Less/before any person should boast about how much money they make, what cars they drive, or how much fame and power they have, they should know that all of it is given from God. I don't care if you are someone who strongly believes in God or someone who doesn't believe in God at all, all that we have is borrowed from the Lord. He created everything and thus owns everything. Whether the very hairs on our head turn gray or not is on account of the Lord. Even if someone worships an idol or the devil himself, their power and life still comes from the Holy God in Heaven. Don't pat yourself on the back too hard for having a lot of money or beauty, because God can take that away like a twig on the beach. Especially in this ailing economy, that looks all the more possible.
This is why I get mad when people say nonsense like “It's because of Jesus that my ancestors were killed”. First of all, when was it ever recorded in history that Jesus suddenly came down from Heaven, took a rifle, and pointed it at your distant grandfather's face? But I will tell you that because of the Lord's mercy, you are now driving that fancy car and living in that big house of yours. And also because of Jesus Christ you have air in your lungs that you use to blaspheme His Holy name every day. That's what you got because of God the Father. Let me go a little further for a minute here too. Because of God's Son Jesus Christ, you also got a chance to turn away from blaspheming His name like an idiot, becoming forgiven, and becoming saved from falling into Hell. That's what we got from Jesus Christ and it took Him His whole life of pain and torture to give us that gift! So how do you now say that Jesus killed your ancestors? It was actually guys like you and me who killed Jesus! That's something we are all guilty of!
Even those men who rule the nations get their authority from God. It's ridiculous to see how many worldly rulers think they have the right to abuse their subjects as if they own them as property. We look through history at communist rulers who use to persecute, execute people, send them to gulags, separate them from their families, bar people from worshiping God, and then order people to worship themselves. Even today we have world leaders who believe they can sign an innocent baby's death warrant and call it a “woman's right to choice”. Did these men suddenly forget that it was God's hand who laid the very foundation of this earth and His right hand which spans across the entire Universe. Everything is GOD's! All human life and the very nations of the world are God's. The only reason these world leaders have power is because they have been bestowed this authority from God Himself. God can give this authority and take this authority away as well. And that goes for everyone.
Ancient Persia was run by a king called Nebuchadnezzar. He had all the power in the world and many armies at his command. Yet all of this was given to Him from the God of Abraham. When he was given the choice to glorify God with the power he was bestowed, he instead chose to glorify himself. He even erected a large idol of himself so others could marvel on. But that statue did nothing to help him because when God saw how Nebuchadnezzar chose to pay tribute to himself instead of the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar became as a beast of the field. Because of the way Nebuchadnezzar chose to worship himself and not give God His due credit, the former king ran our broke poor. For years Nebuchadnezzar's food was the grass of the field. His hair looked like the worst atomic G-Fro you ever saw. Even his nails, which weren't cut in years, looked like something an eagle uses to catch fish with! Indeed Nebuchadnezzar ended up looking more like a grazing cattle than a king. He chose to pay tribute to himself and thus rely on himself and this is what happened.
Now knowing all this, who are we to look down on anyone? Who are we, because we are richer, healthier, stronger, or smarter, to look down on anyone who is not? We got our “lucky” break because the Lord gave it to us. So how do we feel that we are suddenly more special than those who the Lord has chosen to not have as much? Everyone observe this example for a moment: God has given a poor prophet a few dollars a week, but with the power, this poor man has chosen to glorify God with it. And even though the poor man has only meager rations, he still thanked God for what he had; saying “it is because of Jesus Christ's love that I get these gifts” At the same time God has also given another man excelled riches. But with those riches, this powerful man instead chose to exalt himself over God. He doesn't even care if God exists or not anymore. So which one of these men do you think is really the stronger guy and the better man? I would say the poor man who chose to glorify God with what he had. That man poor man is the better and stronger man. Yet this is only an example. I'm not saying that this applies just to people who God has given rule over nations. Many of us have been given power of some sort, whether it is the ability to lift 500 lbs to having the strength of lifting only 1 lbs. Either way, everything we have comes from God.
Our families and loved ones also come from the Lord. I remember hearing some guy who said he doesn't call God a creator because he himself created his daughter. Needless to say I though the guy was hilarious. Who is that blind and/or arrogant enough to think they can create anything? That man's daughter could not only have died during birth but he and his wife could have been baron from the start. As a matter of fact, the first man ever on earth only got up and walked because the Lord breathed the breath of life into him. God knows every child from before they were formed in the womb. And God created all the generations that came before them. So who are we to boast of creating any life, or anything thing at all? God made the fist that made the sword. God made the animal that became your dinner last night. God made the stone that the artist chipped into a statue of Zeus and Poseidon. God made the metal that became the coin with Caesar's image printed on it. God made the wood that was processed into book pages, that satanists and militant atheists use to print blasphemies on. God gave you the very next breathe in your nostrils that you used to say a curse word against the Lord with. The very penny in my pocket is a gift from God.
Even the very time we see tick by is borrowed by God. Yes indeed we are living on borrowed time. We do not know when our time of death will be. Everyone knows that most deaths are sudden and unexpected. No one tells you that you have 3 days to live before you get in a car crash or are struck with a sudden heart attack. There was a popular news story a while back of a woman who survived one of these plane crashes we've been having, only to have died in a car accident later on. You see, we are all living on borrowed time. So there's no better a time to live for the Lord than right this minute. Let's not use it foolishly on our own self-bloating and worldly riches.
The same goes for us Christians. How will we live with the time and power the good Lord has allowed us in this world? Will we seek pleasures of the world and fornicate with it? Or will we use the time God granted us to serve Him instead? How we spend today, tomorrow or next week is very important. We must use the time and power we have for the Lord. No matter what power was given to us or taken from us, everyone needs the Lord or else see judgment.
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