By God's Design I Am. . .

Scenario: You enter your Sunday School classroom and you notice the following written on the chalk board: "By God's design I am. . ." Perhaps this is something that you have never given much thought to. How would you complete this statement? Here are ten possible suggestions:

By God's Design I am. . .

1. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 "I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works and that my soul knoweth right well." Because God made us, He knows us. He knows our hearts as well as the hearts of all the children of men.

2. To be the head of my household. 1 Corinthians 11:3 "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God."

3. God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Ephesians 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God have before ordained that we should walk in them." Psalm 100:3 "Know ye that the LORD He is God: It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture."

4. To submit to others because of my reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21 "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." In any type of relationship - a third party is involved that being Christ Himself.

5. To love my wife as my own body. Ephesians 5:28 "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." (See Ephesians 5:25-33). Ephesians 5:31 "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." (See also Genesis 2:24).

6. To obey my parents in the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-3 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." (See also Proverbs 6:20, Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16).

7. Not to irritate my children, but I am to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 "And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." We are also taught in Scripture that ". . .children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward" (Psalm 127:3). Therefore, parents are to "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

8. To serve my employer wholeheartedly as if I were serving the Lord and not men. I should
a. Perform any and all tasks assigned to me to the very best of my ability.
b. Be willing to do more than just that is required of me.
c. Show up for work on time. Be early if possible and have and maintain a good, positive attitude throughout the day.
d. Be ready and willing to serve in any way possible.
e. Remember that ". . .whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Ephesians 6:5-8 "Servants [employees], be obedient to them that are your masters [employers] according to the flesh, with fear [respect] and trembling, in singleness [sincerity] of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Remember, as Earl of Chesterfield once said, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well".

9. Not to threaten those who work under me. I must show them the same respect that I would expect them to show me. I must realize that both their Master and mine is in Heaven, and He is no respector of persons - He shows no favoritism. Ephesians 6:9 "And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forebearing [give up]threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there any respect of persons with him".

10. To be eager to do that which is good. Choose the right! Remember, Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity [lawlessness], and purify Himself a peculiar [special] people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, "The course of our lives is not determined by great, awesome decisions. Our direction is set by little day-to-day choices which chart the track on which we run" (CR, October 1972, p. 106).

These humble thoughts I leave with you this day in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I do not mean to come across as being callous, cruel, or mean-spirited, but the older I get, the more discouraged and dishearten I become as I watch some of our young people - the future of our world, place themselves in a proverbial box called defeatism. Unquestionably, some of us have grown up in unfavorable conditions and in an unkind society that constantly reminds us, and in some cases has thoroughly convinced us, that our father never amounted to much, and our mother has never amounted to much, and so, as the proverbial apple never seems to fall far from the tree, we ourselves can expect to never amount to much either. The tragedy of it all is that society is not alone in painting this picture of hopelessness and despair, but that same picture hangs on the walls in our homes, as well as, in the classrooms of our schools.

I wish to send a very clear, precise, and concise message to our youth of today: the time has come for you to stop wallowing in the mud of hopelessness and slowly drowning yourselves in the sea called despair. Now is the time to break free from that proverbial box that you have found yourselves in, and from the strangling chords of the voices of naysayers who preach negativism and defeatism. Rise above your current station in life. You can if you believe that you can!

Maybe it is true that your father and mother have never done anything to make an honorable name for themselves, or have ever tried to get out of their current situations and better themselves. Maybe it is true that you were born in unfavorable and adverse conditions. Maybe it is true that all of your young life people have done nothing but knock you down and kick you while you were down. However, it does not have to stay that way. Though the night may seem dark and dreary, nighttime only last for a season and then the morning comes. And with the dawning of the morning comes a light of hope that shines bright as the noon day sun.

Now is the time for you to start realizing that you are not your father and you are not your mother. God Almighty has made each of us uniquely YOU. He has meted to you and me a measure of faith, hope, courage, talents, and abilities. It is time for you to put behind you those things that once were, and press forward to obtain those things that can, and (with faith, hope, patience, determination, and endurance) will be. Stop listening to the perpetual lies of those who do not have your best interest at heart, and start believing in yourself. You can do whatever it is you have a mind to do, and you can become whatever it is that you have a desire to become in life, but YOU have to believe that you can do it. If you cannot believe in yourselves, how can you honestly expect anyone else to?

Do not become discouraged if at first you do not succeed at doing something, but try and try again knowing that the road to success is often filled with potholes called failure. Many a success in life has been wrought through heartache and failure, so don't let that stop you. Even along the road of success will be hurdles and discouragement which you will have to get over, but don't let that stop you either. Continue to run your race with your head held high and a song of hope and gladness in your heart. You may not be the first to cross the finishing line, but then the winner of a race is not always necessarily the swiftest runner in the race, but he who runs his race well by remaining focused, staying his course, and enduring to the end.

There will be times along the way when you may become weary. Stop and rest for a little while if you must, but don't give up, give in, or quit. Remain focused on your goals and objectives. The finishing line is just in sight. You can make it. Yes you can! May God give you the hope, courage, faith, and determination to endure to the end. God bless you all!

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Lessons in the Key of Life

Lessons that I have learned as I journey through life.