Weekly Words of Encouragement 6-22-09

Good Morning All,
I trust that everyone had a beautiful weekend. I have a thought I would like to share with everyone today if you would bear me the opportunity. In reading ‘today’s’ Proverb (22), the opening verse reads: “A GOOD name is rather to be chosen…” The verse continues on to say ‘than great riches’ and so on. My thought is in the first statement, “A GOOD name is rather to be chosen…” It is a choice to have a good name. That is our choice, not our neighbor’s, co-worker’s or even family member’s. We are living in a time right now where things are getting desperate and the old saying is ‘Desperate times calls for desperate measures’.

I would like to offer a different ‘saying’, “Desperate times calls for diligent measures.” It is a choice whether or not we have a good name, meaning we can choose right now what our next statement, comment, decision, plan of action and/or reaction, all of which will determine whether or we have a good name. The measures we take in this day and age should be diligent, not desperate, desperation will result in a name not pleasing to the Lord and usually embarrassing to the person, their family, business and other involvements. The only thing we truly have in this life is our testimony. For those who are saved, born again of the Blood of Christ we called Ambassadors for Christ (II Corinthians 5.20), which is a representative in a foreign land. How this world sees us, our choosing of our name, our personal testimony is how this world is going to view Christ.

Sure, there are desperate times right now and yes there is a sense of uncertainty from the economy to the grocery bill, but one thing is for sure. Today, you can choose how you address that uncertainty and a GOOD name is rather to be chosen. Let’s be the representative of that foreign land today in such a way that others would want to go with us.

Have a wonderful day.

Today in History:
1793 – One of the nation’s first important canals, the Middlesex Canal, connecting the Merrimack River and the port of Boston, is chartered.
1944 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill of Rights, offering educational opportunities for WW II vets.
1945 – The Battle of Okinawa ends with an Allied victory.
1970 – President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the voting age to 18.

Til the Shout,
Dr. B.J. Stagner Jr.
Pastor
New Testament Baptist Church