Good morning,
What’s that sound that startles you out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night? Do you immediately think of an intruder, a drastic problem with the furnace, or a major plumbing leak? When we have one bitterly cold, snowy day, do you give up any hope of nice weather until May?
What we need at times like that is the proper perspective, that is, not making things bigger than they really are. An unusual sound does not necessarily mean that something is terribly wrong. One day of bad weather does not signal that we are doomed to spend the next six months huddled under a mountain of blankets.
When it comes to life in general, it’s important to keep things in perspective. News reports and posts on social media often focus on all that’s wrong with the world and make dire predictions of where it will all end. The troubles we face in our own day-to-day lives can seem enormous and overwhelming. And it’s true that sin has brought terrible hardships, suffering, and death into God’s originally perfect creation. It’s true that each of us has brought condemnation upon ourselves by our own sin. But if that is all we see, we will come away with the wrong perspective.
God downplay sin and its curse. But there is something even bigger. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound. By His own perfect righteousness and His payment of blood on the cross, Jesus has rescued sinners from death and is preparing a new, glorious home for all who believe in Him.
Yes, we must go through many hardships here on earth. You may be facing some especially difficult ones now. But no matter what the day brings, may we keep things in perspective. There is no problem for which the Lord does not already have the answer. He has defeated Satan and death. If God is for us, who can be against us? What’s more, the trials of this life are only temporary. “Therefore we do not lose heart…For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
Services tomorrow are at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. The children will sing in first service. Sunday school begins at 9:15 a.m. and adult Bible class at 9:30 a.m. The public school confirmation class meets at 12:00 p.m.
