It was the worst of times.........

We can all remember the beginning to Great Expectations. Sounds a great deal like the times we are facing in America today. "It was the best of times;" we all remember them. "It [is] the worst of times;" and could get even worse. How do we handle this as Christ followers? As I see it, there are 2 ways that are foolproof and grounded in Scripture.

First and foremost, we need to rely upon God to provide all that we need, and truly believe that Christ will take care of us. If we look in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus has some explicit guidance: "(verse 25) Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not [eternal] life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?" I added the eternal life to this sentence because I believe that Christ is telling us that eternal life is far more important than anything we could ever need here on earth. Verse 33: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Enough said.

The second thing we must do is pray........and pray.........and pray! 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says it best and most concisely: "(16) Be joyful always; (17) pray continuously; (18) give thanks in all circumstances...." But we cannot be selfish in this prayer. If all I do is walk into my bedroom, take my wife's hand, and pray that God will give us all the money we need and will not let bad things happen to us, I have totally missed the whole point. It's no longer about us. This is the time when the harvest is ripe and we must work hard for God in pulling in that harvest. So many people are searching for answers to the world's issues when all we need to do is present the one and only answer to them. I am not saying that we cannot pray for the physical things that we need. But when the focus for our prayer stays on ourselves, we have essentially looked past God.

It's high time we look past our own circumstances and look upon the circumstance that there are people in a far worse position in life than us: they do not know Christ personally! It's time for us to enact our own bailout plan: let's work on bailing them out of Hell!

No golden parachute here,
Jesus Freak Out!