Based on the story of Job.
Once upon a time there was a little boy whose name was Billy. Billy was a Christian. He tried to do his best and please the Lord. But Billy began to get a little discouraged. For instance when he asked his parents if he could be baptized, they said, "No!" When he invited someone to come to Sunday school with him they would say no. When he would try to tell someone about Jesus they would just make fun of Billy. Whenever he would pray before he ate lunch at school the kids would make fun of him. He was getting more and more discouraged all the time. For instance, one day at school when he came to his desk, he found it was all messed up, and someone had left him a note, and the note contained bad words. One day when he was home he got a phone call and whoever was on the telephone used bad words.
Do some of you boys and girls ever get the same kind of treatment that Billy got? Do you ever think like Billy thought,”I wish I had never been born.”
One day Billy went to Sunday school and his teacher got up and taught about a man in the Bible whose name was Job. Job was a very, very rich man. God had blessed him. Job loved God and Job hated evil. God continued to bless Job as he does all those people who hate evil.
One day he devil came up to God and said, "The only reason Job is so good is because you give him so much." As usual the devil had things backwards. Because, God gave Job so much as a result of Job's love for God and hatred of evil.
God argued back with the devil, and then the devil said, "Prove it!" So God told Satan, “You can do what every you want to do to Job to make his life miserable, except you cannot kill Job, and you cannot kill his wife."
So the devil went to work, doing his evil deeds. Job owned thousands and thousands of camels and oxen. These camels and oxen were all stolen and the herdsmen were all killed. The devil caused that.
Job had several thousand sheep. All the sheep were killed in a thunderstorm. Guess what, the devil caused that.
The saddest part the story is that Job also had ten wonderful children. A cyclone came along and all 10 of Job's children were killed. Guess what, the devil caused that.
Then, Job came down with a very bad skin disease. He was covered all over his body with boils. If you have ever cleaned out a fireplace or wood stove you might remember how soft the ashes feel to your skin. Job's skin was so tender that all he could do was to sit in a heap of ashes. His wife even came up and told him, "Since you're in so much misery why don't you just curse God and die." Of course Job would never curse God. But guess who caused that? The devil.
Job also had three friends, Elephaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Job had always believed they were his good friends, but they just told Job, "You're having so many troubles because you're such a bad sinner." Of course, by now, you should know that Job was not a bad sinner. Job was a very good man.
Finally Job began to get discouraged. He began to think like Billy was thinking. One day he said to himself, "I wish I had never been born."
Then Job realized the most important thing that any Christian can ever realize: we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing with us when we leave. So why were we placed here? For only one reason. To glorify the Lord.
After Job realized that, he began to understand that all this time he'd been doing exactly what he was supposed to do, he had been glorifying the Lord. Knowing that, Job felt a lot better about himself, and a lot closer to his Lord.
It doesn't matter how much someone makes fun of us. It doesn't matter what the devil causes to happen to us. It doesn't matter what we gain or lose while we live on the earth. None of that will matter when we die. When we die, all that will matter when we see God will be how much we pleased him, and glorified him on earth.
Christians go to heaven and God re-wards them for how they served him while they were on earth.
People who are not Christians go to hell and get no re-wards, but burn forever and ever.
By the way, Job didn't even have to wait till he got to Heaven. After he had disappointed the devil and continued to glorify God, the devil gave up and God gave Job 20 more children and twice as much cattle and twice as much oxen, and twice as many sheep.
You should ask yourself if your life pleases God, and if you are doing all you can to glorify him. He wants to bless you and he will if you'll please him. People may laugh, people may make fun, and you may hurt inside. But God knows and he loves you.
You should also ask yourself, "Am I a Christian?" If you aren't, you can and should become one today.