GROWTH

Paul, Silas and Timothy thanked God for the believers at Thessalonica. The reason they were so thankful was "because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing." (2Thess 1:3)

I wonder if Paul, Silas and Timothy would have had the same thankfulness for us if they had heard about our faith and love? Would they have seen our faith and love growing?

Let's think back a year, ten years, or since we first gave our lives to the Lord. How much has our faith and love grown since then? How much has it grown recently? Sometimes we can find ourselves stuck in the routine of being a Christian, doing what needs to be done, but not really growing. We need to make sure we have consistent growth in both faith and love in our lives all the time. If we are find that we are becoming more exclusive in our Christain lives, we may find that we are feeding our faith but our love is dying. Or if we are full of compassion but the hope of the return of Christ is no longer a reality, then our love may be strong, but our faith needs some serious work.

Let's make sure our faith and love are works in progress, growing, no matter what stage we are at, to the glory of God.

Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]

REACTION TO TROUBLE

It had been a whole week that the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom had been tramping through the desert. Now they discovered that they had run out of water and were defenseless against the armies of Moab. The reactions of the king of Israel and the king of Judah can be very typical of our response when we are caught in similar situations.

The reaction of Joram, king of Israel was to instantly turn and blame the LORD for the situation they were in - although it was not as if they had asked the advice of the LORD in the first place. "What!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "Has the LORD called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?" (2 Kings 3 v 10) When things don't go as well as we expect they should, do we blame God as our first port of call even though we did not seek his advice earlier?

Jehosophat, the king of Judah, had a more noble reaction. Seeing no way out of his predicament, he turned to the LORD. "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may enquire of the LORD through him?" he asked. (2 Kings 3 v 8) Why did he wait until he could go no further before asking for the LORD's advice? Do we?

Let's not blame God for our problems or use him as a last resort, but seek his guidance first, getting him to show us the right way.
Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]

LUCKY

A few days ago someone at the place where I work had a potentially fatal accident. As he reached across a machine to adjust it, his clothes got caught and dragged into the machine. He was fortunate to escape with cuts, bruises and burns and without any more serious injuries. One word has been used to describe his fate over the last week: Lucky.

Maybe there was more to it than luck. Perhaps it was an invisible hand that saved him, a hand or an angel much stronger than the forces that could have killed him. But in a godless society people refuse to admit that such a thing could happen. Instead they prefer to believe in a random event of chance called Luck.

Even Israel had that problem, and they should have been the ones that believed in God. God said, "It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realise that it was I who healed them." (Hos 11:3) It was not luck that healed Israel, or even their own strength that gave them the basics of life. It was all provided by God.

Life is not a matter of random chance or luck, especially for those of us who believe. God's hand is at work in our lives because he loves us. Attributing our fortune to luck is bordering on blasphemous. Instead let us recognise God's work in our lives and give him the credit and thanks for what he does.
Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]