Roil the Oceans

By J. Randal Matheny

 

Roil the oceans, folding ages,

The deep and heights clash and heave;

Rock the mountains to sink and melt,

The elements burn, and earth is ended.

 

Rush this filthy, finite world

To doom, to the final day of the Lord;

Raise no hope for the planet of here,

Impatient to die in noisy darkness.

 

Race ahead to a languid heaven,

Renewed by God, with never a night;

Run from destruction, toward your strength,

From gales of wrath, to gates of glory.

- J. Randal Matheny edits and writes UPLift, an inspirational ezine. He

may be contacted here: <http://randalmathenycom/>. When reprinting this
material, please include the following: 
Copyright (c) 2021 J. Randal Matheny
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Welcome Home

By Larry Pasley

 

God sent His Son for you to die;

So you could live with Him on high.

He wants you with Him by and by;

And longs your coming with a sigh.

Jesus came and suffered for you;

And all He asked for you to do;

Was just to simply, love Him too;

And then His holy will pursue.

So think how much for you He’s done;

In sending down his only son;

Because He’s like no other one;

He vict’ry o’er the grave has won.

How disappointed He will be;

If at the gate He does not see;

The one to which He gave the key;

And said please come and live with me.

So since your flesh returns to loam;

And on this earth you cease to roam;

Think of heaven and that fair dome;

And long to hear that “Welcome Home.”

- 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

That Old Rugged Cross

By Al Behel

 

    “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross.” These words have been sung for over a hundred years in churches around the world. Cities and churches have erected crosses to symbolize the suffering and death of our Savior, and many believers wear cross-shaped jewelry to proclaim faith in the risen Lord.

    That “Old Rugged Cross” is the object of affection for all faithful Christians. The postle Paul expressed his love for the cross by saying, “God forbid

that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). The cross is the center of our faith and the hope of our salvation.

    That cross is “rugged”. It is not polished gold or silver. It is ugly and bloody. It is rough and contemptible. There is nothing beautiful about it’s physical appearance. The cross was a place where criminals died. The One who made Mount Calvary would come down and die there. On a wooden cross made from a tree he had created.

    What does that rugged cross mean to you? Does it make a difference in your daily thoughts and actions? Does it alter your conversations? Does it cause you to look at relationships differently? Do you cling to that old cross? Does it still have a wondrous “attraction” to you?

    I love that old cross, so despised by the world. It tells me that God loves you and me. It tells me that the Lamb of God left the glories of heaven to bear our sins on dark Calvary. That fact alone gives that old rugged cross a wondrous attraction to me, because on that cross Jesus suffered and died to “pardon and sanctify me.”

    That cross tells us how wretched our sin is and how hopelessly lost we are without it. It tells us how a loving God came and died an innocent death on a cross that should have been for us.

    The power of that cross today is in the hearts of believers, not on top of church buildings or mountain sides. It’s beauty transforms us and fills us with awe and gratitude for His infinite love and grace. That “Old Rugged Cross” is still our greatest hope.

- Al Behel preaches for the Great Smoky Mountains Church of Christ in Pigeon Forge, TN. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://greatsmokymountainschurchofchrist.com/

Equal Rights

By Joe Slater

 

    How could a Christian possibly oppose equal rights? God doesn’t show favoritism (partiality, “respect of persons”) and neither should His children.

    That being said, corrupt people have redefined “rights” to suit their own purposes. When Christians reject those new definitions, we are tarred as bigots who supposedly support inequality. This holds true in both spiritual and earthly concerns.

    In religion, many have equated equal rights with identical functions. Thus, Christian women supposedly have the “right” to be elders in the church. Biblical teaching that an elder must be “the husband of one wife” is written off as a mere vestige of an outmoded patriarchal society. Redefined “equality” surpasses plain Scripture.

    Now, what about secular issues? Fifty years ago Americans were debating the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution (ERA). It reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Though the time for it to be adopted has long since expired, the President is pressuring Congress to adopt it since more states have subsequently ratified it.

    The amendment sounds simple enough. However, even half a century ago we knew that politicians, judges, and lawyers would “spin” it to mandate abortion on demand and who knows what else, despite the fact that an average person wouldn’t make such absurd applications. Today the secular progressives would see special accommodations for so-called “transgender” persons as being not only legal but mandated by the Constitution!

    Biblical “equal rights” ought to be recognized and respect by all. But what the world means by “equal rights” and what God means are two different things!

- Joe Slater serves as minister of the Church of Christ in Justin, TX. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://justinchurchofchrist.com

The Standard for All Decisions

By Joe Chesser

    Life is filled with difficult decisions, many of which are life changing decisions. We have to decide a career path, whom to marry, and how many children.  We have to choose where and in what to call home, the kind of vehicle to purchase, and how to spend our time. We have to plan for investments, our children’s education and retirement. How will we care for our aging parents? What church will we choose? These are indeed difficult decisions. So the question is, what standard will we use to make these decisions?
    For Christians that decision should already be made. Our standard is always Jesus! To be a Christian means we have made a commitment to follow Jesus regardless of what the rest of the world may be thinking and doing. We are to have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2.5). We are to stop thinking and acting like the world (1 John 2.15); we are to let God transform our minds so we can make decisions that are within His will (Rom. 12.2). When examining how Jesus made difficult decisions this one principle rises to the top: the will of the Father!
    His very first recorded decision is found in Luke 2. At age 12 Jesus went with his parents to the temple in Jerusalem. When it was time to go home Jesus chose to stay behind to discuss spiritual matters with the temple teachers. Why? His answer: “Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2.49). His second recorded decision was to be submissive to his parents (Luke 2.51). That, too, is within the Father’s will (Eph. 6.1). Because God was his first priority, loved learning and was submissive to his parents.
    The next decision we read about was his baptism by John (Matt. 3.13-17). When John resisted, Jesus explained why he needed to be baptized: “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3.15). The Father and Spirit verified that his decision to be baptized was the Father’s will. The Spirit descended in the form of a dove and came to rest on him, and the Father proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
    For Jesus, the most important thing in life was to do the Father’s will. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” / “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 4.34 / 6.38). The night before Jesus died he prayed three times that there might be some other way than the cross. However, he ended each request by adding, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26.39).
    Jesus faced many difficult decisions while on earth. But in everyone of them, his standard was always the will of the Father. Those who follow Jesus will choose the same standard he used when making decisions. The degree of difficulty does not factor into these decisions. The standard is always the same: the will of the Father. So, the principles from God’s word should guide our decisions regarding church, marriage, children, career, relationships, investments, finances, retirement, etc.? Remember, Jesus said that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7.21).

- Joe Chesser preaches for the Fruitland Church of Christ, Fruitland, MO.  He may be contacted at joeandareva@yahoo.com

The Hard Way OR The Easy Way?

By Brian Mitchell

 

    Life is full of choices to make and many of them are difficult. There are things that everyone must choose to do or not do (Joshua 24:15), places to go or not go (Genesis 13:8-12), people to acquaint yourself with (Romans 16:1-15) or avoid (Romans 16:17; 2 John 1:10-11). One of the most important choices a man must make is mentioned by our Lord in Mt.7:13-14. It is a choice which involves two gates, two roads and two destinations. It is a choice that involves taking the hard way or the easy way. Generally speaking, taking the easy way is not always a bad thing, but here we see that it is.

    Picture yourself at the intersection of two roads, one well-paved, easy to navigate, relatively straight with few hills to climb; and several lanes for smooth driving. The other, a two-lane road with potholes, no shoulders, and very hilly; so that your ability to see at a distance is limited. Which would you choose?  Most individuals are going to take the first road because it is just the easier of the two paths. Why would one willingly go down the second road with all of its difficulties and pitfalls?

    The same two choices are faced in the spiritual roadway of life. As human beings we generally seek after the path of least resistance. In the spiritual sense, it is easy to do the things of this world and go down that “easy road”. One will meet little or no resistance if he or she goes along with what everyone else is doing. The cruise control can be set, the seat leaned back, the air conditioner cranked up, with the stereo set on your favorite radio station. There is no such thing as “peer pressure” on this road, because whatever activities society dictates, the one who takes this road will likely engage in them as well (1 Corinthians 3:3-4).

    The other choice, however, is not as easy. It is the hard way!!! It is the “way of righteousness” and following the teaching of God’s word in all things (Proverbs 12:28; Psalm 1:1-2). It is thus “the road less traveled” because one must be willing to make self-sacrifices to travel it. For the most part, people do not wish to be different from the rest of the world. It’s a difficult thing to “go against the grain” and be one of those “peculiar” people who try to live a life pleasing to God (1 Peter 2:9). When one chooses to take the road less traveled, often times people of the world think them to be strange because of the stand it requires (1 Peter 4:4). 

    Unfortunately, these two roads do have crossovers. There is always tremendous pressure on those who take the difficult road to leave it and cross over to the easier way.  One can go from the easy road to the difficult road through obedience to God’s will (Matthew 7:21) and trying to live a life faithful to Him (Revelation 2:10). Most, however, do not cross over to this way and yet sadly many cross over from the difficult road to the easy way. Perhaps the road less traveled gets too difficult for them, or like Demas they “love this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). 

    What we must do in the end is consider the end of the two roads. The less traveled road leads to the right destination – eternal life (Matthew 7:14), while the well-traveled road leads to a “dead end” – a destination of destruction (Matthew 7:13). Which road will you choose?

- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net

Newly Issued Alcohol Warnings

By Larry Pasley

 

    The American Board of Health has proposed that warning signs be placed on all alcohol bottles to tip off drinkers about the possible peril of drinking a pint or two of any alcoholic beverage.

    1. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol may cause you to wake up with a breath that could knock a buzzard off a wreaking dead animal that is one hundred yards away.

    2. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like an idiot.

    3. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell the same boring story over and over again until your friends want to assault you

    4. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol may cause you to thay shings like thish.

    5. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell the boss what you really think of him.

    6. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol is the leading cause of inexplicable rug burn on the forehead.

    7. WARNING: Consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, handsomer and smarter than some really, really big guy named Psycho Bob.

 

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    The above may be comical but the problems caused by alcohol is no laughing matter. Proverbs 23:29-35 has some warnings for those who drink also. I will put them in the same format as the above.

•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol brings woe.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol brings sorrow.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes contentions.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes complaints.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol brings “wounds without cause”.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes redness of eyes.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol bites like a serpent.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol stings like a viper.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes your eyes to see strange things.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes your heart to utter perverse things.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes you to do dangerous things.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol causes you not to feel protective pain.
•     Warning: Consumption of alcohol brings a desire for more and more in spite of the problems it causes.

    Proverbs 23:29-35 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. 34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: 35 "They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?"

    Two other verses in Proverbs warn against alcohol.

    Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

    Proverbs 31:4-5 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink; 5 Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.

    May we realize the dangers of consuming alcohol and its addictive nature.

- 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