‘I have overcome the world’

John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” *********************************** As I sit here, the worldometers.info numbers continue to increase by leaps and bounds. Of the over 8 billion people in the world, at this moment but not precisely as it changes by the millisecond:******************* • 1.7 billion are overweight,********************* • 838 million obese people ***************** • 16 thousand died of hunger********************* • 21 million abortions******************** • $193 billion spent on illicit drugs************************ As far as Christianity goes, it is impossible to determine exact numbers. It is defined differently in various places. You see, you can wear the title and not have understanding of what that should mean. Many identify as such but don’t live it in a way that glorifies God or grows the Kingdom. (Please refer to Andy Stanley’s The Fundamental List series for the essentials that draw us to this conclusion.) ********************* As far as the world goes, we just can’t measure what is really going on out there. Part of that is because people don’t know, or refuse to tell, the truth. I guarantee you that evil is being perpetuated in this world faster than we can save souls. The bible tells us this is temporary. What is your part in it?************************* How many people do you think are teaching someone else to drink, smoke cigarettes or take drugs right now? How many are being inducted into a gang? or prostitution? Forced into the Sex trade? How many children are being taught, indirectly, how not to parent? How many women are becoming victims or rape, abuse, incest? How many boys or girls are subjected to emotional, physical, spiritual abuse, neglect? How many children become victims of sexual assault or incest? How many people are being taught to go along with unethical business practices, to close their eyes to injustice, to lie, cheat or steal to get ahead? How many people, right this moment, are students of this dark world? I was. Were you? ********************** In my work world, my job(s) was everything to me. I was driven by a need for perfection and continuous improvement. I did what I had to do to improve the process and excel at what I was doing. I did not look to the left or right because my path was for me. Very early in my career, I learned that people would lie about me, and to me, to make me look bad. I learned that people would steal my work and claim it as their own, even my own supervisors. Not one job was immune from the dark desires of others, even my own. And this was starting from 40 years ago up until a year ago. Please understand that I have worked in many fields. Fields where protocol, laws and rules should be strictly enforced if for nothing else but its own required level of accountability, liability and visibility…. or in some cases, because of its very nature, that of Christian values and morals.*************************** For example, if a certain business violates the very laws that it is supposed to uphold, what good is it? Corruption leads to destruction…. Shouldn’t it? Use as an example, a tax collector who steals from people and lines his own pockets. (But any job would do.) You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. You don’t close down the tax office because of what some are doing. We do need taxes to improve our lives. We still need people willing to work in that field. Not all of them are bad. And to be clear, we could discipline and correct them, teaching them the error of their ways. (or let the Lions have them.) Just kidding :-) **************************** How many people in the world are turning away from God because of what other Christians do or don’t do like Christ? I spent almost 40 years in the wilderness due to the actions of one pastor in my early walk with Christ. Think of the lives that I could have helped in that time, had I not been disillusioned by another human being! We, the people, make the assumption that if a Christian violates the essential beliefs of our faith, then there is a flaw in our faith, not just in us. I mean, how could our faith allow this to happen in the first place? And to a supposed Christian? Well, again, we ALL are human. How could we NOT stumble? Reality and experience tells me that there may be many misguided people in the world, including in Christianity, but that does not remove the essentials of our faith.*********************** But here’s the thing. Are we, as Christians, if we are truly followers, sharing the good news with those that are out in the world? Consider the millions that are out in the dark world learning all the wrong things and believing there is no hope? If someone is on fire, do we throw stones at them or do we throw living water? If someone stumbles in a way that brings them shame, do we call them out or do we offer them a blanket to cover their shame and lead them to forgiveness? If someone injures us in any way, do we wield our sword or do we, in time, granted, lovingly ask to be reconciled with them? Have we not ever sinned? Have we no memory of the wrongs that we have committed in the name of success, progress, vanity, selfishness? *************************** How many have we lost to the darkness in the time that I have been writing this? How many could we have saved but we turned our eyes away? ******************** James 2:14: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” ************************ What better example of Christianity than to love those LIKE OURSELVES. And in that way, we can slowly bring others to the realization that there is a God and although we stumble, we error, we do wrong, we sin… we are human and we plead with God to continue to have mercy for our souls. God LOVES us, all of us. EVERY SINGLE one of us. Especially the lost. ************************************ Isaiah 58:10: “and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” *************************** Whose life have you impacted today? Has it been for the kingdom or for yourself? The world is an ongoing study in humanity people. But God… we CAN overcome with God. We can win souls. ********************************