Skip to main content

Blessings form Tragedy Pt. 3



        Experiences and knowledge are the things that shape your outlook on life. It’s one thing to know something, but it is another thing to experience it. Take parenting for example. Have you ever met the single person who knows how to rear children better than someone who actually has children? Sure you have. There is a difference between theoretically knowing something and actually doing it. Going through experiences helps our knowledge of various circumstances, which is really called wisdom.

        Continuing with the thought from previous weeks, after our wreck our perspectives changed. Most of our knowledge had not changed, but we had a new way to look at things. Let me share with you  a few lessons we have learned.


Hold Tight to the Ones You Love

        You never know when the last moment will be that you get to spend time with the ones you love. We are not promised a tomorrow (Prov. 27:1), therefore we must take advantage of the days while we have them. It would hurt to think about not ever seeing the ones that we love just one more time, but that day will come. Many have experienced this in their lives with the passing of a friend or family member. We have all experienced this to some degree, but on a day when you lose almost everyone you love in a single moment, it has a way of making you think. We thought more about the ones with which we share our home. The family sat closer. The hugs were tighter. Those sweet voices sounded sweeter. Kisses lingered. We thought we were close before, but we became closer that day. Hold tight to the ones you love. There will be a day when you will no longer hold each other in this life.


Keep Your Priorities Straight

        When faced with difficulties in life, your priorities will come into focus. This happens whether you want them to or not. What are you focused on? What is most important to you? These are the questions that we should be asking without tragedy rearing its ugly head.

        As already has been mentioned we look at our family a little differently now. We have always loved our family, but now we think about our actions differently. When you consider 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 we get a little description of love. We find that love is in fact “patient” and “kind.” After the wreck we are a little less concerned with the minor details in life. Sure we want to teach out kids stewardship and how to take care of things, but we are not going to get bent out of shape with every little spill and mess. There will be a time when you must be more forceful, but that probably is not going to happen that often. Teaching your children to obey is essential (Eph. 6:1-3), but we also need to remember the example that we are setting for our children (1 Pet. 4:8; John 13:34).

        In addition to this, are our priorities straight when it comes to the Lord? Are we seeking his kingdom first (Matt. 6:33) or is it second? Meeting with the people of God should be an excuse to miss everything else, not the other way around. If we are like Christ (Christians), then we will want to be involved in the things of His interests (will). We should be involved in every teaching opportunity (Sundays, Wednesdays, Gospel Meetings, etc.). We should want to teach others (Matt. 28:18-20). We should care more about the things of God than we do anything else in this life (Matt. 6:25-34). Why? We are God’s chosen people (1 Pet. 2:9), that’s why.


You Don’t Know When Your Last Moment Will Be

        There was a moment during our wreck when I was knocked unconscious and I woke to silence. I was terrified that my entire family had died, and that I would be without their sweet lives for the rest of mine. Any of us (or all for that matter) could have died that day. It could have been our last moment on this earth. Many people asked if we were scared. Physically it was terrifying, but spiritually we were at peace. There is no peace without God.

        I have heard people say that they will repent to make things right with God at their last moment. The major fallacy with this thought is that, as in our case, you may not know when that last moment is going to be. Sure some people can see death coming a mile away and are prepared, but you may not have time to prepare, so you better be ready today. We don’t know when our last breath will be or when the Lord will return, but we better be ready for that day (Matt. 24:42-44).

His servant and yours, 

Matt McBrayer


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At the Feet of Jesus

          How amazing it must have been to sit at the feet of Jesus. Have you thought much about that? What would it have been like to be around the Master? It was obviously life altering for His disciples, the majority of which (by historical accounts) would go on to violent deaths. Christians would go on to be persecuted throughout the centuries. Why? Jesus is worth the shame (Acts 5:41). Jesus is worth it all, because “there is no other name, under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). It is for this very reason we think about how amazing it would have been to personally sit at the feet of Jesus. To Talk to Him Must Have Been Tender           Talking to Jesus must have been so tender. We know that He would tell people what they needed to hear, and sometimes that was rather forthright (see Matt. 23), but he was loving and compassionate to those who wanted to learn from Him. Remember when parents were b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don't Raise an Ahaz

           Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah his God, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel.   And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree . 2 Kings 16:2-4                   When was the first time you drove a car? What about the first time you jumped off a diving board or gave a speech? After that first time, it certainly became easier. What about the first lie you told? Did it become easier? King Ahaz of Judah was evil and far from the example of David. Ahaz was the first to offer child sacrifices to t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Zedekiah and Regret

  “Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and the king went by the way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.” 2 Kings 25:4-7 Sin Will Cause You to Flee One that lives outside the law will face the consequences of the law; this is what happened to Israel first and then the kingdom of Judah. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had control of Judah and yet King Zedekiah rebelled against him (2 Kings 25:1). Zedekiah believed he was safe for a while holed up in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more