"What Echoes Are We Creating?"

The story is told of a boy who once lived with a badly disfigured face. As a result, there came many unkind remarks. One day the boy said to his mother, “Mom, I hate people.” Realizing he had become despondent, she took him to a canyon and told him to shout, “I hate you!”

The echo came back, “I hate you!” Then she told him to call out, “I love you!” The echo came back, “I love you!”

His mother then explained that usually we receive from people what we first send out (cf. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 – see commentary).

This is also true in our relationship with God.

Psalm 18 tells us that God shows Himself merciful to the merciful, and to those who are devious, He shows Himself shrewd in order to foil man’s evil designs.

If God seems distant to us at times, perhaps we have distanced ourselves from Him. If God seems uncaring, maybe it is us who have become hard-hearted towards Him.

God is merciful to those who are "merciful" (James 2:13) — to those who reach out to others in time of need and help them (Luke 10:29-37; cf. 1 John 3:15-18).

Beloved, if we will but echo to God when He calls (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), God’s echo will come back to us (1 Thessalonians 1:1-8).

The question is, “What echoes are we creating?”

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets