September 17, 2006

Scattered!

Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. —Acts 8:4

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast and displaced an estimated 1.3 million households. With cities and towns evacuated, homes destroyed, and jobs gone, people relocated to communities in every state including Alaska and Hawaii. Because Christians are not immune to the storms of life, it’s likely that thousands of people who love the Lord found themselves in places they never expected to live.

Yet many of those same people whose hopes and plans were shattered by Katrina would also bring God’s love to others across the US. Like the early Christians who were forced out of Jerusalem by persecution, it could be said of them: “Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word” (Acts 8:4).

While none of us would choose this kind of financial loss and disruption, would we see it as an opportunity to share the hope Jesus Christ has given us?

The apostle Peter’s letter reminded Christians who had been scattered among the nations to “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

If we are uprooted, we can scatter the seeds of the gospel wherever we go. —David C. McCasland

We’re always sowing seeds in life
By everything we do and say,
So let’s make sure we sow God’s Word
Among the ones we meet each day. —Hess

There’s no wrong place to share the gospel.

Bible in One Year: Bible in One Year; Proverbs 27-29; 2 Corinthians 10

September 18, 2006

Treasure In Heaven

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READ: Matthew 6:19-21

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. —Matthew 6:21

On a teaching trip to Togo, West Africa, I noticed hundreds of abandoned buildings that were only partially built. I asked my missionary host why so many structures were incomplete. His response was striking.

Apparently, Togolese law allows an injured party to demand payment from the available cash of family members of the person who injured them. Even distant relatives are not exempt. To prevent their cash savings from being attached to a legal action, people will purchase land instead. Slowly, sometimes over decades, they will build a house on it with any extra cash. The hundreds of unfinished buildings were testimony to how easy it is to lose one’s material possessions.

This was certainly part of the reason our Lord taught, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal” (Matt. 6:19). Treasure that is of this world is vulnerable to being lost, stolen, destroyed, or devalued. If that is our focus, we will only experience frustration.

If our hearts are drawn instead to the value of the eternal—godly character, relationships, souls—we won’t be disappointed. We will become rich in the things of Christ. And treasure in heaven can never be taken away! —Bill Crowder

I do not ask for treasures here
To hoard, decay, and rust,
But for the better things of life—
Humility and trust. —Meadows

Treasures in heaven are laid up as treasures on earth are laid down.

Bible in One Year: Bible in One Year; Proverbs 30-31; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15