Good morning. Well, this past week, you began school. To many, the summer seemed to breeze past you. For some of you, you will begin college in a few weeks. To your parents, you seem to be breezing through life. In fact, just the other day, they were putting you on the bus for your first day of kindergarten. There are some parents here today, that I a few short months, your little girl is going to get married.
For me and Nellie, the summer has been so crazy. We have latterly been from one thing to another. And to be honest, as we being to think about having a baby, taking masters classes, and teaching and preaching, I don’t see a time when things won’t be crazy in the near future.
It just doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day to get all that we have to do done. And my guess, is that many of you are sitting there thinking to yourselves, “Me too!”
How many times a day do you look at your watch? You know, we live in a day and age that says that we have to breeze through everything, just so that we can make it to the next thing. And the faster we go, the more we can get done. And I am guilty of this as well.
If you noticed, the clock on the wall was taken down before you came in today. And right now, I want you to try something with me.
If you have a watch, take it off, if you have a phone, put it away. And for the next few minutes, let’s not be so focused on the time, and let’s just see what God can teach us.
Now, with no one able to see what time it is, these next 50 minutes should breeze by! Just kidding!
But, in all seriousness, there is a church in Florida that advertises a breeze through church service. They promote that they are the only church with a 22 minute service. That’s right. They promise that 22 minutes after the service begins you will be dismissed. The music is fast. The prayers are quick. The sermons are only 8 minutes long. Now don’t get your hopes up, it’s not going to happen here. But they try and breeze through things as quickly as they can.
So, with everyone wanting to learn ways of breezing through life, I want to share 4 simple principles with you today that will help us all to breeze through life a little better.
Before we do that though, allow me to begin with a word of prayer. Let’s Pray!
So, with everyone wanting to learn ways of breezing through life, here are 4 simple principles that will help us all to breeze through life a little better.
First, you need to trust God more than yourself:
In Proverbs 3:5 it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
We are told to trust in God will ALL of our heart, and to lean NOT on ourselves.
A radio announcer once asked Leo Der-o-cher, who was at that time the manager of the New York Giants, “Barring the unforeseen, Leo, will your club get the pennant?” Back came Leo’s reply, “There ain’t gonna be no unforeseen.”
Well, there are many unforeseens in our lives. There are many things we don’t know. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. And often, we don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. But when we trust in God, we have to understand that there are NO unforseens to God.
God sees all, He knows all, and He has the answers to all things. In fact, God sees everything even before it happens. But how could that be? Well, it’s because He is God. He has no limits like human beings. He knows the past, He knows the present, and He even knows the future. Nothing is unforeseen to Him. And because of that, we need to learn to trust Him more than we trust ourselves.
As school just started this past week, if you had to pick your children’s teacher, would you choose a person who had a teaching degree, or a person who didn’t finish high school? If your car needed a new carburetor installed, would you rather have a mechanic do it, or a cook? When you are about to have a life saving surgery, would you rather have a doctor perform the surgery, or a waitress at Bob Evans?
Obviously we want someone who knows better than we do. We want someone who knows what they are doing. It’s always nice when you can trust someone who is smarter than you, to take care of some problem that you can’t handle. And that is exactly why we need to begin trusting in God rather than trusting in ourselves. He has no unforseens, He knows all.
A preacher once said, “There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out of. Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation.”
He goes on to say, “Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, “There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. Now if you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again.”
“At that very moment God seemed to be saying to me, “Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right.” And that lesson has been proven true in my life many times over the years.”
So, we all need to learn to trust God more than ourselves and more than anybody else in life. People mean well but they can steer us wrong in life. But God will always steer us in the right direction and take care of us if we put our trust in Him.
Secondly, you need to realize that kindness always comes back to you:
Proverbs 11:17 says, “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.”
Mamie Adams always went to a branch post office in her town because the postal employees there were so friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the lines were extremely long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait in line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. “I know,” said Mamie, “but the machine won’t ask me about my arthritis.”
And English writer’s mother was an extraordinarily beautiful woman married to an extraordinarily ugly man. When a family friend once asked how such a beautiful woman could have married such an ugly man, she replied, “He has never once hurt my feelings.”
You see, kindness always pays off. It’s the boomerang that always comes back to you. If you want to be blessed in life by others, then be a blessing to others. Whatever you sow is what you will reap. What you dish out is what you’ll get back.
When preacher Dwight L. Moody was in New York one time, he was helped considerably by R. K. Remington. When Moody was leaving on the train, he grasped his friend by the hand and said, “If you ever come to Chicago, call on me; and I will try to return your kindness.”
In reply, Mr. Remington said to Moody, “Don’t wait for me; do it to the first man that comes along.”
It always pays to be kind to everyone. Don’t wait to be kind. Do it now. Do it today. Do it every day, and you will be blessed.
The third thing we need to know, is don’t let your tongue cut you:
A woman once came to one of the old Puritan preachers of London and told him that the bands which he wore with his pulpit gown were altogether too long, and that they annoyed her greatly. She would like his permission to shorten them.
Confident he would allow her to do this, she had come armed with a pair of scissors. The minister mildly handed over the offending bands to the woman, who shortened them according to her taste with her scissors and then handed the fragments back to the minister.
When he received them, he thanked her and said: “Now, my good woman, there is something about you that is altogether too long, and which has annoyed me greatly, and since one good turn deserves another, I would like permission to shorten it.”
“Certainly,” said the woman, “you have permission to do so, and here are the scissors.” Then the preacher said, “Very well, madam, stick out your tongue.”
Proverbs 10:19 says, “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”
Later on, in Proverbs 12:18 it tells us that, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Someone once said, “However sharp is the knife, sharper yet is the human tongue.” So, let me ask you, has your mouth ever gotten you into trouble? Have your words ever come back to bite you in the butt? Have you ever had to eat your own words? I know that I sure have.
Someone has said, “Mistakes of the tongue have destroyed more people, ruined more marriages, and cost more businessmen their jobs and their futures than any other kind of mistake.”
Casey Stengel was a longtime major league baseball manager whose unique way with the English language became known as “Stengelese.” Casey held a position on the board of directors for a California bank. And according to a story that originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Casey described his duties this way: “There ain’t nuthin’ to it. You go into the fancy meeting room and you just sit there and never open your yap. As long as you don’t say nuthin’ they don’t know whether you’re smart or dumb.”
Well, he was certainly right about that. And keeping your mouth shut will also keep a person out of a lot of trouble in life.
James 3:2 says that, “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
Here is a paraphrase of that, “We all sin in many different ways. But if a person never sin in their speaking, it’s as though they are a perfect person!”
Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have such control over your words that you never say anything wrong? You never utter a word that hurts another. You never speak a word that causes God pain.
However, I think most of us, if not all of us, are guilty of speaking out of turn or perhaps of saying words that should never have been said. And these words always seem to come back and bite us in the butt. So when we bite others, we are actually biting ourselves.
Now, you may ask, “What’s the answer? What’s the cure?” And the answer is this, don’t be quick to talk. Never use nasty or mean words. Speak words that encourage and build people up. Speak highly of others or don’t speak at all. It’s just like your parents use to tell you, “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all!” And then you need to ask God for help to give you control and wisdom in your speaking.
So, in order to breeze though life the way that God desires for us to live, we need to:
- Trust God more than yourself.
- Realize that kindness always comes back to you. And..
- Don’t let your tongue cut you.
And finally, we need to seek the Lord in all things:
Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
The new family in the neighborhood overslept and their 6 year old daughter missed her school bus. The father, though late for work himself, had to drive her. Since he did not know the way, he said that she would have to direct him to the school.
They rode several blocks before she told him to turn the first time, several more before she indicated another turn.
This went on for 20 minutes, but when they finally reached the school, it proved to be only a short distance from their home. The father, much annoyed, asked his daughter why she’d led him around in such a circle. The child explained, “That’s the way the school bus goes, Daddy. It’s the only way I know.”
Well, just like that little girl, adult people go the only way they know, the only way they’ve been taught, the only way they’ve been shown. And consequently, this is why we all need a good teacher.
We all learn some things from our parents. Perhaps other things from our siblings or our peers. Still, we learn some things from those with whom we associate. And this is why we need a good teacher, God, to lead us and teach us.
A sign seen in a textile mill reads, “When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman.” A young woman was new on the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought to herself, “I’ll just straighten this out myself.”
She tried, but the situation only worsened. Finally she called the foreman. “I did the best I could,” she said. The foreman replied, “No you didn’t. To do the best, you should have called me.”
Remember, scripture tells us, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” In order to succeed in life, we need to seek the Lord in all we do.
In closing, Cecil Beaton took pictures of Queen Mother Elizabeth on her 50th birthday. In an extravagance of tact, Beaton sent her proofs so retouched that not a wrinkle showed. Her secretary returned them with a polite note that said this, “Her Majesty feels, that having weathered 50 years of life on earth, she would not like her photographs to suggest that she has come through completely unscathed.”
No one can go through life unscathed. No one. We all experience difficulties. But what makes the difference in being able to endure life and succeed, is the Lord’s help and His blessings.
If you want to breeze through life better. Always seek the Lord. Always put Him first. Always surrender to His will.
If we can do this, then it doesn’t matter how fast or how slow we travel, life will be a breeze.
Let’s Pray! |
