A good deal of our time in the last few weeks before Christmas is been spent in the selecting and the giving of gifts to one another. Now in some instances we just try to find something, no matter what, that we can give to another person. But so very often we try to look for what we think would be the perfect gift for them.
Everything that requires action to some degree in one way or another involves faith. So that means that faith is about the most important thing in the world. Almost every second of every minute of every day of our lives, we exercise faith in some way. Without faith there could be no business because we have to trust one anoth...
Historians are at one point in solemn agreement: nothing that we see can last. There is no permanence in the physical or the material. The earth changes her garb, nations rise and fall, governments come and go. The dust of yesterday’s civilization is hardly settled before we begin to see the rubble of today.
James Reston, a columnist for the New York Times, once gave an evaluation of the small caliber of men that he thought occupied governor’s chairs...“Maybe states can go on handling bigger problems with smaller and smaller men, but it is risky business ... most of the state capitals are over their head...
Once we buried a young lady who was only 21 years old. She was killed in a head-on collision while on her way to church. The night before the funeral, my daughter asked why God allows things like this to happen.
I wish I knew. Things like this have puzzled saints, wise men, and philosophers since the world began.
There is simply no one easy answer as to why tragedies like this happen. The answer may lie in the fact that God made us free. He created us with the ability to make our own choices, and choices always involve consequences. If we are careless or foolish in our choices, or if others are, we may suffer because of them. If God did not allow us freedom, we’d be less than people. We’d be robots.
This may be the only explanation we will ever have for some suffering. However, we do not have to know why things happen in order to be victorious over them. On the cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) But the heavens were as brass. God was silent. He didn’t even answer his own Son. Jesus might have despaired and become bitter against God. But instead he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend [entrust, hand over] my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
This kind of faith is far more important than any answer we might receive. In our lives, as in the life of Jesus, it is faith that makes the difference between victory and defeat.
So keep believing in God no matter what. Commit your life to him and regardless of what happens, God will help you.