Are You Confused?

The whole world seems confused these days. The COVID virus has affected all of us.

First they said, nobody should wear a mask. Then they wanted everybody to wear one. Then they had a drug that would work, and then they said not to take it.

After that the cities and countries shut down. They wanted to flatten the curve. The numbers still go up everyday. They closed schools and churches but that did not help.

The troubles in the country got worse. The news kept changing the stories. People everywhere were scared and afraid. People began burning and looting, and they never seemed to know why.

People are starting to think about what will happen to them when they die. The Bible has the answers. But people are still confused.

Some people do not believe the Bible. They are confused about what it says. They are confused because they believe what someone says it says instead of reading it for themselves. It is like a different language to them.

Have you seen an artist doing a painting at a service? He seems to be painting at random all over the canvas. If you are trying to follow him, it is confusing with no plan.

After he is done, and the special light is turned on, you can see a beautiful picture. You can see where the plan reached the goal.

People see life like that also. But the Christian knows the artist and trusts him. They do not know where things are going, but they know God. and believe He has a plan. They do not have to worry.

The good news is that God loves you. The bad news is that you have sinned. The good news is God had a plan. Jesus lived a perfect life, and died on the cross for your sin. He rose again.

Now comes the hard part that is confusing. You have to ask God to forgive your sin. It is confusing to people because they think that is too easy.

Some people think they have only done a few sins, others think they have done to many for God to forgive. Both are wrong.

The confusion can go away when you trust God to forgive your sin. You may still have trouble seeing the plan, but you can trust God to reach the goal. .

Under the Circumstances

Have you heard someone say that they are doing well, under the circumstances? Usually they mean that there have been some difficult things happening to them.

How do circumstances affect people? When your team is winning, you get very happy and excited. When you get a good grade on a test everybody is pleased. When you get good news, little things do not seem to bother you very much.

The other side is when your team is losing, it is easy to get bothered by little things. When things around you are bad, the attitude changes quickly.

Children are often told that if you hang around a bad group, you will end up in trouble. The circumstances can control you.

What do you do about that? You can be careful where you go, and who you go with. But you cannot always control those choices.

Some bad things happen to everybody. Some sad things happen to everybody. But they do not control everybody.

The Christian knows that God is in control all the time. This does not mean that bad or sad things will not happen to the Christian. It means that He will always be with the child of God in good times and bad. Also in good choices and bad ones.

It does mean that circumstances do not determine your life. They should not control your feelings or your life. Jesus is the Way the Truth, and the Life. His truth always has the answer, even when you do not see it. You need to trust Jesus.

You set the priorities in your life. When you put Jesus first, your doing well will depend on Him and not your circumstances.

What is the difference between a caterpillar and a chameleon?

Have you seen a chameleon? It is like a lizard. You seen them on plants, and sometimes on walls. Do you know what color they are? On plants they are green. Well they may be different shades of green. They change their color to match their surroundings. They can hide like that. You have to look close to see them.

They do not want to be noticed. When they crawl around in the dirt, their color changes to match the area.

A caterpillar crawls around also. They look prickly. They are a drab color, and are ignored by most people. Not much to see there.

But something happens to the caterpillar. They go into a cocoon. After awhile they come out. Actually they have to break out to get out. When they come out there is a major change. They are a beautiful color. They have become a butterfly! They no longer crawl along the ground. They fly. They flitter around and are a beautiful sight to see.

Instead of hiding they are now special, and show all the new colors, and the change is obvious to everybody that sees them.

Some people can be like chameleons. They agree with people that they are around. But when they are with a different crowd, they agree with them at that time. They do not want to be noticed, or different. They would rather match their surroundings, and go along with the crowd.

A Christian is like the caterpillar. When Jesus comes into their life, He does not just change the color. He makes a major change. He makes new. From that point on in their life, they act and talk different. It is not different to please the crowd. It is because they are different.

When that happens to someone, it is a change that is easy for everybody to see. Have you made that change? You must choose to do it. Do it today.

Why do you go to school?

Do you go to school to have fun? No, but you can have fun while you are there. You go to get an education. What is an education?

In history, you learn facts to begin with about the subject. Then you learn why some of those events happened, and what the results were from those events.

In math class you learn some basics, Then you can do some more advanced calculations. Some careers require you to go farther. But everybody needs to know the basics.

Other classes are like that also. You are learning how to study, and evaluate, and analyze many subjects. You have to learn to be able to tell ideas and theories from facts and truths.

While at school you learn to try new foods in the cafeteria, you learn sports and how to react to winning and losing, and you learn to choose and make friends.
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Starting a job is like that also. You learn the basics, and the proper way to do your job. But while you are there about many other subjects from those that you work with each day.

Now why do you go to church? You go first to learn about Jesus, and the way to heaven. But you learn much more than that. You learn songs, you make good friends, you hear about more stories in the Bible that you might not regularly read and study about.

So you GO for a main reason, and then you learn much more than you planned on learning. What will you learn about today?

Are you a Good Person?

Is that person a Christian? They described him as a good person. Being a good person is admirable, but it does not make you a Christian.

The most famous Children's song says, Jesus loves the little children (really everybody). Did you hear that? The God of the world loves you and cares about you. What could be more awesome?

The Bible says that all have sinned. This includes good people, bad people, mostly good people, and mostly bad people. It also says that the gift of God is eternal life. It is a gift, that means it cannot be earned.

Jesus, who was perfect, died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. He was the substitute, or payment for sin.

How do you know if someone is a Christian? The important answer is what did they do with Jesus. Jesus said, I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. All other ideas, thoughts, and methods are nice, but they are not the issue.

When you thank Jesus for dying on the cross, and ask Him to forgive your sin, He changes you, and makes you a child of God.

Then you will become a good person, because that is who you want to be. Not because you have to do it.