[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Tuesday, October 30 2012

[Paul]

Hello and good evening to my fellow North Americans, and good Wednesday to you in other parts of the world.  How did your day go? Mine was good, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

In these days of extraordinary and unusual weather phenomenon in the easter U.S., I'm so profoundly grateful to Almighty God that He spared us from the absolute worst catastrophe that Hurricane Sandy wrought on other areas of our region of the country.  The reason why He allowed this to happen to other parts and not to us will probably be debated for several days, if not weeks, to come, and I have no answers to this question.  Obviously thousands, if not millions, of innocent people were caught up in the worst of it, for whom we need to continue praying that lives, businesses and residences will return to normal as soon as practically possible.

Ruth O'Neil, someone whom I can't help but think of as a charming Irish lassie if, in fact, she is of Irish descent, graces our minds, hearts and screen readers with her insightful article entitled "Are You An Example?", rendered as follows:

What do people see when they look at you? What do those who know you think of when they hear your name?

I have always been paranoid that when people saw my children coming, they would want to run in the other direction.  Fortunately, I do not think that ever happened; at least no one let me know otherwise.  However, I never gave much thought to how people would react to see me coming.  Would they be happy, reluctant, or downright scared?

Sometimes I shudder to think of what people might think of me, especially if I feel I have left a bad first impression, which I have a habit of doing.  I feel there are times when I can be such a better representative of what Christ is.

Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." I am not sure my light always shines as brightly as it should.

On many occasions at work, I find I have to quickly close my mouth and stop talking before I make a negative comment about someone.  I am always inwardly praying that I will not speak about someone unless it is pleasant.  It is kind of like the old adage my father used to quote for us children when we would bicker and call each other names: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I guess he should be proud that something he preached about actually stuck in my head!

It is the opinion of my Father in heaven that really matters to me now.

I constantly have to ask myself, Am I being a good testimony, or am I just leading someone away from Christ because I seem no different than anyone else?

There are some people with whom I have to be in contact that I just dread.  I know that every word that is about to come out of their mouth is a tattling about something stupid that someone else did.  It is certainly nothing that matters.  These people seem to be so bored with their own lives that they have nothing else to do except pick on others.

They could put their energy into telling others about Christ instead of putting their fellow man down.

We can talk about other people all we want, or we can show a little restraint.  How about you?

See, folks, I told you that this article was insightful, at least from my humble point of view.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul