Daily Devotional for Tuesday September 25, 2007

OJ . . . Again

(2 Timothy 3:1-5)

OJ...again! How many thought you were in a time warp last week as you were watching the endless coverage of OJ Simpson's latest run-in with the law. We even had the live cameras in the court as they marched "The Juice" into the courtroom in his blue prison jumpsuit for his bond hearing. Of course there is no more Johnnie Cochran, he died several years ago. However, there was OJ's new attorney, Yale Galanter, his oldest daughter Arnell, his sister, his girlfriend of 12 years who just happens to look like his dead wife Nicole, and even a now blonde and cosmetically enhanced Marcia Clark, though this time she is part of the media instead of the lead prosecutor.

This just in, it is only starting! I can assure you, between FOX News, MSNBC, Court TV, CNN, TMZ and the rest of the celebrity expose programs, it will be wall-to-wall OJ for the next year. He is a dream-come-true for the 24-hour cable news networks and Hollywood magazine programs since there is this insatiable voyeuristic appetite for celebrities. People like OJ, Paris, Britney, Lindsey drive ratings as people can't get enough of knowing every detail about their lives.

*Do you know a revival would hit this nation and millions would come to Christ if the same people who read the supermarket rags like the National Enquirer each week would read the Bible instead. If the same people who follow every detail of the lives of celebrites would follow every detail of God's Word this world would be turned upsdie down overnight!!!!!!

Let me tell you something my friend. The OJ Simpson case was a horrible tragedy for everyone involved. The public couldn't get enough of it. Jon Benet Ramsey was a horrible story. The public ate up every detail. The Laci Peterson case is another tragedy with no winners. The public couldn't get enough of it. Politics has never been a world for the faint-hearted. But whatever level of decorum there used to be is long gone and it is simply now an all out war with no boundaries. Sports used to be wonderful family entertainment. It has now sunk down to the depths of the garbage Vince McMahon produces which is designed to appeal directly to the most base desires in man. "Reality television" is nothing but the glorification of man 's misery.

THERE IS NO PLACE LEFT FOR THE "ENTERTAINMENT" WORLD TO GO BUT TO START HAVING PEOPLE DIE FOR THE PLEASURE OF THE VIEWERS! WE LIKE TO THINK WE ARE MORE ADVANCED THAN THOSE PEOPLE WHO USED TO SPEND THEIR AFTERNOONS IN THE COLISEUM WATCHING PEOPLE DIE FOR SPORT-BUT MY FRIEND, WE ARE NOT!

The anchor scripture today from Paul's second letter to Timothy gives us a clear picture of what man will be like in the last days. The fact is, it is a clear picture of what man is like TODAY! While we like to think of ourselves as kind, good, sophisticated enough to live above and in control of our base instincts and desires, the reality is there is a level of depravity in men today greater than what anyone could imagine. Man's inhumane treatment of man is greater today than ever before in recorded history. Sadly, I see too many examples of this each day in the emails we receive here at Liveprayer.

We are clearly living in the last days. Simply reading the words of Jesus in Matthew 24, Peter's words in 2 Peter 3, the passage from 2 Timothy today tell us we are in the last days and that Jesus is coming soon. Seeing the events unfold in our world today are also clear indicators that time is running out and at any moment we will hear that trump blow and the Lord return. The fact is, things are not going to get better, only progressively worse. But we should not be defeated by that fact, but emboldened since that is exactly what the Bible says is going to happen. Our job is to be found faithful, being about our Father's business when He returns.

As a people, we have a growing and insatiable appetite to see others in pain. We have a film industry that produces every kind or perversion man can dream up, a video game industry that creates violent "games" for children and young adults that desensitize them to death, a music industry that churns out one CD and video after another promoting every kind of ungodly act imaginable, a radio and television industry that has been more than willing to be the main carrier of man's depravity to the masses, and publishers who are more than willing to lower themselves to the lowest depths to feed man's unending hunger to read about the tragedy others experience.

The good news, however, is that when you come to know Christ as your Savior, when you ask Christ into your life, He changes your heart. You no longer enjoy the pain of others, but hurt when they hurt. Where once you were apathetic about those around you, you now care for them. You can no longer hate your neighbor, but now have a great love for them. Instead of wanting to see people fail, you now cheer for them to succeed. Jesus Christ has miraculously transformed you into someone who loves other people.

It is out of that love for other people that you become a servant to them. Our purpose in this life is to serve and glorify God with our lives. We accomplish that by serving others. The world says to be successful you have to have others serve you. God says to be successful you have to serve others. He has called us to serve others in many different ways, but they are all based on sharing with them the love of Christ and that Jesus is their answer for this life and for eternity.

I love you and care about you so much! I will be praying for you today. Praying that you will let Christ's love flow through you to those you meet in your life each day. While we are living in a world that becomes more depraved with every passing day, eaten up by those who choose to live their lives in rebellion to God, those who know Christ stand out like great beacons of light in the darkness. It is in their darkest hours that many will come seeking that light and looking for the hope only found in Jesus Christ. That is why now more than ever we must continue to reach out to the lost and hurting with His love, sharing with them the fact that Jesus loves them and can take their hardened black heart and turn it into a heart of flesh and love!

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. - (Revelation 22:12-17 NIV)