TOMORROW’S SUNDAY

There are some things that are so common we forget they need to be taught. For example, sportsmanship.I was taught it was not whether you win or lose, but how you play, because if you were a good sport, people would enjoy your company. So it is necessary to learn to be a gracious victor and gracious in defeat. It seems that we may have lost this, perhaps we need to return to teaching it. We have adopted a value that winning is everything. Could it be that conversation didn’t die because of TV, but because people tired of talking with others who were out simply to score points? Could it be that the reason so many people seek counselling is because we have lost the ability to listen? If we are so busy figuring out what we are going to say next, how can we listen? And most of what counselling is, is someone paid to listen, paid to be a friend. When I ask children what is prayer? The answer is almost always, talking with God – and if it were not for our win at all costs mentality, that would be a good answer – but these days we need to perhaps teach that prayer is conversation with God. And because God is Our Father, God talks first, and we listen – and then we speak. Many people report that they just don’t hear God – many think that they need to do all sorts of extraordinary things to learn God’s will but it all begins with a very simple, stop talking and listen. I am talking about the kind of listening you can do when you are reading the Word of God. Reading with the simple question – what is it saying to me? The Word of God is living, and some part of it will grab our attention, as it speaks to our situation. Once you have your mind filled with a thought from God, then you can think about it, examine it – and then after you have considered what God has said, you can respond. That’s what prayer is really about. Let’s not let the Word of the Lord be rare in our house, nor let it be infrequently heard – for the word of God is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path – it shows us the way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.