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            I still have fond memories of Silas’s first solo visit with us out here in the country.  He was not quite four and stayed three nights alone, no mom and dad to get in the way and spoil the fun!  The first morning we had to assure him that walking outside barefoot was not a capital crime, but once his toes hit the cool green grass, he giggled delightedly.  “I like bare feet!” he instantly proclaimed, and took off running. 

            He was used to being inside all day, playing with his Matchbox cars, putting together puzzles, reading books, and watching his “shows,” educational though they might be.  Yet he found out there were a lot of fun things to do outside, especially when you have five acres to romp around in instead of a postage stamp-sized yard.  That’s all they give you in the city these days. 

            He and Granddad whacked the enemy weeds with green limb “swords.”  They pulled the garden cart up the rise to the carport and rode it down.  They dug roads in the sandy driveway and flew paper airplanes in the yard.  They played in the hose and threw mud balls at one another.  Every night this little guy went to bed far earlier than he usually did at home—it was that or pass out on the couch from exhaustion as we read Bible stories.

            My favorite memory is watching him as we walked Chloe every morning.  He begged for one of my walking sticks and I adjusted it to his height.  Then he ran on ahead, hopping and skipping along, holding granddad’s too-big red baseball cap on his head with one hand so it wouldn’t fall off, the walking stick dangling from the other upraised arm, singing and laughing as he went.  That picture of sheer joy will forever be etched in my memory.  He may have been too little to remember it himself, but someday I will tell him about it, someday when he needs a reminder of joy at a not so joyous time. 

            I remember that time nearly every morning when I walk Chloe, especially when we reach the back fence where Silas’s little feet suddenly took off on the straightaway and his laughter reached its peak.  And I wonder if God has anything etched in His memory, anything from that time in Eden when everything was perfect and his two children felt joy every day in their surroundings, in each other, and in Him.  Surely, the God who knows all has special memories of how it used to be.  Can you read the end of Revelation and not think so? 

            Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever, Revelation 22:1-5.

            Maybe God has recorded that so we, too, can be reminded not of what we have lost, but of what we have waiting for us.  Maybe He put it there for the times when life here is not so joyous, a picture of hope to carry us through.  It may not be etched in our memories—not yet—but the fact that He still remembers it and wants it, means someday we won’t have to count on etchings any longer.  Some day it will all be real once again.

Dene Ward

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            Every time I have had eye surgery, even the laser surgeries, a bright light has shone into my eyes for sometimes as long as 3 hours.  Is it any wonder that I come out of these procedures with an eye that is extremely light sensitive?  I don’t just mean, “Ooh, that’s too bright.”  I mean, “Ow, that really hurts.” 

            On the way home from Cincinnati after the first surgery at the Eye Institute there, the passenger seat had me sitting in the sun as it set to the west of us heading south.  Even with two pairs of sunglasses, a towel, and the sun visor in the car, I could not stand the light.  So Keith pulled over and put me in the back seat, right behind him on the east side of the car, and on we went down I-75, a bearded man in the front seat with his woman in the back, her head covered by a towel.  It’s a wonder Homeland Security didn’t stop us.

            Speaking of those sunglasses, I got to the point where I enjoyed the looks on people’s faces every time I walked into the women’s side of a rest area, whipped off my sunglasses and—voila!—there was another pair underneath them.  It took months before I could go outside without two pairs of sunglasses and a cloth over the eye that had been operated on.  My home was like a cave, with all the blinds drawn, and no lights on anywhere near me.  “Letting my light shine” was not a metaphor I enjoyed at the moment.

            A lot of people, who never had eye surgery, don’t like it when we let our lights shine.  Now why is that?  Jesus says that when we do so God is glorified.  I really don’t think that is the problem, except perhaps for atheists who don’t want anything good to be attributed to a Being they deny so fervently. 

            When I was in high school I was quiet and subdued.  I didn’t “preach on the street corners” so to speak.  But people still noticed what I did and did not do.  One of the shadiest characters in the school sat behind me in Latin class.  I never knew him before that class, but somehow he knew about me.  His language was usually atrocious, but if he ever slipped when I was present, he apologized immediately.  When he had a problem with his girlfriend he came to me to help him write a note of apology to her.  He was a year ahead of me, and I was an usher at his graduation (which I was a bit surprised he managed), but he came to me to help him fix his tie and collar before the seniors marched in.  My “light” did not seem to have any ill effects on him at all.  In fact, while he was around me, he behaved himself, and he relaxed because he had found someone he could trust not to hurt him or betray him.

            But it does not always work that way.  Why?  I think maybe it’s because when your light shines, it lights up the whole area around you, and then everyone can see the faults of the others, even though you never say anything about them.  Just by being good, you make others look bad.  Peter tells us in 1 Pet 3:16 that people will slander you for your good behavior.  No, it does not make any sense, but it’s all they can do to take the focus off their bad behavior when your light shines so brightly on them.

            Don’t become too sensitive to the light.  Keep on shining it.  You may have some good effects, keeping others from sinning, at least while they are in your presence, and possibly down the road of time as well.  Even if it causes you trouble, keep your batteries charged.  If you’re going to suffer anyway, Peter adds, suffer for doing good.  The Light will save you.

Jesus therefore said unto them, Yet a little while is the light among you.  Walk while you have the light, that darkness overtake you not; he who walks in the darkness knows not where he is going.  While you have the light, believe on the light that you may become sons of light…I am come, a light into the world, that whoever believes on me may not abide in the darkness, John 12: 35,36,46.       

Dene Ward

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            Had anyone ever the right to shout, “At last! He got his,” it was David at the death of Saul.  It would seem appropriate for David to dance a jig on Saul’s grave and remove his name from the inscriptions and history books.  Instead, David mourned and fasted the rest of the day and then raised a heartfelt lament for Saul and Jonathan. Jonathan was his friend, but Saul had personally tried to kill him at least twice.  Further he had repeatedly led the armies of Israel after David when those armies were desperately needed to fight the Philistines.  

            To call Saul a brother in error does disservice to the concept of brother on every level except the most remote biological one which cannot be denied.  Saul offered the sacrifice against the commandments of God.  Saul refused to obey God to destroy the Amalekites.  Saul with brute force refused to yield to God’s right to remove him from the kingship.  Saul neglected all the duties of a King to pursue God’s anointed.  When God refused to answer him, he went to a necromancer to summon up the ghost of Samuel in brazen defiance of God.  Surely, here is a man who has yielded every right to treatment as a brother (2Sam 1, 1Sam 15, 28).

            In his first official act as king, David questioned the Amalekite who had completed Saul’s failed suicide attempt, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”  Then, he ordered him executed.   Jehovah’s anointed--REALLY? After all that Saul had done?

            How quickly we cut off a brother in error, declare him to be out of fellowship.  Do we forget that God chose this one and anointed him as His child?  

            David played and sang for Saul to comfort him in the torments that resulted from his sin.  Did we do aught for our brother who has sinned?  David could have rejoiced, “At last! At last, God has given me what He promised and removed this rebellious sinner.”  How many laments and prayers did we offer for the one who erred?  

            David tried again and again to comfort Saul and had to dodge spears for his thanks.  What did we risk for the erring before we wrote him off?

             Some so-called “defenders of the faith” seem to have the mindset to seek erring brethren simply to attack and destroy before they might harm the body of Christ.  Is that the admonition from this thing written aforetime for our learning? (Rom 15:4).

Keith Ward

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            A few Sundays ago I listened to some wonderful prayers in our group worship.  However, something struck me that day and not for the first time.  In our Bible study prayer we prayed for “forgiveness of sins.”  In our “opening prayer” we prayed for “forgiveness of sins.”  In our “closing prayer” we prayed for “forgiveness of sins.”  I suddenly looked around me and thought, “What in the world has everyone been doing in the past two hours?”

            I think in our efforts to avoid any resemblance to the doctrine I grew up calling “the impossibility of apostasy,” we   have done ourselves a grave disservice and a very discouraging one as well.  As a child I saw good men who often prayed, “Lord forgive us, because we know we sin every day.”  Or “all the time.”  Or “so often.”  I used to look at them and wonder what it was they were doing.  I never saw them sin, or heard anyone else say they saw them sin either.  I began to feel like sin must be some sort of miasma that follows you around and then, bang! when you least expect it, it infects you like some kind of airborne germ.

            That is not the Bible definition of sin.  Everyone who does sin, does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness, I John 3:4.  No, I am not gong into some heavy theology.  I don’t think I need to.  John plainly teaches that sin is something you do.  Now sin may involve wrong thinking, too, but still it is a specific thing.  It is not some sort of germ you catch without ever knowing it.  By making it into that sort of thing, we make ourselves miserable, living a life of despair instead of hope.  God said you can control yourself.  He said you can overcome.  He said you can live a godly life.  Give yourself a break!  God does. 

            Does that mean we won’t sin?  Of course not.  But why in the world do we feel so compelled to always add the negative, especially when we are talking to one another, to those of us who know the truth that we can fall from grace?  We should be encouraging one another, not trying to build stumblingblocks of cynicism and pessimism.  Of course, using the correct definition of sin, something we actually do and can quantify verbally, forces us to specifically repent of actual things we have done, instead of being able to say, “Lord, I know I sin a lot, and probably don’t even know it when I do, so please forgive me.”  Maybe that is the real problem—too much pride to admit the wrong we do, and actually try to become better people.  If you never know when the germ is going to get you, it’s not your fault right?  But that’s not the way it works, at least not to someone sincerely trying to grow as a Christian.

            I know that when I sin and realize it, I feel so heartbroken and ashamed that, like David, I ask for forgiveness again and again, but.should someone who has been a Christian for a decade, who is supposed to have grown in strength, need to pray for forgiveness three times for three different sins in two hours’ time?  I hope not.    If we really are “sinning all the time,” we need to take a serious look at our lives.  Theologians have a name for that doctrine too.  It’s called “total depravity.”  When a society became totally depraved, “sinning all the time,” God destroyed it.  Sodom, Assyria, Babylon, Rome, even the whole world in Genesis, except for one man who walked with God, and found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  If Noah could do it, so can we.

Let not sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey the lusts thereof; neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace, Rom 6:12-14.

Dene Ward

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Today I have asked my husband Keith to tell you how he does a textual study.  This is primarily useful in the New Testament epistles, and a bit more complicated, but still doable for the average Christian if you set aside the time, grab plenty of paper and pencil, and put your mind to it.  --dw

            It is possible to read a passage of scripture over and over until it is nearly memorized and still not understand it—I have done that. God reasons with us through his Word and expects us to use analytical thinking to understand Him, and He did mean us to understand Him.  You don’t bother to communicate with someone you don’t want to understand you.

            A paragraph is one unit of thought in written language and a group of paragraphs make up a segment that communicates a larger thought. The ASV (available online) has the best paragraphing. Often, modern translations chop some paragraphs into smaller pieces to make them more like sound bites and thus chop up God’s chain of reasoning. Also, verse and chapter numbers interfere with reading; if possible, use a Bible computer program to remove them and print out the text you wish to study so you will be able to read it as any other book you study. I was amazed how much that improved my comprehension.

            To analyze a paragraph, first read it a few times quickly. Jot down the one thought it brings to your mind. Now, read it more slowly and write down the major phrases using the Bible words. Leave out non-essential words, condensing the phrase as much as possible and still have the sense. I know we are taught that no word from God is non-essential, but we are not saying that; we are studying and making our own notes to be able to better understand the message from God. Using this method Eph 1:17 becomes, “[praying] that God give you a spirit of wisdom & revelation in knowledge.”

            It helps to take a blank sheet and write these phrases out.  Don’t even try to keep your paper neat at this early stage. You will be doing a lot of crossing out, circling and inserting.  We will often wish to stack some words that are parallels, such as wisdom and revelation are in the verse above. Or, we may list some to show their relationships as in Rom 8:18-27 where there are 3 who groan: creation, ourselves and the spirit.  We will not be doing an outline so much as we are creating a graphic. Once we have written all the phrases from a given paragraph, we may scratch some out and scribble them in other places to show a relationship or to create a list, but we keep them in Bible sequence. Then, we may draw lines from one phrase to another and write in some of our own words to clarify a relationship; colored pencils work well for this. All this will take several more readings of the paragraph.

            At the end of this process we have a graphic that shows the relationship of each phrase to the main thought of the paragraph. That main thought should be in Bible words. Do not be surprised if it is not the same as the one you jotted down at the beginning.  That is the excitement of discovery.

            At first, this process will be tedious and slow. The rewards are many: You will understand more than you thought possible; you will have one or more charts available on your graphic that you can use to teach someone else; these charts can be used to create PowerPoint presentations.

            Now do the next paragraph, and the next, and the next. Use a separate page for each paragraph and only one side of the page. Now, review them and see which paragraphs cluster together to make one point. For example, the paragraphs of Rom 1:18 to 3:20 all fit together to show that all men are in sin and need the gospel. A conclusion stated forcefully in 3:9 and 3:23.

            Another example:  The paragraphs from 1 Cor 8:1 to 1 Cor ll:1 seem to have no cohesiveness as Paul moves from eating meats to pay of the preacher to the Israelites in the wilderness to the Lord’s Supper & back to eating meats. Many have accused Paul of going off on tangents but that usually means they do not understand his purpose. That whole section concerns the need to give oneself up to benefit others. He proves his rights to be paid in order to say that he did not use his right that he might not hinder others, threatens those who do not give themselves up with the punishment of the Israelites, and then ends by saying we should all imitate him just as he imitates Christ, the supreme example of giving up oneself for others. So certainly, the one who is mature can eat meat without worshipping an idol, but he should give up that right if its exercise could cause a brother to stumble.

            At this point you are probably thoroughly confused.  It would help if I were there with you and could lead you through one paragraph personally, but I am not.  So you will need to attack this article in a similar way you might your chosen text.  Read it again and again.  Try to follow the instructions one at the time as you read your passage.  Eventually you will understand, and practice will improve your ability to do these things.  Such study is a delight in itself as we discover God’s truths and see new light. But that is a small thing in comparison to the joy we can have in showing them to others.

Keith Ward

Just so you know, I am now writing for an e-zine called Pressing On.  Other writers include Mark Roberts (also editor), Dee Bowman, Wilson Adams, and Doy Moyer.  It is a monthly electronic-only periodical.  It will work with any device you might have.  Go to www.PressingOnMagazine.com and you can download a free sample and/or subscribe.

Dene Ward

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            I have read those headings in the book of Psalms for years—“To the Choirmaster”--but it has only been recently that it dawned on me that in the Old Testament specially trained Levites led, and usually sang, in the Temple worship.  If Romans 15:4 means what it says about learning from the Old Testament, we have the perfect authority for song leaders in our worship services today.  Song leaders—choirmasters.  The entire church, of course, is the choir now, but even non-musicians need a leader.

            My own father was a song leader in the church for nearly as long as he was a Christian.  All that stopped him was his health—he could no longer get enough breath or stand up long enough or wave his arm high enough to continue those last few years.  He had a clear tenor voice in his youth, not the easiest part to sing.  He knew and had led songs from a dozen hymnals.  Not only did he lead in the church, but he sang at funerals and weddings as well.  He always sang.  I do not remember a time when he was outside working on a sick car or a chugging lawn mower or a broken shelf that he was not singing—hymns, mind you, nothing else.

            We moved a few times in my youth, but even when we stayed in one place for a few years, it was not unheard of for a preacher from another congregation to show up on our doorstep asking him to consider changing his membership because they needed a song leader.  And he usually did.  Leading the song service was his bailiwick and he fulfilled it better than any man I have known before or since.  Why?  Because he viewed it as God meant it to be viewed—service to Him.  When he died my mother buried him with a Bible in one arm and a songbook in the other.

            As a music education major in college, I took classes in choral directing.  Guess what I learned?  Hardly anything new—I had learned it already from my daddy.  What I got was a new appreciation for a man who had set about to be the best he could be for his God.  Let me share a few tips with you.  Some of the details come from my choral directing professor, but the concepts I saw every Sunday of my childhood.

            1) If you call yourself a song leader, then be one--lead!  That means a host of things as you will see below.

            2) Your job as a song leader is not to show off how well you can sing by singing the most difficult songs in the book.  It is not your chance to sing your favorite hymns. Your job in the church is to enable the group to worship God in song, according to their ability.

            3) That means you need to know your group.  If you have an untrained group, few among them who know anything about music, don’t lead songs that a professional choir should be singing.  Don’t specialize in songs that require a roadmap and a compass to figure out what to sing when.  Don’t major in modes and polyrhythm.  If you do use some of these songs, then be realistic.  Untrained ears will never manage the blue notes in “Sing and Be Happy.”  Don’t be arrogant about it, as if all these ignorant people are beneath you.  A lot of them can probably do things you can’t do.

            If you have a predominantly older group, lay off the syncopated music.  They simply don’t get it.  Anyone listening on the side will think they are hiccupping as one manages it here and there, but 90% sing it straight.

            Another thing about older groups—they do not have the breath capacity of younger people.  Don’t sing songs so fast they have no time to catch a breath.  They may all pass out on you, but more than that, they simply won’t be able to worship God, which is what you are supposed to be helping them do, not hindering them.  Good leaders do not insist on what they want to do.  They do what is best for the group they are leading, whether it is what they want to do or not.

            4) Remember—this is not about you.  If you are a bass, resist the temptation to sing only low songs or to pitch them lower.  If you are a tenor, try not to pitch them too high.  Either way, you will completely fail in your mission—enabling the whole group to sing, not just you.  In fact, it is entirely possible to injure voices by having them sing a poorly pitched song.  If you cannot sing a song where it is written, then you probably ought not to be a song leader.

            5) And if you claim to be a leader you must of necessity do three things:  stand where you can be seen, beat a clear pattern, and sing loud enough to be heard.

            If you use a pattern, people need to see it in order to stay with it.  For those who do not understand the beat, or if you do not beat a pattern, they must be able to see your mouth.  That also means you shouldn’t be asking people to stand very often, particularly if you have a lot of elderly folks.  Yes, they have the option of staying seated, but guess what they see when everyone else is standing?  A row of backs—you will be hidden behind them.  How can they possibly follow you?

            As to the pattern, don’t get too elaborate.  The point where the beat actually occurs (the ictus) must be obvious, and at the bottom of the pattern, not at the top.  If you draw so many curlicues in the air that no one knows where the 1, 2 and 3 are, don’t get upset if they lag behind—it’s your fault.  

            And they do need to hear you.  If you can’t sing loud enough, stand in front of a microphone.  Don’t get “humble” and think it makes you a better servant of God not to be heard.  Leaders of necessity need to be heard—any kind of leader.  If all you do is start the song, you may as well sit in the pew.  (And if you are in the congregation, then monitor your own voice and do not try to out-sing the leader.  There is more than one way to usurp authority!) 

            6) This is worship to God, remember?  That means you should give some thought to your selections.  Would you ever walk into a Bible class, sit on the front row, scribble down a few passages and expect to teach a good lesson?  Your song service should do one of two things—either complement the sermon of the day, or teach its own lesson.  Some preachers like the songs to match their sermons; some don’t.  If he does, call him and find out what the lesson is about.  If the latter, then choose a topic yourself, or maybe a line of thought, and choose songs that teach about that topic or lead the singers in a logical progression of thought that will edify them.  Both of those take preparation.

            I could probably go on.  Just reminiscing about things I heard my daddy say over and over has already made this a bit long, though.  Here is the key--this is about your service to God.  If you remember that, you cannot help but be the best song leader you can be.
    
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise, Heb 2:12.

Dene Ward

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            Many years ago on one of our camping trips to the mountains, Keith and I visited a pottery barn, where a potter was busily working at the wheel.  We watched him try for several minutes to make a certain type of curve at the lip of the vessel he was making, but every time the lip collapsed.  Finally he shook his head and muttered something about the clay having a fault in it.  So he changed his plans and made another vessel.  It was still a useful pot I am sure, but it did not have that intricate lip that would have made it more beautiful and unique.

            Suddenly, I understood a whole lot better all those passages in the Bible about the potter and the clay, and how God can use us without forcing His will on us.  God wants us all to be beautiful creations which He can use to accomplish His purpose, but when through our own freewill we rebel, He simply changes His mind and makes us into something else, something not quite as pretty, not quite as special, but usable nonetheless.

            We may become so rebellious that we actually think we can keep God from using us, but that is not the case. Some doctrines talk about foreordination in a way that actually limits God.  It makes Him need to control everything in order to accomplish his ends.  You do realize that notion came from Augustinianism, and Augustine got it from paganism.  Remember the doctrine of fatalism from the Greek goddesses called Fates?  The scriptures teach instead about a God so powerful that He can use us in spite of the fact that we are able to choose our courses of action.  He does not have to control us to bring His plan to fruition.  That is truly awesome power. 

            So make no mistake about it—God will use us, but it is up to us how He will use us.  Personally I would rather be a beautiful vase with an intricate, unique design, or even a plain, practical, but necessary and honorable cooking pot, than some sort of “second option.”  How would you like to be a spittoon, or maybe a chamber pot?  You see, we are all clay in the potter’s hand.  It’s only what He makes of us that we have any real choice about.

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth, and some unto honor and some unto dishonor.  If anyone therefore purge himself…he shall be a vessel of honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work, 2 Tim 2:20,21.

Dene Ward

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            Oh, so many years ago we moved up to the frozen tundra.  At least that’s what north central Illinois felt like to this Florida native.  Keith worked with a small church there and I experienced blizzards, snowmen, and sledding for the first time in my life.  I also experienced a grudge-holder to end all grudge-holders. 

            An older fellow, a corn and soybean farmer, invited us to visit and before we had time to warm the seats of the chairs in his white two story farmhouse, he proceeded to give us some “important information.”  Another family in the church, he proclaimed, was not the faithful, unselfish, godly family they claimed to be.  Then one by one he listed all the “wrongs” they had done him, most of which amounted to being more prosperous than he.  They surely must have sinned to get that way!

            Keith was older and more experienced than I.  He saw through the “helpful” manner this man had adopted, and before his list was complete, Keith had asked a few probing questions that left him flummoxed.  Somehow this was not going the way he expected it would.  When we left that day, he had not accomplished his mission at all, which is entirely as it should have been.  When someone comes running to pour garbage on you, step aside as quickly as possible.  The truth will out, and before long the fruits we saw in both families made apparent who was and was not “faithful.”

            If I had just finished the faith study back then, it would have been obvious to even me.  After all that research, the huge lists of passages I had, and the categories I eventually sorted them into, I found several mentioning circumstances that require “extra” faith to handle.  One of them made me laugh out loud at first, then it made me sit back and say, “Well, of course.”

            In Luke 17, Peter, somewhat proudly, asked the Lord if forgiving someone seven times wasn’t a “gracious” plenty.  No, Jesus tells him.  Not seven times, but seventy times seven.  I am positive Peter got the point—there should be no end to forgiving others; there must be no “last straw”--because he immediately exclaimed, “Lord!  Increase our faith!”  He understood that a failure to forgive is a sign of weak faith.

            I have puzzled over how those two things are connected for quite awhile now.  Finally I see two possibilities. 

            First, God says He will avenge me; I don’t have to worry about doing it myself.  Not to believe that is to question the love and care God has for me, a love He demonstrated in no uncertain terms when He gave His only begotten Son.  Of course He will avenge me.  If I don’t believe that, I may as well not believe the incarnation of the Lord.

            And then this:  do I believe that God will forgive me an infinite number of times?  I am supposed to be His child, striving to become like Him.  If I can’t forgive, then maybe I don’t believe He forgives, and if He doesn’t forgive, then my whole belief system is flawed.  Why do I bother?

            Our American culture tends to laud as strong those who fight back, take revenge, and hold grudges.  “That’s going too far,” and, “I just won’t take that,” has been uttered in countless movies by “the strong, silent type.”  And what do we all do?  We applaud the man who finally refuses to turn the other cheek.  We admire the man who fights back.  We approve the man who chooses not to forget the sins against him—the one who says, “I’ll never be hurt again.” 

            What if God said those things about us?  Aren’t you shivering in your boots to realize where you would be if God hadn’t said instead, “Your sins I will remember no more,” and “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.”  Aren’t you thrilled beyond measure to read the inspired words of John, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness?” (Jer 31:34; Isa 1: 18; 1 John 1:9) 

            Do you ever find yourself wanting to tell everyone about the people you think have mistreated you?  You and that old Illinois farmer are standing in the same shoes.  Take off those shoes for you are standing on the Holy Ground of a God who loves and forgives to an infinite measure.  If you want to stand with Him, you must forgive in the same way.

            “Lord, increase our faith.”

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Romans 12:19.

Dene Ward       

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            I was watching a ball game a few weeks ago when the school promos aired.  Evidently one of them now has the slogan “I can only count on what I earn.”  I must have heard it ten times in that thirty second spot.

            Every Christian ought to jump back in horror when they hear such a thing.  What I earn?  My life is a hopeless downhill plunge to destruction if I am counting on what I earn.  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom 3:23.

            Okay, you say, but they are talking about getting along in life, not the afterlife.  Really?  I can count on my money, my career, my social status?  All these things can be taken away in a flash by an illness, an accident, a bad investment, a downturn in the economy, even someone else’s crime.  How can I count on those for anything?  You see, that is the problem when you don’t believe in God, as a good many professors no longer do.  What a miserable life to live. 

            What’s that?  You are not miserable because you can do what you want to do instead of answering to a higher power?  I suppose, but then you live a life without hope, without purpose.  One of these days that will hit you right between the eyes and you will be miserable.  All the intellectualism in the world has yet to find a cure for that. 

            I can only count on God, on His help, on His promises, on His love and grace and mercy.  A God by the way, who changes not, who has proven Himself to His people for thousands of years.  A God who is always there regardless of the balance in my bank account, the progress of my career, or my status in society. 

            What are you depending on today, a life of uncertainty, or a God who inhabits eternity and controls it all?

But now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom 6:22,23.

Dene Ward