Monday Morning Memo: Will We Chicken Out?

Well, at least the primaries are over.  Now, we just have to survive until November.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m fairly confident you have also been bombarded with tons of political ads.  Just about every commercial leading up to the primaries was a candidate slam blasting his or her opponents.  I normally tune out most commercials, but there have been so many of the negative ads that it was almost impossible to ignore them.  I’m guessing that is their plan…to make sure they can’t be ignored.

Unfortunately, the commercials aren’t over…they will still flood the airways through TV, texts and social media venues…there just won’t be as many individuals vying for our vote.  I guess if there is a silver lining in all of this…that just might be it.

But, I’m sure you have noticed that not only is each candidate trying to get you to listen to them, many of your friends and acquaintances seem to have an opinion to share with you on the election too.   I’m actually amazed at times of what some people post on social media and the anger which seems to fuel them.  There isn’t anything wrong with voicing your thoughts on a candidate, but I am saddened with the way in which some decide to use this opportunity to attack others.  We all have the right to our own opinions, but why is it so difficult to share them without assaulting others with our words?

Unfortunately, we seem to almost relish stepping all over others while we loudly tell our political views.  Why is it then, when it comes to our religious beliefs, we are often silent and use the excuse that we don’t want to step on anyone’s toes?  When we have the opportunity to speak up and share what Christ has done for us, we chicken out because we might be rejected or looked down on.  Instead of telling others, in love, that we have the answer to their searching, we just hope and pray that a minister comes along to tell them the Good News.

I have to wonder what would happen if we were as willing to share our faith as we are to share our politics.  Would it make a difference in eternity?  I have to believe that it would.  Time is of the essence, and we need to be willing to speak boldly about our Jesus to a lost world.  Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, I’m sure you hope you are on the winning side.  Well with Jesus, we can be confident that we are and always will be the winners! 

“Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.

Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.”

Psalm 96:3

Monday Morning Memo: A Big Mistake?

Have you ever felt like you were a big mistake?  Maybe you have never put those exact words to your thoughts…but there have been times when you wondered why in the world the God of the universe thought the world needed YOU.

I think if we are truly honest, many of us have had times such as this.  Times when we compared ourselves to those around us and came to the conclusion that God must have been extremely tired the day He created us.  We read Facebook and Instagram posts from our friends and their lives are so much more exciting than ours.  They are getting promotions, going on trips and having meaningful, heart-warming conversations with their kids.  This is all while we are stuck in the same ho-hum job, never leaving our town, let alone the state or country on a vacation and our goal each day is just to make sure our kids are still breathing when we turn the lights out each night.

I think when these negative thoughts creep into our minds we need to remember a few things.  First of all, God honestly doesn’t care whether we are a brain surgeon or a street sweeper.   When we stand before Him someday, I really don’t think we will get more jewels in our crown because we had a more prestigious job than our neighbor.  God is going to care more about what we did with our job to reach others for Him.  Were we faithful wherever He placed us?  Were we the best employee in the company, always doing our share of the work, or were we known to be the slacker and complainer? 

Secondly, when we stand before God, I don’t think He will have a world globe in His hands to mark off where all we traveled in our lifetime.  Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with taking trips and seeing the world, but if we are basing our happiness on whether we are able to do so, we are going to end up thinking less of ourselves.  God is going to be much more interested in what we did for Him whether we are at home or in an exotic location.  

Third, always try to remember that very few parents post on Facebook, or bring up in conversation the difficult times with their children.   We tend to want to look good and have others think we are perfect parents who have it all together but, unfortunately, I’ve never met a perfect parent or a perfect child yet.   When we stand before God, I don’t think He is going to ask us why we weren’t flawless parents.  He is going to be much more concerned about what we instilled in the lives of our precious children.  Were we examples to them of followers of Jesus, whose main goal was to serve Him wherever we were placed using whatever He had given us?  Or did they just see us push and shove our way up the corporate ladder to ensure we had plenty of money and “things” to keep up with our friends on Facebook?

I think we need to remember that whenever we compare our weaknesses to someone else’s strengths, we are going to come up short.  Trust me…I know this first hand because I must admit that I do this often.  We are all different and each of us has our own strong points and our own weak points.  It is up to us to decide on which we will focus. 

Amazingly, the same God who created mountains and oceans and galaxies looked at me and thought the world needed one of me too.  AND, He thought the world also needed one of you. Oh, how that blows my mind!  You and I have never been, nor will we ever be, a mistake!  We were created for a reason to fulfill His purpose in this world.  We just need to decide if we are going to live in such a way that others will see God’s plan being fulfilled, or whether we are going to believe Satan’s lies that we are a mistake. 

YOU were created to be a child of the King.  Wow…it just doesn’t get much better than that!   

 “But to all who believed him and accepted him, 

he gave the right to become children of God.”

John 1:12