Praise the Lord

By Larry Pasley

     Today's funny: A preacher trained his horse to go when he said, "Praise the Lord," and to stop when he said, "Amen." The preacher mounted the horse, said, "Praise the Lord" and went for a ride. When he wanted to stop for lunch, he said, "Amen." He took off again, saying, "Praise the Lord." The horse started going toward the edge of a cliff. The preacher got excited and said, "Whoa!" Then he remembered and said, "Amen," and the horse stopped at the edge of the cliff. The preacher was so relieved and grateful that he looked up to heaven and said, "Praise the Lord!

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     Stop is an important work in Christianity. We are to stop sinning when we become a Christian. Twice Jesus used the phrase, “Sin no more”:

• The paralytic who Jesus healed - John 5:14. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
• The woman taken in the act of adultery - John 8:11. She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

The apostle Paul points out that we should not continue in sin after we have been baptized into Christ.

Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

But, Christianity is not just what we have stopped doing. Sometimes we say things like, “I’m a Christian, I don’t drink, I don’t cuss, I don’t smoke, I don’t gamble etc. Lots of people who are not Christians don’t do those things either.
     Christianity doesn’t just involve what you have stopped doing but it also involves what you have started doing.

• Are you living a godly life? - Titus 2:11-12. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
• Are you meeting the needs of those around you? - Matthew 25:41-46. Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42  for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43  I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 44  Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45  Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46  And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
• Are you always trying to please God? - Colossians 1:10. By doing so "you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

     May we all determine to stop sinning and start living godly lives. Both are necessary.

- Larry Pasley serves as a minister with the Jackson Street Church of Christ in Alexandria, LA. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at http://www.JacksonStAlex.com