Editorial

“A small flame can set an immense heap of wood on fire.” We have seen just recently the truth of Van Paasen’s words in the fire that has swept through a section of beautiful homes in a wooded section of Los Angeles that destroyed 457 homes and caused some fifty million dollars in property damage.

Fire, like water, can be one of man’s greatest friends or fiercest enemies, depending upon its use or abuse. Man can start something that he cannot stop and that small flame can grow into a roaring forest fire destroying everything in its path including the one who originally started it.

We can see how much fire is like life. Properly used, many things are beneficial and helpful, while abused, these same things can cause our down fall.

James cites the tongue as an example. He says, “The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” James continues by contrasting the good the tongue can do with the evil il that it can cause. He says “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

No wonder James exclaims concerning the tongue “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”

We certainly can not outlaw fire because of its potential destructive power be­cause when properly used it performs an invaluable service to man.

The same is true of the tongue. We cannot cut out the tongue because of the terrible things it says . . . It is control, not abolition that is needed.

In the case of fire, certain precautions can help prevent them from starting. Keep the area clean, remove brush and rubbish, get rid of oily rags, get a small fire extinguisher and keep it handy. all of these things can help prevent a disastrous blaze that would destroy life and property.

So it is with the tongue, certain precautions can help prevent the damaging effects that an unruly tongue can cause.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, “How can ye, being evil, speak good things ? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

Just as surely as certain conditions will cause a fire, so evil thoughts will cause the tongue to say unholy things. To solve the problem, we must go to the root of the trouble, and that is to control our thinking. If we will learn to think good thoughts we will speak good words.

We are the product of our thinking. Almost every act is first an idea. We are what we think about all day long. This is why Paul laid so much stress upon training our minds to think along spiritual lines. He tells us, “Whatsoever things are true, (never think a lie and we’ll never tell one) whatsoever things are honest, (never think of cheating) whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

In the case of fires and tongues, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and if we will only learn to think godly we will save much more than just our home, we will save our life in the day of Christ’s coming.

We recently heard a story about a little boy who was taking a walk with his father when they came upon a scale and the boy asked if he could be weighed. His father replied that he could and while he was reaching into his pocket for a penny the little fellow excitedly climbed up on the scale. Before the father had time to deposit the penny in the slot the boy had burst into tears. The father asked him what was wrong and pointing to the dial the little boy said, “Look, I don’t weigh anything.” The father smiled and explained that no one weighs anything until they put the penny in.

Christ often used the penny in his parables. Of course they did not have scales in his day that required a penny before giving the weight but the lesson we learn from this story that we do not weigh anything until we put something in, is a lesson that Jesus taught and one that we do well to learn, for our weight at the judgment seat will be dependent upon what we have put into our service for Christ.

It is so important that we always remember that what we put into a thing determines what we get out of it. It is true of scales, it is true of sowing and reaping and it is true of our walk in the truth.

Until we put the penny in we weigh nothing. Until we are baptized and enter the race for life eternal we are “without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”

When we are baptized into the saving name of Jesus we become Christ’s and heirs according to promise. We begin to weigh something. A newborn babe is weighed often to check its growth and chart its weight.

Baptism is only our first act of faith and the babe in Christ must be nourished first in the milk of the word and later with spiritual meat.

Peter tells us, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” This is the way we grow, this is the way we put on spiritual weight so that we may register more on the Lord’s scale.

It is necessary that we realize that faith without works is dead, that we must do something to weigh something . . . that we must sow before we can reap. Now it is important to realize that we reap much more than we sow, a little seed is put into the ground, a beautiful tree springs up, mighty oaks from little acorns grow but there is no oak without the acorn being put into the ground.

How do we go about increasing our spiritual weight? We do this by desiring the sincere milk of the word. It is important that we create a ravenous appetite for spiritual things and this only comes through perseverance. We must conscientiously and continuously read the word . . . search the scriptures . . . desire the sincere milk of the word . . . meditate in his law day and night that the law of the Lord may become our delight, that we may, like the little acorn, become like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

This does not happen overnight. It is a lifetime project but one we must commence immediately and patiently continue in well doing. At the judgment seat of Christ we shall each be weighed in the balances. Let us pray that we shall not be like Belshazzar, who was found wanting.

We recently cut down a tree in our back yard It was a flowering peach tree and gave shade but its fruit was worthless, in fact, it was far worse than no fruit at all because it bred flies and bees.

The scriptures talk a great deal about trees and their fruit We are told by Christ that ‘ the tree is known by his fruit ‘ Trees play a prominent place in the word of God, Israel is compared to God’s fig tree, David tells us in Psalm 1 that the righteous “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper’.

There is an interesting lesson to be learned in cutting down an unwanted tree Christ again tells us about a certain man who had a tree that displeased him His com­mand was, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground ?’

To cut down our tree, we began at the top, and sawed off the branches one by one until only the main trunk was left, next we dug around the base of the tree and cut the large roots one by one until finally it was relatively easy to put a rope around the trunk and pull it over.

We can cut down the unwanted things in our life that are hampering our spiritual growth in much the same way Begin at the top, snip away at the little faults that each of us have and need to correct By cutting these off one by one, we can more easily get rid of our major problems, we can learn self control easier if we do not allow ourselves to become angry over the little things that irritate us We can better learn to love our enemies by first learning to love more deeply those we already know but do not have a strong feeling for either way Look for their good traits, learn to think of them and tell others about their good qualities, in so doing we will grow to love those which previously we had just known slightly.

After we have stripped our unwanted tree of its branches of dislike, anger, thoughtlessness, pettiness and such like, we are better prepared to tackle the job of rooting out the large stump of the more serious faults We do this by rooting, yes by going below the surface and cutting these faults off at the very roots A trunk can not stand without roots and if we will dig down in our own character and cut off the roots of evil, which are not seen, the visible trunk will no longer be able to stand and con­sequently it will topple helplessly to the ground, never more to rise again

Now it is a lot of work to dig down and uncover the roots of hate, lust, selfish­ness, envy, pride and such like, in fact we do not like to think that such roots even exist, but like roots to the tree, they are often discovered by digging and many times the roots are found to be much larger than originally anticipated when the digging first began

It is far better for us to do digging now than to wait for the Master Gardener who will judge every tree at his appearing and kingdom If we will be honest with ourselves, we will prayerfully pray for the strength and courage to cut off all things which offend Our tree of life will better produce fruits meet for repentance if the offending trees in our garden are cut away Every gardener knows that evil trees growing too close to a good tree can cause it to wither, cease to produce fruit and finally die How much better that we root out the evil trees ourselves so that the roots of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance may be able to shoot out and cause our branches to grow strong, so that we bring forth fruit, our leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever we do shall prosper

Many recall the story of the carpenter who was awarded a carpentering job that he had wanted all his life, the building of a dream house for a princess. The story unfolds that he was unable to complete his much sought project because when he went to collect his tools, he found all of them had rusted because of disuse and improper maintenance. He was unable to fulfill his lifelong ambition, even though it had been presented to him, because his building tools were useless.

This parable teaches us a spiritual lesson which we will all do well to learn. As workmen for the Lord, we must have the proper tools to work efficiently and we must keep them in good working order.

Every skilled carpenter knows that in order to build he must first have the proper tools, secondly he must know how to use them skillfully and finally they must be kept clean, sharp and well oiled.

Paul instructs us to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” If we are to be a workman that is not ashamed, then we must have the proper tools, know how to use them, and keep them sharp and ready for use on a moment’s notice.

As workmen for the Lord, we are to take the sword of the Spirit which Paul says is the Word of God. We must become adept at the use of this sword. This only comes by study. We are told by the writer to the Hebrews that “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Paul told Titus to “hold fast to the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

The workmen of the Lord then have as their tool the word of God which is sharp and by using this tool properly we shall be able to convince the gainsayers of the error of his ways.

There isn’t any doubt but that there is a lot of work to be done. The average man on the street, although he possesses a Bible, has no idea what God has said. It is incredible that so many can know so little about the most important thing in life. It is clearly the case of the carpenter whose tools were not usable due to neglect. If we neglect the word of God, we also will not be able to skillfully use the sword of the Spirit. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?”

Our tool is the word of God. If we know the Holy Scriptures, if we study to show ourselves approved unto God, if we search the scriptures, then we will truly be a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, we will be able to turn the sinner from the error of his ways and the word of God will make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Are you a Christian ? If your answer is yes, come along with us since we are burning all Christians at the stake.

Not too many years ago this was happening regularly. Today we have what is called religious freedom and it is considered to be a great blessing. It is true that we are thankful that we can worship God as we see fit but religious freedom has brought religious laxity. Where are the stalwarts who are willing to confess Christ and die for it ?

Are we strong spiritually? Has the soft life made us flabby Chris­tians? There was a time when reading the Bible was done at the risk of ones life, yet it was read, even if it was done under the covers in the middle of the night by the light of a flickering candle. Today we can sit in our arm chair and read with the aid of soft indirect lighting anytime we wish. There is no danger, no threat, and sadly to say, all too often there is no reading.

Small groups of believers used to meet together to remember Jesus at the risk of losing their heads. Today we can drive in our fancy cars over paved roads to our meeting places to hear the word of God preached to all who will hear and they are staying away in droves.

Did Christ die in vain for us ? He denied himself and he tells us, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Are we following him ? Has easy living, television, sports, so infected us that we are spiritually sick ? Can we hope to be saved if we continue to drift ?

Sometimes we seem to lose our perspective. What is our goal, our mission, our purpose in life? Is it to have a good time, eat, drink and be merry? Count the things we do, how many are done to please self and how many are done to please God ? We should be laying aside everything that hinders us and running with patience the race set before us.

Are we true Christians ? We know a true Christian follows Christ. Most who call themselves Christs are not following Christ at all. They don’t even believe what he taught. Do we ?

Jesus said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” Can we say that? Those who lost their jobs, their homes, their lives for Christ’s sake could.

Christ has assured us that everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. What can we honestly say we have given up for the Lord ? If we merely attend Bible Class or Lecture when we are tired we think we have made a great sacrifice. Have we really forsaken the things that please self? We are not called upon to be crucified for the Lord but we are told that ” they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Are we Christs ? Have we done enough crucifying?