Good Saturday morning! Ah, stuff stocked safely out of cat reach; I'm ready to sit down for some devotional writing. There is nothing quite so compelling to get a few purchases put away in the cupboard as the thought of a couple of cats entertaining themselves with your new bottles of this and that. Yes, the cats have trained me well. A bottle of Downy, or any other cleaning product from the store, costs just enough that a person really doesn't want to see it bounce off the floor too often. The manufacturer might say: "But our bottles are drop tested!" Of course, but did you drop test your product in my house with the added velocity of a cat push? And what good does the guarantee of a replacement do me when the kitchen is awash in fabric softener? I'll pass on the drop testing by cat. Easier and cleaner for me to just put in the effort right when I get home. Of course, while cats get a lot of bad press, as they are this morning, I haven't experienced the whole world of destruction that kids can cause. And I've forgotten my own efforts in that area from uh... 40 or so years ago. Yeesh! Has it been that long? We also know that those dear children are not the most destructive force in this world.
Sometimes it may seem like the world is out to get us. A quick reading of the news headlines on any typical day and we might feel the need to run home. But our homes are no havens of safety. If your cat drop tested the liquid soap, you might run into your house only to skid across the kitchen, down the stairs, and roll right into the sooty fireplace.
Shoof; yeek!, Ooof! thud, thud, thud, thud, roll, roll, CRASH! cough, cough, hack!
The cat will of course give your quivering, bruised, and sooty body the honor of a little kitty rub in hopes that you will come back to life long enough to fill the kitty food dish. We live in a dangerous world. Aaagh! Home isn't safe! You crawl out of the fireplace, ignore the cat, run up the stairs and get back into your car. Driving down the street at slightly faster than the speed limit you realize that the soap and soot have combined to form nasty black soap bubbles which are congregating on your windshield! Eww! (Wrong, I ain't going there.) You screech to a stop while the anti-lock brakes on your car prevent the tires from joining you, only to stop right in the final landing place of a giant satellite. The final blazing piece of this former billion dollar piece of equipment leaves a cute little dent in your car's hood.... "bink!" You suddenly realize that the car is not a haven of safety either. You smear the black bubbles out of your view. Eww! And drive home at a more sedate speed. Walk into the house and pet the cat (who still wants the food dish filled). There is no complete safe haven here on this earth for us, only a few relatively safe ones.
Long ago, someone told us to trust only in God. Then a bit later, another man told us that since we trust in God, we should also trust in Him. This same man also warned his disciples that believing in Him was no guarantee of a long, safe, and gentle decline into their old age. Jesus instead told his disciples that the world would hate them, persecute them, kill them, and just generally make life unsafe for them. We believe in Jesus and we don't get a free pass either. While we are gathered together, it may seem like the world isn't such a bad place. We may get into a little bit of a discussion over the finer points of theology, but no one hates us do they? In that environment, probably not; at least the haters will tend to hide it well in church gatherings. On the other hand, a simple change in surroundings and we might feel the full brunt of the world's hate. Christians gathered together in Nazi Germany too. Some found out the Jews were not Hitler's only targets for his hate. This world is not safe for us.
While this life is not safe, our eternal life is very safely kept for us by the same man who Peter, Paul, John, and the other disciples believed in many centuries back. Jesus is the Christ, and his guarantee of eternal life for those who will believe is stated in no uncertain terms in His Word, the Bible. We have no worries for eternity, and Jesus himself told us that we have no worries for tomorrow. We can conjure up images of all sorts of peril, danger, and mortal adversity to worry our little heads in this life, but trusting in God and the salvation of His Son is the only sure answer.
Have a wonderful Saturday!
Bucky
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