Lord willing, I am in the air on my way to Vietnam with a layover in Singapore. For the next twenty-eight days, my writing platform will be manned (or womaned) by friends and relatives. Tonight's entry is from my good friend, Ken Ellis, of Wichita, Kansas.
I don’t always title my devotionals, but tonight I’ll be speaking on the Questions of Life. One of the most well know questions in literature that was ever asked was by Shakespeare's
Hamlet who said, “To be, or not to be. That is the question.”
From birth to death, life is a series of questions that require answers. Some are easy, and some are hard.
Kids, do your parents ever ask you these questions:
- Did you wash your hands?
- Have you brushed your teeth?
- Have you finished your homework?
Teens, you may have been asked these questions:
- Who were you with last night?
- Do your friends do drugs?
- Don’t you think it’s time you got a part-time job?
- What are you thinking about college?
Singles are never allowed to be just “single”:
- Are you dating anyone?
- Don’t you want to get married someday?
- I know someone who would be a perfect fit for you.
Young couples go through times of questioning:
- Do you still love me?
- Do you want to have another child?
- Do you think I’m pretty?
Older couples are faced with:
- If you had it to do over again, would you still marry me?
- How much time do I have left doc?
- Who’ll take care of you after I’m gone?
Many questions in life require more than a “yes” or “no” answer:
- Can you prove there’s a God?
- How do you know there’s a Heaven and a Hell?
- Explain how Jesus could be God in the flesh?
- What happens to me after I die?
There is a question that I consider to be quite profound that is attributed to Korczak Ziolkowski who was a Polish American sculptor who started the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He is quoted as saying,
I don’t know what prompted him to ask this question, but it is a difficult one to answer.
And it just creates more questions. How am I to know if I did what I was supposed to do?
- Did I pursue the right career?
- Did I raise my children properly?
- Was I a good neighbor?
- What was the most important thing that I could have done?
Perhaps it is a question with no satisfactory answer because there will always be more that we could have done.
But this question is most profound when carried over into the spiritual realm.
- Was I a Godly example to others?
- Did I share my faith when I had the opportunity?
These are difficult questions that only we can answer.
So what is God’s plan for my life? There is no one paragraph in the bible that gives us this answer. Perhaps God wants us to discover the answer ourselves by using various scriptures to resolve this question:
- Ps. 73:28 - “But as for me, it is good to be near God.”
2. Joshua 24:15 - “But as for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.”
3. Mt. 22:37 - “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind.” v38 - “Love your
neighbor as yourself.”
4. Ps. 37:7 - “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”
5. Lk. 11:9 - “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.”
6. Ecc. 12:13 - “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the
whole duty of man.”
One of the most important questions that everyone must answer is, “Have I been baptized for the forgiveness of my sins?”
When we pass from this earth, we may not have done all that we were supposed to do, but if we’re a member of the body of Christ, we will have done the most important thing that we could have done.
Applicable Quote:
In the book of life’s questions, the answers are not in the back.
Charles SchultzGod bless, Steve Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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