You think you know best???

 My Dad and I were moving stock today with my sisters dog. Her dog is usually obedient, but sometimes he gets overly excited and will forget that he has a master to listen to. Well, today was one of those days he forgot about my Dad, and decided that he wanted to round up the calves his way instead of my Dad’s way. After the the dog had caused both my Dad and I frustration, my dad turned to me and said: He’s a good dog, but sometimes he thinks he knows best instead of me! 

Wow!! I know he was referring to the dog, but I couldn’t help but think of myself. How often I think I know what’s best instead of God. I listen to a song based on the verse that says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says that Lord.” And it’s sooo true. Often my ways are not the right way. They’re not God’s ways. And often I try my own way, only to realise how foolish I was. God’s ways are soo much higher than mine. I need to listen to him when he tells me to do something, and not be like our naughty dog who doesn’t listen. 

Who will you talk to?

 Today was not my day. It started early this morning with getting all my horses in and waiting an hour for the vet to show up. And then when the vet did come, they decided not to do the procedure. And then to make my morning worse, the heat was almost unbearable. I was sweating head to foot. My hair was oily, and my whole body was sticky. So after walking home, i decided to take a shower before heading into town to get some items for work. But when I got home the power was out, which meant I had to go to town stinky and sticky. So I am walking around town, sweaty, stinky, and sticky, and my ankle is hurting, and I'm running around trying to get all the jobs done. And then someone reminded me as i was about to leave town, of my parents anniversary tomorrow. So I ran around a shop that I thought would have the present I needed, but it didn't. So in a super grumpy mood, I purchased my items and stalked out of the shop, trying to hurry in time to go to one last shop. As I was hurrying to my car, this man stood in my way. Me thinking he was a creep, tried to go around him. Then I saw that he had some books and was obviously trying to get my attention to talk to me about them. "Great!! Now I have to try and talk my way out of a religious conversation with a Mormon or JW." I thought to myself, shaking my head at the man, trying to  indicate that I didn't want to talk. But he persisted, and I remembered someone saying that you should be kind to these people as they usually dont receive a lot of kindness.  So with my arm full of stuff, and sweating so bad because of the heat, I angrily turned around at him and tried to act interested. Turns out the guy was training to be a Monk, and was trying to raise money by giving away books, that held the secret to gaining good characteristics, for a gold coin donation. After explaining that I was a Christian and I told him how to get to Heaven, I then went on to tell him that I was in a big hurry to go. Walking back to my car, I felt guilty about being so rude, and so I gave a tract to one of his friends and asked him to give it to him. 

As I drove away, I suddenly became aware of my extremely rude attitude to someone who was lost and going to hell. I had told myself that I was far to busy to help him. How wrong my attitude was. How could I be too busy to help him? How could I be soo selfish to not stop and help him. Help him find the way to Heaven. 

I thought about this illustration. 

You are in a big room with a lot of people, and theres only one door and its locked. And someone is coming to set the room on fire, and everyone is trying to find the key to the door. Say you figure out where the key is and you've unlocked the door, wouldn't you tell everyone that the door is open and they can go through also, or would you quietly slip out and leave them searching for the key?  Surely you wouldn't be to busy to save a persons life? 

I was very convicted over these words. But they are so true!! We often are in such a hurry, that we do forget about the people around us. We forget to show them the unlocked door so they can escape hellfire. 

What are you doing about the lost souls around you?

I hope and pray that I may be more aware of them, and try to help them with God's help. 

Entrust your soul to a faithful Creator.

 1 Peter 4:19 says, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” 

1 Peter 4 talks a little bit about serving and doing good even if we get mocked or suffer for it. And that verse 19 says that when we are doing good and suffering for it, we need to entrust our souls to a FAITHFUL creator. 

Entrust means to assign someone the responsibility of something. We are to assign the responsibility of our soul to our faithful creator, and he who promised is Faithful. And he, our faithful creator, has promised to give us strength. 1 Peter 4:11 says, “…whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies,” We get given the strength we need to serve and do good, even tho we suffer for it. 

So the next time you’re tempted to complain about the suffering, or give up doing good, stop and remember to  assign the responsibility of your soul to your Faithful Creator.