Good Tuesday morning! Another day of great anniversaries or birthdays today. As you should know, today is the 234th birthday of the United States Marine Corps! Oorah! However, there is another that is so important that I can't believe the Commandant failed to mention it... the 40th birthday of Sesame Street! I wonder if generals have to give up watching Sesame Street? As it is a show aimed at preschool age children, I would imagine that most of us gave it up at least a few years ago. If you gave it up more than a century ago, congratulations on being really old! In the early part of the Bible, one hundred years old was nothin', as we like to say. The Bible tells us that what we consider to be really, really old, will one day be considered tragically young should a person die at that age. The Left Behind series of novels takes up this issue in the last couple of books, and that is an interesting issue. If only people who refuse to believe in Jesus die at a young age, one hundred in this case, as the Bible foretells, how would you feel if someone you knew suddenly died at that age? That is painful to think about!
I would rather think about Sesame Street, but as adults we have put aside childish things. However, we will yearn for the love of Jesus when we look at the complex chaos that is our world now. We read or view reports of exactly what Jesus warned us about: wars, rumors of war, earthquakes, and many other calamities. What did Jesus say about those events though? Right, don't worry about them! Not easy to do, but we have the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in these dark times. Even those who do not believe in Jesus seek certainty and comfort.
I meet with a friend fairly often who does not yet believe in Jesus. The question most on his mind in our meetings is: "what are you going to do?" I say that I will trust in God. And the response is always something like, "Yeah, but what are you going to DO?" To many the love of Jesus and trusting in God, are abstract concepts not useful in today's world. To those who do not believe: we cannot help ourselves by waiting on the Lord in stillness; nothing will happen if we don't make it happen; or God is not even real and we are fools for waiting on Him. When speaking with a friend who tells you these things explicitly or through his doubtful demeanor, we too can begin to doubt. What if my waiting is actually procrastinating? What if I should be looking for something else? What if I should go back and take a job for less salary? The doubts are whispers of the enemy of course, and what we need to do is look to Jesus, reading His Word daily and coming to Him in prayer.
Prayer, speaking of that, we are praying for a list of non-believers for a year at the suggestion of our Thursday night lessons. The year has barely begun and one thing I see already: my patience is not what it should be. The year of prayer might only be the beginning; we may need to pray over someone for decades! These days we expect instant answers to prayer, but God keeps his own timetable. A year of prayer for a specific person or need is a good exercise for us. We can learn much about patience and perseverance in a year.
God bless you on this great day of the Lord!
Bucky
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