JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Promise of Hope is based on Philippians 1:6.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
It is an amazing thought to consider that the God who made us will choose to work through us, even as He is working on us. After we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, He enables us to grow more mature in the faith through the truth of His Scripture and life’s experiences.
He also enables us to become a witness for the Lord that speaks to His transforming power in our lives. And that witness lives on through the people we have reached with the Gospel, even after our death until the coming of the Lord.
A lasting legacy of faith is a promise of hope for those who follow Jesus in the Year of Trust.
John Shirk
john@wjtl.com
JOHN SHIRK – Recently, my wife and I attended a funeral service and a wedding reception on the same day. It was the first time I had ever done that, and there was a wide range of emotions that we shared that day-from the tears of sadness at the funeral to the music on the dance floor at the wedding reception.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone, the living should take this to heart.”
I thought about that verse that day. I was glad for the experience of the wedding reception for it was a celebration of life, and a celebration of committed love. There is real joy in that kind of celebration.
But the funeral was also a celebration of life, remembering someone’s faithfulness to the Lord, and someone’s special qualities that added joy to our lives while they lived. That person was my mother-in-law, and she will be missed.
Among the sympathy cards we received, one person noted how at the service, they were challenged with some legacy questions. After I am gone, how will I be remembered? Will I be remembered as someone who loved the Lord and loved my family? These are some of the ways that attending the house of mourning can help us make the most of the opportunities that God gives us with our window of time on this earth.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 gives us wisdom for turning to God at the crossroads of life.
John Shirk
john@wjtl.com
JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Moment Of Celebration reflects on the lasting legacy of enduring faith.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
When we come to faith in Jesus, God gives us a mission to carry out while we live on the earth. Each of us has a race to run in the honor of our king. While we run the race of faith, God will give us opportunities to spread the aroma of His love in our acts of service, gracious words, and godly example. Other people will be transformed by the power of the Gospel as a result of our faithful witness, and their testimony will have impact on people’s lives with whom we had no personal contact. Yet, the Lord will use our witness for Christ indirectly to reach people we have never met.
Family trees often mark the line of ancestors from one generation to another. When God’s people gather in heaven, it will be interesting to study the spiritual family tree and see whose faith in the 1700’s might have led to the conversion of someone in the 21st century, because of their enduring faith in Jesus. The impact of our work on the earth is not completed at the end of our lives. It continues until the return of Jesus Christ.
The lasting legacy of an enduring faith is a reason to be glad in the Year of Celebration.
John Shirk
john@wjtl.com
