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| Vol. 12 No. 9 September 2010 | Page 10 |
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| Vol. 12 No. 9 September 2010 | Page 10 |
Jeff Archey
In another sense, there are “mountains” in life we compass or go around and around. We stay in the same old direction that we direct, but we need to listen to God and turn to a better direction, Friends! Why not resolve to do so? I challenge us to follow what God directs today. It is time we cease compassing the mountains!
Wasting time is a mountain we compass. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). As Robertson puts it, “We all have the same time. Paul goes into the open market and buys it up by using it rightly.” There is the factor: It is imperative we use our time wisely and rightly. God forbid any of us be like Felix in Acts 24:24-25. He sent for Paul, but afterwards trembled at what he heard. There is no example from the Scriptures where Felix came to Christ. We go around and around not using time wisely. Schedule carefully and prioritize with importance.
Apathy. Simply not caring. Can you imagine? No emotion, no compassion, no concern for anything or anyone. In Revelation 3:14-16, the church allowed the things of the world to dictate their comfort, and the Lord commanded them to repent! Indeed, a mountain that takes us around and around with no direction and no concern. Oh, “turn northward,” friend!
Worry is a never-ending compass. Around and around with emotions all torn. “Be careful [or anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). Turn it over to the Lord – the worry, concern and strife. Always remember a rule of thumb concerning worry: If you cannot do anything about it, worry will not change it, and if you can do something about it, then work and do not worry!
Ignorance is a mountain (Hosea 4:6). Ignorance is destructive. Those at Berea did not allow ignorance to permeate their lives (Acts 17:10-11). Ignorance and refusal to learn is as one that is “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Let us grow in our knowledge and put it to use (2 Peter 3:18).
Wasting precious time, apathy, worry and ignorance. Oh, there are so many throughout the world that compass these mountains and get nowhere. Praise to God that we have a direction to go! Dear Friend, do you have that right direction and plan?
Ed Benesh
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
The race was not even close. The incumbent mayor received only 85 votes, while the challenger garnered nearly 300. The place was Tracy City, TN. In the grand scheme of things, this story would probably not have even made the news if it were not for one small detail in the race – the newly elected mayor actually died several weeks before the election.
Election Commission officials for the small town said they could not even speculate why the dead man received so many votes. Now, however, the city council will have to appoint a new mayor to serve out the term of the newly elected, but dead mayor.
Perhaps the folks of Tracy City were simply trying to make a statement about the incumbent. Regardless, it is flawed thinking to assign your allegiance with dead things or people in things pertaining to life. Other than a statement about the incumbent, what would one hope to gain by electing a dead man to the post of mayor? It sounds like a bad joke or dark comedy.
Oddly enough, this type of thing, in principle, is not new. Folks spend an awful lot of time investing in things that are dead or lifeless. Time, testing and tragedy, for instance, have, proven that while we put a great amount of energy and time into creating, maintaining and reaping physical treasures and stuff, it just simply never pays off. We just end up miserable. For others maybe, the waste is in fruitless or damaged relationships – evil companions.
Laugh, if you will, at the appointment of a dead man to position of mayor, but what of the dead things in your life that you have appointed as the sovereign of your heart? What controls you? Are they things that bring life or are they simply things that perish or never were alive?
This is why Christ would encourage each and all of us to seek a true treasure that cannot be found in a bank or stock market or car lot or some other store. It cannot be found in evil companions and vile influence. Rather, it is found in a right relationship with God. In this day, let go of the deadwood and embrace life.