Where Does the Buck Stop With You?
Where Does the Buck Stop With You?
By Don Twobears
Ya know…life, as a Born-Again Christian, has the ability to teach you things you never expected. Do you remember the days before you were saved? Ahh…those wonderful days, as a young man, I wanted to be the “Leanest-Meanest-Gook-killing-machine” there ever was, in the military! Yuppers…I was outfitted with the best in arms and explosives, trained to go anywhere, for any reason and destroy everything in my path! To decimate my enemy, to lay out the punishment due him for his wrongful ways! Even after the war, I was still a very cocky individual and ready for anything that did not meet my belief in right and wrong! I studied Martial Arts with my Friend and worked hard to know, what would be needed to right every wrong, that had the misfortune of stepping in front of me. I had learned to hate everyone, to hate everything that was wrong (In my Estimation), to level the playing ground! In the mean time, people did not want to be around me, were fearful I would destroy their environment, upset their apple-cart. I would have, in a heart beat! Loneliness…is a very difficult situation.
Once Jesus Christ, steps into your life, you become a “New Creation”. You Crucify your old self on the exact same Cross that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, died on! You go through your baggage cars (Think of a Train here) and you and Jesus Christ examine each and every SIN…in each and every bag. The first one or two are not so bad, slightly embarrassing, but it gets worse and worse with every bag! It gets so bad that tears begin to stream down your face! That was me…one particular day! It all got so bad, I was groaning and praying and crying for the Lord to stop! I would see HIS face out of the corner of my eye and HIS tears were flowing like a river and then HE would look at me. I begged HIM not to look at me, I was worthless, I was so filthy and disfigured! Before I knew what was happening, we had finished…there wasn’t a single bag left on my train! HE looked at me with a smiling face, full of Love and said “You ARE forgiven Son!” My Heart almost burst with Joy, now the tears were for my appreciation and Love for HIM, My Thankfulness and Gratitude, I truly was a “New Person”!!
Today, I work hard to write articles of my Lord and Savior, to make my Life an example, of going from extreme wretchedness to someone that is clothed by HIM, in a robe of pure white, like the very first new snow. My Spirit belongs to Jesus Christ and I will NEVER turn my Back on HIM! It is my effort to allow everyone, to see that even the worst of humanity (Me) will always have a chance, a way out, through the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Isaiah 1:16-19 “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.”
Now at this point in time, I would like you to understand something very important. The first is, there is a difference between the Born-Again Believer and the others, Born-Again Believers are NOT better than anyone else! We still deal with SIN and suffer more because of it, still as yet, we have one thing that makes all the difference in Eternity…WE are FORGIVEN of our SINS! We are CONVICTED of any SIN in lour lives…Immediately…by the Holy Spirit! We immediately see we have Sinned and we go before our Lord and Savior and ask for HIS forgiveness of that SIN. The Unsaved lack this part.
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
The second is as important to understand as well. Our Spirit is now right with the Lord, but we all know there is a Big difference between our Spirit and our Physical Bodies. Our Bodies, the ones we presently live in, are NOT Eternal, they are worthless bags of Fluid and Bone! Therefore we will suffer in these bodies until we die or the Rapture takes place! Young people…listen up!!
All that martial arts, smacking your fist into a 2X4 to toughen your hands, learning to kick, to jump and kick, jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft, running, jumping, diving for cover, and this…for what? Well…it does come back to haunt you when you are old! Again…young People listen up!!
My knees are messed up and it makes it difficult for me to walk any real distance or to stand in one spot for any length of time, thanks to my desire to Jump out of aircraft. My Hands hurt the majority of the time, one because I am older and the other because I beat them up, hitting everything! There is only a certain amount of Forgiveness…by your body! Therefore, now days, I tell young people to be kind and careful with their bodies, because one day if the Lord tarries, you will be old and being old is painful! My Dad used to tell me a verse all the time, about himself, when he was old and it fits me today, as I am sure it will fit you and others as well;
Mark 14:38 “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”
In the words, of Ricky Ricardo to Lucy Ricardo, “Let me ‘splain this to you Lucy!” Life as a Born-Again Christian can be very difficult at times. I have stated many times, that I type with two fingers, ya wanna know why? It hurts my other 8 fingers! Never the less, I will type and work and think, because it is the least any of us could give, for all the Love and Blessings the Lord gives us everyday! What IF you don’t have the Lord in your Life? What is there for you to have joy in doing, pain or not? Do you see where this is going? How sad is it, when everything you do everyday is for not?! You work and you work and in the end, all you have done is worthless? Now that is sad indeed!
So here we are, I work, I think, I pray, to the Lord for HIS Wisdom and Discernment, not for me, I have already had my “HayDay” as a person, even though, at that time, I was not saved. My work today, as it should have been back then, is for the Lord and no one else, to include me. It should be for HIS Honor and Glory, as a statement of Worship of HIM as my Lord and Savior and that is what I endeavor to do. Pain or NOT! Our little 70-80 years here on earth, if you get that, is for HIS Glory and not ours and the reason for that, is our bodies will forever fail us! We MUST speak of our Spirit, according to the Perfect Will of our Lord and Savior in our Lives and there should never be any whining, hissing and moaning with it! We are ASSURED of an Eternity with our Lord, for no other reason, than HE Loved us first!
In my Medical years, I worked with many people that could not hear or see, something we take for granted. I often wondered what they were thinking, what they were feeling in all that loneliness, I was there and I didn’t know what I should have done, to make things easier for them. As I look back now, I should have been holding them and letting them know, they were loved, simply for being. It begs the question, what are we suppose to be doing everyday, if it is not these things? What message should we have for them, if it is not giving, as the Lord Prescribes? We are so blind that we miss all of this! And yet, we know, one day, what we do and what we do not do, will come back to haunt us. What other reason would the Holy Spirit be, if it is not to convict us continually, minute after minute?! We need to Listen to HIM and follow HIS lead always. It should ALWAYS be for us, the “Buck stops here”!!
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
All emboldened Scripture is by the author for emphasis.