THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume I
September 2006
Number 11
Sing
to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day
to day. Psalms 96:2
RUNNING TO WIN
A man was crossing a road. He took two
steps and saw a car barreling down upon him. He hesitated for a split second
then proceeded to cross the centerline. The car changed over into the other
lane. Again, the man hesitated then stepped back across the centerline. The car
followed him back to that side of the road. The man was near panic. What should
he do? In a moment of desperation, he jumped back onto the curb.
The car came to a screeching halt right
beside him. The window rolled down and he saw a squirrel driving. The squirrel
leaned over and said, “It’s not as easy as it looks, huh!”
My youngest son was shooting a hunting
bow. His arrows were all hitting the target and, as he would say, they were in
the kill zone. As a child, I had made a bow with arrows more than once. I
thought to myself, “I can do that!” My first arrow missed the target and
imbedded in the hay bales that held the target. My second arrow went, I don’t
know where. It got lost. What do I have to say for myself? “It’s not as easy as
it looks.” Needless to say, my odyssey as a great white bow hunter was short lived.
I stood watching my son, time after time,
hit the target. I am so intimidated that I will never pick up another bow or
notch an arrow.
There are many things in this life that
look relatively easy. As we watch others doing them, we think, I can do that.
However, when we try, it turns out to be harder than we thought. This often
leaves us frustrated and disenchanted with trying any further.
This is caused by our failure to realize
that ‘practice makes perfect.’ Too often, we think we should be able to just do
a thing without the needed skill level it demands. Any athlete will tell you it
takes hours and hours of practice to become skilled in a certain sport.
It is no different with Christianity. To
be a successful Christian, we must put in hours and hours of practice. Paul
understood the similarity between Christianity and competing in athletics. “An athlete is not crowned unless he
competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5). Unless one is
willing to abide by the rules of training as well as the rules of the game,
they will not be successful. Again, Paul makes an analogy between athletics and
Christianity. “Do you not know that in a
race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you
may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it
to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run
aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and
keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be
disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Christianity is not a spectator sport.
God expects Christians to participate. It takes more effort than many are
willing to give. Yes, it is difficult, and you might say it is harder than it
looks. However, it is not impossible. Paul ran the race and so can you.
The Editor’s Page
Have you noticed? It is always the ‘bad
news’ that gets reported over and over again. The horrible things people do to
one another, words meant to destroy another fellow human’s character, and self
serving rhetoric fill the news broadcasts and front pages of newspapers across
the land.
The Christian life does not revel in ‘bad
news.' It is true that problems arise in local churches. We read of several
problems at the church in
It is tempting to focus on ‘bad news. Too
often our conversations drift into the troubles and tribulations we face at the
hands of others. I would like to use this article to encourage Christians to
rise above negativism and to see the blessings God gives His children. Believe
it or not, the greatest of these blessings is our relationship with other
Christians.
My years of preaching have brought me in
contact with brothers and sisters who have made my journey much easier. They
have comforted me in times of pain and sorrow. They have shared my joys. They
have encouraged me and rebuked me when ‘self’ got in the way of doing God’s
will. They were always willing to listen. Their listening was not one of false
compassion but was from a true heart of concern for their brother who was
hurting.
They asked nothing in return. Their
concern was not given for personal gain but was a manifestation of true
Christian kinship. As Abram said to
It is a sad truth but all my
relationships have not been founded upon Christian kinship. However, this in no
way diminishes those relationships of which I speak. It only makes them more
precious and causes us to cherish them dearly.
As I write this, names begin to flood my
mind; Names of dear saints who are now with our Lord; Names of those who by
nature will soon depart from us; and names in the present of those closest to
me. My regrets are that I did not tell those who have left us how much they
meant to me. It is to our shame that we don’t tell the living how important
they are to our spiritual survival. Why is it so hard for us to express to
these dear ones just what they mean to our lives?
The Lord has blessed me a hundredfold [Mark
CHANGING
GOD’S WORD
The
Conductor stood before the orchestra and began rehearsal with the following.
“Please
get your pencils out. We have some marking to do on this
score. The first two bars are in 3/4, not 4/4 as written. Next, in the 5th bar,
change it to 7/8 and this remains to the end. Now, in bar 7 we lower the pitch
1/2 step. In bar 13, lower the pitch one whole step and this will remain to the
end. Thank you. Now, let us begin.”
Upon
hearing these instructions, the Soprano soloist asked, “Excuse me, Maestro.
What would you like for me to change?”
To
which the Conductor answered, “Nothing, madam. Just sing it exactly as you did
yesterday.”
It
is not uncommon for man to find himself in conflict with the standard. When
this happens, he does one of two things. He will alter his life to comply with
the standard, or he will alter the standard. Once he alters the standard, he
expects everyone else to embrace his erroneous code of behavior.
While
it is important for man to alter his life to meet the standard of civilized
conduct, it is far more important to change one’s life to meet the spiritual
standard set by God.
What
is a person to do when their life is in conflict with God’s laws? Should they
continue in an erroneous belief and practice by changing the standard? On the
other hand, should they change their life to meet the standard?
It
is not a pleasant thing to confront our flaws. Seeing oneself for what they
truly are is often upsetting. Breaking the scale will not fix our weight
problem, breaking the mirror will not change one’s appearance.
It
is equally true that changing God’s Word will not make our sinful behavior
acceptable. God warned
What
does this mean? It means that God has pride of authorship. He never has, nor
ever will, allow man to tamper with His words. When man looks into the mirror
of God’s word, he is compelled to change himself or else forget what manner of
person he observed (James
Now,
I ask you! Shouldn’t you change your life rather than attempt to change God’s
word? Think seriously for your relationship with God is at stake.
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?
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WALKING
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Editor: Glen Young
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E-mail: gyoung47@ntelos.net or gyoung47@poundchurchofchrist.org
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