March 6 2018 – Click here to listen
With all the nasty media hype being spewed it’s no small wonder that people become discouraged. The pastor of Christ Fellowship Church this past Sunday suggested that we fast for 21 days beginning next week and culminating with Easter. He discussed different fasts that people employ and things to give up. Watching the news was one of them. I thought that was pretty funny, because most people sacrifice during a fast or Lent by giving up something they love like meat or sweets, and his suggestion sounded more like giving up something you hate to me.
So, if I dislike reading the negativity of the media why do I engage in it? I slug through the negative news daily primarily to equip my friends at the Jesus Alliance with knowledge of preventable acts of evil to motivate them to take action that will further the Kingdom of God by fighting to right those wrongs.
It is a disgusting job to pour through all the perversion and darkness being reported and can wear you down. However, I have learned how to combat it to a degree. For one thing I no longer review the dark stuff in detail, preferring to skim through most articles with lightning speed. Second, I always review the worst first, and then end it by reviewing encouraging material largely offered on Christian sites.
This morning for example the news was filled with its normal Trump bashing via a drunken former aide who was fired and out for revenge, the Oscars and their sicko agenda, more pedophiles getting off with light sentences, murders, mayhem, and the burgeoning crime rate in Chicago.
So, when I finished and turned to the good things happening in the world, I watched as a Korean restaurant closed down after serving lunch in order to take a boatload of food under a bridge and feed the homeless. They do this every day! God bless them! It made me hungry to watch as they served delicious looking meal after meal to those who were down on their luck. Then I watched a hilarious video of tiny young children exercising with their parents, and Billy Graham preaching a stirring sermon, and numerous other heart lifting stories, videos and memes.
As a business executive I used to make my daily to-do list and I always tackled the worst first and saved the task that I liked to do the most for last. I discovered that my day got easier with every passing hour and I ended it with performing the most enjoyable task of the day. I feel sure this same strategy would work for you. Give it a try today.
We can’t always escape the unpleasantness of this fallen world; however, we can look for the light that is always shining through the darkness.
Along those lines I have access to all kinds of polls, surveys, and so on that seem to indicate that church attendance is falling, and young people have given up on God. That is certainly not the case at Christ Fellowship Church. Their church is growing so fast that four services is not enough. Sunday, I went on a tour of their new auditorium which will open in two weeks. Even with this beautiful new facility they anticipate having to conduct multiple services just to accommodate all of those who want to come which includes a majority of millennials.
There is good news to hear, wonderful things to see, beautiful things to feel, and a fruitful life to live. Start with yourself by looking for the good within and then look around and look for the good surrounding you.
You can look in the mirror and find a million things wrong with yourself. Or you can look in the mirror and think, ‘I feel good, I have my health, and I’m so blessed.’ That’s the way I choose to look at it. Isla Fisher
I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. Anne Frank
Proverbs 11:27
If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!