Better And Better, Or A Downhill Slide?

"Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly."
Job 8:7 (NKJV)

Different people have different views on things, including overall philosophies on life and success.  Some people believe that life is just one struggle after another, and they believe that success is an elusive thing that is rarely achieved by people like them.  Some people believe that life is filled with "ups and downs" where we are often successful, but just as often unsuccessful.  Still others believe that life can be great, and success can be achieved, but once you reach a high point of life, things just go downhill.  But what we see in the Bible is that life with God is good, and it keeps getting better.

The various views and beliefs that people have about things are formed in different ways, but the best way to develop a proper belief in something is to see what the Bible has to say about it.  Some people think we hit a peak in our life and relationship with God, and from there, things just level off or even go downhill somehow.  The idea some people have about life and a relationship with God is that it can be very good, but even in our walk with God, we can be in a great position with God at some point in our life, but it is only temporary, and we cannot stay in that place forever. 

With God in our life and on our side, things can go from good to better.  But some people say this is not possible, because we all face problems in life.  While this is true, we do not base our relationship with God on our life experiences.  Some people look at Job, and they identify with his struggles.  But at the end of the Bible story, Job was better off than when his problems started.  Yes, we will all face challenges in life, but in our everyday walk with God, and in a crisis, we can be confident that He is with us and will help us.  As we keep our faith in God and His unchanging Word, we can go from where we are now to something even better!

Are You In The Right Lane, On The Right Path?

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. 
Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil."
Proverbs 4:25-27 (NKJV)

There is something that I have seen happen several times while driving in the USA, but it is something I do not think I have ever seen while driving in Europe.  Sometimes, in the USA, I have seen someone quickly cross over one or two lanes to try to get to an exit or into another lane that they should have already been in, or that they realized at the last minute they should have been in.  This is something that is very dangerous, and it shows the need to be sure that we are in the right lane at all times, so we do not have to make a last-second lane change.

We are all going somewhere in our life, at least figuratively speaking, and it is very important that we are going in the right direction.  Just like following some road, if we are in the wrong lane in life we can have problems.  If we are doing things in our life that are negative and harmful to ourselves and others, we need to "change lanes," but we should not wait until the last moment to do so.  We need to pay attention to the things we are doing and what is happening in our life, to be sure we are on the right course, so we do not have to make any last-minute changes to avoid problems.   

Proverbs 4 talks about the need to stay on the right path, to focus on what is ahead of us, and not get off course.  People can be in such a hurry in their life that they do not take the time to consider if what they are doing is really what they should be doing, and they tend to try and make last minute radical changes in an attempt to get to where they should have been all along.  God will guide us through His Word and by the leading of the Holy Spirit so that we can be sure we are on the right path in every area of our life, avoiding last minute lane changes, and following God's plan. 

What's In The Bag? Check The Receipt

"These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."
Acts 17:11 (NKJV)

Recently, I was shopping for groceries in Germany, and I used the self-service checkout to pay for my groceries.  As I packed up my things and started to leave, a man approached me and introduced himself as the "store detective" saying he wanted to check my receipt and groceries, to see if they matched.  This had never happened to me before, but I gladly showed him my receipt, and he checked what was in my bags against the receipt.  At the end of this, he thanked me for my cooperation and I left the store, because what was in the bag matched the receipt.

Many stores have people who might check our receipt against what we are trying to leave the store with.  People in these stores could just expect everyone else to be nice and think that no one would try to steal anything from them, but unfortunately, this is not the case.  It is a good policy to check things, whether it is groceries, some electronics purchase, or even concerning Bible teaching.  When we hear someone teaching something in a church, a special meeting, online, or even in a book we read, we should check what we have received in that teaching against what is written in the Bible. 

Acts 17:11 talks about something that every Christian should be doing; searching the Scriptures, daily, to see if what we hear is true.  In a store, someone may want to check what is in our bag against the receipt we have.  In the same way, we need to check the Bible to see if what someone else and their teaching is giving us is really in line with God's Word.  If we do not do this, we could end up with something that does not belong to us, and that would not be good.  There is good teaching, and there is bad teaching, and the best way to tell the difference is to check the Scriptures, daily.

What Do You Remember?

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:13-14 (NKJV)

Memories can be wonderful, or they might not be so great.  It is good to remember the nice trip we took somewhere, a special time with family, or some good thing that happened in the past.  But, memories of something bad that happened to us are not things we want to remember.  Memories are something we have about something in our own life, and we don't usually remember what happened to other people, unless we were somehow involved.  But if I was the only person who remembered something, then it would not be a memory shared by other people, and it would only be relevant to me.

Everyone has some memories of the things that have happened in their life, and of course, we want to remember the good things, and we want to forget the bad things.  If all someone remembered were the bad things that happened, that would not be good, it is best to leave those things in the past.  This is something that applies to everyone, and it can be especially important in the lives of Christians.  Everyone makes mistakes, but we need to move past the mistakes and not dwell on them.

In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul gave us some great advice: leave the past behind and move forward towards the goal that God has given us.  We all make mistakes, and we usually remember those mistakes in a more negative way.  And our enemy, the devil, never forgets our mistakes and he is always quick to remind us of the past problems we have had.  We need to move on, leave the past behind, ignore the devil's reminders, and remember the goodness and mercy of God.  If all we do is remember the problems we have had, it is difficult to move forward in the plan that God has for us.