Do you ever get frustrated?

Do you ever get frustrated? What do you do about it? When I am frustrated I need to go for a walk, and so Buddybo (my dog) and I go for an extra walk. He likes it, and it helps me deal with my frustration. A preacher friend of mine said a dog was a good psychologist because they just want to be with you, and they can help calm one down.

But what about turning our frustrations over to God? Would you be willing to let Him have your frustrations and let Him help you deal with it? Notice the words of Psalm 121:2: “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth (NIV). I truly believe that God will help you through the good times as well as the bad times.

Jesus left us an example to follow.

I know of people who have had more than their share of heart ache. They don’t give up; they press on. I am sure they get frustrated, but they don’t display it. They know that in the end they will make it to glory.

Someone once said to me that I don’t let things rattle me. However, that’s not entirely true. The wickedness of our world rattles me. The downward spiral of morals rattles me.

Do I get frustrated? Sometimes I get frustrated because of certain people who don’t tell the truth. Sometimes I get frustrated when politicians sell us a bill of goods. But there isn’t really anything I can do about any of this.

However, I know who wins in the end. I have read The Book, and Christians win in the end!

There is song we sing once in awhile, by T.O. Chisholm and L.O. Sanderson, entitled Be With Me Lord. One of the lyrics says, “Be with me Lord I cannot live without Thee.” The words of that song are so meaningful to me when I am frustrated.

My constant prayer is that I am able to keep on, keeping on…even when I am frustrated!

Is Right Ever Wrong?

Is Right Ever Wrong?

by Keith Bellamy

My dad taught my brother and me that "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right. My dad's philosophy has stuck with me. He was raised by honorable parents who taught him the same thing.

And, yet today, if you listen to the media or those in the political realm…and even some religious people…you might come to the conclusion that two wrongs, DO make a right!

Is right ever wrong? When you don’t have a standard to follow, then anything goes. But what if you have a standard? Like the Bible.

I was recently asked if I thought a certain lifestyle was right or wrong. I responded that it wasn’t right; but it doesn’t matter what I want to believe, whether it’s right or not. I choose to believe that the Bible is a safe guide for me to use to establish a standard in my life by which I can live. Jesus said in John 8:32, “…You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (NIV). Oh, I’ve read other books. But none of them measure up to the Bible.

In Jesus’ day while He was on this earth, many people had the same attitude that Pilate had when he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). In Pilate’s world truth was whatever you wanted it to be. And it would seem, that in our culture today, truth is whatever you want it to be. After all, if it doesn't matter what truth is, then it’s all right to do or say whatever I want to do or say.

A number of years ago, missionaries were asked to teach ethics in Russia. The Russians knew they couldn’t teach the subject. After all, if truth is what you want it to be, then, why not teach whatever you want. Isn’t it strange the Russians were amazed as to how the missionaries used the Bible to teach ethics and truth.

Where do you want to place your trust? In some man or woman, or in God?

Is the conscience really a safe guide? Does it really matter how we live, as long as we have a clear conscience? “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared…” (I Timothy 4:1-2).

Is that really the standard we have developed in our country? Slander is wrong all of the time. Someone bent on living in sin is pushing God’s way out of their way so they can do what they want to do.

So, I try to follow a standard…the Bible. As hard as I try, I often fall short of living up to this standard. And even though I fall short, I don't know of a better standard to rely upon.

“Two Men Looked through Prison Bars . . . !”

“Two Men Looked through Prison Bars . . . !”

By Rick Walker

(Rick is the preacher at Meadows in Beaumont)

Why is it that two children raised in the same house can be so different?  Why is it that two people who were raised in different homes can after a few years of marriage act so much alike?

You will sometimes hear folks say, “We are a product of our environment.”  Their point is everything that happens to a person (good or bad), and all the things said to them (good or bad), have created the person they are today.  I strongly disagree!

This type of thinking produces a “victim-mentality.”  “If you only knew what my parents (or “Mom,” or “Dad”) were like, then you would understand why I . . . !”   Or, “If you knew the school I went to, its teachers, administration, and how the other kids acted, then you would know why I act/speak/etc., the way that I do!”  Poor thing.

The two children are “different” because of how they (individually) choose to respond to their environment.  The married couple act so much alike because they choose to react to various things in a way that is compatible to both of them.   The wise man Solomon, said, “For as a man thinks within himself, so is he,” Proverbs 23:7.  So, we are who we are today because of how we choose to think! 

Much of what God’s word seeks to accomplish in our lives is to direct our way of the thinking.  The 10 Commandments, the words of Jesus, etc., have been given to influence how we think.  We learn how to think about God;“you shall have no other gods before Me,” “God so loved the world…,” etc., and how to think about others: “honor your father and your mother,” “Love your neighbor,” even how to think about ourselves; “Let us create man in Our own image,” “Let us not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.”

All of us, from time to time, need to “repent.”  The word repentance means, “to change the way we think.”  Changing our thought processes is the hard part.  Yet once we do this, our lives (i.e., words and actions) will naturally change as well.  So if you don’t like something about yourself, begin by changing how you think regarding that issue.

“Two men looked through prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars!” (Outlook Determines Outcome!)