Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Doubts”
Our Bible verse for today: “Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching.” Titus 2:7 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Your good example will have a positive influence on others.”
Over the years I’ve had the privilege of knowing some very fine men and women of God who lived simple lives of faithfulness. They were ordinary men and women, most of whom didn’t have a lot in terms of worldly possessions or achievements, but who consistently conducted themselves with dignity and integrity, kindness and mercy.
Interestingly, many of them had stories to tell of mothers or fathers, grandparents or other older people they were close to, whose own quiet lives of faithfulness had had a profound impact on them, and which had contributed greatly to making them into the man or woman they had become.
Recently I re-read the story of Susanna Wesley. Susanna was the twenty-fifth child in her family. No kidding, the twenty-fifth! She went on to have a very hard life. She married a man who was a lifelong pastor but who was also argumentative and difficult, and so their marriage was always stormy. She gave birth to nineteen children of her own, but nine of them died. At one point her house burned down; at another time her barn fell down; her health was always bad; and she lived in constant poverty.
However Susanna was known as a person of great kindness and compassion, and for her strong faith in Jesus. Her wise counsel was often sought by others who were struggling in life. Therefore her home (the parsonage) was always filled with visitors seeking counsel, or with others who just enjoyed spending time with her.
But the crowning achievement in Susanna’s life was that two of her sons went on to become some of the greatest and most influential evangelists and church leaders of all time. Together John and Charles Wesley shook-up the church in England, and then in America, and they went on to establish what is known today as both the Wesleyan and the Methodist denominations of churches. And both of them said that their mother was the most profound influence in their lives.
One of the most common doubts Christians often wrestle with is whether or not their lives are amounting to much. If we haven’t achieved success by worldly standards then it’s easy to think not. But as the example of Susanna Wesley and so many others demonstrates, in the big picture it’s not worldly standards that matter. It’s character and integrity that matter; it’s great faith in Jesus and kindness towards others that matters. And God will use your good example to have a positive impact on others – far beyond what you realize.
I want to encourage you to simply be a man or woman of strong faith and godly character. If you are, it will be noticed by many and I promise you, your good example will make a difference.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 