Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

May It Never Be So

PSALM 142:4 – Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. “

THEME OF THE DAY:  MAY IT NEVER BE SO.  When reading my Bible and I come across today’s scripture, I pause and ponder two thoughts. They are soul-searching. First, “Am I conscious of all the people in my spheres of influence – neighbors, other believers in my church, and people God brings into my life that might feel that way – alone, abandoned, and neglected?”  And that leads to my second thought which is extremely serious and often quite exposing, even convicting – “Are there hurting people in my spheres of influence that could look at me and say what David does in today’s scripture – Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul? For it to be said of Christians and churches, “They don’t care” and for the statement to be true because we live in our selfish worlds of “me, my, and mine”, never reaching out to others with Christ’s love, is the worst indictment we may receive revealing the worst spiritual condition we may be in.  May it never be so!  And to help us strive so it won’t ever be so, let’s look at this from two directions, and that of warning.

First, if anyone would rightly be able to say of us, professing Christians, “They don’t care” is to receive the worst indictment possible as a professing follower of Jesus Christ. Why?  It betrays the core and fundamental truth of being a Christian and that is love. We are to be a people under the control of Christ’s love which ALWAYS leads to loving other people and that by sacrificial service and investment in them – For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Think about the self-deception here. If I, or we, proclaim to know the God who is love but yet remain detached, uninvolved, and even uncaring toward people, we are living a lie.  Really!  It is the height of contradiction!  That alone should cause us to examine our profession of the faith to ensure it is validated by our practice of the faith. Love acts.  Love moves.  Love does.

Another truth to consider by way of warning.  To not see hurting people; to not reach out in love to sad people; to remain blinded to the suffering around us; to ignore the lonely and broken people, but yet believe we are spiritually right with God, walking close to the Lord Jesus, and being a healthy Christian is to find ourselves in the worst of spiritual conditions – a backslider with a cold heart.  Remember these words of the Apostle John – Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which He walked (1 John 2:6). Friends, the only healthy Christian is the obedient Christian.  The only joyful and influential Christian is the one striving to be like Jesus toward people and that by walking obediently under the control of His love.

So, all the lonely people in the world.  Do we see them?  Do we see them with our hearts?  Is our seeing leading to our seeking them to show them by word and deed the love of Jesus?  May it never be said of any of us, “I looked to the left and to the right. They don’t care.”

 PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I am so wrapped up in my world of me, my, and mine that I don’t reach out to others.”

QUOTE: “For it to be said of Christians, ‘They don’t care’ and for that to be true is the worst indictment we may receive.”

Because of Him,

Pastor Jim