Refreshing! Another Fortune is Made!
Proverbs 25:25 As cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a far country.
Most News today is not Refreshing!
When I get up in the morning, one of the luxuries I allow myself is a good cup of coffee. While I am drinking it, I also watch the news. The coffee is refreshing. The news is not! I hear about plane crashes, new viruses, earthquakes, storms, floods, forest fires, shots fired in our city, mass shootings in other cities, plane crashes, or wars. I hear about oil that has escaped pipelines, wells or tankers, I hear about unemployment as well as the latest political news which usually is almost nauseating. Very little of the news is refreshing. It is funny how bad news sells advertising and how good news doesn’t. So when the coffee cup is empty, I am ready to go back to bed to sleep off all the bad news.
There is Good News
Recently, I got a phone call from someone I had not heard from in a long time. This friend called me to tell me me that his second daughter had “gotten saved.” That is, she had come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior. Now I know that sounds like strange language to many people, but to me it was music to my ears. I am always glad when someone comes to faith the Biblical way instead of some man-made way. Real faith in a real God saves. But Christianity today is superficial faith in whatever we want God to be and that doesn’t save. People call themselves Christians but all they are is religious and they try to force their beliefs on others. A true Christian has had a change of mind and heart and instead of forcing their beliefs on others, they present the Gospel to them and pray for others. They know that what goes for Christianity today is a far cry from what the Lord preached and from what Paul taught in the New Testament. Christianity today is a business model fueled by entertainment and money. True Christianity is a heart matter that prepares a person for that final trip from this earth into eternity.
This girl’s Father had come to faith in meetings where I was one of the preachers years ago. He went through ups and downs in life and in his faith. There was a time when he wasn’t even sure if he was a Biblical Christian. But now, years later, I find that he has gotten his act together and he is sure where he stands with God. His oldest daughter is a believer, and now a second daughter has become a believer in Christ. He has a son and a son-in-law for whom he is praying.
But think of it! While the world is concerned with money and wars and politics, she has been concerned with her eternal soul. She has taken the long run view rather than the short run view. She has not chosen the popular path, she has chosen a path that will involve ridicule and reproach. Often that will come from those who call themselves Christians but who have no real confidence in the Bible or the God of the Bible. This girl is going to go to heaven whereas according to the Bible she was on her way to hell. She won’t be sinless now but now sin will bother her and she will have a conscience about it. She will not justify it.
She Has it Made!
I remember a preacher telling a new convert once, “Now your fortune is made.” And I believe that to be true. Sometimes I forget that the leaks in the roof of my house, the medical problems of my wife, the need to be careful with our money so that we can pay our bills are all a distractions to keep us from dealing with the important issues of life. Everyone of us has had to ask at some point, “Why am I here?” “What is life all about?’ Many people find those answers in philosophy (what they think is right). Others find those answers in science although good science has never contradicted the Bible. (It has however, contradicted some people’s interpretation of the Bible.) Some people refuse to think about the point of life and live a life of pleasure and in some cases debauchery because they think there is no other point to life. But while I am not going to give all the reasons why I personally depend on the truth of Bible for my answers to life’s important questions, I can assure you that my faith is not a blind leap in the dark. And I have every confidence that this girl has had her fortune made. I don’t know what this life will throw at her, but at the end of life she will be in the Father’s house of John 14. She has passed from death unto life (John 5:24). She has set to her seal that God is true (John 3:33).
Rejoicing over Good News
I remember a day when people rejoiced when they heard that a person had been reached by the Gospel. Today, it doesn’t seem like such a big thing to many people. Children are assumed to be believers from the time they are young. Parents assume that because their child has said a prayer that they have “repented an believed.”. To me hearing of a person actually repenting (that is changing their mind so that they agree with God), and actually trusting in the truth that Christ died for them is a big deal. There is joy ion the presence of the angels in heaven when a person repents. An eternal destiny is changed. God is glorified. It is a big deal. I am rejoicing over REALLY GOOD NEWS that was a long time in coming.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of June 12, 2016