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Calendar

• Today — 4:00 pm — song practice with supplemental hymnals.
• Next Sunday — Monthly kids’ singing @ 4:25 pm.
• May 6-9 — North Madison (IN)
• May 10-12 — Crestwood.
• May 13-18 — Oldham Woods — Special series on Creation & Evolution by Dr Don Patton.

For Your Benefit...

• The May calendar and duty roster are now available.
• Welcome back to David & Shannon Key.

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Some time ago, I read about a man who has written many biographies. He noted that it was easy to find out what a man said and what he had done. But when when it came to finding out the man’s character, the biographer was stumped.

Then he discovered the surest way to get the truth — he looked at the man’s checkbook. How did that man spend his money? That tells the tale.

Why not stop before you read any further and get your checkbook and credit card statements for the last year. What do they say about you? They might say…

• “I care more about entertainment — football, hunting, fishing, golf, tennis, and movies more than I do the Lord.
• “I care more about my personal appearance — clothes, haircuts, grooming and appearance more than I do the church.
• “I care more about civic interests — clubs, community projects, and the Red Cross more than I do the lost.
• “I care more about financial security — bonds, stocks, 401k’s and investments than I do treasure in heaven.”

What does your checkbook say?

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Actually, if history is any guide, others can do quite a lot to me. They can laugh at me, shun me, or slander me. They can rob me, beat me, or torture me to within an inch of my life. If they hate me enough, they can even kill me, in any one of a number of creative ways. I can be crucified, stoned, poisoned, gassed, shot, hung beheaded, pulled apart on a rack, burned alive, or simply left to slowly starve. Oh, yes, man can do quite a lot to me.

Knowing that the world can be such a cruel place, we look for safe havens to protect us from the threats of man.

Some of us are fortunate to have strong, stable families to shield us from the chaos of this world. But many others do not have that advantage. And among those who do, even those families cannot shield us from every injustice. Sometimes entire families may share the same cruel fate (think of the Holocaust).

Some people put their confidence in the government to guarantee their security. But governments can become corrupt or be overthrown. Then what? In all too many cases, the government is the very instrument of persecution that seeks to punish us.

Others trust no one, and seek to secure their own well-being through amassing wealth. Surely, they think, money will buy safe passage through any threat. But as so many have learned the hard way, money can be a treacherous friend, one that often brings its own set of problems.

The Psalmist offers another source of security, one that he claims will never fail: “The Lord is on my side.”

Think about the implications of those words. God — the One who created and sustains all things — is my champion, my defender, my friend. His position is so far beyond that of the most powerful of men that he is not even in the same league. They can only hurt me in this life; He controls what happens in the next. If God is indeed on my side, then it really doesn’t matter what man may do to me. Try as they might, they cannot touch the eternal rewards that my Father has promised me.

The poet is not flippantly dismissing the awfulness of the pain that others can inflict upon me. It hurts. But compared to what God has prepared for me later. This pain is but a temporary discomfort. I can stand up against the tyrants who threaten me, and challenge them to do their worst. Whatever they do, they can never overcome the One who stands beside me, and will deliver me in the end.

The challenge here, of course, is getting our minds to focus on a spiritual relationship with a Being who I cannot see, hear, or touch. That requires a disciplined approach to thinking about life and its responsibilities. If I want God on my side, then I must make the effort to be on His side in the great cosmic struggle between Good and Evil. I must respect God’s word, honor Him in all I do, seek his guidance and help in fervent prayer. And I must learn what it means to love as God loves — even those who seek to do me harm.

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1. God is personal. He is a being who speaks of himself as “I” and addresses humans as “you.”
2. God is plural. See Genesis 1:26. Think of the holy Father, the holy Son and the Holy Spirit as the he who is they, and the they who are he.
3. God is perfect. God could not be better in any standpoint than he is. See Psalm 85:6.
4. God is powerful. See Psalm 135:6. Nothing escapes his cognizance and his control.
5. God is purposeful. God has an end in view in all that he does. See Romans 8:28ff.
6. God is a promise-keeper. We have confidence that he always keeps his promises. See Romans 4:20ff.
7. God is paternal. The biblical ideal of fatherhood blends authority, fidelity, affection, care, discipline, long-suffering and protection. Human fathers may let us down, but not God. See Matthew 6:8.
8. God is praiseworthy. He merits all the adoration we can give him. See Psalm 147:1.

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