HERE IN THE REAL WORLD

The world around us is blistering with unhappy sores. All around us there is high crime, sin, starvation, poverty and almost anything else you can think of. We can turn on the TV and see tons of images of the poverty that has stricken the third world countries. And though better off than the third world countries, American has her share of the problems that cripple her. We have drugs everywhere; we are plagued by our own Holocaust called abortion; every type of sin imaginable has almost become an acceptable part of our mainstream culture. We see it so much that we see it and sometimes hardly stop and notice, much less try and do anything. So you ask, “What do I care?” I care plenty and as Christians we are all called to care plenty. Nehemiah was cupbearer for the King. He was in a high position. Yet, when he heard the condition of his brothers he took a different path than to just ignore the problem.

Hanani, brother to Nehemiah, came to Nehemiah and was asked about the condition of the Jews that had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity. Now, we do this all the time. We are always asking about the condition of this person or that one. But, what is our motive? DO we ask so that we can help in someway? Or, do we ask just so we can have some new fodder for the rumor mills? I’ll leave you to answer that question for yourselves. Look at the answer Nehemiah received: The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire (Nehemiah 1:3). Today, most people would say they were sorry and that they would pray for the situation and then go on about their way and probably not even remember to pray. But that wasn’t the case with Nehemiah.

Nehemiah had a genuine concern for his brothers. The first thing he did was to sit down and cry (Nehemiah 1:4). He had real feelings for his brothers that were in a bad way. Nehemiah’s grief wasn’t just for a fleeting few minutes and then back to business as usually. No, the scriptures record that Nehemiah “mourned certain days, and fasted” (1:4). It was a real caring for the needs of his brothers. Remember Nehemiah was the cupbearer for the king. He was in a high position, and yet he showed a real heartfelt concern for those that were in dire conditions. And, Nehemiah prayed to God for those who were in these conditions.

People around us are in various states of affliction, some by their own bad decisions and others through no fault of their own. And while there seems to be no shortage of afflicted and down trodden people, there seems to be a shortage of Nehemiahs in world of today. There seems to be a shortage of people who care on days other than Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. One person can make a difference. IS today the day you become a Nehemiah?

Until next time May The Good Lord Bless And Keep You; All Y’all!

Bobby

Bobby Cohoon
North Carolina, USA

Today I was honored in words as a friend chose to use me as the topic for his blog article: obviously he was at a loss for a decent topic! Whatever the reason, it was a pearl in an oyster of a day. And, though I hadn’t intended on returning just yet, after reading his article I felt now was probably time.

My friend Keith wrote, “ I confess that the hypocrisy I’ve seen in most churches I’ve attended has been a big turn off for me.” To all my fellow Christians readers I want to apologize for his comments as I know that nothing of the sort would go on in your church. But, I know each of you can probably think of a church where just that type of thing does go on. As Christians are we not called to something higher than this? Jesus said, “ Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted” (Matthew 5:13). Salt is a preservative; y’all knew that, that’s why canned food is always so salty. And that is what we as Christians are; we are preservatives. We are to preserve God’s word. Most of us have no problem preserving it on Sunday mornings. But, when we walk out of those doors our saline levels begin to drop. Our spiritual iodine starts to oxidize in the sunlight causing our sonlight to take second place (at best) to everything else.

Someone once wrote, “Preach the word; if necessary use words.” We can partake of the Lord’s Supper, sing amazing grace, and preach until the cat wants to get baptized but it is the message we preach outside of the church building proper that is our most powerful witness. To the lost, and even some of the found, the message we LIVE Monday morning, Thursday afternoon, or God forbid Saturday night is more powerful than the one they see riding by watching us for a scant few seconds walking into and out of a church building Sunday morning.

Keith wrote, “For me maybe it’s having never found a church I feel as comfortable in as I do when I’m in the outdoors seeing gods work first hand….” This reminds of the story I was told sometime ago of the young boy who was made fun of and was the subject of teasing in his bible class every Sunday so he started skipping Bible classes. He was too young to really understand the teachings from the pulpit so he was left to find God on his own terms. He was taught evolution in school and then one day discovered the oyster. Nature’s very own filtration system. He wondered not only how, but why would something evolve into such a creature living on the muck that falls to the bottom of the water. Then he opened the oyster and discovered the pearl: It didn’t evolve at all; God created it. Sometimes churches forget to be filled with pearls and just get overfilled with the muck. The pearls stop shining and leading others to the one true God and they just become filled with the muck that sends people along other paths.

It only takes one little grain of sand to make that pearl. Maybe you know of a church where there is a lot of muck floating around. And, maybe it flows out of those church walls and into the grocery store Monday morning, or the golf course Thursday afternoon, or who knows where on Saturday night. Maybe it’s time you stepped up and become that little piece of salty sand that they need.

Keith, welcome to the world of “Blogdom.” And, I want all my readers to go over and look at the stuff he has already posted at Common Sense America. Leave him a welcome message.

Until next time (and I promise next time won’t be so long) May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You; All Y’all!

Bobby

Bobby Cohoon
North Carolina, USA