By Mark McWhorter
Have
you ever noticed bushes and trees growing on the
side of rocky hill? It is amazing that some plants can grow in just a
small
amount of dirt. It is even more amazing that they can grow as big as
they
sometimes get.
Those plants do not have very deep roots. If they were growing in normal depth soil, they would be able to send their roots deep into the ground. However, since they are growing in shallow soil, they have very short roots. These short roots do not keep them secure in the ground. If a strong wind blows, it can cause the roots to pull out of the ground and the plant falls over and dies. Because the soil is not deep, there is not much water available for the plant. When the sun shines and is hot for any length of time, the plant may wither and die from lack of moisture.
Jesus says that there are
some people like these
plants. In
It is necessary to study and find deep soil. The Word of God, the Bible, has what you need to make rich, deep soil. Then you must send your spiritual root deep into that soil. Only by being rooted and grounded properly can you withstand the heat and winds of life that will challenge your faith.
Study your Bible. Learn
all you can from it. Do not be
a rootless plant. Send your root deep into the rich soil of
God’s word, and if
any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
A Lesson from the Prophet
Hosea
By Ernest Underwood
In the prophet Hosea’s time,
7:1 -
“They have committed fraud…”Finally:
Question: Is
there any one of these things of which
Toleration: Good or Bad?
By Ernest Underwood
One definition Webster gives to the word “tolerant” is: “The allowable deviation from a standard.” In some situations, tolerance may be granted without harm being done. However, if your loved one was having open-heart by-pass surgery, how much “deviation from the standard” are you willing to give the surgeon in whether he connects the right artery to the right valve? I don’t know much about the procedure, but I do know that it is very precise. The patient’s life depends upon it. Again, how much “deviation from the standard” are you willing to give a drunk driver as he weaves back and forth across the centerline as he is meeting your teenage daughter as they both drive along a two-lane highway? Will you give him a foot, two feet?
We all know the answers to
theses questions. Yet, when
one is dealing with his most precious possession—his eternal
soul—many people
not only want such “deviation from the standard,”
they adamantly demand it! “I
don’t care what the Bible says, I wouldn’t give my
feelings, opinions, or my
pastor’s teaching for a whole stack of Bibles,”
they cry. How truly, truly sad!