Articles
God Won't Go Away
God Won’t Go Away
“Gaily the Troubadour”
(By Arthur Guiterman, 1936)
First dentistry was painless;
Then bicycles were chainless
And carriages were horseless
And many laws, enforceless.
Next, cookery was fireless,
Telegraphy was wireless,
Cigars were nicotineless
And coffee, caffeinless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
The putting green was weedless,
The college boy hatless,
The proper diet, fatless,
Now highways are dustless,
The latest steel is rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religions, godless.
Blaise Pascal said there is within every person a “God-shaped vacuum.” It cannot be filled with science or pleasure or money, only God. Like the little boy who scoffs at ghosts yet whistles while passing a graveyard, some atheists would seem to protest too much; and, their diligent efforts to purge the public conversation of all things spiritual show that they clearly feel threatened.
George Bernard Shaw is perhaps most renowned as a free thinker and liberal philosopher. In his last writings we read, "The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith." Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God.
The word of God asserts that unbelief is both wicked and foolish. It will never be otherwise. Psalm 10:4 - “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.” Psalm 14:1 - “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
Mother, May I Wallow?”
By C. E. Henry (1960)
One day a little lamb was taking a walk with its mother, and as they walked, they went by a pigpen. A pig was stretched out, grunting contentedly as he wallowed in the mud and muck of the pen. He looked so perfectly contended and comfortable that the little lamb was greatly impressed. Indeed, the lamb was led to believe that he had been missing some- thing. He turned to his mother a little breathlessly because of the wonderful idea that had just come to him.
“Mother,” he said, “may I wallow?” The question rocked mother ewe back on her heels. She was both shocked and surprised to think that a child of hers would ask such a question. When she regained her composure, she answered quite firmly: “Of course not! Sheep don't wallow.”
But, little lamb was not convinced, and the minute his mother's back was turned, he darted over to the pigpen, slipped between the bars, and felt his feet sink into the cool mud. It was deeper than he had thought, and it smelled terrible. He tried to back out, but found the mud clinging to his feet. He began to be frightened, and he jerked frantically, but only got in deeper. By now he was terrified. He wished fervently that he hadn't come, and that he had obeyed his mother. He thrashed about in desperation, lost his balance, and sprawled on his side in the evil-smelling muck. The pig looked over his way and grunted companionably, but little lamb was frantic. He could not move. He could only roll his eyes, and he thought every breath would be his last. Finally, just as he had bleated weakly for the last time and given up, the farmer came along and tenderly lifted the little lamb from his death trap, thoroughly cleaned him, and restored him to his mother. His mother was terribly hurt because he had disobeyed her, yet even more concerned because her own child, a tiny white sheep, had tried to wallow.
“I feel that you have learned your lesson,” she said. “Only pigs wallow. As a sheep, you are an animal who sets the pattern of behavior above other barnyard animals. Hogs wallow, but sheep are different creatures from hogs, and sheep don't wallow.”
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to his own vomit, and, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” (2Peter 2:20-22).
A Moments Wisdom
--The wise thing to do is to divide all people into two groups: friends that we love too much to gossip about them, and strangers that we know too little to gossip about them.
--Temptations are like stray animals; feed and indulge it and it will return often, and sometimes will bring others with him.
--He who tries to give the meaning of scripture and does not take the meaning from the scripture is the enemy of scripture.
--Sadly, sometimes the only good that comes admitting I was wrong is the joy that others seem to get from hearing me say it.
--It is always good to be careful when you give advice, because someone actually might take it.
--We have adopted the convenient but mistaken view that the Bible is a book that must be explained, whereas first and foremost it is a book to be believed. There is a world of difference between knowing the word of God and knowing the God in the word.
--A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
--“Defend the Bible? I would as soon defend a lion! Just turn the Bible loose, and it will defend itself and devour its adversaries.” (C. Spurgeon)
--People who live to do good seldom complain about their place in this world.
--It isn’t life that is weighing us down; it is the way we are carrying it.
--One of the tests of good leadership is the ability recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.
--It’s too bad we cannot exchange our problems with others; we always seem to have their answer to theirs.
--Every human being is a manufacturer; we are making good, or making trouble, or making excuses.
“People often ask: ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ That only happened once, and He volunteered.’” (R.C. Sproul)
Upcoming Sermons
1/30/22 AM - “In the Beginning was the Word; PM - Guest Speaker: Doug Sanders - Praise Him
2/6/22 AM - Report on the 2021 Work of the church at Trilacoochee; PM - Themed Singing: I KNOW: A Service on Conviction
2/13/22 AM - Thank You, Lord; PM - God Give Us Christian Homes: Instructions for Those Who Live Alone
2/20/22 AM - Undermining the Firm Foundation; PM - God Give Us Christian Homes: God’s Instructions for the Religiously Mixed Marriage
2/27/22 AM - Paul’s Astounding Address to Agrippa; PM - The Bible is not a Science Textboo
