Pastoral Resources

Fathers are wonderful people

too little understood,

And we do not sing their praises

as often as we should.

For somehow, Father seems to be

the man who pays the bills,

While Mother binds up little hurts

and nurses all our ills.

And Father struggles daily

to live up to “his image”

As protector and provider

and “hero of the scrimmage.”

And perhaps that is the reason

we sometimes get the notion

That Fathers are not subject

to the thing we call emotion

But if you look inside Dad’s heart,

where no one else can see,

You’ll find he’s sentimental

and as “soft” as he can be.

But he’s so busy every day

in the grueling race of life,

He leaves the sentimental stuff

to his partner and his wife.

But Fathers are just wonderful

in a million different ways,

And they merit loving compliments

and accolades of praise.

For the only reason Dad aspires

to fortune and success

Is to make the family proud of him

and to bring them happiness.

And like our Heavenly Father,

he’s guardian and guide,

Someone that we can count on

to be always on our side.

A gray-haired old lady, long a member of her community and church, shook hands with the minister after the service one Sunday morning. “That was a wonderful sermon,” she told him, “just wonderful. Everything you said applies to someone I know.”

John Newton said that when we get to heaven, there will be three wonders:

(1) who is there

(2) who is not there, and

(3) the fact that I’m there!

In 1883 in Allentown, New Jersey, a wooden Indian—the kind that was seen in front of cigar stores—was placed on the ballot for Justice of the Peace. The candidate was registered under the fictitious name of Abner Robbins. When the ballots were counted, Abner won over incumbent Sam Davis by 7 votes.

A similar thing happened in 1938. The name Boston Curtis appeared on the ballot for Republican Committeeman from Wilton, Washington. Actually, Boston Curtis was a mule. The town’s mayor sponsored the animal to demonstrate that people know very little about the candidates. He proved his point. The mule won!

Jim Taylor in CURRENTS tells the following story about his friend, Ralph Milton: One morning Ralph woke up at five o’clock to a noise that sounded like someone repairing boilers on his roof. Still in his pajamas, he went into the back yard to investigate. He found a woodpecker on the TV antenna, “pounding its little brains out on the metal pole.”

Angry at the little creature who ruined his sleep, Ralph picked up a rock and threw it. The rock sailed over the house, and he heard a distant crash as it hit the car. In utter disgust, Ralph took a vicious kick at a clod of dirt, only to remember -- too late -- that he was still in his bare feet.

Uncontrolled anger, as Ralph leaned, can sometimes be its own reward.

The way we generally strive for rights is by getting our fighting blood up; and I venture to say that is the long way and not the short way. If you come at me with your fists doubled, I think I can promise you that mine will double as fast as yours; but if you come to me and say, “Let us sit down and take counsel together, and, if we differ from one another, understand why it is that we differ from one another, just what the points at issue are,” we will presently find that we are not so far apart after all, that the points on which we differ are few and the points on which we agree are many, and that if we only have the patience and the candor and the desire to get together, we will get together.

“It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Great composers do not set down to work because they are inspired, but become inspired because they are working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day in his figures. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.

The footnote in the New International Version at 2Ki 18:4 is most interesting. When Hezekiah found the children of Israel worshiping the brazen serpent made by Moses in the wilderness, he destroyed it. Hezekiah called the serpent "Nehushtan." The footnote explains the meaning of the word as "a serpent made of brass."

We wonder how such an idol could have existed for so long. It would seem that it would have been destroyed in one of the reformation movements of one of the judges or kings. In my opinion, it lasted so long because it apparently was not recognized as an idol. Perhaps the children of Israel justified the worship by not calling it an idol. Hezekiah, however, came and called it what it really was-a brass image of a snake.

How often we justify sin by either ignoring it or calling it a different name! Some call adultery "a meaningful relationship." We excuse covetousness by calling it "prudence" or "economy." A life of sensual pleasure is "living with gusto."

In answer to a critic, Abraham Lincoln asked, "How many legs does a cow have?" "Four," was the reply. "If you call her tail a leg, how many does she have?" "Five," was the answer. "No," Lincoln said, "just calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg."

Have we made a similar mistake? Do we think that sin is not sin just because we do not call it by the right name?

A highwayman once stopped John Wesley and demanded his money or his life. Wesley, after giving him the money, said, "Let me speak one word to you; the time may come when you will regret the course of life in which you are now engaged. Remember this, 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.'" No more was said, and they parted. Many years after, as Wesley was going out of a church in which he had been preaching, a stranger introduced himself, and asked Wesley if he remembered being waylaid at such a time. He said he recollected it. "I was that man," said the stranger, "and that single verse you quoted on that occasion was the means of a total change in my life and habits. I have long since been in the practice of attending the house of God and of giving attention to His Word, and trust that I am a Christian."

New Bible Dictionary, p. 3.

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Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible, Robert Young, special section in rear by R.K. Harrison, E.F. Harrison.

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When evangelist John Wesley (1703-1791) was returning home from a service one night, he was robbed. The thief, however, found his victim to have only a little money and some Christian literature.

As the bandit was leaving, Wesley called out, “Stop! I have something more to give you.” The surprised robber paused. “My friend,” said Wesley, “you may live to regret this sort of life. If you ever do, here’s something to remember: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!’“ The thief hurried away, and Wesley prayed that his words might bear fruit.

Years later, Wesley was greeting people after a Sunday service when he was approached by a stranger. What a surprise to learn that this visitor, now a believer in Christ as a successful businessman, was the one who had robbed him years before!

“I owe it all to you,” said the transformed man.

“Oh no, my friend,” Wesley exclaimed, “not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin!”

A non-Christian lawyer attended a church service and listened incredulously to the testimonies of some who were known to him for their shady deals and failure to meet their honest obligations. "How did you like the testimonies?" a man asked him at the close of the service. He replied, "To a lawyer there is a vast difference between testimony and evidence." Words are cheap, and it is perilously easy to give a fine-sounding testimony for Christ, but quite another matter to demonstrate evidences of God's purifying power in our lives through Christ. "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Mar 7:6).

What dangerous fires of hatred are kindled by words spoken in haste! That’s why taking time to think about what we should say is so important. Restraint can bring peace to many an ugly situation, as is illustrated by this story: An old Englishman, known as Father Graham in his village, was greatly loved because of his positive influence. One day an angry young man who had just been badly insulted came to see Father Graham. As he explained the situation, he said he was on his way to demand an apology from the one who had wronged him. “My dear boy,” Father Graham said, “take a word of advice from an old man who loves peace. An insult is like mud; it will brush off better when it is dry. Wait a little, till he and you are both cool, and the problem will be easily solved. If you go now, you will only quarrel.” The young man heeded the wise advice, and soon he was able to go to the other person and resolve the issue.

How often the tongue pours fuel on a fire that would go out if left alone! Solomon said, “Do not be rash with your mouth,...let your words be few” (Eccl. 5:2). And hymn writer William Longstaff put it well when he wrote, “Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul; each thought and each motive beneath His control.”

Perhaps you have a problem with someone and have decided to “tell him off.” Why not wait? It’s easier to brush off mud when it’s dry. And pray for the one who offended you. It may dry the mud a little faster. -P.R.V.

When I started out in life, all I wanted was to be a football player,” says Jack Kemp, who ended up in the pros for 13 years.

Today Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, Kemp recalls the encouragement he received from Payton Jordan, his coach at Occidental College in Los Angeles: The coach called me into his office and said, “Of all the people on this team, I really think you have it. I want you to work just as if you were a pro-football player.”

When I left that office, I would have run through a brick wall for Coach Jordan. Several years later, at a reunion, I found out that the coach had told all my teammates that same thing. I was furious! For only a minute. Then I realized that Coach Jordan had made every one of us a little bit better, had helped us to struggle a little bit harder, to reach our potential.

The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore (1821-1883) lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not.

Dore insisted that he was the man he claimed to be. “All right,” said the official, “we’ll give you a test, and if you pass it we’ll allow you to go through.” Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be. His work confirmed his word!

When the company founded by Andrew Carnegie was taken over by the U.S. Steel Corporation in 1901 it acquired as one of its obligations a contract to pay the top Carnegie executive, Charles M. Schwab, the then unheard of minimum sum of $1,000,000. J.P. Morgan of U.S. Steel was in a quandary about it. The highest salary on record was then $100,000. He met with Schwab, showed him the contract and hesitatingly asked what could be done about it. “This,” said Schwab, as he took the contract and tore it up. That contract had paid Schwab $1,300,000 the year before. “I didn’t care what salary they paid me,” Schwab later told a Forbes magazine interviewer.

“I was not animated by money motives. I believed in what I was trying to do and I wanted to see it brought about. I cancelled that contract without a moment’s hesitation. Why do I work? I work for just the pleasure I find in work, the satisfaction there is in developing things, in creating. Also, the associations business begets. The person who does not work for the love of work, but only for money, is not likely to make money nor to find much fun in life.”

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

Elsa no longer remembers what the argument was about, but it began before breakfast one morning and continued as Steve started off to work. “How can you just go off like that?” cried Elsa. “We haven’t settled a thing!”

Then Steve did what few men as ambitious and driven as Steve is could do: he turned around and went to the phone and canceled all his appointments for that day, “saying to me, in effect, that our relationship meant more than business meetings, saying that I’d married a man who would sacrifice work for love.”

Do you ever feel overworked, over-regulated, under-leisured, under-benefited? Take heart. This notice was found in the ruins of a London office building. It was dated 1852.

1. This firm has reduced the hours of work, and the clerical staff will now only have to be present between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays.

2. Clothing must be of a sober nature. The clerical staff will not disport themselves in raiment of bright colors, nor will they wear hose unless in good repair.

3. Overshoes and topcoats may not be worn in the office, but neck scarves and headwear may be worn in inclement weather.

4. A stove is provided for the benefit of the clerical staff. Coal and wood must be kept in the locker. It is recommended that each member of the clerical staff bring four pounds of coal each day during the cold weather.

5. No member of the clerical staff may leave the room without permission from the supervisor.

6. No talking is allowed during business hours.

7. The craving for tobacco, wine, or spirits is a human weakness, and as such is forbidden to all members of the clerical staff.

8. Now that the hours of business have been drastically reduced, the partaking of food is allowed between 11:30 and noon, but work will not on any account cease.

9. Members of the clerical staff will provide their own pens. A new sharpener is available on application to the supervisor.

10. The supervisor will nominate a senior clerk to be responsible for the cleanliness of the main office and the private office. All boys and juniors will report to him 40 minutes before prayers and will remain after closing hours for similar work. Brushes, brooms, scrubber, and soap are provided by the owners.

11. The owners recognize the generosity of the new labor laws, but will expect a great rise in output of work to compensate for these near Utopian conditions.

As you look outside on a snowy day and admire the beauty of the landscape, you may recall that no two snowflakes have ever been found to be alike. Yet each individual snowflake is only a minute drop of frozen water as it falls to earth. However, many snowflakes together cover the ground and can change the course of things and persons. When you do your best, and join that best with the efforts of other Christians, you will be amazed at what God can do with your combined "bests."

Two gentlemen were crossing the river in a little boat. They began to argue about faith and works. The man who was rowing them across the river was a fine, enlightened Christian and on hearing their discussion he turned to them and said, "I believe I can solve your difficulty. I hold in my hands two oars. The one I call faith and the other works. Now watch it. I pull the oar of faith alone. You see, we can only go around and around; we cannot go forward. Now I pull the oar of works; again we move around and around. Now, see, I pull both of them together and on we go." Then the Christian ferryman added his conclusion, "In my opinion, a faith without works is dead, or works without faith will not suffice" (Jam 2:26).

Percentage of mothers of infants (children less than 1 year old) who are employed or looking for work:

He sat by the fire of seven-fold heat,

As He watched by the precious ore.

And closer He bent with a searching gaze

As He heated it more and more.

He knew He had ore that could stand the test

And He wanted the finest gold,

To mold as a crown for the King to wear,

Set with gems of price untold.

So He laid our gold in the burning fire,

Though we fain would have said Him, “Nay.”

And He watched the dross that we had not seen,

As it melted and passed away.

And the gold grew brighter, and yet more bright

And our eyes were so dim with tears,

As we saw the fire, not the Master’s hand,

And questioned with anxious fear.

Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,

As it mirrored a Form above

That bent o’er the fire, though unseen by us

With a look of infinite love.

Can we think that it pleases His loving heart

To cause a moment of pain?

Ah, no, but He saw through the present cross

The bliss of eternal gain.

So He waited there with a watchful eye,

With a love that is strong and sure,

And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat

Than was needed to make it pure!

A farmer was showing his fine orchard to a friend who admired its neat and regular appearance. "But," said the friend, pointing to a peculiarly shaped tree, "if that were my tree I'd root it up in order to preserve the uniformity of the orchard." The farmer smiled and said that he was more interested in the fruit than in the form. "This tree," he said, "has yielded me more fruit than any of those trees that conform to a more regular pattern." Sometimes Christian workers may become so accustomed to doing things in what they consider the traditional or time-honored way that they forget to evaluate its productiveness.

The first (N.T. word translated “world”) is kosmos. It is used in at least three different ways. In a number of passages it means the round planet earth on which man has his existence. Is such passages the Revised Version sometimes substitutes the word “earth.” (See Matthew 4:14; 13:38; Acts 17:24; etc.) When John wrote of Jesus that “He was in the world” (John 1:10), he was referring to this planet earth. It is this world, the earth, which is the scene of the prophesied demonic activity.

The second usage of the word kosmos refers to the inhabitants of this world, or earth. Both of these first two usages appear together in one verse: “He was in the word [earth] and the world [earth] was made by Him, and the world [inhabitants of the earth] knew Him not” (John 1:10). This world of mankind is the world God loves. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). However, there is that segment of the world of mankind that is alienated from God (Ephesians 2:12: 4:18) and hostile to Christ and His followers. Our Lord said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). So then it is this unregenerated world of mankind through whom the demons will accomplish their wicked deeds.

The third use of the word kosmos in Scripture refers to the combined activities, affairs, advantages, and accumulated assets of the worldly men on the earth. The Bible calls all these “the things that are in the world” (I John 2:15), “this world’s goods (I John 3:17). This usage of kosmos is not limited to material things, but it includes abstract things which have spiritual and moral (or immoral) values. Paul warns the believer to beware of “the wisdom of this world” (I Cor 1:20; 2:6; 3:19), “the spirit of the world” (2:12), and “the fashion of this world” (7:31). Peter wrote of the “corruption that is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4), and “the pollutions of the world” (2:20).

Dr. Merrill Unger made note of the fact that “In more than thirty important passages the Greek word ‘kosmos’...is employed in the New Testament to portray the whole mass of unregenerate men alienated from God, hostile to Christ, and organized governmentally as a system or federation under Satan (John 7:7; 14:27; I Cor. 1:21; 11:32; 1 Pet. 5:9; I John 3:1, 13; et al.”

The second Greek word is aion. It likewise is translated world. However, it connotes the idea of time and is more accurately rendered “age.” The disciples questioned Jesus about the “end of the world [age]” (Matthew 24:3), speaking of that time when He would return to the earth. Paul used the same word when he wrote of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world [age]” (Gal. 1:4). This present aion, from Pentecost to the return of Christ, is described as “evil.”

The Father opposes the world: I John 2:15-17

The Holy Spirit opposes the flesh: Gal. 5:16-7

The Son opposes the Devil: Luke 4, I John 3:8

1. Originally created good (Gn. 1:31).

2. Cursed and corrupted through Satan (Gen. 3:1-24).

3. Now enemy occupied territory with Satan as God (II Cor. 4:4, John 12:31, 16:11).

4. Whole world lies in his power (I John 5:19).

5. Permeated by Satanic influence, a defiling (II Peter 1:4, 2:20, James 1:27), deceptive (II Cor. 11:14-15, Rev. 12:9), scheme (Eph. 6:11), that is at work around and in us; designed to convince us to conform (Rom. 12:2) to a mindset and lifestyle that are essentially anti-god and pro-self (cf. I Peter 5:8, Eph. 1:1-3, 6:12, 16, Isa. 14:11-14).

Kim Linehan holds the world record in the Women’s 1500-meter freestyle. According to her coach, Paul Bergen, the 18-year-old is the leading amateur woman distance swimmer in the world. Kim does endless exercises and swims 7 to 12 miles a day. The hardest part of her regimen? “Getting in the water,” she says.

General Mark Clark was one of the great heroes of WWII. He led the Salerno invasion that Winston Churchill said was “the most daring amphibious operation we have launched, or which, I think, has ever been launched on a similar scale in war.” At the time Clark was promoted to Lt. General, he was the youngest man of that rank in the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1917. At the top of his class? Nope. He was 111th from the top in a class of 139! Even if you never earned a college degree, don’t worry, you’re in good company. Irving Berlin, for instance, only had two years of formal schooling. He never learned how to read music. When he composed his songs, he would hum the melody and a musical secretary would write down the notes. He became one of the greatest songwriters the country has ever known.

Newscaster Paul Harvey told a remarkable story of God’s providential care over thousands of allied prisoners during World War II, many of whom were Christians. One of America’s mighty bombers took off from the island of Guam headed for Kokura, Japan, with a deadly cargo. Because clouds covered the target area, the sleek B-29 circled for nearly an hour until its fuel supply reached the danger point. The captain and his crew, frustrated because they were right over the primary target yet not able to fulfill their mission, finally decided they had better go for the secondary target. Changing course, they found that the sky was clear. The command was given, “Bombs away!” and the B-29 headed for its home base. Some time later an officer received some startling information from military intelligence. Just one week before that bombing mission, the Japanese had transferred one of their largest concentrations of captured Americans to the city of Kokura. Upon reading this, the officer exclaimed, “Thank God for that protecting cloud! If the city hadn’t been hidden from the bomber, it would have been destroyed and thousands of American boys would have died.”

God’s ways are behind the scenes; but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this, and let Him work. - John Nelson Darby

The Bible defines worldliness by centering morality where we intuitively know it should be. Worldliness is the lust of the flesh (a passion for sensual satisfaction), the lust of the eyes (an inordinate desire for the finer things of life), and the pride of life (self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done).

Worldliness, then, is a preoccupation with ease and affluence. It elevates creature comfort to the point of idolatry; large salaries and comfortable life-styles become necessities of life. Worldliness is reading magazines about people who live hedonistic lives and spend too much money on themselves and wanting to be like them. But more importantly, worldliness is simply pride and selfishness in disguises. It’s being resentful when someone snubs us or patronizes us or shows off. It means smarting under every slight, challenging every word spoken against us, cringing when another is preferred before us. Worldliness is harboring grudges, nursing grievance, and wallowing in self-pity. These are the ways in which we are most like the world.

The story is told of a Persian prince who, dressed as a poor man, went to a feast. He was pushed about, could not get to the table, and soon had to withdraw. He went home, dressed himself in his best cloth-of-gold robe and jewelled slippers, and returned to the feast. The guests made room for him, and the host rushing up cried, "Welcome, my lord! What will your lordship please to eat?" The prince stuck out his jewelled foot and said in a mocking tone, "Welcome, my lord slipper!" Then fingering his golden robe, "Welcome, my lord robe! What will your lordship please to eat?" Turning to his surprised host he said, "You ought to ask my lordly clothes what they would like to eat since the welcome was solely to them."

Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat...worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.

A dense fog that covers a seven-city-block area one hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city.

Worry is fear’s extravagance. It extracts interest on trouble before it comes due. It constantly drains the energy God gives us to face daily problems and to fulfill our many responsibilities. It is therefore a sinful waste. A woman who had lived long enough to have learned some important truths about life remarked, “I’ve had a lot of trouble—most of which never happened!” She had worried about many things that had never occurred, and had come to see the total futility of her anxieties.

An unknown poet has written: “I heard a voice at evening softly say,

Bear not your yesterdays into tomorrow,

Nor load this week with last week’s load of sorrow.

Lift all your burdens as they come, nor try

To weigh the present with the by-and-by.

One step and then another, take your way;/ Live day by day!”

William Temple sums it up well.  “Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.”

Henry Ward Beecher, the famous pulpit orator, once had to be absent and his brother was invited to speak for him. The church house was crowded, but when it became evident the eloquent Henry Beecher was not going to appear, many started to leave. Beecher's brother was not disturbed. He stood up before the murmuring crowd, called for silence and said, "All who came this morning to worship Henry W. Beecher may now leave. The rest will remain and worship God."

What are we doing in our assemblies? Some, like the Athenians, come only to hear the preacher say "something" (Act 17:20-21). "Is it relevant?" "Is it positive?" Are mental guidelines used in judging sermons? Some attend to judge the singing, the prayers, or the friendliness of the congregation. These go away with a host of criticisms, perhaps, or even pride, but worship has been forgotten.

Why do we gather for worship? Some come to "get it over with for a week"; to get their tickets validated once more. But those who come because they need strength in carrying their crosses know the value of true worship.

Worship has nothing to do with the song leader or the talent of the preacher. It has to do with you and your God. Let people do what they will to please themselves. "The rest will remain and worship God."

An American Express survey about Christmas gifts found that the fruitcake was chosen most often (31%) from a list of “worst” holiday gifts. It even finished ahead of “no gift at all.” When asked how to dispose of a bad gift, 30% would hide it in the closet, 21% would return it, and 19% would give it away. This suggests that the Christmas fruitcake might get recycled as a gift for the host of New Year’s party.

Hidden treasures today are rare. In the ancient biblical lands, however, they were common. Palestine, which was a land bridge between Egypt and the great empires, was repeatedly invaded, ravaged, and captured. Multitudes buried gold. There were no banks. The government, nobility, clergy, and Arab invaders all robbed the common people often and without warning. Because of this, the people quickly buried treasure in the ground, in walls, in tree trunks, or wherever they could. Earthquakes could cover up entire cities and bury gold with them. All kinds of people quickly buried what they had in the face of invasion or political change. They left, they died, they were captured, and no one knew where the treasure was hidden.

W.M. Thompson was a missionary in Syria and Palestine for 30 years. He told of workmen digging up a garden in Sidon. They found several copper pots of gold. They did exactly like the man in the parable-concealed their find with care. But then, wild with joy, they could not keep their mouths shut. The governor of the city caught them, and recovered two of the pots, and it was found that they contained 8,000 pure gold coins of Alexander and his father Philip. Thompson saw hundreds of persons all over the country spending their last pennies looking for such treasure.

An ambitious farmer, unhappy about the yield of his crops, heard of a highly recommended new seed corn. He bought some and produced a crop that was so abundant his astonished neighbors asked him to sell them a portion of the new seed. But the farmer, afraid that he would lose a profitable competitive advantage, refused.

The second year the new seed did not produce as good a crop, and when the third-year crop was still worse it dawned upon the farmer that his prize corn was being pollinated by the inferior grade of corn from his neighbors’ fields.

If we had been the shepherds one night long ago,

I wonder if we’d recognize the star or if we’d know

the reason for His birth and if we’d really go

to worship at the manger. I wonder, would we know?

Is it really any different than if Jesus came today?

I wonder, would we recognize His face in any way?

Or would we turn away from Him

not knowing what to say?

If Jesus walked among us in our hurried, busy pace,

I wonder if this stranger would really find a place?

Rebecca Barlow Jordan

Would you consider abortion in the following four situations?

(1) There’s a preacher and wife who are very, very, poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with number 15. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

(2) The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. They have four children. The first is blind, the second is dead, the third is deaf, and the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given the extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?

(3) A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl, and she got pregnant. If you were her parents, would you considering recommending abortion?

(4) A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s very upset. Would you consider recommending abortion?

In the first case, you have just killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century.

In the second case, you have killed Beethoven.

In the third case, you have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer.

If you said yes to the fourth case, you have just declared the murder of Jesus Christ!!

You’ve been given a free ticket to a football game. A snowstorm the night before makes the drive to the stadium risky. Would you go? Okay: same game, same snowstorm—except this time you paid $100 for the ticket. Now would you go? According to University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler, people are more likely to take a risk if they paid for the ticket. But, as Thaler points out, “The fact that you spent $100 shouldn’t matter when you decide between the reward of seeing the game and the risk of getting killed.”

Two all-too human tendencies come into play here. the first is the “sunk-cost fallacy”—the idea that having paid for something, you had better not waste it, no matter what the consequences. The second is “loss aversion”—the fact that people place about twice as much significance on a loss as on a gain. In other words, they are twice as unhappy about losing $100 as they are pleased about making $100.

I heard the other day about a roomful of doctors eating together. One doctor got up from the table, left the room, and in minutes he was dead. A morsel of food had lodged in his windpipe, and so he choked to death.

The tragedy of this incident is heightened by the fact that probably any one of those doctors could have performed the Heimlich Maneuver or, if need be, a tracheotomy to restore his breathing. But they did not know anything was wrong-he did not tell them. He just got up and left. And so he died.

Have you been keeping a problem to yourself that is about to get you down? Why not share it with at least one of your fellow Christians? Do not let false pride keep you from saying, "I need help." We all do.

A certain church found itself suddenly without a pastor, and a search committee was formed. In due course it received a letter from a man applying for the vacant position. The committee chairman read:

“I am considered to be a good preacher, and I have been a leader in most of the places I have served. I have also done some writing on the side.

“I am over 50 years old, and while my health is not the best, I still manage to get enough work done to please any parish.

“As for references, I am somewhat handicapped. I have never preached anywhere for more than three years. And most of the churches I have preached in have been small, even though they were located in rather large cities. I had to leave some places because my ministry caused riots and disturbances. Even where I stayed, I did not get along too well with other religious leaders, which may influence the kind of references these places will supply. I have also been threatened and physically attacked. I have even gone to jail several times for my preaching.

“I am not particularly good at keeping records. I have to admit I don’t even remember all those whom I’ve baptized. However, if you can use me, I should be pleased to be considered. I feel sure I can bring vitality to your church.”

When the chairman finished reading the letter, the committee members were aghast. How could anyone think that a church like theirs would consider a man who was nothing but a troublemaking, absentminded, ex-jailbird? What was his name? “Well,” said the chairman, “the letter is signed Paul.”

If you were an employer trying to hire an efficient, honest, and competent employee, would you hire yourself? at your salary? If you had to live with someone just like yourself for the rest of your life, would you look forward to it as a wonderful opportunity and privilege?

A newspaper survey asked married men, “If you had it to do again, would you marry your current wife?” and found that the answer was, overwhelmingly, that they would. The Chicago Sun-Times found that 77.1 percent of first-time married men would remarry their spouses, compared with findings in a recent women’s magazine poll that said only 50 percent of the women surveyed would make another trip down the aisle with the same man.

The only other question asked in the newspaper poll was: “Why would you marry her again or why not?” Their reasons included: “Why not?” and “Without her, I’d be a bum.”

Once there was a well-trained carpenter who never asked for union wages; who never owned a home that he could call his very own; a brilliant young teacher who never asked for an increase in salary; a great physician who healed the sick and afflicted and never asked whether they had Medicare or insurance; a good neighbor who always tried to show His love and was never unfriendly.

He traveled all over the country trying to help somebody everywhere He went; and often fed large numbers of people when He found them hungry whether they had money or not. He was so wrapped up in trying to help people that He often wept over their pitiful condition. Yet, they crucified Him, and some of the very people He tried to help joined the senseless mob who mocked Him and spit in His face!

He felt like a failure! Everything he attempted seemed to turn out wrong. He began to fantasize about being rich. He would do the one thing he could do to make the most money in the briefest period of time. He would take up the occupation of bank robbing.

The would-be bank robber began to plan his strategy. He sat up late at night working on detailed plans, drawing sketches and going over steps he would take in robbing the bank. But he could never seem to get around to robbing the bank. He would plan each night, but when morning came, his anxiety paralyzed him, again.

One night he determined that his mind was made up. Regardless of his feelings he would force himself to rob the bank the next morning. The next morning an anxiety attack paralyzed him again. Finally he came through it and forced himself to get into his car and go to the bank.

The reluctant bank robber sat in the car in the parking lot from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. trying to force himself out of the car. Finally, he got out of the car and went into the bank. At the teller’s window he handed the teller his pistol. He stuck his brown paper bag in her face and said, “Don’t stick with me. This is a mess-up.”

I once shared a meal with two scientists who had just emerged from the glass-enclosed biosphere near Tucson, Arizona. Four men and four women had volunteered for the two-year isolation experiment. All were accomplished scientists, all had undergone psychological testing and preparation, and all had entered the biosphere fully briefed on the rigors they would face while sealed off from the outside world. The scientists told me that within a matter of months the eight “bionauts” had split into two groups of four, and during the final months of the experiment these two groups refused to speak to each other. Eight people lived in a bubble split in half by an invisible wall of ungrace. Frank Reed, an American citizen held hostage in Lebanon, disclosed upon his release that he had not spoken to one of is fellow hostages for several months following some minor dispute. Most of that time, the two feuding hostages had been chained together.

“Once I heard a song of sweetness as it cleft the morning air,

sounding in its blest completeness like a tender, pleading prayer.

And I sought to find the singer whence the wondrous song was borne,

and I found a bird sore wounded, pinioned by a cruel thorn.

I have seen a soul in sadness while its wings with pain were furled,

giving hope and cheer and gladness that should bless a weeping world.

And I knew that life of sweetness was of pain and sorrow borne,

and a stricken soul was singing with its heart against a thorn.

We are told of cruel scourging, of a Savior bearing scorn,

and He died for your salvation with His brow against a thorn.

You are not above the Master. Will you breathe a sweet refrain?

Then His grace will be sufficient when your heart is pierced with pain.”

During World War I the Prince of Wales visited 36 severely wounded men in a hospital in the outskirts of London.

The Prince and his escorts went through the main ward and shook hands with most of them. As preparations were made to leave, the Prince indicated that he had only seen 30 men. "Where are the other six?" Although he was informed that the six others were extremely severe cases and in a different section of the ward, the special visitor demanded to see the others.

Five other maimed and bruised men were viewed. "But where's the last one?" again the Prince inquired. Although the Prince was told that the grotesqueness of the man's appearance would be unbearable, the Prince insisted on seeing him.

The Prince stood silent for a moment, and then moved toward the man and stooping down, kissed him! With a breaking voice the Prince of Wales was heard to say, "Wounded for me."

"But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isa_53:5).

The pastor of a large city church was walking down the street one day with set lips and a steely look in his eye. A parishioner greeted him with the question, "How are you today, Pastor?" He waked as from a dream and said, "I am mad!" It was an unusual word for this mild-mannered Christian, but he went on to explain with deep emotion: "I found a widow standing by her goods thrown into the street. She could not pay the month's rent. The landlord turned her out; one of her children is going to die; and that man is a member of the church! I told her to take her things back again. I am on my way to see him now!" Wrath against injustice, hypocrisy, and greed can be found throughout Scripture. But if we are to be guided by the Word of God, our wrath must always yield to mercy when the repentant sinner turns to ask forgiveness.

Many of us Christians are like the little girl who started fighting with a friend. Her mother who heard about the quarrel talked with her little girl about it trying to show her she was wrong and her need of asking God's forgiveness. Accordingly, when the little one kneeled down to pray, she humbly asked, "O God, please forgive me for getting angry and quarreling with Charlotte." So far so good. But the wrong disposition was still there, for the child went on, "And make Charlotte come to me and ask my forgiveness. O Lord, give her no rest until she is sorry and comes and tells me so!"

Professional golfer Tommy Bolt was playing in Los Angeles and had a caddy with a reputation of constant chatter. Before they teed off, Bolt told him, “Don’t say a word to me. And if I ask you something, just answer yes or no.”

During the round, Bolt found the ball next to a tree, where he had to hit under a branch, over a lake and onto the green. He got down on his knees and looked through the trees and sized up the shot.

“What do you think?” he asked the caddy. “Five-iron?”

“No, Mr. Bolt,” the caddy said.

“What do you mean, not a five-iron?” Bolt snorted.

“Watch this shot.”

The caddy rolled his eyes. “No-o-o, Mr. Bolt.”

But Bolt hit it and the ball stopped about two feet from the hole. He turned to his caddy, handed him the five-iron and said, “Now what do you think about that? You can talk now.”

“Mr. Bolt,” the caddy said, “that wasn’t your ball.”

During his time as a rancher, Theodore Roosevelt and one of his cowpunchers lassoed a maverick steer, lit a fire, and prepared the branding irons. The part of the range they were on was claimed by Gregor Lang, one of Roosevelt’s neighbors. According to the cattleman’s rule, the steer therefore belonged to Lang. As his cowboy applied the brand, Roosevelt said, “Wait, it should be Lang’s brand.””That’s all right, boss,” said the cowboy.”But you’re putting on my brand,” Roosevelt said.”That’s right,” said the man.”Drop that iron,” Roosevelt demanded, “and get back to the ranch and get out. I don’t need you anymore. A man who will steal for me will steal from me.”

I once called upon an elderly lawyer, who greeted me warmly and invited me to be seated. As I was about to take the chair in front of his desk, he motioned me into a different one.

Before, I left, however, he invited me to try the first chair. I did so, and after a short time noticed an uncomfortable desire to rise. “That chair I reserve for law-book sellers, bill collectors and pesky clients,” my host explained. “The front legs are sawed off two inches shorter than the back ones.”

You may have read about the war of Troy, but do you know how it was supposed to have started? It was the judgment and choice of Paris that were responsible for it. Beautiful Thetis was getting married to Pileas, the King of the Myrmidons. During their wedding ceremony, says the legend, the golden apple of dispute was given to the most beautiful woman. There were three that sought the prize: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. According to the command of Zeus, Paris, the shepherd of Troy, had to choose which of these three was the most beautiful. Hera represented power, Athena wisdom, and Aphrodite pleasure. Paris chose Aphrodite, the goddess of pleasure, and because of this the war of Troy was declared with all its resultant suffering and unhappiness. Because Paris chose pleasure, he brought destruction upon himself and others. This is what many of us choose also, and we suffer alienation from God.

A young man who had been invited to a dinner given by the South African statesman John Cecil Rhodes arrived by train and had to go directly to Rhodes’s house in his travel-stained clothes. To the young guest’s horror, he found a room full of people in full evening dress. Soon Rhodes appeared, wearing an old suit. He had heard of the young man’s problem and wanted to spare him further embarrassment.

Rhodes literally clothed himself with humility, a clear picture of what the apostle Peter is speaking about in today’s text. Clothing ourselves with humility toward others puts us on their level, in their shoes, and keeps us from lording it over other Christians or flaunting our position.

The doubleheader train was bucking a heavy snowstorm as its engines pulled it west. A woman with a baby wanted to leave the train at one of the little stations along the route. She repeatedly called, "Don't forget me!" to the brakeman responsible to call out the stations they approached. Her husband was to meet her.

The train slowed to a stop, and a fellow traveler said, "Here's your station." She hopped from the train into the storm. The train moved on again. Forty-five minutes later, the brakeman came in. "Where's the woman?"

"She got off at the last stop," the traveler said.

"Then she got off to her death," the brakeman responded. "We stopped only because there was something the matter with the engine."

They called for volunteers to go back and search for the woman and child. When they found her, she was covered with ice and snow. The little boy was protected on her breast. She had followed the man's directions, but they were wrong-dead wrong.

Paul declares Christ is the one Mediator between man and God. Peter emphasizes there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus is our only Authority. His blood has made atonement for our sin. Only He can tell us how to reach our final destination. Depend on the one who has experienced death and provided redemption for you, the One who will walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death.

During the many months of modeling and molding it took to create her 9-foot, 800-pound Babe Ruth in bronze, the artist Susan Luery met countless experts and aficionados. Details were researched and debated. Did the Babe wear his belt buckle on the left or right? Was his hat cocked to the side or worn straight? No fact was too small to escape scrutiny. Except one. The bronze Babe, unveiled at the northern Eutaw Street entrance of Oriole Park, is leaning on a bat and clutching on his hip a right-handed fielder’s glove. The real Babe was a lefty. Ms. Luery, who admits to “not being very astute in the fine points of sports,” said she worked with a vintage glove sent over by the Babe Ruth Museum. She says she believed the glove was Ruth’s. Communication error? “Yes,” said Mike Gibbons, the museum director. Or, as Ms. Luery puts it: “It was the right glove on the wrong man or the wrong glove on the right man.”

A man in Spokane (Mr. Russell) had arranged for the minister from a large church to perform his wedding. The day came and the minister didn’t. The minister sent a replacement. The man was upset, and never forgot the incident. 30 years later my wife had a garage sale. My mother was there helping. A neighbor came over and they introduced themselves. He heard her last name and asked, “Are you related to a minister?” “Yes,” she said, “my husband is one.” “Well, I could tell you a thing or two.” My mother replied, “Go ahead, I’ve heard it all.” “30 years ago he was supposed to perform my wedding…” and he told his story. My mother asked, “How long ago was that?” “30 years” he said. “Well, it couldn’t have been my husband. We only moved here 25 years ago.” For 30 years Mr. Russell had been bitter at the wrong man! - J. U.

In the 1950s a psychologist, Stanton Samenow, and a psychiatrist, Samuel Yochelson, sharing the conventional wisdom that crime is caused by environment, set out to prove their point. They began a 17-year study involving thousands of hours of clinical testing of 250 inmates here in the District of Columbia.

To their astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to environment, poverty, or oppression. Instead, crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, wrong moral choices. In their 1977 work The Criminal Personality, they concluded that the answer to crime is a “conversion of the wrong-doer to a more responsible lifestyle.”

In 1987, Harvard professors James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein came to similar conclusions in their book Crime and Human Nature. They determined that the cause of crime is a lack of proper moral training among young people during the morally formative years, particularly ages one to six.

Georgene Johnson got to the starting line 15 minutes early. The mistake cost her 20 miles and a pair of aching knees, but she said Monday she’s happy with the outcome. The 42-year-old secretary was slated to run in a 10-kilometer race Sunday. Instead, she mistakenly joined about 4000 runners taking part in the Revco-Cleveland Marathon. Rather than quit, she hung on to finish the 26 mile race.

“As stupid as I felt out there running, I’m proud of myself,” Johnson said Monday in a telephone interview. “I guess I was in better shape than I thought. I feel fine, although my knees are real sore this morning.”

The 10-K (6.2 mile) race, was to start at 8:45 a.m., the marathon 15 minutes earlier. Both Revco-Cleveland races used the same starting line. Four miles down the road, as the route left downtown and moved into residential areas, she said she “got that sick feeling that possibly I was in the wrong race.” Another runner confirmed her suspicions. Johnson finished the marathon in 4:04, good enough for 83rd place in the women’s division. Her longest run previously was 8 miles.

A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; “Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!”

On his first assignment for a Chicago newspaper, a rookie reporter drove a company car to a car-crushing plant, parked in the wrong spot, and returned from interviewing the manager just in time to see the vehicle being compacted into scrap metal.

Pride comes from the fact that we measure ourselves by earthly standards, instead of by God's standard for us. We are like the little boy who came to his mother and said, "Mamma, I am as tall as Goliath; I am nine feet high." "What makes you say that?" asked the surprised mother. "Well, I made a little ruler of my own and measured myself with it, and I am just nine feet high!"

In November, 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico. On April 18, 1976, guided by pure genius, they tunneled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced. The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Jewish refugees poured into Lithuania. A large group went to the Japanese Consulate, where they found a sympathetic diplomat named Chiune Sugihara.

Against his government’s orders, Sugihara issued exit visas for an estimated 6,000 Jews, writing them by hand almost nonstop for a month until the Soviets closed the embassy. His “reward” was eighteen months in a Soviet prison camp with his family after the war, and dismissal from his post when he returned to Japan. For years he lived in obscurity, feeling disgraced. But in 1985, Sugihara was honored by the Israeli government for his heroic efforts.

The Cathedral of Nuremburg contains some rare and exquisite workings in iron. But was the iron just pinched into shape? How many strokes did it receive? How many blows did it undergo on the anvil? How was it beaten here and there? How was it bent forward, and backward, and forward, and backward again? How was it distorted and contorted? How was it hammered and hammered till by and by it was covered with little speckles as multitudinous as those in frost-pictures, and far more permanent? Those speckles were wrought out by incessant workings in the fire and on the anvil under the hammer. Think also of the many pieces of iron that failed this trial. Their inner flaws could not endure, and they were cast aside. Similarly, suffering makes a man or spoils him. Our Christlikeness is measured by our willingness to suffer with Christ and for Christ. Since the Body of Christ is the Church, we must be willing to suffer for the other members of His Body. In this suffering there is an inbuilt joy.