by Barbara Oliver

One of my favorite movie lines is from the movie Starman. Sitting in a coffee shop, the alien looks across the table at the human and says, "Do you know what we find the most beautiful about you? You are at your best when things are at their worst."

We have only to look at the lives of the early Christians to find examples of being at our best during difficult situations. Peter and John, after spending the night in jail, were being threatened by the Jewish priests and elders. But they proclaimed, "we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). Stephen who lay dying, cried to the Lord "do not charge them with this sin" (Acts 7:60). Paul and Silas faced their "worst" by praying and singing hymns to God (Acts 16:25) and gave up their chance of escape to save a Philippian jailer and his family.

What causes a man or woman to stand calmly in the face of death? How many ordinary people have you seen become extraordinary dealing with disease or disaster? How many otherwise weak people have stood up to face unspeakable horrors for the sake of family, or friends, or God?

How much of our character have we inherited from our Creator, who when His moment of truth came, bowed to the will of the Father? The God-man hanging on a cross, pushed upwards against the nails driven into his feet for enough air to cry, "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34).

We live in a troubled world. Who knows what the future holds for the Christian. Let us pray that when the trouble comes, we also will be at our best.

by Richard Mansel

In a movie years ago, the heroine had spells where she was unable to be seen or heard by the public. During these moments she would be chased by murderers able to see her. Being invisible to those who could offer assistance, she was unable to plead for help.

If we are not a Christian, we find ourselves in a similarly frightening position. Isaiah 59:1,2 says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear" (NKJV). God will not hear our pleas and Satan "walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

Isaiah paints a portrait of hopelessness, "We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places" (59:10). Moses writes, "you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). Isaiah closes the section by saying, "Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off" (59:14).

We find ourselves in a desperate situation. Yet, God is still there if we will look for him, and Christians are accessible if we wish to be taught. Yet, in our present lost condition, we are defenseless against Satan and hopeless before God.

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden and told to avoid eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16,17). Satan soon baited them to partake of the fruit of the tree. When they accepted his invitation, they were expelled by God from the Garden (Genesis 3:23).

Sin had come into the world. No one is immune because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Ezekiel 18:4 says, "the soul who sins shall die." When we sin we become "enemies" of God (Colossians 1:21). God hates sin because it is completely opposite of His nature (1 John 1:6) and was the cause of his son's death.

God "will not" hear our pleas. He has chosen not to hear us because of our unrighteousness. When we sin we are separated from God and have no more access to him. God looked at the lost condition of men and was "displeased" that there was no man to take away the sins of the world (Isaiah 59:15,16). There was no answer found on earth. The wisdom of men had withered before God. Paul expressed perfectly our despair, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24).

We needed an answer. We needed someone to build a bridge of redemption back to God. Who would take up that mantle? Who would be our redeemer?