Bible Text: Luke 21:28 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.  Luke 21:28

Excuse me, but may I ask, “How are you today?”  No, no‑‑don’t just say, “Fine” or “OK”—the answer you think I want to hear.  Be honest for a moment, and tell me how you really are.  Perhaps, an honest answer would be, “I’m tired; my nerves are shot; the kids are about to drive me up the wall, and I have twice as much to do as I can ever get done‑‑that’s how I am.”  Well, at least I would call that an honest answer.  But try giving that answer to the person who asks “How are you” and see if he ever asks you again.

We waste a lot of time with meaningless, pleasant amenities, when how we really are is a matter of grave concern‑‑at least to you as a person.  Today, people face pressures that no other generation has faced.  Prior to 1945 the world could not be destroyed with decrees of one man; nuclear weapons could not wipe out vast populations. Caught in the middle of it are thousands and thousands of men and women‑‑men and women in every city on the face of the earth, who find it hard to just “live with it.”

We have become a drug-dependent generation, in a hurry to go nowhere in particular, with fear‑filled hearts and weary bodies. The troublesome conditions of the world have caused many to rethink some of the basic questions of existence.  What is the purpose of it all?  Why am I here on this planet called earth, hurtling through space at a fantastic rate of speed?  What is beyond the furthest star that takes one billion years for light to reach us traveling at the rate of 186,400 miles per second?

Because of the conditions of our world, many have begun to ask, “Where is God in relationship to our distress?”  Or should we ask, has man’s distress come because he did not include God in his plans, his life, his marriage, his home, and certainly his heart?  The historian H. G. Wells looked at life from the perspective of one who has an overview of history.  It was he who said, “Until a man finds God, he begins at no beginning and works to no end.”

Some try to push God out of their lives and even the universe.  They end up with hedonism, questions, and emptiness.  Augustine, in the 5th century, said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it finds itself in Thee.”

To some, religion is a crutch‑‑a philosophical assumption upon which weak people lean.  To you who are skeptics, may I share a few thoughts from the heart? I’ve learned that faith is not a blind leap in the dark but a step towards the light.

Faith is most reasonable thing in the world.  It is based upon the revelation of God to humankind in our world. That revelation is embodied in a document, well substantiated by manuscript evidence, called the Bible.

History further substantiates my faith, for it is in perfect accord with the statements of Scripture.  Psychology also affirms my faith, for it tells me that man’s nature remains unchanged apart from God. Scriptures does the same thing. My newspaper further affirms my faith, for the events in the Middle East, as well as the general trend of world events, confirms prophetic statements made hundreds of years ago.

It would have been a cruel hoax for God to create humankind and to leave us alone and isolated on planet earth, but for God to create man and then to demonstrate that He cares, assures me there is a loving God who is not indifferent to our needs. Read your Bible and discover what lies ahead for you and your world.

Resource reading:  2 Peter 3:1-13