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Vol. 12 No. 2 February 2010 |
Page 14 |
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Vol. 12 No. 2 February 2010 |
Page 14 |
Drawn Away
Mark McWhorter
James 1:14 reads, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” During Bible times, many animals were caught by making traps. The trap would contain the kind of food that the animal liked to eat. When the animal started to eat the food, it would trigger the trap to close. Thus, the animal was caught because of its hunger. If the animal was not hungry, there would be no reason to enter the trap.
‘Drawn away’ comes from a Greek word referring to the hunger of the animal that brought it out of its hiding place and into the snare. Man is tempted in many ways, but man is not required to act in a wrong way. Man is not required to sin. Man has the ability to make choices. Just because something looks good does not mean that one should involve himself in it. When man sins, he must admit it is because his own hunger brought him to sin. Man cannot blame Satan or anyone else. He must take responsibility for his own sin.
Study your Bible. Learn all you can from it. Learn to look to God when you are tempted. Learn self-control. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
He That Hath an Ear, Let Him Hear
Mark McWhorter
Jesus addresses the churches of Asia in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. He gives warning to most of them. After addressing each congregation, He tells them, “he that hath an ear, let him hear.” He wanted every person to contemplate and meditate upon everything He said.
In Matthew 11, Jesus refers to John the Baptist as the person prophesied to be the messenger before the Messiah. Yet, Jesus says those in the kingdom would be greater than John. This kingdom had been foretold by all the prophets. Then Jesus says “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable of seed sown on different soils. At the end of the parable, He says, “who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
When one considers what the ear involves, one gets a better idea of why Jesus used the ear as part of His message. The ear is a marvel of creation. It is able to take airwaves and transfer those to mechanical energy through the eardrum and the three small bones in the middle ear. It then converts that mechanical energy to fluid waves in the cochlea. The fluid waves then interact with small hairs in the cochlea and the message is converted to a neuro-chemical message, which is sent to the brain. The brain then analyzes and interprets the message.
When a person hears the biblical message, the person should be taking that information and meditating upon it. The person must put effort into thinking about the message, analyzing that message and interpreting it. The person is responsible for applying the message to his/her life. This requires energy. It may require getting reference books and commentaries to help one understand. It may require speaking with someone who is more studied.
The eardrum is so sensitive that it will react to an airwave which only moves it one one-hundredth the width of a hydrogen molecule. That is a very, very small distance. When God speaks to us, every word is important. We should be sensitive to His entire Word, the Bible. We can add nothing to it nor take anything away from it. Thus, we must study and learn everything we can from it. God gave all of it to us for our learning.
Study your Bible. Help others study it. If you have an ear, hear what God says, and if any of
this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.