By Toby Miller
I remember walking through a store
with my Dad when I was ten years old (52 years ago!), and
asking him what gift I could buy Mom for Christmas. He
suggested a five - year diary. At the time, I thought that
was an extremely unexciting present! I thought Mom would be
much more pleased receiving a new fishing pole, or something
like that. However, since Dad was paying for it, I went with
his suggestion.
That began a tradition that
continues to this day. Every five years, I buy my Mother a
new five-year diary! In 1978, my wife and I were doing
mission work in England when the fifth year rolled around. I
purchased a diary in Birmingham, England and shipped it
overseas to her in Indiana thus keeping the tradition going.
My Dad passed away in 1995, but my
Mother, now 86, still enjoys reading through the old diaries
and bringing to remembrance many of the good things that
happened throughout the past fifty years. Many arguments
have been settled by those diaries! When questions arise
concerning the time or place of an event, my Mom just looks
it up in her diary, and that settles it!
The fact is, each one of us
are writing in a “diary” everyday of our lives, and God is
reading it. As we are about to finish our personal 2011
diary, it would be wise to go back and consider how it reads
(2Corinthians 13:5). What has Heaven recorded about your
life during this past year (cf. Genesis 18:21). What has
Heaven recorded about your zeal for the Body of Christ?
(e.g. John 2:17). How many excuses has it recorded
concerning why you couldn’t assemble to worship on various
weeks throughout the year? (cf. John 15:22). We will
probably “argue” with God on Judgment Day, but it will avail
nothing, as Jesus explains quite potently in Matthew
7:21-23. God will “check our diaries,” compare it with His
Word, and that will settle it.
We need to understand that it is
not God who will judge us on the last day - - it is HIS WORD
(John 12:48) - - God will simply issue the verdict and
sentencing: “enter into the joys of the Lord” (Matthew
25:21), or “cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer
darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth”
(Matthew 25:30).
My prayer for you is “peace.” But
genuine peace can only come from the “Prince of Peace” who
is Jesus (Isaiah 9:6 w/ Luke 2:11). Jesus promises this
unique peace to His disciples (John 14:27); it is a “peace
that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7). It is an inner
peace that surpasses all the uncertainties of this world;
but it can only be realized within the soul when one is
following in the footsteps of Jesus (1Peter 2:21), who is
the Word (John 1:1).
Diaries can be fun and enjoyable,
but they can also have the opposite effect; it all depends
on what is written therein.
- via The Encourager,
the weekly bulletin for the Calvert City Church of Christ,
Calvert City, KY. Lance Cordle preaches for the
congregation. He may be contacted through the
congregation's website: http://www.calvertchurchofchrist.com
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