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When one looks at you and your life what do they see? Do they see a reflection of Christ looking back at them? Do they see a follower of the Lord who practices what the Lord preached throughout His life? We must ask ourselves these questions so that we can get back on the right track if we have allowed ourselves to veer off for one reason or another. The good thing about becoming introspective is that it is never too late to fix or correct the wrongs that are in our life. The Lord who is merciful and gracious promises to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of our unrighteousness once we confess our shortfalls to Him. With God a new beginning is always possible, but we must recognize our need for forgiveness and repent or turn away from our wicked ways. It is then that God can begin a new work in us and use us in ways that we never thought of or imagined for ourselves. (Psalm 103:8-14) (1 John 1:8-10)
Why should we get on the right track of life? I believe we should live righteously because this world is temporary and everything associated with it will one day pass away, but how we lived our life with character and integrity will be with us for all eternity. How we lead our life for the 70 plus years that we may be lucky enough to have will be with us for the next million years or however longer eternity really is. That is why I believe it is important to examine ourselves on a frequent basis to see if our life lines up with the example of the Lord Jesus. And if it does not, we can make the necessary changes so that we may walk with the Lord, be sensitive to His leading and fulfill our life's destiny so that when we stand before Him, we will hear those favorable words “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” I encourage you to think of those words that the Lord will speak to His faithful servants and strive to make your life worthy to be included in His list. (Galatians 6:7-10) (Matthew 25:21-23)
I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to follow the example that the Lord has set for us and use your life to practice what you have seen from the Lord through Scripture.
TERROR BY NIGHT
“What evidence is there that Christianity is true?” That's the scoffing question Christians often encounter from unbelievers. But three weeks ago, we saw a demonstration of Christianity's truth and power that is hard to deny. A band of Christian choir members risk their lives during the American Airlines crash in Little Rock in order to save a planeload of strangers.
The story -- hardly mentioned in the press -- begins near midnight on June first in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the midst of a terrific thunderstorm, American Flight 1420, a twin-engine jet, skidded down the runway, struck a row of steel poles, and rolled into the Arkansas River where it burst into flames. Inside the broken jet, panic and fire began streaking down the aisle. But amidst the panic were pockets of calm.
On board the plane, you see, were some 25 members of the Ouachita Baptist University choir. They were returning from a two-week trip to Europe, where they had entertained Kosovo refugees in Austria.
In the chaos that followed the crash, the singers went to work. Barrett Barber, a 19-year-old minister's son, lifted passengers through a hole in the plane above an emergency exit that would not open. Choir member Luke Hollingsworth escaped from the tail section only to go back to help wounded passengers escape. On his own shoulders, the young man carried a woman with a broken pelvis across chest-deep water to safety.
Choir director Charles Fuller got his wife out, then went back into the burning plane to help rescue an 80-year-old man with a broken hip. He was later seen guiding other passengers out of the fuselage onto the wing of the plane.
The acts of heroism didn't end even after the young people had gotten survivors off the plane. Rain and huge balls of hail were pelting down on injured passengers lying on the ground. Choir members huddled over them, using their own bodies as human shields against the hail and rain. They even took off their shirts to form makeshift blankets for the injured.
When a physician arrived at the crash site, he told reporters he was “amazed at the calmness and stoicism that I witnessed.” Throughout the emergency, the young people exuded a sense of peace. Where did that calmness come from? One of the singers said he found strength by repeating to himself the words of the Psalmist: “Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night.”
The heroism did not come without a price. Choir member James Harrison repeatedly ran back into the burning plane to pull passengers to safety. He was apparently overcome by smoke and collapsed. A few days ago, James's friends gathered at First Baptist Church of Royal, Arkansas, to bury him. Charles Wright, the head of Ouachita's music program, quoted the words of James's Savior: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
We've all read reams of press coverage about the Little Rock crash and questions about what caused it in the first place. But in the great untold story is the answer to an even greater question: Is Christianity true? Indeed it is, when a man will lay his life down for a stranger.
By Chuck Colson
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
John 15:12-15 Jesus declares “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
Romans 12:15-18 “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Philippians 2:3-7 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”
Galatians 6:2-4 “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”
Hebrews 13:1-2 “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: EIGHT GIFTS
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem171.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: KAREN SMITH'S TESTIMONY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony125.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry |
