October 2021

               It’s no secret that I believe the Old Testament is rich in information for us. Many of it’s accounts show us God’s personality and his ultimate plan for creation. Interspersed in these books are also lessons about how we should act, how we should respond to the crisis’s we encounter. The Book of Esther is one such lesson.

               Ester takes place in Persia during the reign of Xerxes. She and the Jewish people are descendants of the Jewish people who brought to Babylon as captives nearly one hundred years before. It is during her time that the Jewish people were to be persecuted against again because of their allegiance to God over their allegiance to an earthly leader.

               Through God’s work Esther has been placed in a position to be able to help her people yet she faces doubt and fear when asked to intervene on their behalf. The book describes how Esther, faced with the crisis threatening her people, overcame her fears and worked at helping them all. Esther shows herself to be capable of analyzing, strategizing, executing and then modifying a course of action.

               Esther is an inspiring story about a remarkable woman who was willing to risk her life to save her people. She was a woman of principle who was willing to put the lives of others before her own. She’s an admirable example of one who serves others in the name of God. She’s the embodiment of John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

               Our lives can be routine but every now and then we are faced with moments when we will be called upon to put our Christian principles above personal benefit. How we respond to these times reflects how deep our faith may be. How we overcome our fear and hesitation shows how we trust in God, how we know he is in control.

               I sincerely pray none of us are ever faced with our life or death being the literal decision we have to make. Whether it is a life altering decision or one of the many small choices we make daily, I pray we look to God, ask for his strength and wisdom, and make a decision that lives up to and honors our Christian ideals and our faith and trust in God.

               I encourage you to read the Book of Esther. It is rich with real human emotions; full of human fear and indecision, full of real human self doubt, and an example of how we gain strength and confidence in ourselves through our trust and reliance on God.

God bless,

Pastor Jim