Lessons for Wise Living

This summer I have been travelling, and on one of my trips, I ended up in Iowa, USA. This is one of the five main farming states in the USA: California, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, and Minnesota. The farmland stretches for mile after mile; as far as the eye can see! We stayed on a farm, and in one of my jobs (apart from my initial reason for being there, which was to give a series of talks on the Bible), I helped ferry vehicles from the main farm site to the corn fields they were spraying. On another occasion, I sat in a 'Semi' (we would call it a forty-footer or an articulated lorry) on several trips from the corn bins to the depot where the corn was weighed, checked and then offloaded, waiting transport by freight train to various locations to be processed as either renewable fuel (ethanol) or animal feed. It was, for me, a good reminder that it takes hard work, the right weather and a lot of planning and logistics to earn money and make a living. The guys I talked to were very aware that a good year versus a bad one was often out of their hands. They were dependent on rainfall levels, how hot the growing season was, and many other factors. Mostly, it is out of their control. It's significant that people who work the land or are in high-risk occupations (mining, fishing, etc.) are often more aware of how fragile life is and are more down-to-earth.

Why must we die?

The Bible states that 'it is appointed unto men once to die'. This most obvious of facts is among the most distressing things that we human beings face. I have a friend who committed suicide just before Christmas about eleven years ago. Why - I can speculate but I do not really know. One my friends in Liverpool then found that her partner's nephew has been found dead in his flat. Death comes to us all but why?

Is there such a place as hell?

Rudyard Kipling spoke of six honest serving men in his poem 'The Elephant’s child', lets think about some of these in relation to the subject of Hell. 

Who and Where

The BBC reported on 6^thFebruary 2019 that European Council President, Donald Tusk had spoken of a 'special place in hell' for 'those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it out safely'. It is interesting that a politician refers to Hell in a world which rarely gives God much notice. To be honest only God know the full extent of Hell. Mr Tusk states who he envisages going to a special place in Hell.  He may have big responsibilities within the EU Administration but he has no responsibility in consigning anyone to Hell, that is God's prerogative alone and thankfully the Bible states that His aim is not to get us into Hell but into Heaven.  The scripture records that 'He (God) is not willing that any should perish,' 2 Peter 3. 9.

Early in January 1957 a SASRA preacher came into Billet 454 RAF Henlow, Beds to talk to the men present, about God and the Bible.  Before he left that night he asked three questions 

1. Do you believe in God? 
2. Do you believe in Heaven and Hell? 
3.  If you were to die tonight where would you go, Heaven or Hell?  

I’ll get round to it someday!

How good are you at complaining. One man who was interviewed recently on television reminded us that whinging is different to complaining. Whinging is apparently just moaning but not doing anything about it. Formal complaining means that you are holding the service provider responsible for what they do or do not do and making sure that you get what you are paying for.

 

Once when coming back from a trip to Africa. En-route our cases stayed in Dubai while we flew to Lusaka. They caught up with us eventually, but we have a claim to lodge for extra expenses incurred because of an extra night that we stayed in Lusaka. Have I submitted it yet? I think you probably can guess the answer. 

Most of us feel that we deserve to get what we pay for. This is only fair, and it is our right but how many of us get round to complaining when things go wrong. The purpose for writing this article is not actually to encourage you to complain (not that it would be a bad thing) but to point out that most of us don’t get round to it very often. We mean to but we don’t quite get round to it. That’s true about a lot of things.

 

Think about this for example. How many of us have joined a gym and never used it? How often do we think about slimming but never quite get there? Or your mortgage – you know the rate could be lower but because of the hassle of changing provider we never get round to it. All these examples are about things that could improve our lives but we put off doing anything about. I want to ask you to consider another area of your life which we all tend to ignore and pretend that it’s too much hassle – that is your relationship or lack of one with God. We can all argue why we don’t think God is real but in our hearts, we know that God is there. Most of us live life as if it will never end and accuse people of being morbid who raise the issues of life after death. But we all know that we will die one day and to ignore the afterlife is fatal. You say if I’m wrong, I’m wrong but the reality is if you’re wrong you will be lost forever in a place you don’t want to be.