Daily Archive for November 27 2017
WHAT DO YOU THINK? HOW DO YOU THINK?
What Do You Think?
It is difficult not to be disturbed by daily news reports. Continued bad reports can make us feel that we, the individual, can make little difference in stemming the tide of the terrible direction the world seems to be going.
Constant exposure to bad news has been proven to make us less likely to be active in doing good. You have to decide to listen to God so that you can change the world around you for good.
You have a new life in Christ. You have the power to live differently than the world. You will never help change the world, through your lifestyle witness, if you don’t feed your new nature. It is really as simple as that.
” Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 6-7.
This above passage is a command, and yet a great joy. It is the best thing that you can do to effect the world. Too many Christians are trying to give a drink of water out of an empty bucket. You have to be full of the Lord’s presence to ever help anybody else.
I became a Christian at 19 years old. My mother was wise to keep her personal walk with the Lord strong, even in the mist of my life going way off the rails. You would think that she would be so worried about me that when we talked that there would be great anxiety in her voice and manner.
She was the opposite of that. After I was saved, we talked about what she was thinking during those days. “I knew that you needed to see the kind of life you could have in Christ. I kept asking myself, ‘Does he want the life that I have?’ I gave my worries about you to the Lord and lived in the joy of the Lord. That is where the real power is. Not in me acting like Jesus could not change you, and trying to control you, or change you myself.”
Way to go mom! I worked myself silly trying to impress my friends as the party guy, but was empty inside. My mom never let the current condition of the world keep her from her commission to represent Christ to me. She did not take her clues on what to do, based on the news.
” Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
So, verses 6-7 is what you pray.
Verses 8-9 is what you do.
It really is as simple as that. JWP 11/27/17