By John Clapp
Bible Baptist Church 

Thank you!

 


I trust that each of you had a great Fourth of July celebration. I wanted to express my appreciation for all who worked so hard to make the festivities at the park successful. Events like Tuesday’s do not just happen. There were many hours of preparation and execution to make it so successful. So to the Rotary, the countless volunteers, the firework organizers, and all the individuals and businesses who donated to this event, THANK YOU for a great day.

As I sat waiting for the fireworks, thinking about all those who worked so hard to make this a special day for Alva, I was reminded how nothing happens in our lives without the sacrifice of many: the teachers and staff who make our schools function; the sacrifice of emergency personnel who keep us safe; the service men and women who keep our nation safe each minute of the day; the staff of a restaurant who serve our meals; the employees of a grocery store who keep the shelves stocked so that we can feed our families; the parents who work so hard to make a home function; the volunteer staff of a church that makes church happen.

Countless people behind the scenes make our life function. They are often unnoticed and unappreciated, but without their hard work nothing would function and we would be in a mess! A class with no teacher, a fire truck without a firefighter, a store without checkers – suddenly we notice the absence. We are good to notice when people are missing and now we are without. But when everything is going smoothly, we fail to notice them or appreciate them. You know the name of the waiter if they make a mistake with your order, but can you name them when everything went smoothly? We forget. We ignore. If you don’t think so, ask a veteran.

There is a greater One behind the scenes of life who is more ignored than anything else. We ignore our Creator. He created us and brought life to us. He placed us in a beautiful, created universe, but we deny Him. We proclaimed that there is no Creator and that we are evolved creatures. The created ignores the Creator. We forget that God cares for us and watches over every step we make. We proclaim that suddenly we have good luck or good karma, but fail to see the goodness of God. The Bible is correct when it declares, “… they know not me, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:3).

If it was not enough to ignore the Creator and His care, we ignore His greatest gift of all: Jesus. The Bible verse that we all seem to know we still ignore its powerful truth: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God sent Jesus to rescue us because He loved us.

How did Jesus come into this world? Jesus said, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Jesus came into this world like the many volunteers at the park on Tuesday. He came to serve, to help, to rescue. He came to give His life so that we could be free from the penalty of sin, death. Jesus came humbly to reach out to broken people like you and me.

Are you ignoring Him? Are you so involved in your busy life, that you have no time for Jesus? Are you enjoying your sin so much that you fail to see that one day you will held accountable? Have you forgotten the Cross and the empty tomb? Perhaps it is time to take notice of all what God has done behind the scenes of your life. Perhaps it is time to receive all that He has done for you.

Again a shout out to all who made Tuesday night a great success: thank you.

 

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