Promises, Promises, Promises -- Part One

I stepped out of my house and into the cold night air.  What was I thinking?  Brrrrrrr!!  

For the briefest of moments, while doing a 360 degree turn, I looked up to the heavens looking for a glimmer or sparkle.

As I was coming to the end of my turn I found three stars.  I'm not sure if they were the real thing.  I was definitely seeing stars from the onset of hypothermia because of my body temperature dropping so fast and me not properly being dressed for this nighttime excursion.  There seems to be more darkness than light.  Very appropriate.  Yet, with the scarcity of stars amongst the vastness of space, I was happy to see them.  Quite often I look to the nighttime canvas and expect to see more points of light.  As time has gone by the stars have become fewer in number.  Why is that?  

No time to rattle off an answer, but the picture from the night sky closely mirrors the life here in _________ (your city there) and other points across the globe.

The darkness that is within the sons of man (most of the world), seems to be overtaking the sons and daughters of light.   It seems at every turn, mankind is flaunting their sin before God and espousing their own independence.  Are we to accept what is going on in the world as part and parcell of our time here on earth and not do anything about it?  NO!  God's word is very clear about sin.  

Matthew 5:14a & 16 "You are the light of the world.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

This is of comfort to me because I often wonder if there is any "good light" in the world?  Seeing those three stars helped me realize that no matter how dark and bleak things look and no matter how small or dim the light is against the darkness, there is hope.  Even in the light of day the evil forces at work in the world look as though they are advancing further and further across the lines and claiming more territory (souls of mankind) for themselves.  

Here is a quote from the late Jim Elliot "Why, oh, why are the forces of God so weak and feeble while the Enemy counts multitudes on his side?  Lord, how long will You hide Yourself, concealing Your power and letting men think low thoughts of You?"

The answer will be revealed in the part 3 of this series.  

Cracking on.

The promise here is, if we, the born again let the Spirit of God work and shine though us, then and only then can the hearts of men and women be changed.  Will everyone accept the free gift of salvation?  Unfortunately no.  

See you in part 2.