Pray do not find fault with the man who limps
Or stumbles along the road,
Unless you have worn the shoes he wears
Or struggled beneath his load.
There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
Though hidden away from view.
Or the burden he bears, placed on your back,
Might cause you to stumble too.
Don’t sneer at the man who’s down today,
Unless you have felt the blow
That caused his fall, or felt the shame
That only the fallen know.
You may be strong, but still the blows
That were his, if dealt to you
In the self-same way at the self-same time
Might cause you to stagger too.
Don’t be too harsh with the man who sins
Or pelt him with words or stones,
Unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure,
That you have no sins of your own.
For you know, perhaps if the tempter’s voice
Should whisper as soft to you
As it did to him when he went astray,
`Twould cause you to falter too.
(--Author Unknown)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
"SAVING FAITH"
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
“There may be a real faith in Christ, though there be mixed with it many and grave errors concerning His work and the manner of receiving the blessings which He bestows… I do not wish to underrate for one moment the absolute necessity of clear and true conceptions of revealed truth, in order to develop a vigorous and mature faith; but, while there can be no faith worth calling so which is not based upon the intellectual reception of truth, still there may be faith based upon an imperfect reception of the truth. The power and vitality of faith are not measured by the comprehensiveness and clearness of belief… He that knows and trusts the Lord as Brother, Friend, and Savior, in whom he receives the pardon and cleansing he needs and desires, may have very many misconceptions and errors yet clinging to him, but Christ accepts him anyway.”
(Alex. Maclaren – Adapted.)
A person’s faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is what saves him, not the amount, degree or perfection of his understanding of Bible teaching. If it were otherwise, who could be saved? The wisest man, with the best education and resources, could spend a lifetime studying the Word of God and at the end of his days, be forced to exclaim with Paul, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). Of course, a man should keep on studying the great things of God and eagerly seek to know all the mind of God and the facts and wisdom revealed in Scripture—and what joy that is to the child of the Lord!—yet it is comforting to know that it is not a perfect understanding that saves us!
Some think men are saved by a complete and correct intellectual comprehension of every doctrine in the Bible. Others center salvation in a rote, legalistic obedience of Bible commands—perfectly executed. Obviously a great many associate salvation with belonging to the right party, denomination, theological mindset, or by which great theologian, preacher, or author one idolizes. Thank goodness, none of these are correct!
Simple faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture, faith as small as a mustard seed and as trusting and innocent as that of a little child, here is what saves a man when he acts upon it! Jesus Himself says so!
Larry Atkin, Preacher
“There may be a real faith in Christ, though there be mixed with it many and grave errors concerning His work and the manner of receiving the blessings which He bestows… I do not wish to underrate for one moment the absolute necessity of clear and true conceptions of revealed truth, in order to develop a vigorous and mature faith; but, while there can be no faith worth calling so which is not based upon the intellectual reception of truth, still there may be faith based upon an imperfect reception of the truth. The power and vitality of faith are not measured by the comprehensiveness and clearness of belief… He that knows and trusts the Lord as Brother, Friend, and Savior, in whom he receives the pardon and cleansing he needs and desires, may have very many misconceptions and errors yet clinging to him, but Christ accepts him anyway.”
(Alex. Maclaren – Adapted.)
A person’s faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is what saves him, not the amount, degree or perfection of his understanding of Bible teaching. If it were otherwise, who could be saved? The wisest man, with the best education and resources, could spend a lifetime studying the Word of God and at the end of his days, be forced to exclaim with Paul, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). Of course, a man should keep on studying the great things of God and eagerly seek to know all the mind of God and the facts and wisdom revealed in Scripture—and what joy that is to the child of the Lord!—yet it is comforting to know that it is not a perfect understanding that saves us!
Some think men are saved by a complete and correct intellectual comprehension of every doctrine in the Bible. Others center salvation in a rote, legalistic obedience of Bible commands—perfectly executed. Obviously a great many associate salvation with belonging to the right party, denomination, theological mindset, or by which great theologian, preacher, or author one idolizes. Thank goodness, none of these are correct!
Simple faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture, faith as small as a mustard seed and as trusting and innocent as that of a little child, here is what saves a man when he acts upon it! Jesus Himself says so!
Larry Atkin, Preacher
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
"THE ROAD OF LIFE"
“The Road Of Life”
By Michael J. Kober
Once I became a weary gentleman,
Who had grown older and gray
My feet had often times traveled
along a rough and tiresome way.
And so I reflected on my life,
though it long and good had been
I soon became discontent,
wishing I could do it all over again.
Oh, it hadn’t all been easy-
there were troubles now and then
Still there wasn’t much I would change,
If I could do it all again.
But now that I’d retired
and old age was in plain view
I thought, “There’s no purpose
for me living much longer,
there’s no good that I could do.”
Chance brought to me a young boy
walking down the same hard road
Who said, “I just can’t make it:
I just can’t bear the load.”
“Ah,” thought I to myself,
“this young man needs a friend
Maybe I can help him
make it around the bend.”
And so I told him how
I had felt the same way too
How I thought life was much too hard
and I couldn’t make it through.
I said it really wasn’t quite as bad
as it first appeared to be
For in the end it all worked out,
though how it was sometimes hard to see.
The young man brightened slightly then,
as he prepared to travel on.
He thanked me for making the road seem
not so treacherous and long.
‘Twas then this weary gentleman,
who had grown older and gray
Decided life was not so bad,
if I could help someone along the way.
And more opportunities to help the young
seek the proper path
Without judging, condemning,
and free from someone’s wrath,
Has come my way once again,
coincidence, queer, or odd
No, it’s guidance and direction
coming from my God!
(Copied from Newsletter
of Christian Church, Cabool, MO)
By Michael J. Kober
Once I became a weary gentleman,
Who had grown older and gray
My feet had often times traveled
along a rough and tiresome way.
And so I reflected on my life,
though it long and good had been
I soon became discontent,
wishing I could do it all over again.
Oh, it hadn’t all been easy-
there were troubles now and then
Still there wasn’t much I would change,
If I could do it all again.
But now that I’d retired
and old age was in plain view
I thought, “There’s no purpose
for me living much longer,
there’s no good that I could do.”
Chance brought to me a young boy
walking down the same hard road
Who said, “I just can’t make it:
I just can’t bear the load.”
“Ah,” thought I to myself,
“this young man needs a friend
Maybe I can help him
make it around the bend.”
And so I told him how
I had felt the same way too
How I thought life was much too hard
and I couldn’t make it through.
I said it really wasn’t quite as bad
as it first appeared to be
For in the end it all worked out,
though how it was sometimes hard to see.
The young man brightened slightly then,
as he prepared to travel on.
He thanked me for making the road seem
not so treacherous and long.
‘Twas then this weary gentleman,
who had grown older and gray
Decided life was not so bad,
if I could help someone along the way.
And more opportunities to help the young
seek the proper path
Without judging, condemning,
and free from someone’s wrath,
Has come my way once again,
coincidence, queer, or odd
No, it’s guidance and direction
coming from my God!
(Copied from Newsletter
of Christian Church, Cabool, MO)
Monday, March 2, 2009
“THE SIMPLE GOSPEL!”
“THE SIMPLE GOSPEL!”
“Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely!” (Rev. 22:17).
“The command to preach the Gospel to every creature implied that it was adapted to the comprehension of every creature. As the great mass of mankind are incapable of comprehending abstruse and mysterious subjects, the primitive Gospel must have been, therefore, something extremely simple in its statement and evident in its nature.”
(Robert Richardson)
“Gospel” means “good news.” Now if the good news of salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ is so difficult to understand that only a select few can do so, then it decidedly is not good news!
But the message of Christ is one that can be comprehended by all people—people of every race, language, culture, and nation; persons of all ages; those who are well-educated, those who are illiterate. Anyone who can understand love can understand the Gospel! How glad we are that it is just this way! Everyone who wants to be saved can be saved! How wonderful the ways of God! Full of power, wisdom, and deep knowledge, yet so simple that even the simplest can hear, believe, repent, be baptized, and be saved!
I like to read and enjoy dabbling in the writings of theologians and scholars on occasion, older writers and more recent ones. One thing constantly amazes me—the ability of most theologians and philosophers to complicate the simple and obscure the plain! They love to redefine terms and make up new words. They are experts at employing technical jargon. It almost appears that, beyond playing with divine themes and reinventing ancient ideas, most theologians are really only trying to impress people with their skills. At best, the wise men of this world merely entertain us. When we wish to feed our souls and win the lost for Jesus, we turn directly to the Holy Bible and the simple Gospel!
The simplicity of the Gospel! The simplicity of Jesus Christ! How we love it!
Larry Atkin, Preacher
“Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely!” (Rev. 22:17).
“The command to preach the Gospel to every creature implied that it was adapted to the comprehension of every creature. As the great mass of mankind are incapable of comprehending abstruse and mysterious subjects, the primitive Gospel must have been, therefore, something extremely simple in its statement and evident in its nature.”
(Robert Richardson)
“Gospel” means “good news.” Now if the good news of salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ is so difficult to understand that only a select few can do so, then it decidedly is not good news!
But the message of Christ is one that can be comprehended by all people—people of every race, language, culture, and nation; persons of all ages; those who are well-educated, those who are illiterate. Anyone who can understand love can understand the Gospel! How glad we are that it is just this way! Everyone who wants to be saved can be saved! How wonderful the ways of God! Full of power, wisdom, and deep knowledge, yet so simple that even the simplest can hear, believe, repent, be baptized, and be saved!
I like to read and enjoy dabbling in the writings of theologians and scholars on occasion, older writers and more recent ones. One thing constantly amazes me—the ability of most theologians and philosophers to complicate the simple and obscure the plain! They love to redefine terms and make up new words. They are experts at employing technical jargon. It almost appears that, beyond playing with divine themes and reinventing ancient ideas, most theologians are really only trying to impress people with their skills. At best, the wise men of this world merely entertain us. When we wish to feed our souls and win the lost for Jesus, we turn directly to the Holy Bible and the simple Gospel!
The simplicity of the Gospel! The simplicity of Jesus Christ! How we love it!
Larry Atkin, Preacher
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