There Is A Time For Everything

Wisdom Nugget :“Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is heavy upon him."

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While all of us may not have been through a Nazi Treblinka death camp like I shared yesterday, all of us have experienced injustice in life one way or another. For instance, you were wronged and lodged a report with the police, only to be invited later by the same police officer, who had taken bribe, and you ended up becoming  the accused instead of the complainant; or you may have been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, and yet someone testified falsely that the accident was in fact your fault, and you have to pay the damages. Or perhaps you turned in a test, and the teacher accused you of cheating because your answers were exactly the same as another student’s answers. Or perhaps you gave a large sum of money to someone to invest with the assurance of a significant return on your investment, only to discover that you have been defrauded of your life’s savings. Or perhaps your coworker made unwanted sexual advances towards you, and when you told your superiors, you—and not your coworker—got fired.

 A similar event occurred when I was about 11 or 12 years of age but I remember it like yesterday because it was an experience too painful to forget. We were on a brief holiday in an uncle's home when he sent me on an errand. On my return my uncle was inside his bedroom which I had no access to, so I gave the change to Mary give to him inside the bedroom. About an hour later my uncle was asking me for his change and I said I had given it to Mary. Well she denied completely ever collecting any change from me and because she was an in house member and I, just a visiting holiday maker, she was believed and I was called a thief. Boy, was it painful ? I cried and tried to convince my uncle but to no avail. Next day I was asked to leave the house and return to my home. Unfortunately many years after I have never met Mary again. I have since forgiven her but I vowed to remind her anytime, anywhere and any how we meet, of how she lied against me.

To those of you who have suffered grave injustice and think even God failed to defend you, remember these words "....The righteous will be judged and so will the wicked, for there is a time...!"

Judgement is sure but THERE IS A TIME  appointed for it. Don't forget that many innocent people suffered for decades in the hands of their oppressors, but judgement still came eventually. The bad news is that we cannot choose the time. The good news is judgement will eventually come. For Adolph Hitler, Muammar Gaddafi, Sadam Hussein or Idi Amin, judgement did eventually come. Since it is not for you to judge or appoint the time for the judgement, why not, for your own health's sake forgive and let go. "Remember There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness."-Josh Billings

The Exchange

Wisdom Nugget: We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.

                                                                                                         - Dwight L. Moody

Happy easter

There was a young man who had been raised as an atheist. He was training to be an Olympic diver but the only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend. The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend's sermons, but he heard them often. One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. The lights were all off, but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was bright, there was plenty of light to practice by. The young man climbed up to the highest diving board and as he turned his back to the pool on the edge of the board and extended his arms out, he saw his shadow on the wall. The shadow of his body in the shape of a cross. Instead of diving, he knelt down and asked God to come into his life. As the young man stood, a maintenance man walked in and turned the lights on. The pool had been drained for repairs.

As Luke says, “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death...” Like the young diver, or the criminal, we were all being led away to meet our doom but somewhere from heaven Jesus came down to earth. He bore the shame on the cross, became a curse for us. “...cursed is anyone that hangeth on a tree”. Yet without a grudge, but with so much love took our place, and He died for you, and for me. As we remember the greatest sacrifice the world will ever know, of our Saviours’ death, let us rededicate our lives to Him; in word and in our actions. Even while the Lord was experiencing the physical, emotional and perhaps even spiritual agony of the cross, still he expressed the divine nature of His love for man and had the compassion to listen to the pleas of one who had great need. He repressed his own pain to answer to the needs of a sinner. He promised that man, the thief, that that very day, He would be in Paradise.

We shall end with a quote by, "In every grave on earth’s green sward is a tiny seed of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, and that seed cannot perish. It will germinate when the warm south wind of Christ’s return brings back the spring-tide to this cold sin-cursed earth of ours; and then they that are in their graves, and we who shall lie down in ours, will feel in our mortal bodies the power of His resurrection, and will come forth to life immortal."

What does Easter mean to you?

Happy Easter!

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