Good Days And Bad Days by Dee Bowman (Reprinted from
The Awesome Truth: teen@biblical-insights.org)
"There is an appointed time for everything. And there
is a time for every event under heaven" (Ecclesiastes
3:1).
Life's like that. Just about the time you think you have it all
figured out, some new adventure disrupts your confidence and flies
in the face of your conclusions. Nobody has life figured out.
I wrote in my journal recently: "I don't suppose it's possible
to have any length of time where you are right with the world.
I had 15 minutes one day where it just seemed everything was just
right. Then the phone rang. Pfsst! Right out the window. But then
I've had times when everything was all messed up, tangled, distorted,
and disheveled. And right in the middle of my pity party the mail
comes and there's a nice note-unexpected and joyful-and for the
next 15 minutes things are right with the world again. That is,
until the phone rang. Pfsst! Oh well, the mail comes again tomorrow.
Maybe…" Trying to figure life out is a futile enterprise;
one destined for sure failure.
Here are some suggestions for making life-all of it-more pleasurable
and more useable:
Don't run from trouble. You can't go fast enough. Trouble will
find you. Face it head-on and with determinate faith. There is
no temptation bigger than you can bear if you put your confidence
in God (1 Cor. 10:13). And there's no problem that can't be solved
if you keep in touch with your spirituality. Even the fear of
death is conquerable if you have sufficient trust in your Master
(Heb. 2:14-16, 1 Cor. 15:51-58).
Don't let discouragement rob you. Discouragement is one of the
Devil's most functional tools. It wrestles a man down by robbing
him of his faith, and in doing so, saps his energy to keep on.
It strikes every age, every spiritual level. It causes faith to
flag and determination to become impotent. It's a power-grabber,
discouragement is. But faith is still the answer. Trusting confidence
in God will triumph over discouragement. But you have to engage
it. You have to shove your faith in front of the discouragement
before it can conquer it. Listen to what God said: "I will
never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb. 13:5). Do you believe
it?
Remember, down doesn't have to mean out. Just because you lose
a battle now and then doesn't mean you've lost the war. Pick yourself
up, dust yourself off, and get back into the fracas again. There's
work to be done, people to see, prayers to make, lessons to learn.
Activity is the key to winning. Don't every quit. Only the weak
quit. "Brethren, I count no myself to have apprehended: but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus" (Paul, in Phil. 3:13-14). "I press," said
Paul. You must do so too, for he closes the admonition with "Let
us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Are
you?
And remember, most of all, that you and God make a majority. There
is no force on earth strong enough to separate you from His love
and to keep you out of His kingdom. Not even death itself can
do it. Certainly, we may boldly say, "…the Lord is my
helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me." Paul
said, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword? …Nay, in all these things we are more
than conquerors, through Him that loved us." Stay with God
and you can't lose, folks.
And finally, remember that Solomon said, "In the day of prosperity
rejoice; in the day of adversity consider, for God hath set the
one over against the other…" (Eccles. 7:14). Don't try
to second-guess Providence, or ask "why me?" Relax and
let it happen. Don't ask, "Why has God allowed this?"
Rather, ask, "What does He want me to do with this?"
Allow the good days to cause rejoicing. Allow the bad ones to
increase your learning.
Life is happy for those who love God and are keeping His commandments,
no matter what comes along. After all, life is constructed of
two things: good days and bad days.
Getting Older by W. Frank Walton (wfwalton@juno.com)
"The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found
in the way of righteousness" (Proverbs 16:31).
As soon as we are born, everyone begins to get older. Have you
ever plucked out a gray hair? Our sensual culture worships youth
and good looks more than virtue and good sense. This began with
those who came of age in the 1960's, saying, "Don't trust
anyone over 30." Those spoiled baby boomers have had to revise
their mantra, pushing it ever higher as they themselves age. However,
there is more to life than being young, looking good, and having
a good time.
In the Biblical world, gray hair was a badge of honor, not a sign
of being decrepit. "The splendor of old men is their gray
head" (Proverbs 20:29). It represented maturity, hard-won
experience and wisdom by living long and learning well from God's
university of hard knocks. God's purpose for our lives is our
spiritual and moral development, "so we might share in His
holiness" (Heb 12:10).
It is not how long we live, but how well we live before God that
counts. "Teach us to number our days, that we may present
to you a heart of wisdom" (Psa 90:12). As the years roll
by, we never retire from the Lord's service. Caleb was one of
the faithful few to the divine vision to conquer Canaan with God's
help against all odds. He remained active and alert to the end,
with youthful exuberance to take on new challenges (Joshua 14:6-15).
"Paul, the aged," still wrote encouraging letters during
his final Roman imprisonment (Philemon 1:9). To keep his mind
sharp and occupied, Paul was still studying toward the very end
of his life (2 Timothy 4:13). Victor Hugo said, "Winter is
on my head, but spring is in my heart."
Someone has said, "Experience is what you get after you don't
need it." No, if we keep active in the Lord's work, we can
use our experience somewhere in the future, even if it is teaching
someone younger (cf. Titus 2:3-5). Contrast this with some elders
who may think serving as an elder is a lifetime appointment to
a board of directors, regardless of their declining fitness of
age and ability to execute the "hands on" work of shepherding
the flock.
David Lipscomb, long-time editor of the Gospel Advocate and co-founder
of David Lipscomb University, knew the Bible in his day about
as well as anyone. In the very last months of his life at 84,
he would sit in his rocking chair and study his Bible for up to
2 hours daily. In 1916, a year before his death, he wrote, "We
have long ago passed the threescore and ten years allotted to
man on earth.... As we approach the end, the more we study the
word of God, the more anxious we are to meet him, knowing we have
opposed all innovations and changes upon His order at every point
along the line of duty drawn by Him" (Gospel Advocate, 1916,
p. 1).
May this be our epitaph, that we were faithful to the Lord and
His Word, as we get older until the very end of our life on earth.
It is better to wear out than rust out in the Lord's service.
Christians should not detest getting older. As we progress through
the Lord's school of discipleship, it brings us closer to graduating
to that heavenly shore where there are delights with our Lord
forever more (2 Cor 4:16-18). The sick and physically weak are
then forever healthy and strong.
NEWS AND VIEWS (excerpted from The Beacon)
A recent study shows that young people associate cigarette smoking and alcohol and other drug use with popularity.
"Young people ages 14 to 22 are more likely to associate cigarette smoking with the popular kids than with the unpopular ones," said Dr. Dan Romer, who directed the research at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. "In their minds, if they're thinking about whether they should smoke or not, they're going to think 'If the popular kids do it, why shouldn't I?"'
According to the survey's results, 57 percent of respondents said that their popular peers were more likely to engage in alcohol use than their unpopular peers, while 40 percent said their popular peers were more likely to smoke cigarettes or marijuana.
"Parents should realize that the popular kids will potentially encourage their own kids," Romer said. "They have to be on the lookout for that kind of influence."
- via Reuters News Service, 7/2/02
1 Corinthians 15:33 - NASV "Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
CLOSING THOUGHT
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea thy law is within my heart. Ps. 40:8
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34748.
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This Month's Bible Reading: Deuteronomy
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BIBLE INSIGHT is published for the members of,
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Florida, USA.
Carey Dillinger is the editor. He can be reached at the church
address or via e-mail: dillinc@yahoo.com