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| Volume 20 Number 11 November 2018 | Page 12 |
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| Volume 20 Number 11 November 2018 | Page 12 |
Royce Pendergrass
A statement I often make is, “Living a Christian life lets us enjoy the best of what this life has to offer and the best of the one to come.” Let’s examine the truth of this biblical principle.
I believe that Paul revealed this truth in 1 Timothy 4:8, when he wrote, “Bodily exercise profits little but Godliness is profitable to all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that one which is to come.” Paul was not just beating the air; he was encouraging the young preacher and teaching him a valuable lesson as to why it is so important to live the Christian life. That lesson applies to our living today as well. One can put his whole effort into exercising his physical body, and he may end up with a healthy, strong physique that is admirable, but when it comes to eternal matters, his physical body will count for nothing regardless of its appearance. Regarding the life that is to come, it’s the strength and condition of the soul that matters to God.
When a Christian has done what it takes to strengthen his spiritual life and has dedicated his life to God, not only will he have what it takes to cope with the evils and disappointments of daily living, he will have confidence of looking forward to an eternal home in Heaven. Paul voiced that confidence when he said, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). In our daily living, many things will happen that frustrate and hinder our spiritual lives, but if we love God and remain faithful to Him, whatever happens to us will be for the best because we have been faithful.
David was a wonderful servant of God. He said, “Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and you shall feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:3-5). We know that David was not perfect. He sinned just as all men have, but he always repented deeply and was remorseful for his sins. David never stopped loving and trusting the Lord. When David said, “delight yourself in the Lord,” I believe that is exactly what he did. “Delight” means “to take satisfaction or great pleasure in,” and David lived his life in such a way to let us know that he never forgot to remember who his Lord was. He strived to honor God with his living. Christians should delight in the Lord.
Jesus taught a valuable lesson about enjoying the best of this life by trusting in and living for God. He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you; therefore, take no thought for the morrow for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself” (Matthew 6:33, 34). Because we live in the here and now, it’s so easy to concentrate on the necessities of life, not only for today but for tomorrow. We, at least in the recesses of our minds, expect to see a tomorrow. Jesus said you will have what you need for this physical life when you live a Godly life. It may not be material satisfaction but spiritual fulfillment.
Peter said, “He who will love life and see good days will refrain his tongue from evil and his lips will speak no guile; he will turn away from evil and do good; he will seek and pursue peace” (1 Peter 3:10-11). Simply, if one wants to enjoy good days in this present life, he can only do so by doing the things that will grant him eternal life. He will spend his days doing good, not bad.
Peter continued with a promise of help from God. “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is he that can harm you if you are zealous of that which is good? But and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you” (1 Peter 3:12-14). Bad things can and do happen to good people because we all live in this world, but God will see the faithful through the hard times, providing the strength needed to triumph. Paul told the Philippian brethren, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
When a Christian does his part and is faithful to God, God will certainly do His part as He has promised so that we can “enjoy good days” in this life, and better yet, enjoy the promise of the life to come with Him in Heaven!
Dean Kelly
I totally despise autocorrect sometimes. I sent a text today in which I typed, “I loved the pictures I have seen…” Autocorrect changed it to, “I loved the bloc tires I have seen…” What on earth does “bloc tires” mean, and why would autocorrect find that to be superior to “pictures” in its twisted little “mind”? (I know it doesn’t have a mind, but bear with my anthropomorphizing if you will. “Anthropomorphizing” is my dollar word for the day; it means assigning human traits to that which is not human.)
There are times when autocorrect is handy, like when it automatically capitalizes the word “I” or as in the sentence I just wrote where it changed my misspelling of “capitalizes” for me. However, sometimes it just arbitrarily changes things on its own. That makes the writer look really dumb, and sometimes it can be very embarrassing. (Autocorrect corrected “embarrassing” for me, by the way.)
As I thought about autocorrect and the help it gives and the confusion it can cause, for some reason, it reminded me of one of the traits that separate humans from animals—the conscience.
Autocorrect works well when it is properly set. It can save you from mistakes that totally change the meaning of what you are writing. A properly-trained conscience can do the same in our lives. It can guide us away from errors in life that can be dangerous or deadly. The Word of God is the number one source to properly train the conscience.
Autocorrect seriously fails if it does not understand the context. Many of the fails with autocorrect are because of a failure to “understand” the context of what is being written. Our consciences must be trained to be able to use the principles by which we are trained with a proper application in the context of life. For instance, our consciences can be deceived to believe that sin is okay in some circumstances; a good example is the acceptance of sexual immorality that is pressed on us from every side. Our guide is always the truth of God no matter what the context is.
Autocorrect is wrong when it acts on its own. Sometimes it won’t let me put in the word that I want to use. It changes it totally, changing my meaning. When we make decisions based solely on how we feel, what we think or what makes us happy without an examination of what the truth of God says, then we can train our consciences to act in a way contrary to what is right with God. Our consciences can ignore truth and strike out on their own. That will take us away from God.
Autocorrect only works when turned on. Despite the aggravations of autocorrect, it has helped me to write this article. You have to watch it and check that it hasn’t changed anything. Yet, it is valuable. We have to allow our well-trained consciences to help us maintain our walk with Jesus in our daily lives. Sometimes, folks decide to ignore their consciences and go it alone. Disaster is certain when that happens. We do, however, have to vigilantly watch our consciences, and adjust them to stay in line with what is right according to God’s revealed truth.