Read the Bible in a Year (20JUN19)

PSALMS MOMENT – (20JUN19) The psalmist said, “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked” (Psalm 37:16). This may remind you of when Jesus posed the question, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36). The psalmist was telling the reader that the wealth of the wicked is nothing compared to a righteous person. So many people in the world are doing anything for material gain. Many have sold their souls to the devil for fame, money, popularity, material possessions, status, and power. They believe that they are living their best life now, and sad to say, they are absolutely correct because the fiery future that’s ahead of them, if they fail to repent, will be horrific. They will find out that what could have been an eternity with the Lord, which would have surpassed all their wildest dreams, was shortchanged by the devil’s lies. Satan has managed to convince so many that god is not real, or even if they believe that there is a God, they do not believe that they will be penalized for their rebellion. Therefore, the road to hell is broad because people are not just walking there, they are jogging, running, and sprinting their way there.

Material possessions do not determine our value in God. People judge others for what they have, the Lord looks on the inside for who they serve. You may never be a millionaire on earth, but remain faithful, and you will have a mansion in Heaven. You may not have any name-brand clothes on earth, but you will have a white robe in Heaven that is a limited edition. You may not have any jewels on earth, but you will have a crown of life in Heaven. You may not have many friends on earth, but you will be surrounded by the family of God in Heaven. You may not have the best appearance on earth, but you will have a new body in Heaven. No one may know your name on earth, but you are the topic of discussion in Heaven as your name has been written in the Book of Life. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY – (20JUN19) “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7). The psalmist wrote these words to encourage the reader to not move ahead of God just because we may see the wicked seeming to prosper. Have you ever gotten impatient waiting on God to deliver a promise? If so, how did it turn out? For many of us who fell into that trap, not so well. The funny thing is, we are like a child whose parent told them to stop running in the store, but the child continued to run and once he fell down, he began to sob. Nevertheless, the good parent would remind the child that he was forewarned of what would happen, and yet, the parent would pick the child up with love, clean the wound, and place a bandage over it once they got home. That is the kind of Father God is. We have sometimes gotten impatient with the waiting process, but He cleans us up and maneuvers around our mess. We can see evidence of this with the story of Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham and Sarah had been promised that they would have a child, but Sarah got impatient. She went ahead of God and had Abraham to have a child with her handmaiden, which did not go so well. Ishmael was not the child of promise; it was Isaac who was born to Abraham and Sarah through which God’s chosen people were to be established. To this day, the two are still fighting each other – the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac. Nevertheless, the story teaches us that we should never get impatient with waiting on God. Is this always easy? NO! Absolutely not! Yet, if we desire God’s perfect will instead of His permissive will, then we must wait for things to take place in His timing and not our own. We can often become discouraged when we compare our lives to that of the wicked who seemingly receive everything they want right away. But we must be mindful that we are not to be microwave Christians. As with cakes, the best ones are those that were made to be placed in the oven and not in a microwave. Would you prefer an instant flop, or a slow success? I think that most of us would choose the latter. Something to ponder….

 PSALMS MOMENT – (20JUN19) There used to be a popular children’s quote that said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” Although many parents taught this saying to their children to help ease the pain of verbal bullying that they encountered at school, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Over the years, we have seen an increase in child suicide due to bullying. Children as young as eight years old have been reported as having committed suicide because of bullying. All bullying does not come in the form of physical contact, but the emotional abuse that cradles verbal bullying is just as harmful. Whereas physical abuse is often in plain view with marks, bruises, cuts and/or broken bones, the emotional scars from verbal abuse is mainly hidden. The police cannot take pictures of a low self-esteem, wounded feelings or a broken heart that are often side effects of verbal abuse. Yes, one can sue for cyber bullying, slander, liable, and/or defamation of character, but this does little to appease the brokenness bearing down on the inside of an individual. What about the harmful words that come from one spouse to the other? What about the devaluing of a child by his or her own parent(s)? Sometimes, even Christians abuse others with their words on social media when one does not agree with their ideology, which, by the way, is a horrible witness to the unsaved. The psalmist had a solution to this problem.

The psalmist wrote, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin. I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked” (Psalm 39:1). We as Christians should always be mindful of what we say to others even when we are angry. The Bible says, “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26). The Word of God does not say that we are to never get angry, but we are not to allow for it to cause us to sin. How do we sin when we are angry? We do so by saying harmful words to others. Once you release them from your mouth, you can never take them back. Even if you apologize, the words that you spoke can never be returned to sender. Therefore, it is important that we guard our mouths, stay away from gossip, and never utter anything that we know the Lord would not be proud of. Words can hurt, but they can also encourage, support, and comfort if we use them the right way. Something to ponder….