This world has a nasty habit of stealing things. People have their joy stolen. Thieves love to come in and take your peace. I think that perhaps one of the most devious, evil and devastating thefts is that of the future. Consistently and yes even maliciously people are stealing the future from others. We steal other people’s hope, we steal the possibilities of their lives and we steal the innocence and potential that God has granted them. Who is it that keeps stealing like this? Who keeps taking from others what God intended for them to have? You and me. We are doing it. We are taking away from people the gifts and blessings and possibilities that God has placed before them. And the way that we do this is through our personal choices to be angry, to complain, to argue, to be negative and divisive and to allow our own selfishness to permeate everything we do. By our own self-centered misery we are stealing the future of the next generation.
It seems impossible to get online, pick up a newspaper or read someone’s Facebook post without being struck by the negativity, frustration and overall angst that seems to seize people. The culture and the climate of our day is experiencing a climate change and it is happening daily. I am not talking about global warming but rather the shift in the climate every time we complain, argue, deride, tear down and malign others. Every time we promote an atmosphere of “you can’t”, “it’s impossible”, “all good things must come to an end” and so on and so forth, we are stealing the future from generations of people. People that God is raising up to lead us forward. God endues each of us with certain gifts, talents and a particular calling in order that He might empower us to bring His love and His kingdom to earth and yet it seems that we are tirelessly working to undermine God’s efforts to save the world.
In the conversations you have today, the attitudes you convey and the social media posts you share for the world to see, are you squashing another person’s hopes, dreams and future? In the way you carry yourself and the way you interact with others are you robbing other people of their joy, peace and future? Please remember that your words can start a fire that can destroy forests of possibility in the lives of others. Please remember that the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart can wreak havoc and cause destruction or they can be pleasing in the sight of our God. Which will you choose? Please don’t let your negativity steal someone else’s future.
And lastly, if others seem to be constantly working to steal from you that which God has prepared you for, are you making sure to guard you heart (the wellspring of life)? Will you be certain to keep digging and find the deep wells of joy, contentment, love and peace in spite of others’ emptiness? Let no attempt of the Enemy, no discontent of the world and no inner selfish lust rob you of the future God has planned for you. Let us confess our weakness, our struggles, our anger and negativity and let us ask for, receive and walk in the fullness of the present and toward to promise of the future that God has prepared for us. Though others try to steal our future, remember God is able to bring us victorious into each new day!
Pastor Michael Johnson 