LOST AND NOT KNOWING IT!

He was about four years old and he grinned at me as he peeked around the rows of shirts hanging in the department store. I grinned back at him and he would go over to another position and part the things hanging there and grin again.

I was wondering where his mother was. I couldn't see anyone around that should be responsible for him and eventually I became worried. After a few more minutes, I became more worried and knowing what can happen to little children, I discreetly moved along with him, pretending to shop.

He seemed perfectly happy and contented to keep me entertained. I didn't know how long I could keep this up, before I would need to report it to the management. The little boy was evidently lost,but he didn't even realize it. I could go on and on about parental responsibility...but that's not my purpose here.

Finally a lady came up to him and called his name and he ran over to her, grinning from ear to ear and waving goodbye to me.

And I thought..... There are so many people in the world who are lost spiritually and just like that precious little boy, they are not even aware of it. It's amazing that they can go to bed at night and sleep, not knowing what will be their destination eternally should they not wake up in the morning.

They don't read the Bible and learn that there is a way to be redeemed. The Bible convicts us of sin and then offers a way of escape. The book of Acts is a history of the Lord's church...and it is not a 'man made' church as many are today. Its beginning is in Acts, (Acts Chapter 2) and it tells of the responses from the people when they heard the apostles' preaching.

The rest of the book of Acts is about the church growing and becoming mature. The books of the Bible after Acts is more history of the people who became Christians and also some instructions for the church itself.

May we all come to realize that we are lost unless we respond to the One Who created us and wants us all to be redeemed unto Him. He wanted us redeemed so badly that He gave up something very, very, precious to Him in order that justice and mercy might meet together.

Proverbs  25:11

A word fitly spoken is like

apples of gold in pictures of silver.

It is sort of strange, but sometimes the most hurtful and crushing words do not come from the one with whom we are conversing...but from a third party bystander.

Last spring we left a bucket on the deck and it sat in the same place for about 6 months.  After months of neglect, I recently moved it and this burmuda grass had grown up through the deck and shaped itself to the bottom of the bucket and died. 

I thought it made a unique picture and quite pretty really, but it reminded me of the neglect of other things.  Actually it reminds me of our life span...the 'dash' between our birth date and our death date.

It also reminds me of how short a time we have to train our children. We can neglect our children's spiritual and moral training and we can let the world mold them to its shape, and it is so easy to do, and the world is so willing to do it for us.  Just doing nothing will accomplish it.  Training children up rightly is hard work, but it is so very rewarding!

Doing this easy neglecting, we can create different "shapes of adults" eventually.  We can create drug addicts, alcholics, dead beats, abusive mothers and fathers, selfish poeple, evil life styles and all kinds of shapes of people.  But it isn't pretty and it isn't unique.  It is more the norm than unique.  How sad!

A lot of  cities  are complaining about a huge monopoly ruining their "Down Town" area of shopping.  I have never believed that the monopoly they are talking about is fully to blame.

When the town we normally shop in just had 'main street' there were many stores but most of the merchants left something to be desired.  First of all they didn't have a public restroom and if you had little children, as we did at that time, you really need one sometimes and fast.  They acted like you were really imposing on them if you asked to use their's. 

Another thing:  Some merchants would either hawk your every step and literally get in your way while you were looking at their merchandise, so anxious to make a sale!  Or....they would be hard to find when you did need one. 

Just recently, after many years of not shopping downtown,  we found out it hasn't changed.  We went to a down town shoe store and the clerk on duty actually made us feel that we were wasting his time, and we were in the store a total of about three minutes.  It was easy to tell that he was anxious to get back to what he was doing before we came in.  He had no other customers in there at the time.  So we let him get back to what he was doing!  We left!

No!  Down Town wasn't killed by this monopoly chain store.  They killed themselves...right down to their Saturday morning sidewalk sales pitch.

Have you ever seen these words in an email? "Send to 10 people if you are not ashamed of Jesus." ?

Is this the way to show that we are not ashamed of Him?  Is this what He says to do to show our affinity with him?  What about the poor souls who have no computer or internet????   No, but it is easier to hit that forward button, isn't it?  ...and then we are good to go, for a week or so...or until we get another one of these forwards.

Yes it is easier to hit that forward button...than to pick up our cross daily and follow Him.

But Jesus said in John 14:15:  "If you love me, you will obey what I command. (NIV)   The King James version says it like this:  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

After all that Jesus did for us how can we even hint that we love Him, if we are not doing what He says to do.

Jesus did say, "if you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father."   We show that we are not ashamed of Him...by becoming one of His followers and doing what He says...not by forwarding some email to ten or more people, no matter how good we think it is.   Have a good day! >