First Baptist Church

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Good Day, Bad Day

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There is a story about a Japanese man and his son. They lived on the side of a hill. They were very poor and could not even feed themselves. One day, a cart was riding by and dropped some sacks of food by accident. (Good Day!)

The next day, the emperor sent the cart back to retrieve the food and the driver of the cart traced it back to the farmer and his son. He demanded that the food be returned, but they had eaten it. (Bad Day!)

The driver took the man and his son to see the emperor and the emperor recognized the man as a hero of the empire that had saved his life before running away to live alone. (Good Day!)

The emperor also remembered that the man still had two years to serve on his term in the military, so he was a deserter. (Bad Day!)

The emperor, in a rare gracious moment, decided that the man would be exonerated of all charges. (Good Day!)

The emperor also decided the man’s son would serve in his place. (Bad Day!)

The man was given much food and sent home. (Good Day!)

The son was sent to the front lines in the bitter war with the neighboring warlord (Bad Day!).

The son distinguished himself in battle and was sent home early, having been given credit for a full tour of duty. (Good Day!)

He was sent home because he had been wounded and was now crippled. (Bad Day!)

The story goes on and on, back and forth just like you have read, but it has a moral. The moral is that sometimes you cannot tell how a situation really is until you have seen it through (the story ends with both the man and his son getting rich and living a long, happy life).

In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul tells the Corinthian believers, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Paul’s point to the Corinthians was that serving God may not always seem comfortable, popular or even fulfilling, but we need to remember that there is more to life than making ourselves happy. We are part of God’s effort to let all peoples hear the good news that salvation is available through His Son. There will be times when it seems we are not making much progress, but we must remain faithful to the mission God has called us.

You may be struggling with life, faith, family, work, health, or any number of things, but remember: if you belong to Jesus Christ, your life, faith, family, work, health or other issue is a part of a bigger picture and we need to hang on to Him with all our lives!

See You in Church on Sunday, Dr. Jack M. Jacob