June 4, 2020 – Click here to listen
In response to a WFTD this week I received an email that read “Спасибо!”
Huh?
I googled it and it means “Thank You” in Russian.
I just celebrated my 22nd year of writing Words for the Day. What began in 1998 as a simple devotion written daily to help my handful of employees cope with their problems by applying spiritual solutions currently reaches people I don’t even know in faraway places.
It seems odd to me that people in remote locales worldwide have even heard about it because I have never advertised it or otherwise tried to increase the subscription base. It has grown organically, by word of mouth. Occasionally I hear from some of the original recipients who have continued subscribing even though I sold that company many years ago, but more often than not I hear from new people. In addition to American feedback I’ve heard from folks from China, Pakistan, Africa, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Australia, and many other countries.
Through the years I’ve had my detractors for sure. I went through a period beginning in 2008 when I received numerous death threats for writing about subjects such as homosexuality and what the Bible has to say about it. One guy who claimed to live in Atlanta wrote many times. I told him I had a gun with me at all times and invited him to come on down and we would settle it. My wife pitched a fit and wanted me to turn him in to the FBI, but he quit bothering me when I confronted him and told him I did not fear death or him and asked if he feared dying.
Most people take what they like and can glean from WFTD and either respond positively to it, or simply unsubscribe if they don’t want to hear what I have to say. I’m unfazed by opinion – I have an opinion too. We may disagree and perhaps they are right or I’m right dependent on the subject matter. I’m certainly not perfect (nor do I claim to be,) neither are the folks who read my daily devotion. But in the end, I have a right to my opinion and so do you. Currently we have a free country and freedom of speech is a cherished right and I intend to use it until I’m prevented from doing otherwise.
As for me I’ve made the conscious decision to follow God and glorify His name until the day I die and writing WFTD is part of my way of doing it.
A friend who is not a believer was ranting about God and blaming Him for all that is wrong in this country yesterday. I told my buddy that he has a free will and God has determined that he can use it to accept His offer of redemption and forgiveness of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus and follow Him, or he can reject it and follow the world and its wicked lusts. It’s free will.
God has nothing to do with evil only Satan does and never forget that. God has never promised that Christians won’t suffer in this life. We should use adversity in life to cherish God more. Know that God is in control of the situation and all things work together for good. Instead of looking for every excuse to blame Him, trust in Him at all times.
The Bible states that the grain and the weeds are being allowed to grow together until the harvest at which point the weeds will be separated and burned and the wheat will be stored away. That means that God will set things right at a time of His choosing. Heaven will be that perfect place with no sin that my friend longs for and hell will be a burning inferno reserved for those who have rejected the only living Son of God.
I reminded my friend that life on this planet is limited to just a few years, but eternity is forever. It amazes me how some including him question God. If my friend would stop and think about who God is in comparison to himself, he might apologize to God for blaming him for our sin. My friend has never created one thing and yet he is judging and blaming God for all the problems that are caused by our sin. I pray for his soul and that he will change before he has to face God at the judgment. I suggested that some people create their own storms, then get upset when it rains.
2 Corinthians 4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God