 |
 |
Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
What Does It Take To Get Your Attention?
I have in my hand a schedule for the ocean tides on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the state of Maine. The details are interesting and very precise. The very moment of high tide and low tide is there – to the minute! Also found is the degree or the measure of the high tide as well as the low tide. Sailors have known and used this information for years, and they are available for all to study and use.
Today’s newspaper also gives information about “sunrise” and “sunset”. Again the details are right up to the minute. When it comes to things God has made, you can count on them being right where and when they should be. It is when man enters the equation that less quality is found. Like in bridges.
The attention of America is riveted on Minneapolis and the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River. The world is aware of the collapse of that bridge last week, and headlines are focused upon the question, “Are Our Bridges Safe?” That is a question on the minds of many, for most of us use similar bridges every day going to work or in our travels. Yes, that issue has grabbed us – and our attention – by the scruff of the neck, and some are asking “What’s next?”
What does it take to get man’s attention today?
We have noted through the years that tragic events in our world focus our minds on the uncertainty and brevity of life. When things are going well it is easy for us to forget that life is uncertain, that the next moment may present us with problems that threaten the quality of our lives and the lives of our loved ones and friends.
Why does God allow such tragic things to happen? Is His power insufficient to eliminate such trials from our lives? What about “good people” in the world – could God not at least shelter them from such tragedies? It’s easy to ask those questions, but they are the wrong questions to ask.
Modern man is covered up with issues – on the job, in the nation and within the family – it appears that we “don’t have time” to wonder about God’s thoughts in these times. In reading the books of the Old Testament prophets we find that God had to take extreme measures to get the attention even of His own people, Israel. In the book of Amos we read how God – more than seven centuries before Christ – got Israel’s attention:
“I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,” Amos 4:7-12.
I can’t tell you that God still sends or withholds the rain in order to get our attention, but He could. No, God did not cause the bridge to collapse, but some are asking how, with all the regulations, all the required inspections – not to mention the legal ramifications – how could the flaws in that bridge elude the eyes of inspectors? You can be sure that the thoughts of all of us will be on the bridges we must approach and utilize. Every fly-over, every bridge, every elevated highway will be a source of concern and apprehension for us.
With the dependability and precision of God’s creation contrasted with man’s mistakes, we hasten to remind us all of the wonderful mind possessed by man today, and how much he/she is able to accomplish. Man’s limitations are but a reminder that our present circumstances are not the ultimate of life. A day is coming in which each of us will stand before God in judgment, and our deeds will stare us in the face, 2 Corinthians 5:10. Those engineers and inspectors may face interrogation soon, but that will be easy compared to God’s judgment. Our deeds, our thoughts, our failures to obey God are all
known by Him, and we had better be ready.
If the bridge incident got our attention, perhaps we will think carefully of our life, not waiting for the day we lie flat on our back on a hospital bed hearing words that are not to our liking.
Man can accomplish great things, but something much better awaits those who are ready when the Lord returns, Matthew 25:14-40. Don’t wait for a tragedy before the Lord has your full attention. His matchless love continues to provide our needs!
Carl B Garner
|
|
|
|
|
I Want to Go to Heaven!
All of us must realize that a longing for heaven is not enough. Many who claim a yearning for that fair land will never make it. However, a legitimate part of Christianity is a deep desire to walk the golden street of glory.
Christians can even had boldness in the day of judgment if we fervently live and die in Jesus! Here are the major reasons I really do want to go to heaven: (1) I am tired of this wicked world; (2) I long for the divine and eternal, (3) Blessed associations await us there, (4) We dare not waste this life! (5) We must not disappoint Jesus, (6) The alternative is not acceptable! In assembly worship we sing a challenging hymn that reminds us that this earth is not our home and that as pilgrims here we are just passing through. Many passages document this principle. For example, notice 1 Peter 2:11, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” Again we read of Abraham in Hebrews 11:10, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” As shamefully wicked as the world is today, we truly long to be delivered into a far better atmosphere, Rev. 21:1-5 promises a realm where all things are new and all tears have vanished. We often sing about that realm.
Just think! We can press on to an eternal city that has no crime, no wars, no malice and no heartache. Sin will have vanished, Satan and his motley crew being banished! Only righteousness, joy and peace will reign, and the redeemed shall worship to the glory of God! What a reunion! What a reward!
We will be able to converse with Noah, Job and Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14). Then we can sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matt. 8:11). What a blessing it will be to enjoy the company of Jeremiah and Amos, Stephen and Paul! We’ll be able to meet gentle women like Hannah, Lois and Eunice, as well as the mothers of Jesus and John the Immerser. There we will also be able to meet godly elders, sincere Bible teachers, powerful preachers and others who shaped our destinies with their lives of devotion. Parents who sacrificed on earth for children who will make it to heaven, and other unsung spiritual heroes, will make it a blessed arrangement. It is no wonder Paul longed to “depart and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23).
If we miss “the land of fadeless day,” it will mean that we absolutely wasted our lives on earth. Kings, presidents, billionaires, and rulers of political systems who miss heaven will all have lived and died in vain! In the language of Mark 14:21 and Nehemiah 2:20, it would have been far better had they never been born because they have nothing precious to remember.! By the grace of a benevolent God, we are given this life to prepare for eternity. To die in sin, outside of Christ, is inexcusable. We can be three-time winners by using our time and opportunity wisely – by missing hell and going to heaven! It will surely be worth every effort as we press on toward that wondrous home of the soul: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man given in exchange for his soul?”
If we miss heaven, it will disappoint our Savior, Redeemer and Friend. He has gone to “prepare a place” for us (John 14:1-3):
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Jesus is now in heaven for us (Heb. 9:24). In fact, Christ is our forerunner, as set forth in Heb. 6. Following His steps all the way to glory should be our magnificent obsession (Rev. 14:4).
He will run to meet us (Luke 15), but we must be on the right road or we will miss our rendezvous with Deity. And sadly, the alternative arrangement is doom, gloom, sadness, separation, sorrow and the environment prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:37-46). We had better make our reservations now and keep them current! We must never take a detour from the highway of holiness. If we are bound for the promised land, may we never look back to sin!
Each step I take my Saviour goes before me,
And with His loving hand He leads the way,
And with each breath I whisper, “I adore Thee”;
Oh what joy to walk with Him each day.
Each step I take I know that He will guide me;
To higher ground He ever leads me on,
Until some day the last step will be taken,
Each step I take just leads me closer home.
Truly, heaven will be worth it all!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
