Luck (March special edition)

 I’m Irish and I wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, but I do not believe in the luck of the Irish or in any luck for that matter.  In fact, when I’m picking out a greeting card and I see the word luck written in it, I will put the card back, though on occasion, if I like the card enough, I will buy it, scribble out luck, and replace it with some version of bless, a word I like much better.

I have been told many times, that I carry this a bit too far, because what’s the harm anyway?  Well there really is no harm if we really don’t believe in luck, which I think is the case for most people that participate in all the luck lingo that’s out there, but you have to admit, some people do get carried away with their faith in luck.

They wear a lucky shirt. They keep a lucky penny.  They look for four-leaf clovers.  They throw salt over their shoulder.  They hang horseshoes facing up.  They keep a rabbit’s foot. If they don’t do these things, they are afraid. . .afraid something bad may happen.  Now if you look up the origin of the horseshoe and rabbit’s foot traditions, you will find out they aren’t in any way, Christian. 

Now I understand that we’ve learned these kinds of things from well-meaning people and that is my point.  We influence one another for better or for the worse, so we do not want to be teaching people things that are going to control them in an adverse way or cause them to live in fear.

So, the harm comes when people really believe in luck, and believe me, some people absolutely do believe in luck.    I have never heard anyone say they think luck is a god, but I have heard them give luck the credit for the good or bad things that happens in their lives.  That sounds like a god to me.  No, we do not ever want to let anything take the place of God in our lives. We need to promote faith in God, not luck.  Read 1 Corinthians 8 NIV

Luck is not what leads us here and there, love or hate is what leads us here or there.  Love or hate is what leads us to what is good or what is bad.  We will concentrate on love in this blog.  For instance, when we fall in love, we follow that person wherever they go.  When we have kids, we follow them wherever they go, to sport’s events, dance recitals, etc…

A biblical account: Ruth loved Naomi and followed her to the land of her God.  While there, she met and married Boaz.  King David was Ruth and Boaz’s great grandson.  Jesus Christ came from the lineage of David. Read the book of Ruth.

Love is how we follow God. God is love.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  1 John 4:16  

Jesus Christ taught us the two greatest commandments.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. Luke 10:27  

And, yes I realize that sometimes bad things happen to good, loving people, and we don’t know why, but what we do know is, God is good and since we know that God is good, we believe good will be worked out somehow in the grand scheme of things, which God sees and we do not. 

Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den, John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus Christ was crucified and Christians are persecuted every day!

It is not luck, but love for God and love for one another that takes us places in life. 

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:12-16

Abraham had lots of children and he was very rich.  Was he lucky or was he blessed by God? He was blessed by God and He was sure to give God the credit.

Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Genesis 14:22-23

Moses was raised in Egypt by Pharaoh's daughter, but one day his compassion led him to another place.  When Moses was grown, he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. . .Moses fled Egypt into the land of Midian.  We know God used Moses to lead the children of Israel out of the bondage they experienced in Egypt.  Read Exodus 2-3

Was Joseph unlucky when his brothers sold him into Egypt? No, this was God’s plan.  Joseph was positioned in Egypt to help his family in time of famine.

And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. Genesis 50:18-21

We have peace when we believe God; we can have fear when we believe luck. So let’s not let luck be our leader; let's let God be our leader!

Let us pray….

We believe in You God.  We believe You alone are sovereign. We trust you.  We pray to you. We cast our cares upon You because we know You love us.  We believe in faith, hope and love.  We believe in Jesus Christ.  You have sent us light and truth, You lead us by love; You lead us in the way everlasting. You are the God of our salvation and we wait upon You all the day. Psalms 25:5, 43:3, 139:24