THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume I
April 2006
Number 6
Sing
to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day
to day. Psalms 96:2
Like A Vapor
By
Rick Mullins
Recently, I was
at the funeral of a friend and I thought about the situation at hand. I took
time to reflect upon some things. I thought of my family and friends and how
dear they are to me. I also realized how quickly life is passing by and how we
need to cherish each moment.
Joe
Keene, who only days before, was a tireless worker for the community and
company he worked for, was now dead. His death was
sudden and very tragic. It made me think of the words written in James
4:14, “Whereas
you do not know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while and
then vanishes away.” We must understand that life is very precious
and very short. Joe was only 52 years old. Even if he had been 100 years old,
his life would have been short for loved ones still living. And when we compare
it to eternal life, it is very short indeed. Sometimes, I believe we dwell upon
thinking about and planing for the future way too much. That does not mean we
cannot plan for things. I believe James is telling us to keep God in our plans
and not take for granted that we will even be alive in the future. When we read
the words written in Luke 12:13-21, we find the account
of the rich fool. These verses deal with pride and selfishness, but I believe
they also deal with taking life for granted and leaving God out of the picture.
The man was not thinking about next week, next month or next year. He was
thinking about taking it easy for “many” years. It is possible God took his life because he left God
out of his plans and he was way too bold about his plans for the future. We
need to do our best not to make the
same mistakes the rich fool
made. We
must realize life is short
and
take advantage of every opportunity to do good
for
people and to do God=s will.
From what I
understand, Joe never
talked much about death until just a few days prior to his death. At that time
he and his wife spoke about making funeral arrangements. Some people will say this was God=s will and all
this happened for a reason. I
don=t know why
things happen the way they do, but I will say, we too, must be thinking about
death. Not only from an earthly standpoint of making funeral arrangements, but
a far greater reason would be to make our eternal arrangements. It says=s in Hebrews
The Editor’s Page
In the last three issues of The
Proclaimer, I have published installments of an article titled WHO ARE WE? The
article is my attempt at understanding man’s struggle with sin. The Christian
who is totally honest with himself will admit to struggling with inner thoughts
and desires that war against the righteous life. It is not my intent to develop
a theology by which we answer this important question. It is simply an attempt
to help Christians understand themselves, thus giving them encouragement in
their sojourn toward Heaven.
The great philosopher ‘Pogo O. Possum’
has said, “I has seen the enemy and he is us!” (Pogo was a popular character in
the Sunday funnies back in my childhood days) James substantiates Pogo’s
wisdom, at least in this particular, when he writes, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this
that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you
murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have,
because you do not ask” (James
4:1-2 ESV).
James points to the source of all
problems experienced by man. Quarrels, wars, and murder are the result of
unfulfilled desires and uncontrolled covetousness. Many studies have been done
as to why dysfunctional families and divorce have increased. The answer is
simple. The selfish desires of either the wife or husband or both foster the
idea that they must go their own way to find happiness. The children’s needs
are secondary. It doesn’t matter how disruptive divorce is to their young fragile
lives, mommy and daddy must be happy.
Why do local churches find themselves in
turmoil? Again, it is the selfish desires and uncontrolled covetousness of the
membership. Selfishness causes anger and quarrels among members because one is
determined to ‘get’ their way no matter how much harm comes to the work. Covetousness
surfaces because someone becomes too popular be he elder, preacher, or teacher
with the membership. The covetous will decide that such a one must be brought
down. The local church becomes embroiled in one controversy after another to
the point of despair.
Until and unless we come to grips with
our inner self, we are doomed to fightings and wars. Here we are; Christians,
representatives of Christ on earth; viewed by all and yet, we present a picture
that is no different than the world. As we contemplate who we are, let us be
sure that we are not so absorbed in self that we become our own worst enemy.
WHO ARE WE?! (3)
How we deal with the internal conflict
between the inner man and outer man defines who we are. Are we miserable,
wretched creatures who deserve no happiness or consideration from a loving God?
Are we capable of becoming a mirrored image of Jesus in the flesh, who himself
did no sin? These two questions are the foundation upon which the war rages
within the honest heart of the righteous.
“If
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8). Are we afraid to speak
the obvious? Whether intentional or not, there is peer pressure from Christians
to foster the illusion of complete victory over sin. This posses the danger of hindering
progress in purity. If we were more honest about the human condition, spiritual
growth would be the result.
For centuries, religious theologians have
tried to explain how God will accept weak humans who are conflicted with
themselves. The Calvinist theologian theorizes that man is inherently sinful
and can do no good thing. Therefore, God forgives the elect by seeing only the
righteous life of Jesus i.e. by imputing Jesus’ righteousness upon the sinful
elect. The Catholic theologian’s effort to answer this question is to catalog
sins as either mortal sins or venial sins.
The opposite side of this theological
discussion is the various forms of self-righteousness. Spiritual arrogance is a
subtle danger that occurs when one accepts the premise that they are superior
in their knowledge of scripture and their obedience to scripture (Luke
The Christian life is a sojourn of days
lived out in hope. It is a hope that makes a difference in our present reality
when it is honestly approached. Paul recognized that his ‘war’ would continue
as long as he was in the earthly tent. “For
in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by
putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent,
we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be
further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:2-4 ESV). Although Paul groaned because of the
internal war, he understood the Christian life is a holy walk (Ephesians 5:8-11). The Christian
life is characterized by goodness, righteousness, and truth. As children of
light, we are to find out what is acceptable to the Lord. We rejoice when we
win the battle. However, winning a battle does not resolve the war. We groan,
as did Paul, looking for the day when God will swallow up the mortal with
eternal life.
To be continued
The Last Word
####################
WHAT MUST
I DO
Hear: Rom
Believe: Heb 11:6
Repent: Lk 13:5; Ac
17:30
Confess: Matt
Be Baptized: Ac
TO BE
SAVED?
###################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WALKING
BY FAITH
Sunday Mornings
9 AM
102.3 WDXC Radio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FAMILY
MATTERS
RESTORED:
The Pound church was made to rejoice
with the return to faithfulness of our brother John Ward. This was the answer
to many prayers and visits. Also, we rejoice that Cynthia Holyfield came
repenting and confessing her sins. Pray for John and Cynthia that they may grow
strong in the Faith.
HOME BIBLE STUDIES:
Our Spring meeting will be May 14—19
this year. It is not too soon to begin making plans to be present and to invite
as many as possible. We look forward to having Bob Waldron join us for this
meeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Pound church web site = www.poundchurchofchrist.org/
The Pound Proclaimer is published monthly by the Pound
All articles by the editor unless
otherwise stated
Editor: Glen Young
Phone: 276-796-5767=Office
276-796-7401=Home
Time of Services
Sunday: Bible Classes—10 am
Assembly—11 am
Assembly—
Wednesday: Bible Classes—
e-mail: gyoung47@ntelos.net or gyoung47@poundchurchofchrist.org
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