As one gets older, two things start to occur in our thinking. Now before I identify those two signs of aging, they are an inseparable marriage in the Christian who is passionate about leaving a mark for Christ in their life. However, they are poles apart in the non-Christian and lukewarm, backslidden Christians. In fact, the second sign of aging is absent in the non-Christian and never thought of by the lukewarm, backslidden Christian. So, what are the aging signs?
Our lives often are nice neat packages of projects, responsibilities, schedules, and tasks. And that works in a lot of things but not when it comes to obeying the command of our Lord to “love one another.” He doesn’t give us a nice little handbook to follow. Nor does He gives us a pamphlet of three easy instructions to implement. No, like all things in the Christian life, He brings us to Himself. He is the “handbook”. He is the sheet of instructions. The simple words “just as I have loved you” force us to do two things, if we are to obey it.
When it comes to following the Lord Jesus and being a Christian who wants to make a difference in this world, motivation matters a lot. It is a Biblical reality that each of us will stand before Jesus and give a detailed account for all we did in this life (2 Corinthians 5:10). And what will be chief behind all we did will be our motive; what motivated us in life, what motivated us to do what we did in Jesus’ name.
The longer I live and observe the world around me, as well as the struggles within me, I am becoming more and more aware of the devastating and deceiving results of sin in the human experience. There are a lot of things which may be said of this, but I want us to ponder just two; the obsession with humans for happiness and the discontent caused by looking for it in all the wrong places.
Am I doing all I can to be Jesus to those who I can? Or am I so wrapped up in my own little world of family, ministry, personal pursuits, and pleasures that too many people could look at me and say what David says 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.” This challenge forces us to evaluate our Christianity. Christianity consists of three things. Let’s ponder them together.
PSALM 146:5-7 – Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. THEME OF THE DAY. THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE LORD. The Bible uses…