Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people devise a vain thing?

Do you find yourself asking lately as you watch the news and see the craziness in the stores and on the roads; “what is wrong with people these days?”  As one of my daughter Danielle’s boyfriends years ago used to say, “They need Jesus!”  The question of the day is:  How can we help them see that?  

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 tells us, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.”  If there is one thing people seem to be lacking, it is that feeling of being loved.  They are desperately looking for a place to fit in and to feel loved.  That place in their hearts that only God can fill is empty and they are hurting.  They need to know His love!  They need to see it in action!  You can talk all day long to someone about God but if there is no evidence of His love in your life, why would they believe you when you say that they need Him in their lives?  What is the draw?

Ask God to fill you with His love for others!  Ask Him to show you how you can show His love on a daily basis to those around you!  Allow Him to heal your wounded heart!  “Hurt people tend to hurt people” unless they are filled with the love of God.  Before Abby was homeschooled there was a little girl in her class that was just straight-up mean to her!  Abby is usually a very sweet girl and back then had difficulty standing up for herself so it was a tough situation to hear about every day.  So, one day I had a talk with Abby and explained to her that she needed to realize that the little girl probably didn’t really even mean all the hateful things she did and said, but they came from a very sad and hurting heart!  It’s difficult to say what that poor kid probably had gone through, but it was obvious that her parents and her grandmother were all the same way, which is really sad!  People are hurting and when they lash out, it isn’t always because they just want to be mean, I have met a few, I would question that, but most often it is because they are hurting inside and they don’t have God’s love to fill and heal their hearts!  You won’t help them by retaliating! 

True story ~ a man named Stephen got on the Subway one day and a man got on with his children.  The kids were going crazy, running around and screaming.  Stephen didn’t really want to say anything, he is typically a rather laid back guy but he found himself getting more and more irritated so he finally spoke up and said, “Do you think you might want to do something about these children?”  The man looked at him and said, “Oh yeah, I guess I should shouldn’t I”, he said, “We just got back from the hospital ~ their mother just died and I just don’t think they know how to deal with it and quite honestly neither do I.”  Stephen felt terrible and it helped him realize that we all need to be less judging of a situation where we don’t know the whole story and we need to be more compassionate.  

Let’s all pray and determine in our hearts to show His love to others, not just during this Holiday season, but every day!  God loves you and He loves the rest of the world as well, but many of them have no idea that His love is waiting for them!  

Quote: “Each of us will one day be judged by our standard of life, not by our standard of living; by our measure of giving, not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness, not by our seeming greatness.”  ~William Arthur Ward