Saving Faith

Saving faith has to do with much more than believing in Jesus than in the sense that we use the word believing. The essence of the word, believe or faith in Greek has a wider meaning than in the way we use it.

• We can believe in Jesus or the boogey-man or the abominable snowman or we can choose not to. This means that we believe that he exists.
  
• We can Christianly believe in Jesus by praying a prayer to him. "Jesus I believe that you died for me on the cross and shed your blood to pay for my sins and want you to save me."
  
• You can believe someone's opinion whether they are right or wrong. For example, someone tells you they can run the hundred yard dash and if they do it you can say, "I believe you can do that." But, in this case you don't really have to do anything.
  
• You can believe what someone tells you that they are going to do. Like when the politicians are trying to get elected they lie and say they are going to lower taxes and you can choose to believe them or not. You can believe that Obama is going to lower taxes but you may not necessarily go out and vote for him or exercise your faith.

The Greek word, pisteuo, is defined in the Vine's Dictionary as:
"to believe," also "to be persuaded of," and hence, "to place confidence in, to trust," signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence.
Be persuaded of, placing confidence in, reliance upon-not mere credence.

What does credence mean? Well, I just gave you some examples above in how we use the word today. I can give something credence but faith in the Greek sense of the word is something more robust. Why do so many people have a shallow faith? Because they have merely given credence to the fact that Jesus died for their sins on the cross. They haven't let him be the soul thing they are persuaded of and put their reliance on his righteousness and not their own.

But you may say, "I trust only in Christ's righteousness to save me." If that is true, then you will be like the man in the story below:

A tight-rope walker stretched a cable across a deep and wide precipice. He said to the crowd standing around that he was going to walk across the cable without a net or a balancing beam. And he did. Next he said he was going to walk across the precipice with nothing but a wheel-barrow. And he did. Next he said that he was going to walk across the precipice while pushing the wheel-barrow with a 100lb bag of sand. And he did. Next he asked the crowd if they believed that he could carry a person across the precipice. The crowd shouted to the affirmative because they had already seen three seemingly impossible feats formed by the man. To which the man responded, "who wants to volunteer?" No one stepped forward.

Now maybe you're thinking, "if it were Jesus with the wheel-barrow, I certainly would have stepped forward. Or maybe you're thinking, "Jesus doesn't ask us to do any works to be saved. Only faith. Jesus never asks any of his believers to do anything." Maybe you are right. I certainly agree that in this situation, you were not standing there and no it was not Jesus who was asking people to get into the wheelbarrow. But what if there was a fire behind you closing in on you? Would you be more apt to get on? Maybe you would just say, "forget you Jesus, I'm making it across on my own." Many people try that.

Well how about that second question. No, salvation is not by what we do or don't do. It is all of faith and it is also all of God. Eph 2:8-9. But certainly you can see that faith is much more than mere credence can't you?

Let's consider the following scenario:
Jesus is holding the wheel-barrow. There is no other way to get across the precipice except for in the wheel-barrow. Those who try to throw their own ropes end up falling into the gorge and those who try to cross through either balancing or climbing across on the rope are shot down by arrows from flying demons who hover on either side of the rope. Only one person can go across at a time. Jesus says, "all who will, let them come unto me." There is an inescapable fire closing in on your group as you stand before the precipice. What are you going to do? Well, in that case there is nothing left to do but get on and trust in Jesus. That would be faith.

But incredibly, you see most of the people in light of what I just described, knowing the danger knowing their death is approaching, just lounging around and getting drunk. Others are gossipping about you for considering such a crazy choice as getting in the wheel barrow. While others, knowing the risk are getting picked off left and right as they, one by one, try to exalt themselves by going across the precipice on their own. Some take armor with them to try to deflect the blows, but nothing ever works. Sound crazy?

How about this? Before you can get into the wheel-barrow, Jesus tells you, you see these people standing around getting drunk and whispering? You will have to leave them all behind and you will have to leave behind this life that you have there and trust me to take you across the precipice. But, mind you, if you go across with me, you must keep in mind that you are trusting your life to me. Not only that, heaven is not immediately on the other side. You must pass through many tribulations to enter into the kingdom of God. But I will be with you every step of the way. I will never leave you nor forsake you. But as for these who are standing here; their part will be in the lake of fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.

The reality is that in evangelicalism today, the picture is not painted as black as that. In evangelicalism. The picture painted is that, there isn't a fire coming. Jesus is just an entertainer who likes to take bags of sand across precipices and we turn a deaf ear to him. When he says that he can take a person across in the wheel-barrow we are happy and cheer, "hip Hip Hooray!" And the preachers that are standing around there with us are telling us, "You see, Isn't Jesus great? We get all this entertainment and now we are saved because we have placed our faith in Jesus! Isn't that great? Jesus asks us to do nothing but believe! Hallelujah! Pass the port!

Are you believing in Jesus in this way? I urge you to read the Bible and see that your situation is much more dangerous than you could have ever imagined there is much to loose but the reward is certain and the salvation, once entered into is sure.

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST - from (Monergism.com)

THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE ABOUT:

1. GOD

   • Is. 6:1-5, 5:16; Rev.4:8-11. God is Holy.
   • Dan. 4:35; Ps. 135:6. God is Sovereign.
   • 1 Jn. 4:8,16. God is Love.
   • Heb. 12:29. God is a Communing Fire.
   • Gen. 17:1; Jer. 32:17; Is. 43:13; Amos 9:2-3. God is Omnipotent.
   • Ps. 139:1-6; Rom. 11:33-36. God is Omniscient
   • Jer. 23:23-24; Ps. 139:7-12. God is Omnipresent
   • Ps. 145:17. God Is Righteous.
   • Ex. 34:6-7. God is Merciful.
   • Rev. 29:11-15. God is a Judge.
   • Jn. 4:23-24. God is a Spirit.
   • 1 Jn. 5:7; 2 Cor.13:14; I Pet. 1:2. God is one God revealed in three distinct persons; Father, Son, & Holy Spirit (trinity, not modalism).
   • Jn. 1:1-3, 14,18, 10:30-33, 17:5, 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rm. 9:5; Phi. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; I Tim. 3:16; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:1-12; II Pet. 1:1; Rev. 1:8. Jesus is God--YHWH.

2. SIN

   • Gen. 2:15-17. Adam and Eve's disobedience resulted in spiritual and physical death.
   • Rom. 6:23. The wages of sin is death.
   • Dt. 6:4-5. However, before sin entered the world man's purpose was to serve God and glorify Him.
   • Matt. 22:34-40. Therefore, man is now living in an abnormal condition.
   • Rom. 3:10, 5:6-9; Lk. 5:31,32 There is none righteous, no not one!
   • Rom. 3:23. Everyone, without exception, is a sinner.
   • Rom 5:12. Adam's sin nature is inherited by all mankind.
   • Is. 64:6-7. God views our good deeds as “filthy rags.”
   • Eph. 2:8-9. God rejects our good works.
   • Ps. 51:5, 58:3. We are sinners from birth.
   • Jn. 3:19. Sinners love their sin.

3. THE LAW

   • Ex. 20:1-20. The Ten Commandments must by obeyed perfectly.
   • Mt. 22:34-40. If we disobey the 1st & 2nd greatest commandments we have broken all of the Bible’s laws.
   • Ja. 2:10-11. If we break one commandment we’ve broken them all.
   • Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:24. The purpose of the Ten Commandments is to reveal sin in us and disclose our inability in keeping the law’s demands. This creates an attitude of desperation in sinners to be delivered from the guilt and penalty of the law. Christ alone is the sinners hope.

4. THE VANITY OF LIFE

   • Heb. 9:27. Three things are common to all: Life, Death, & Judgment.
   • 2 Pet. 3:8; Ja. 4:13-14. Life Is short: The earth will be covered by all new people 110 years from now. Our life span is compared to one grain of sand taken from one planet among a thousand planets covered with sand. After you die no one remembers you (Eccl. 1:11, 2:16).
   • Eccl. 12:8,13,14, Life is vain: Solomon, the wisest man who lived, had everything this world has to offer yet he judged this life as totally vain and futile. Nevertheless, man pursues the vain things of this world against all reason, logic and intelligence (2 Tim. 3:7).
   • Lk. 12:16-21. Life is fragile: You may die tonight! Many labor to extend their life through exercise and vitamins but will add only a few years.
   • Eccl. 5:15; 1 Tim. 6:7; Lk. 9:24. Money and riches are vain.

5. HELL & JUDGEMENT

   • Rev. 20:11-15. The great white throne judgment.
   • Matt. 25:41-46. Everlasting fire and punishment for the unsaved.
   • Heb. 9:27. After this life comes judgment.
   • Lk. 16:19-31. Hell is a place of unceasing pain and torment with no escape.

6. THE NEW BIRTH

   • Jn. 3:1-7. Jesus teaches that the “new birth” is necessary for salvation.
   • Jn. 1:13. Salvation is not inherited from our parents, secured by our effort, nor decided by our will, but is a process by which we are “born of God.”
   • 2 Cor. 5:17. To be born again means that our old life is replaced by a new one.
   • Eph. 4:21-24; Col. 3:9-10. When a person becomes “born again” the Bible describes him as a “new person,” who brings forth new fruit.
   • Gal. 6:15. All that matters is that we become a “new creation.”

7. GRACE

   • Eph. 2:8,9. Grace is a free gift, it is unmerited favor.
   • Acts 15:11. We are saved by the grace of Christ.
   • Rom. 4:3-5. Salvation is by grace through faith and not by the deeds of the law.
   • Tit. 3:5-7; Rom.3:24. We are “Justified” freely by His grace.

8. REPENTANCE

   • Lk. 13:3. Unless we repent, we will all perish.
   • Acts 3:19. We must repent and be converted.
   • Matt. 4:17. Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” however; the world ridicules the need of repentance.
   • Acts 26:20. We must repent and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.
   • I Jn. 1:9. If we confess our sins He will forgive us our sins.
   • Prov. 28:13. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confess and forsakes them will have mercy.
   • Ps. 66:18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.

9. FAITH

   • Heb. 11:6. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
   • Jn. 20:24-29. Blessed are they who do not see yet believe.
   • Jn. 3:16-19. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal fife.
   • Eph. 2:8. We are saved by grace “through faith.”
   • Gal. 3:23-26. We are saved through faith in Christ and not by keeping the law.
   • Rom. 3:28, 5:1. We ore justified through faith in Christ.
   • Gal. 3:11; Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38; Hab. 2:4. “The just shall live by faith.”

10. SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST ALONE

    • Jn. 14:6. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
    • 1 Jn. 5:11-13. He that has the “Son” has life, and he that does not have the Son of God does not have life­.
    • Acts 4:10-12. Salvation is in none other than Jesus Christ.
    • Rev. 3:20. Jesus knocks on the door of our heart.
    • Rom. 10:13. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
    • Jn. 3:36. He who does not believe on the Son of God has the wrath of God on him.

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This concise overview of the Gospel is an excellent tool for Bible study, discipleship, evangelism and group studies. For a laminated copy of this card to keep in your
Bible for ready use write to: CHRIST BIBLE Pulpit, P.O. Box 5772, Oakland, CA.
94605 U.S.A.; or E-mail us @ wildernesstable@yahoo.com; or call (510) 727-1877.

Studying the Bible

I like to use books when I study the Bible rather than the internet. I find that in using the internet, I get distracted too easily and get nothing done. I invariably begin browsing for books on Amazon.com or look at some programming web page or update my online photo gallery or something equally useless. There are however many good tools online for Bible study. A few of them are as follows: Blue Letter Bible, and e-sword. E-sword is a program for download with modules. Blue-Letter-Bible is an online Bible study tool that my friend Mike recommended to me.

I find myself being increasingly more old-fashioned. Writing a letter instead of an email, wearing plain clothing, and books. I am creating quite a good collection of Bible study materials and enjoy using them. I do however realize the power of PC and mac programs like Logos Bible software or e-sword. I do like to use programs like that because they have great articles by dead preachers that I like to read.

In studying the Bible, I have a good literal translation, a Vine's and Strong's Dictionary, a greek/english new testament and maybe one or two other translations that are less literal in case I am meditating on a scripture and don't have a good Bible dictionary handy. If I am studying a verse such as Matthew 5:3, I have learned to look up certain words in the origional greek because they often have a wider meaning than the translators used. I know there are certain ones who believe that THEIR translation has the all-supreme-exact-infallible translation of that word from greek to english. In reality, those people linguistically ignorant. Any person who has learned to speak a language other than english had to come to the realization that every language has words that translate differently and there are in many cases no exact translations for similar words.

An good example is the difference between the renderings in the Bible of, "be merciful" and "be propitiate". The english versions of the Bible render Luke 18:13, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" or something similar. The real translation should be, "God, be propitiate toward me the sinner!" In webster's dictionary, propitiate has almost the exact meaning that the Greek word, hilaskomai has: To conciliate (an offended power); appease: propitiate the gods with a sacrifice. Basically, the tax collector(publican) is asking God to apply the atoning sacrifice to him not to just be merciful to him because God is the kind that just forgives those who ask him. God is not that way.

So we must come to him realizing that our God forgives us through the passion of Christ, that is the suffering from the wrath of God poured on him because of our sins. Because Jesus took our sins upon him on the cross and we must come to him broken and humble, knowing that we deserve the wrath of God and offering no defense on our behalf. We must know that God is just in condemning us and that he cannot simply overlook what we have done because he demands absolute perfection and are not perfect so God requires either that we pay for our sins or that we humbly submit to God's verdict and ask for the forgiveness based on the suffering of Jesus for what we have done.

What should that inspire in you? Namely a life sparked and energized by that reality to live for God rather than yourself. You are a pathetic wretch apart from living your life in light of that reality and submitting to God's ownership of you.

Conflicting Desires and Torment in Hell

For some reason, I begin these blogs talking about some subject and that gets me thinking and by the end of the blog, I am talking about something not even remotely similar to what I began with. This time I was going to attempt to compare my life before Christ to my life now.

Before Christ, my desires were more intellectual for studying the Bible than actually deriving joy from it. Being a Christian was like a 9 - 5 Job for me. For example, I would go to church, serve there, spend time with my friends and turn my mind immediately to other things upon leaving. I spent my time thinking about normal pursuits such as movies, partying, working and playing on the computer. I was always looking for the next party where I could meet some girl or hoping that some beautiful girl would consent to go on a date with me. Even while in church I thought of those things.

Now, you are going to think, "Wow, what a hypocrite!" But I really did read the Bible. I actually read it in the morning and in the evening sometimes. I succeeded in reading the entire Bible once before I went to Mexico for a year and had read numerous books on how to live a godly life. A few such were, "Every Man's Battle", "The Prayer of Jabez", "Wild at Heart", "Life is Tremendous!", "The Magic of Thinking Big", "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and a myriad of others. I was one of the best Christians you had ever met (although I was not).

I had a good paying job at UGA and attended church every time the door was open. I actually taught Bible Study and was an Elder in my church! I even went to Mexico and became a missionary for a year. There I had to learn Spanish. I went down there knowing very little and left being able to preach the Bible in Spanish. I actually shared with the church there all that God had taught me through my stay in Mexico. But you know something, I WAS NOT SAVED!

If you had told me this, I would have told you that you are crazy. Of course I am saved! If you had named my sins and told me that my persisting in them was evidence of my perdition, I would have told you that they didn't mean that I was lost because they were sins that I didn't do ALL the time and that I had a sincere desire to serve the Lord and that my life had evidences of my faith.

Now, you are probably thinking, "you don't seem all that bad to me." You are right! I wasn't all that bad. In fact, I would probably put most people who are reading this blog to shame in regards to "being a good Christian". By the way, "being a good Christian" is just another way to say, "as to righteousness under the law, blameless!"

So, in regards to this, where was my problem? It was actually much deeper than anyone or myself could ever see. God had to reveal it to me through many painful experiences, betrayals and loneliness. Thank God for pain. Without it we just kind of simmer in the pot until we are fully cooked. This is actually one of the things that I pray more and more for people. I pray for pain and discomfort in their lives so that they can turn to God for answers instead of other things. I want people to hate themselves and others so much that they finally come to the point where they realize everything bad in their lives is their own stupid fault and that they must repent or face eternal torment in hell apart from God where, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Love Comes From Purity

"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;" - 1Pe 1:22-23

What I believe this means is that purity doesn't come from being born again, it comes from obedience to the truth that we have already believed. There is a progression here:

1. obedience to the truth (the gospel of repentance and belief in Jesus, Mark 1:14-15)
2. resulting purity
3. sincere brotherly love
4. encouragement to pursue a deeper love for the brothers

To purify one's soul comes from having been obedient to the gospel of Jesus which is, "repent and believe in Jesus for the salvation of your souls." This is confirmed from the very beginning of the book where it says in verse 3: "he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,".

Of course, being born again, is a new heart and new life. A new feeling toward God and a realization of ones own dependence on God to live the Christian life. The living hope is Jesus. He is alive and we all hope to attain to the ressurection of the dead. Of course, our hope is a confident one. We are not hoping as if we were hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow. We "have" hope because of something that we believe. That is more of the idea conveyed when God says, a "living hope".

So, as a result of the new birth that comes from God causing us to understand our hopelessness and need for Jesus and causing us to believe only in Him, we are purifying ourselves because we are new creations and we do this by obeying the gospel that we have heard. That is, the word of God.

In purifying ourselves, we are preparing ourselves for loving our bretheren. The wording of the text implies that without purifying oneself by obeying God's word, one can not love someone even in the most basic sense which is brotherly love. If we are unable to love each other, apart from being born again and thus purified and able to finally love each other, there is no wonder that our human efforts at love are always going to fail. Why? because we are fallen from the perfect state that God created us and live in seperation from his divine attributes. We can only be more like God when we obey him. Why? because obedience to God's word means to put sins to death: "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry"(Col 3:5). If we don't put sins to death, we are being disobedient to God's word and therefore are not pure, and most likely not born again. The flip-side of this is that without being born again you can not put sins to death or be obedient to God's word!

So how is one born again? Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15). Jesus said it himself, repent and believe. What do we need to repent of and what is the gospel? Repentance means in the Strong's to think differently or afterwards. This means to have a change of mind about what you are doing. For example, you were going to the store and you changed your mind. In other words, you repented. Why? You repented because you decided you could make due with what you had. That idea that you needed the butter or whatever you were going to get was thrown out because you realized that you had something else that would do.

The beginning of our purification process comes from our new birth. Our new birth is the result of Jesus Christ using his Word to educate us about what we need to change our minds about. What we need to be corrected in is our view of self. Everyone is born thinking that they are sinless and that everyone else sins against them. God wants us to get the idea that we are sinful and we sin against everyone else but the most important one that we are sinning against and really the one that we are sinning against is God himself. So what God tells us in the Bible is, "You are a bad person. All your addictions and problems are a result of your choosing to live your life your own way by your own rules and your desire to live for everything under the sun except me. You have worshipped all the created things but have forgotten about your creator who formed you and gave you life."

So God wants us to deliver and account to ourselves about all these things and wake up and realize that we are acutally following everyone else on the road to hell and that we should fall down on our knees realizing that we can't make ourselves "good" or we are not good anyway and that we need God and that our hearts are bad and we need a new one. We confess our sins and our being sinners to Jesus and ask him to forgive us for living our lives according to our own wisdom and submit to God's solution. Namely, give control of our lives to Him! That is what repentance is and what God wants from us. This is the first thing that takes place. We are born again when we repent and subsequently believe in Jesus. This can take place quickly in the life of someone who already belives that Jesus died and rose from the dead.

It was a strange thing in my own life. I believed (really believed) that Jesus is God, that he came to earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was punished on the cross for the sins of all the world and that he died, was buried and rose from the dead and was seen by over 500 people after his resurrection. My problem was that I identified with the world as being full of sinners and that somehow by praying a prayer and believing some facts, I was somehow taken out of the card deck of the "sinners" and had been placed in the card deck of the "believers". So, in reality, I didn't see myself as a sinner but rather as a believer. The problem is that even after a person believes, he never stops sinning and as a result is a sinner for his or her entire life!

The funny part is that God commands us to actually stop sinning and to serve him and follow him and live for him. We therefore are given the impossible task of stopping sinning when it is physically and morally impossible and told that if we don't succeed in this impossible task, we are, going to hell! "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." 1 John 3:6.

That is crazy talk! No one can stop sinning for the rest of his life! Everyone has sin! Only those crazy cooks who yell at people on the street believe that! Yep, you are right. I agree with you! Hahaha! fooled you! You thought I was going to tell you that my s**t don't stink. Well it doesn't I take pills so that it doesn't. But for all of you who still have this problem, there is a solution. Stop sinning and therefore you will stop sucking so bad! Why do you suck? Because you believe as you do. You think that it's ok to put up with a little sin. You try to do things so that you can feel like a good person. You go to church and read your Bible using your handy dandy devotional that you picked up off of the church pew. You neglect however obedience to the truth. The truth is to repent and believe.

True repentance has as its fruit, purity. Purity comes from obedience to the truth. The obedience to the truth is a result of a new nature to go along with your old nature. Now, you are in fact born again. This just means that you are able, in addition to choose sin, to choose instead to obey God and walk in the Spirit. Completely stopping certain sins can be achived but not apart from a continued obedience to God. This is how we maintain obedience, through a relationship with God. We do sin from time to time but God gives us the ability to stop say for example, sexual immorality all together. This is achieved through repentance regarding that frame of mind toward it and becoming obedient to God's word instead.

That's all for now. If anyone ever reads this I guess I will finish it. I sometimes get way to tired of writing and lack the skills to organize it well. I also just realize one or two things and since I haven't studied the passage as thoroughly as is needed, tend to ramble a lot.

Childrens' Camps

Children's camp in Rio Blanco

Matthew 19:14
but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

Precious to God are little children and this is how we must come to God, as they are. Children are dependent on their parents for every need that they have and we must be that way toward God.

Once every quarter we had a 3 day long camp for the children in the mountains. Since none of their parents have automobiles, we have to go up to the mountains to get them and take them to the camp. It takes nerves of steele and lots of gasoline to get all the children from their respective villages to the one place where the camp is located. We go 3 or 4 different dirrections on 1 to 3 hour trips to pick up everyone. Sometimes by the time the last child is on the vehicle, it is so loaded down that with every minor bump (and there are many on those mountain roads), that the tire scrapes the wheel well or the van thumps the rocks that we are passing over.

It is such a joy to see the children though. I remember one trip in particular when I was accompaning Roberto to Teotsacualco to pick up children to take them to a Summer camp. We were driving in a blue Dodge van that was loaded way beyond its capacity. All the children were singing praise songs to Jesus and in perfect harmony. It sounded like a load of angels coming down the mountain and was one of the most joyful experiences of my life.

At the camps, the children sleep in tents and attend classes and play games. The tents are set up dividing boys and girls and sometimes they will have a large tent where all the boys or girls will occupy. Regardless of whether they use one or many tents, all are loaded to capacity. The missionaries were kind to me however, they let me sleep by myself in either a tent or one of the vehicles.

The classes are led either by the missionaries or by young women or married couples from the church in Rio Blanco. At the group meetings, all children are in attendence and sing silly songs and praise song or are entertained by clowns or puppets. These meetings are where the children learn the songs that they take back to their parents in the mountains.

What is really wonderful about these meetings is that these children will grow up knowing Jesus and will be able to raise their families following Him rather than alchohol or worshipping some god that is not the real one. They will be able to do away with sinful customs of their fathers such as robbing your future wife from her parents or having more than one wife. I am thankful for the work of the missionaries in not neglecting the children or hindering their coming to Jesus.

Giving and Taking

Today, two verses have been particularly helpful to me and describe just what is happening in my life at this point:

Job 1:21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
Hebrews 12:3 "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

When things go wrong and it looks like you may be loosing something important to you, how do you respond? Today, it seemed that way at work today and I really wanted to get angry and yell about my rights and threaten people if they were taken away.

When things go wrong, I have found that going away to a quiet place and praying helps. If you are a Christian and something important is lost, your response should be different than that of most people (threatening, anger, depression and burying your sorrows).

For me, it helps to keep my mouth shut when I am angry. I have not developed the qualities yet that allow me to immediately respond with trusting in God rather than in anxiety regarding the situation.

The question is, "Why should our response to disappointments be trust in God and forgiveness to those who offend us rather than anger and getting back with them for treading on our pride?" The answer is that God cares about those people and wants to see them turn from the road they are following toward destruction and follow Jesus who is the path to life. God also loves you and doesn't like to see you hurt but cares for you infinitely and would never allow anything to hurt you unless he knew it were for your good and theirs.

When people see our different response to disappointment, God is glorified. When we respond like the world does, we are glorified and the other person humiliated or hurt. Let us seek as Christians to glorify God so that other people will see His beauty rather than glorifying ourselves and contributing to the darkness in the world.

Vicente

Vicente is a man who lives in Tequila. He pulls his eyes out of his head if you give him some pesos. On my year stay in Mexico, we saw him several times in the downtown area.

His story is a little sad though. He was born into poverty, had no father or mother and couldn't see very well since he has been a child. He had to live off of whatever people would give him for many years but barely survived.

Along the way, he discovered that he could pop out his eyes and that people were fascinated by it and would pay money to see it. He has been able to support himself by doing this "carnival trick". The only problem is that years and years of doing this has left him nearly blind. I am thankful that I haven't had as hard of a life as Vicente has.

Some people are born in lives of luxury and some people are worse off than even him. The thing that God wants us to do is to be thankful no matter how our lives are. We should learn to be content with Him alone for our fulfillment.