Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
--Matthew 24:42
Sodom and Gomorrah were terribly sinful places that were so full of sin and evil that the Lord chose to remove them from the earth. Most people know the story of how God destroyed those two cities…a story which I believe has an important lesson to teach us today on our nation’s birthday.
Many people today believe that America is basically no different than these two famously sinful cities. If you believe that’s true, then that begs the question, “Why would God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, but let a place of equal sin continue unpunished?” That’s a very good question, and one we need to consider carefully.
One conclusion could be that God is trying to get the attention of America! Between all of the natural and manmade disasters that have occurred in recent years, I believe God is trying to get through to us. Unfortunately, too many times we don’t listen until our very foundation gets rocked to the core, which has happened to us over the last several years.
So what can we do? I strongly believe the only hope for America is a true revival among the Christians in this nation. And that revival can start with one person!
On this special day, why not ask God to start a personal revival in your heart and let it spread to everyone around you. Celebrate your Independence Day by starting a spiritual fire around you that will burn brightly and draw others to its light and warmth.
Ask God to begin a revival here in America…and that it would start with you!
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”
Luke 15:31–32
The great Scottish poet, historian, and teacher Thomas Carlyle lost his wife Jane unexpectedly after forty years of marriage. On her grave he had these words carved: “For forty years she was the true and loving helpmate of her husband, and by act and word unweariedly forwarded him as none else could in all of worthy that he did or attempted. She died at London, 21st April, 1866, suddenly snatched from him, and the light of his life as if gone out.” Yet Carlyle’s diary reveals that he had failed to fully appreciate his wife until she was gone. He wrote, “Cherish what is dearest while you have it near you, and wait not till it is far away.”
There are many opportunities that are only available to us for a limited period of time, and if we fail to take advantage of them, we will miss out. The older brother of the prodigal son had lived at home with a generous father who had vast resources, and never benefited because he failed to take the opportunities that his status would have provided. The result was that he became bitter and blamed his father for his own failure to take what was freely offered.
So many times we do without the things that we want or even need because we do not pray as God has instructed for our needs to be met. “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). It is a tragedy if our needs are not met because we fail to take God at His Word.
Today’s Growth Principle:
If we do not take advantage of what God offers to provide, the fault is ours alone.
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