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Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net When I was a kid, my family went to visit some friends as we had done many times before. They also had children of like ages, and we often played together. They lived in the country and we went for a hike, also as we had often done before. We got to the big old barn belonging to an older couple that had gone to live in the city for health reasons, again, as we had often done before. This day however, we went in. We rationalized that we were merely exploring, and that there was no harm. We found all manner of treasures (mostly junk) and became frenzied in our investigation. Every single one of us knew we were not to be in there, but not a one of us voiced it. Some of us even took things. Little glass insulators, or whatever else would fit in our pockets. Then somebody gasped and through the quiet, I could hear the voices of my Mom and Mrs. Rose approaching. We were so busted. Both Moms were caught completely off guard. They didn’t know how to act. They gathered their respective “chicks” and issued them off in separate directions, trying to hide the shame they felt. Once we were all in the car, they exchanged pleasant goodbyes, as if all was normal and I thought to myself: “maybe this won’t be as bad as I feared. Maybe we aren’t going to get it”. I was wrong. We hadn’t made it out of the driveway before my Mother broke out in hysterical tears. She would not be consoled. Why didn’t they yell at us at the time? Why didn’t one of us, step up and say “this is wrong”? Why did Mom wait till we got home to deal with it? Why didn’t I believe her when she said: “wait till your father gets home”? Let’s turn the Spiritual Switch. Do you see the world around us running amuck? Do they not seem to be in some kind of a selfish frenzy much like we were in the barn? Are you chronically tempted to join in? If you belong to God, then there will be consequences, here and now. “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”–Hebrews 12:7. “What about the rest of the folks?” you may ask; “They get to do what ever they want, and nothing seems to happen to them”. First of all, Do not envy the wicked. Now, look at vs 8. (If this fits, then you have good reason to fear); “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye illegitimate, and not sons”. (The King James is actually a little more to the point). Why does God not do something about it now? “You Christians are forever warning about His coming, so where is He?” This question has been asked for two thousand years as recorded in 2nd Peter 3:4–“and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Now look at the answer in vs 9. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering (patient) to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. We got it when we got home. |
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