SCRIP-BITS

James 3:16.     For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
 
Ah Friends, yesterday has passed, and today is upon us again, with all of God’s new mercies and blessings! And His people offered a loud, ‘Thank you Lord! We praise and bless Your Holy Name!’ Unfortunately though, many of us in the Greater Toronto area won’t be pleased with it, because the weatherman has been warning us for the last few days about another terrible storm coming our way, starting this evening and continuing into sometime Wednesday. The temperature is supposed to be around 4 Celsius, so let’s hope that we are lambasted by rain, rather than the dreaded white stuff, as the weather people seem to expect. It only looks beautiful when it’s undefiled by man. Anyway, as true and strong believers in, and followers of Jesus Christ, we’ll handle it, with His most valuable help. I guess that means some breathing tests I’m supposed to have tomorrow will be cancelled again, like they were last week when the rather inclement weather struck. (smile) These days I’m so tired of the topsy-turvy weather that I’m not going out if it’s bad, unless it’s for some thing very, very important. The tests can wait. It’s not like I’m still sick and suffering from bronchial congestion like I was a few weeks ago. Anyway, enough of my unimportant problems, let’s turn to our Bit, which is way more important. It’s the same one as yesterday. ‘For where envying and strife is (self seeking exists), there is confusion and every evil work.’ And we saw yesterday that that was indeed truth of the highest order, especially in our modern, selfish, evil, godless, idol-worshipping world. Now yesterday we ended by saying that violence and strife are possibly the number one products of our present world. Ah Friends, the crime, violence, and widespread corruption within our nations are heart-rending. And here we’ll use T&T, Trinidad and Tobago as an example. It’s been recently reported that in the first forty something days of 2013, there have been sixty something murders in the twin island Republic of between 1 and 2 million people. And that’s without any major incidents from the recent Carnival celebrations, which the police said was the cleanest and least problematic in years. Now I’m not crying down T&T, just using it as a broad example because I have the figures, for violence is widespread all over the globe. And to bring that point home, right here in ole Toronto the Good, young people, all be it from 15 years old have recently been shooting up each other, in broad daylight too. In fact, young people less than 25 years of age have been recently committing most of the gun crimes. That certainly doesn’t say much about the respect that our young people have for the human life; very little for both theirs and others. And the sad part is that these shootings are over very petty stuff. Most of them can’t even spell their blooming names or even wash themselves properly, but they’re quick to pull a gun over some foolish, petty, imagined slight. Now we won’t even bother to talk about the U.S. which seems intent on returning to the days of the Wild West with its proliferation of legal guns and crimes. Please note that in several states guns are now been legally worn openly. Ah Lord eh! When is going to end? When are we going to understand and wake up to the fact that guns only foster violence? When are we going to truly believe the age-old adage, that he who lives by the sword, and also the gun, dies by the sword and the gun too? As Bruh Paul so rightly told the Corinthians: ‘For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying and strife, and divisions (dissensions), are ye not carnal (fleshly), and walk as men (live according to man)? (1 Cor. 3:3) Yes my brethren, we are indeed carnal, almost totally living by the dictates of man and not God. And unfortunately a carnal mind hinders the growth of the Holy Spirit in mankind. So please, for all our sakes, let’s see if we can’t bring our world around nuh, beginning with our immediate families, to what James describes as the optimal situation. ‘But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated (willing to yield), full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.’ (James 3:17) Oh my fellow believers, that’s the only way we’ll ever turn our strife filled world around and see our children’s children live in harmony, peace and LOVE, rather than anger, bitterness, resentment and the resultant strife that only leads to untold, untimely and unnecessary death and destruction. That’s the wisdom for this age. Much LOVE!…and the fruit of righteousness…is sown in peace…of them that make peace… (James 3:18)