all religions. Those who follow Christ, love that they are Christians. They will speak to other Christians (most of the time.)

Hated? Yes, the rest of the world has pretty much a hate relationship with Jesus Christ and God and, by extension, with Christians. How dare Christianity try to say that a person is a sinner? Who told them that they could decide the moral code for the world.

Many people prefer to create their own type of spiritualism. They will say they are spiritual, they don’t say they are religious. If someone says someone else is religious, that is their way of saying, essentially, that individual is nothing more than a pious hypocrite.

Actually, as a Christian, I would never say I am religious. I am a sinner who has been saved by Jesus Christ. I still struggle everyday to do what Jesus has asked us to do. I still break God’s rules (he is the one that provided the moral code for the world and not man.) The idea of saying that I am a good Christian woman is laughable. Who defines what is good? I am a sinner, the same as everyone else on this planet.

I find it hard to talk about Christ though I am learning to do so even when it makes my stomach twist in knots and I find light beads of perspiration breaking out on my forehead. Still, I try to step into a discussion when God opens a door for me to go through. I’ve learned not to ever force a discussion or even an issue. Arguing about Christianity is certainly not something Jesus told us to do.

Most Christians don’t even know how to talk to others about Jesus. That’s actually easy. All you ever have to do is tell others about something that has happened to you. No one can ever argue with you about something that you did or said. They may not like what it is but they can’t say that you didn’t say or do something when you did.

So, you talk about yourself and, if you really want to get someone’s attention, tell them about your failings and how Jesus was able to forgive you and help you.

The thing that I find most difficult and, I think, is what is the biggest stumbling block for Christ-followers, is sharing the gospel and not knowing enough about the history of my religion. It makes it almost impossible to know how to answer questions that others may have about Christianity.

This isn’t so easily dealt with. This is not about your past, it is about the Bible and what God has said and done.

To be honest, there is only one way that I am aware of for individuals to answer questions. That is to study the Bible on an on-going basis.

In the past, churches would have serious adult Bible study classes in addition to the Sunday sermons. The churches I went to, when I was younger, had these classes on Wednesday evenings. Somehow and somewhere along the line, those Bible study classes morphed into small group meetings.

Some churches call them life groups, some small groups, some even call them home groups (because they are generally held in some individual’s home.) I’ve found that these groups, again generally, talk about the sermon that was preached the Sunday before. They no longer study the books of the Bible.

I believe this change to be a huge loss. If Christians were to study the Bible intently and within a church setting (where they could ask questions of the pastors), they would be more able to answer questions about their faith. Not only for others but also questions and doubts that they themselves experience.

I tried to bring this issue to individuals in charge of such things at my church. It didn’t go anywhere. It seems it is easier to meet in those small groups and even have weekly meetings studying Christian books but not meeting to study the actual books of the Bible.

I’m not giving up, though. I will continue to ask for this at my church. It might be time for me to approach the senior pastor and ask what he thinks. Apparently, I even have problems talking about the Bible right in my own church!

Whether or not your church has serious Bible studies, let me recommend that you do your own rather than none. Get a good translation Bible with a study included in it and start there.

It is time to learn what we need to know in order to defend our faith and to be able to speak with some knowledge to others. I’ve found that in speaking to others, my own faith has grown. I’m sure that will happen to you too, if you take that big step and do as Jesus asked us to do and spread the good news of his incredible sacrifice and gift of salvation.

Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”