IF
(This article was guest-written by Chris E. Westphal)
As I was perusing my “facebook newsfeed” recently it was “suggested for you” the song
“If” by the group “Bread”.
Ah, the memories. I remember well the heartfelt love song by the group with a distinctive sound, especially for the time.
I am not going to talk about music but rather one of the biggest words of the English
language, if.
How many times do we begin a sentence or a thought with those two little letters? Replay
some of your day’s conversations whether with yourself or someone else. There is that word again.
All too often that word is inseparable from the word happy. I would be happy if . . . . If things were different. The list is long and you know yours.
It is not wrong to use the word if. In fact, it is found 1595 times in the King James Bible. Jesus used it in John 14:15 “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.” We would do well to reflect upon the truth of this verse.
Let’s not stop there but consider also this which Jesus spoke shortly after “Jesus answered and said unto him, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23) Let us seek the reward as God wants us to.
1 Peter 3:10-11
(10) For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil,
and his lips that they speak no guile:
(11) Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
