ARE YOU UNHAPPY?
by John Hunter
H ave you ever stopped to th ink about how many unhappy people th ere are in th e world today? Not too long ago I had a glorious week speaking to the youth of vari ous Lutheran churches in Hamburg, Germany. In one new church we had evening discussions around a large table with 60 or 70 university stu dents participating. The room was beautifully furnished. As I was speaking in this informal session, one of the young men on the other side of the table leaned over and asked, “Mr. Hunter, can Jesus Christ do anything for me today?” There was a pause. Then a beautiful Ger man girl from the other side spoke up, “Yes, that’s what I'd like to know.” Several others re-echoed these senti ments so that there was a binding to gether of spiritual hunger in the lives of these young people. Someone had just clarified their need. This first lad continued, “I’m a member of this church and I know I’m a Christian. But my problem is going through life day by day. There seems to be so many difficulties, tempta tions, and failures. Why do I get so unhappy? Can Jesus Christ do any thing for me today!” That is a wonderful question. If Jesus Christ can’t do something for you then He isn’t the Saviour. But if He can, and we know this is true, then how tragic to miss all that He can do for you today. All of us have our problems be they health, financial, social, domestic, or spiritual. But the proof of the Lord’s wonderful power is illustrated in Ro mans 5:8, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” As be lievers we are very conscious of the Lord’s atonement on the cross to save us from our sins. There is a past tense to our salvation. Pity the pov erty stricken souls who only know
that. How tragic to go no further in the faith. In verse 9 we read, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” How we need to know this “much more.” This means that when we are “in Christ” there is no coming judgment. Our security is eternal and is safe in the hands of Jesus Christ. So, salvation has a future tense since there is no wrath to come upon us. Some Christians, however, go no further than this. But yet there is the present, or as these German youth wanted to know, “What about today?” If we are going to be honest with ourselves, that is also our biggest problem as Chris tians. It isn’t a question whether your sins have been forgiven or that you will escape the judgment to come. The wonderful thing about the Bible is what we can see in the next verse, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” How would you answer the question, “How were you saved?” You might say “By Christ’s death.” Personaldevotions for Biola students are the most important time of the day.
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