What is the point?

Faith, Hope, and Love 

Have you seen the news headlines lately? They are looking pretty bleak. Here is just a small sample from this past week;

Girls rapist invited to dinner then tortured to death 
Mom arrested for disturbing Facebook photo  
Police; Teen planned slaughter at school   
Terminally ill woman ends life at 29, says "pay it forward" 
50 Women and children dumped in a well and ISIS massacres 322 Sunni Tribesman 
Courtesy of World Net Daily

New York’s Highest Court Unanimously Rules in Favor of Incest ‘Marriage’ Between Uncle and Niece

Well I could go on and on but you get the point. I actually still get shocked by some of the things that the news is reporting because its so gruesome and sick. Our country was not this way five years ago. Our society is quickly escalating into deeper wickedness, hopelessness, corruption, greed, lovelessness, and lawlessness. 

But God 

God is in this world and he uses people like you and me and display his goodness, kindness, and glory..

What is faith anyway? 

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

We do what we do because of what God and his Word says. We act in faith when we live out God's commands in our lives. As Christians we do what God's word says and on a deeper level we listen to his voice and follow him. Faith becomes personal. Faith in action is Jesus in action. We are told in scripture that it is impossible to please God without faith. And that the just live by faith. When we have faith we can be confident that whatever comes our way, the end result is good because "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God... Romans 8:28 God promises in scripture that " The Lord will accomplish what concerns me" Psalm 138:8 So any trial that we are going though or any promise that we are waiting on- God will fix it, he will complete it, he will finish it. My husband went to a men's retreat and the retreat was entitled "Finishing well" he received a book there (Finishing Strong) and in the book he discovered that most people don't finish well. The only 2 that entered the promised land were Joshua and Caleb. And that was a big group of people! We get discouraged, overwhelmed, tired, lonely, and we give up or we give in. We try to satisfy our flesh with material things or we try to fill our lives with our job, or people, or money, you name it. I think what also happens is that bitterness sets in. We didn't get what we wanted, or things didn't work out the way we planned, or we gave up on waiting and so we turned to other things. The Israelites were good at this. When Moses didn't come down the mountain fast enough they began to worship a gold calf! When we stop seeking, stop asking, and stop praying- we've already given up. 

When we stop believing in God's goodness for our lives, that God knows best, that God knows what he is doing, watch out! 

Hope

God makes promises to all of us and so we have an expectation of his promises. 

It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 

1 Timothy 4:9-10

We labor and strive for God. When we are in the pit- we have hope that we aren't always going to be in that place because we fix our eyes on Him the perfecter of our faith, that he will deliver, that he will restore, that he will rebuild, and that we have victory in Him. Hope keeps us moving in the direction of God. 

I work in a home with foster kids and one particular girl I came to know pretty well over the past year. She is a typical pre teen girl with posters on the wall of her favorite band. She is a very likable person. Anyway she saw other kids come and go, yet she remained. She grew close to kids in the home only to see them leave. She waited and waited. Then she began to AWOL and yell profanities at the staff. She grew tired of waiting and believed a lie- that she would be there forever. I had the opportunity to give her a birthday card and on the card I wrote; Keep smiling, Keep hoping, Keep dreaming, God is good! Within a month she was placed into a home. This is what happens- were just about give up or we do give up then God comes on the scene. Our faith is stretched. But He is always faithful. 

Love

So I hear this saying a lot but its very true;

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. 

Even the secular world gets this. In working with clients I've read the books about every disorder, dysfunction, diagnosis, etc. A-Z and been prepared to say this or that but at the end of the day, its all about the relationship. People want to know that they are valued. Today I was talking to a co worker and she said "you know I'm not going to do thanksgiving with my family this year. Every time I go over there I try to make something like mash potatoes and they say oh its OK we can do it. Well she didn't feel part of the family or that what she contributed was worth anything so she figures why bother going? That's just a small example but these small incidents happen all the time but if we are aware of the people around us we can really make a difference. And if we can't love those in the Church how can we possibly love those outside the church?