Enough
Sunday was almost too warm…well, in the upper 85 degree range. Comfortable in most respects. Monday was nice weather-wise, it’s been on the desert side of Sunny all summer. In case you’ve never heard the Arabian Proverb that states: All sun and no rain makes a desert. That is what we are experiencing here in the Midwest. Some rivers are so low you can walk across them.
We have been hearing about global warming and how we’re all doomed unless we stop picking our nose…oh, wait, that’s not the ending on that one. Lest anyone think I’m taking the threat lightly, I’m not.
The problem is of course my age. Everyone my age can remember the climate change controversies from the past almost fifty years. We would swing from, ‘the ice age is coming, scientists are predicting a new ice age that will take out…’ then it was the ozone layer is disappearing, we’re all gonna die of gamma ray cancer. And of course now we have global warming and everyone will be living on tops of mountains surrounded by an ocean of plastic straws.
Some of our politicians keep shaming Americans as ‘not doing enough’, when the reality is most of the pollution is coming from China, India, and such countries. So, there’s that. A speaker was telling of his mother visiting from his home country of India. She could not fathom that ‘civic groups’ would adopt a highway in order to pick up trash and keep the highway clean. That’s a unique American value.
If you’ve ever visited a foreign country such as Mexico you know they don’t have the ‘adopt a highway’ plan. We here in America have the idea that ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’. Although this virtue is not taught in scripture and I’m not sure what they base this idea on, being clean on the outside isn’t bad. The scriptures do encourage Christians to be clean on the inside. One of the things we should acknowledge is the value of honesty with God and our fellow humans.
Don’t get confused about wiping the outside of the dish, but leaving the inside full of corruption.
Jesus says that those who aren’t with me are against me. And there are worse things than global warming. There is such a thing as spiritual/moral evil. Don’t get confused with merely shaking your head in agreement against evil. Fighting the good fight isn’t only a silent agreement. Don’t be deceived, one of our greatest weapons against evil is prayer. When we speak to God against wickedness God will help us find opportunity to work for him and with his army in fighting the spiritual warfare. Satan does fear a praying saint.
Everything good we have comes from God. Three great powers we have in this world are faith, hope, and love. Think of these in the light of forgiveness, gratitude, and love. We are forgiven as we forgive. Holding bitter feelings hurts us, let those feelings go. It isn’t as if you forget it ever happened. Just learn from it and move on. Gratitude—good people and not so good people pass through our lives, some are keepers, some are lessons. Be grateful for God’s blessings. And love; God is love, all the more to praise and stick with God.
We can never do it all and we will never make everyone happy. Often times the hurdles we put in our own way are the worst kind. Like people who set boundaries of where they will clean up the highway, we may not be able to clean the whole highway, but we can do our part. We shouldn’t expect to do our neighbor’s part.
Colossians 3:
1) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
