Perspective

We should live more by the old saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff”, and try to keep everything in perspective. I was reminded of this last week when I was becoming stressed about practically every little thing from the construction going on at my house, to Horizon’s new building, to the myriad of projects of which I am involved. Then I tried to call a friend of mine. There was no answer, so I left a message. In a little while his wife called me and explained that the reason my friend did not return my call was because he was having trouble with his speech and his thoughts were likewise somewhat confused. You see this friend has a brain tumor. Recently the doctor found that the swelling had gone down considerably in his brain and as a result the doctor tried to reduce his medication, which has bad side effects. As soon as the medication was stopped, he began to lose his ability to effectively communicate. He will be going back on his medication and we hope and pray that this problem will be resolved in a few days.

I don’t currently have any serious problems. All of my problems together, pale off into such insignificance that I am ashamed for even being stressed at all. This family lives with real problems every single day. Yet I have not heard him complain one time. He loves the Lord and accepts this problem as something that God needs him to do right now. This medical problem is part of a larger plan for his life.
We may never understand it in this lifetime, but rest assured God has a plan. God has His hand on this man’s life too. He is one of the steadiest Christians that I have ever met. Please pray for him!

Throughout the world people have problems of such severity it is almost unimaginable. Perhaps as many as 30 million people per year literally “starve” to death. We live lives of comfort. I heard Billy Graham quote from the Bible the other night that it is difficult for a rich person to get into heaven. Jesus compared it to being as difficult as a camel going through the eye of a needle. Then Mr. Graham stated something very interesting. He said that compared to the rest of the world that practically every person in the United States is “rich”. In fact at no time in the history of the world has any group of people had so much. Everyone reading this right now is in this category. You are rich; you might not be as rich as Bill Gates, but make no mistake about it, compared to the billions of people of the world throughout the ages, you are exceedingly rich. For whatever reason, God chose to bless you and He wants you to enjoy this wealth, but, as stated it, can be a deadly snare.

Why is it so hard for the rich to walk with God? Too many distractions and we take our eye off of God and concentrate not just on the pleasures of this world, but also the many problems and complexities that arise from the rewards of our careers. God must be number one. Sometimes I think that is why God allows serious problems to develop in our lives.
We become too involved in worldly things and start to drift. God loves us and wants us to remember to make Him number one. When we are in SERIOUS trouble, we always turn to Him; hence sometimes He allows us to undergo these trials. “There are no atheists in foxholes”; keep that in perspective. Is this to say that no one who is rich can get into heaven? Of course not, Abraham and other patriarchs were richer than anyone of this age and are in heaven right now. The riches that we have are blessings from God and were bestowed upon us by God to accomplish His purpose. We must keep that foremost in our mind though and not let the material things become our God. We must concentrate on God’s purpose
for our wealth and accomplish His goals with it.


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Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work
together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called
according to His purpose.


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