Have You Been Reading Your Bible? Has Anything Changed?

    Wow!  January is one of the longer months, and it’s already gone before we had a chance to enjoy all the snow!  How quickly will the shortest month, February, whiz by?   
    As we move further into 2020 and the new decade, we’ve already seen scary news stories and sobering behavior in our nation, and around the world.  As children of God, our faith is being tested –politically, socially, and spiritually, - with every headline.  It’s tempting to shut out the world around us, and just keep stepping at our own pace.  However, that is not wise or realistic in our time.  Somehow, we are vulnerable to being personally affected by germs from China, emotionally disturbed people bent on mayhem, cyber insecurity, or simply loss of hope for the future.                                                                            Many Christians who have lived even a few decades have observed how Christianity and God Himself have been pushed out of our society, our education system, and even our basic sense of morality.  Seemingly, there is no standard for speech or behavior.  Acts of kindness, wisdom or generosity receive one percent of the publicity of acts of violence or scandal.
    So, have you been reading your Bible?  Has anything we’ve described, other than a few modern twists, changed from the days of despair described in the Old Testament or the New?  Yet still, a remnant has survived over all the centuries and millennia down to today.  For which we give praise to God for the courage and sacrifices exhibited by those who boldly proclaimed the name of the Lord over all those years.  Now, we are the remnant.                                                                                                                                            The influence of our faith has ebbed and flowed over all that time.  Those who have lived many years recall a time when faith flowed, and God was a part of their lives: most people went to church on Sundays, the stores were closed, the Bible was read in school each day, and amoral behavior was something shamefully hidden.
    In truth, we are the remnant of this age.  It is up to us to make sure that love, obedience and trust in a Holy God is highly visible and passed on to our descendants until He comes again. Do proclaim and show His love to each child of this generation.  Do not lose hope.                                          Virginia                                   But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we          hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.                   Romans 8:24-25