Editorial

Two men met on a plane. The conversation revealed that both men had spent many years in India. The one man said he had been a missionary for 25 years and had converted thousands of people to Christianity. The other man replied that he had lived in India for many years and never saw a Christian. He then explained that while he lived in India he had spent his free time hunting tigers and had killed several hundred. The missionary said that in his 25 years in India he had never seen a tiger.

One man was looking for tigers and found them. The other man was looking for people he could help and found them. Neither saw what the other was looking for.

What are we looking for? We are only going to find that which we are seeking. No wonder so few people ever find God, they aren’t looking for Him. The Russians announced that since their cosmonauts did not see God while they were in orbit, He must not exist. What a silly statement to make. They obviously were not really looking for God and it is certain that they will never find Him.

Jesus has told us to “seek first the kingdom of God.” It is a fact that no one will find the kingdom of God who is not seeking it with all their heart. Jesus has also said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

What are we seeking? It is obvious that for which we really seek is the subject of our thoughts during the day. Emerson said that a “man is what he thinks about all day long.” The man who hunted tigers thought about tigers and found them. The man who wanted to help people thought about them and their needs and he found ways to serve them.

Just what do we think about all day long ? That will give us a clue as to what we are really seeking. There isn’t much use of saying we love God with all our heart if we spend all our waking moments in the pursuit of worldly things. The man whose goal in life is to accumulate riches will think about money a great deal of the time. Wherever he goes or whatever he’s doing, he will constantly be thinking about ways to accumulate wealth. With this type of attitude he will no doubt be successful in amassing a fortune but that is a very poor god for as Jesus said, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”

The thing we need to do is seek as diligently and work as hard for the Truth, as the children of this world do for mammon. Many people work long and hard for their goals and achieve them, even if its killing tigers. Jesus tells us “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”

We really will get that which we seek. If we seek for glory, honor and immortality, then God will give us eternal life. To seek this will mean that it will become a consuming fire within our breasts, we will talk and think about God and His goodness when we sit in our house and when we walk in the way and when we lie down and when we rise up.

Now it isn’t natural to think about God this much but we will not get into the kingdom doing what comes naturally. Paul tells us that “the natural man re­ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.” The man who sought tigers never saw a Christian and the man whose god is mammon will never see the Kingdom of God.

If we are really seeking first the Kingdom of God then our thoughts are about God. We certainly will read our Bibles every day and we will pray to God frequently.” Paul concluded his remarks concerning the natural and the spiritual mind by saying, “But we have the mind of Christ.”

There is a story about two men riding together, the one a believer in the Bible and the other a traveling salesman whose product was soap. The soap salesman said, “The gospel you preach has not done much good, for there is still a lot of wickedness in the world and a lot of wicked people, too.” The Bible student said nothing until they passed by a group of children playing in the mud along the road. Seizing this opportunity, he said, “Soap has not done much good in the world, I see; for there is still much dirt and many dirty people about.” ‘Oh, well,” said the soap salesman, “soap is only useful when it is applied.” “Exactly!” said the Bible student, “So it is with the gospel.”

Paul said the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. It is only to those who believe that it has power. Like soap, it will not help those who do not apply it. The soap salesman’s attitude is quite common today, to blame the gospel for failing the people when in fact it is the people who have failed by not believing the gospel.

The gospel is really BIG news, good news, exciting news, but most people couldn’t care less. When Noah went about telling the people the news of a coming flood it was also big news but it fell on deaf ears. The flood caught the world completely unawares but it wasn’t God’s fault, it was the people’s because they would not listen. The gospel is the good news about the coming kingdom of God and there is no bigger nor important news than this in all the world and yet it is going to find almost everyone in the whole world unprepared. Why? Because God hasn’t warned us? No. Because the warning has gone unheeded.

God is very fair. He never does anything without first telling us what He’s going to do. Yet, when He does it the world is always caught flatfooted. At the time Jesus was born, the people should have known, but they refused. So it is now. There are ample signs to indicate the near return of Jesus, but how many people are fever­ously preparing to meet him ? It’s not the gospel’s fault that the people are blind any more than it is the cake of soap’s fault the little boy is covered with mud. If little boys choose to play in the mud and ignore their bath, then there are going to be filthy little boys. If grown-ups choose to become engrossed in the cares of the world, in eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage as Jesus described them, then they are going to be unprepared to meet him when he comes.

Jesus told the story about the burglar who broke into the house in the dead of night. He warned that his coming would be just as great a surprise as that. But it needn’t be so. He really wants us to be ready and looking for him. This is why over and over again he tells us to watch, be ye also ready, don’t sleep with a dry lamp, don’t think that he will delay his coming, watch ye therefore:

We are told that ignorance of the law of the land is no excuse. We must obey the laws or pay the consequences even if we broke the law unintentionally due to ignorance. When Jesus comes we are told that he will take vengeance on those who know not God and have not obeyed the gospel.

Those that are wise know the gospel, they know God, and have obeyed. Daniel says they will shine as the brightness of the firmament. What about the rest? About as valuable as a burnt out light bulb. Remember, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Do you believe? Have you applied the gospel to your life? The gospel, like soap, will only make those who have applied it clean.

About this time of year one of the homes for orphan boys sends out a solicitation for funds and their trade mark is the picture of a boy of about 12 who is carrying on his back his little brother of about four who is sound asleep. The caption under the picture is, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” There is now a popular song out with this same title. The story behind it is about these two boys arriving at the orphanage asking to be admitted, they have walked a long ways and the little fellow having become exhausted, is being carried by his bigger brother. In spite of the fact that the older boy is bent over with the load of his younger brother on his back, he doesn’t mind because he so loves his little brother that he explains, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.”

Love does this. It lightens loads that would otherwise be unbearable. When we really love someone we are happy to do for them. Paul tells us to “bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” James calls it a royal law saying that “if ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.” It was his love for his little brother that made it possible for the bigger boy to carry him.

When we love our brethren and sisters, we will help them with their burden, and it won’t be heavy because they’re our brethren. When David was thirsty, all he had to do was mention it and three of his mighty men risked their lives to bring him water from the well at Bethlehem. Love motivated this brave action. David did not ask them to do it, he did not expect them to do it and because of his love for them when they did do it, he poured out the water to the Lord and refused to drink it because it symbolized “the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives.” What love they had for David! What love David had for them! They all would echo the feeling expressed by the young boy, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.”

What do we do for others, things which would seem difficult, yea even almost impossible, yet we do them willingly even with joy, because he’s our brother!

When we consider what our elder brother did for us, we echo the words of the hymn, “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small ! Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Certainly there was nothing too hard for Jesus to do for us. He died for us. No one could do more for his brethren than Christ did for us. Now what do we do for him? Certainly he’s not heavy, he’s our elder brother. We don’t consider his requests of us too heavy to bear. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” says John. When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and our neighbor as our self, then it is no longer a burden but a joy to carry one another’s burdens. Love makes it easy.

Somewhere there is a sister too sick to clean her house and there’s another sister who so loves that sick sister that she’s over there cleaning it. Somewhere there is a brother who is cold and hungry and there’s another brother on his way to see him with warm clothes and groceries in the back seat. Right now there are many in need of help and many on their way to help, all motivated by love.

We are coming to the time of the year when even the world shows a little love for others but they are novices compared to Christ’s true brethren and sisters for they have been doing it all year long. His brethren love to do it because they know that inasmuch as they do it unto one of the least of Christ’s brethren, they have done it for Jesus and he’s not heavy, he’s our elder brother.

“The secret of success is constancy of purpose,” said Disraeli. Jesus said. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” We must keep on keeping on.

There is a marker on the rock near the top of Mt. Washington. It marks the spot where a woman climber lay down and died. She was so close to the top that you can almost hit it with a stone. A hundred steps more and she would have reached the hut, the shelter she sought. But she did not know this. She was disheartened by the storm. She was beaten in body, distressed in spirit, at the end of her courage. She could not see a step ahead. She could not measure how far she had to go. She died one hundred steps from her goal!

It is easy to quit. It is also fatal. When the going is rough and we think we can’t go on, we can make one more step. In 1815 Wellington was talking to his forces at Waterloo. “Hard pounding this, Gentlemen,” he said, “Let’s see who can pound the longest.” That is the secret. Keep on pounding. Of course, we must know where we are going. Our goal in life must be clearly defined and fixed in our mind. Our goal, if we belong to Christ, must be the kingdom. Let us then say with Paul, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

With the Kingdom of God fixed in our minds we need to faithfully day after day press on towards it. Paul exhorts us to be “stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Now it’s all well and good to say, “keep on, press on, take another step and then another,” but let’s be specific; just how do we press on? What do we do when we take another step towards the Kingdom of God ?

We do things for God every day. Constantly and consistently we pray, we do our Bible readings, we are faithful in our attendance at every kind of meeting, be it the Memorial Service, the evening lecture, a mid week Bible class or Sunday School. We are always willing to serve. We teach the young if asked, we tend the door, we visit the sick, we write letters to those who are lonely, we do an hundred and one little things and we do them every day, not for the praise of man but for the Lord. We keep pounding, and we pound every day.

This type of dedication is known by our Heavenly Father. Jesus tells us that a cup of cold water given to a little one is not forgotten.

Have we ever considered just what can we give to the Creator of heaven and earth? God possesses all things, what can we do for Him? We can be kind to some of His other children. He is pleased when we show our love this way. Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me.”

Remember that “the secret of success is constancy of purpose.” Keep on keeping on in the service of the Lord. Jude sums it up very well for us. “You, my friends, must fortify yourselves in your most sacred faith. Continue to pray . . . keep yourselves in the love of God, and look forward to the day when our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy will give eternal life.” (New English Bible)