How shall we change?
There are many ways by which we can alter the pattern of our lives. We can do it by our hobbies, pastimes and our interests. And we can do it by the things we read and study. In other words, we change according to the way we spend our time. Reading is one of the greatest influences in our lives, and today the art of reading is almost extinct. This is not a reading generation. Although books are written and printed in ever increasing numbers, the people of today cannot be bothered. They have to be entertained and amused all the time; hence the success of the television. The only reading done by millions is the comic books. And yet by reading we can enlarge the horizon of our understanding in this world, and prepare for the age to come.
Bad Influence. There is a great amount of reading material turned out today which is not of any help, but rather the contrary, for instance thrillers, murders and crime stories. It is not that all of these are necessarily evil, vile and corrupt, but they fill our minds with thoughts of anger, wrath, hatred, stife, violence, etc., and consequently influence and motivate the desires of the heart. Remember the wise man said: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he . . . ” (Proverbs 23:7). Again, if we read these cheap, paper backed novels which are so plentiful today, the filth that is peddled around the shops and which we see in the hands and homes of our workmates and neighbors, then we would fill and pollute our minds with passion, lust, jealousies and strife which will not help us to educate or edify the spiritual man. They will rather fill us, like the Corinthian church which Paul had to rebuke for their licentiousness and amorous behavior. We do not want to be rebuked by our Lord on His return, do we?
Good Influence. Our great need is to read things that will be of lasting benefit to us. There are many good books we can obtain from the libraries on Geography and History which will help us to know the races and lands of this universe. Remember, one day we shall be the judges of the earth, rulers over five or ten cities, so we should now become better acquainted with these things. Let us learn about the wonders of the universe, the stars and planets, birds and insects, etc. These things will help us to a better understanding of our Creator and assist us in developing purer minds and hearts. In this way we will rise from the mire of our human nature. But we ought to go a step beyond that. We want to read the things pertaining to the Truth, especially we younger ones in the Truth, beginning with some light, but interesting reading of the life of Dr. Thomas and of Robert Roberts, how they lived and labored and extricated the Truth from the mass of human corruption, so that you and I in this day and age can read it in spite of the errors which exist all around us. Then we can gradually go on to the deeper works like “Elpis Israel”, “Eureka”, “Anastasis”, etc., developing loftier minds and becoming purer in heart. So far we have not mentioned the reading of the greatest of all works, the Word of God, which is a Must for the servants of God, if we wish to be in the kingdom of the future ages. There is no other means of acquiring knowledge of the Lord, it is the only revelation He has given to man. When we go to Idyllwild to the Bible School and are surrounded by the wonders and beauties of nature, we breathe in the pure air which He has given us and behold His handiwork. But it does not tell us what He is like, only that His works are powerful and glorious, but in His Word, the Scriptures of Truth, we can learn all about Him. David says: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalms 119:105). This light illuminates the darkness of the way in which we walk. We know that the entrance of His Word gives light, because nothing else will, and without this Book we are in as much darkness as the rest of the world. Let us not forget that.
Paul writes: “Whatsoever things are true . . . whatsoever things are pure . . . think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Here in this Word we have all purity and truth, for God is the source and fountain of purity, so if we would be pure in heart and see God, then we must regularly turn to His Word. Again Paul writes: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed . . . ” (2nd Timothy 2:15). Why, we may well ask. So that we will be able to Give a reason for the hope that is within us. Can we do that? Can we honestly say that we have studied the Word, so that it has become life within us, written in our hearts? Can we go into the homes of our neighbors and talk to them of these wonderful things? How often we have come across someone who can talk about anything under the sun except the Word of God. We knew one brother well who had great knowledge concerning birds, animals, plant life, trees, flowers, stamp collecting, and almost any other subject. But when we asked him a simple question concerning the Word of God he could not answer because that was one item he had never studied. The most important of all subjects he had omitted. “How dreadful”, we might all say. But do we do this ourselves? It is good that we study other things, but not to the exclusion of the Word of God. How else shall we obtain salvation?
Do we study enough?
We, the Christadelphians, use to be known as a people who read and studied and knew the Word of God, so I have been told by older brethren. Is this true of us today? We have found that the majority of people do not even know who the Christadelphians are, we spend so little time talking to them about the Word of God. They knew us once, we made ourselves known, and of course no one will deny that in those days the brethren were more thorough in their understanding of the Word. Have you ever wondered why? We believe it was because they read and studied more. The highlight of every day was in the evening when the entire family was gathered together in one room to read and meditate and study the Word, which sometimes they did for several hours. Do we do that today? Today you and I live in an age of rush and bustle. We rush to our work and rush home again in the evening. We rush to turn on the television, or we rush out to see a ball game. But do we rush to study the Word of God? Herein is salvation, the only source of light in this darkness.
How shall we study? We could buy endless commentaries, dictionaries, concordances, and books by the dozen, for in the writing of books there is no end, says the wise man. These are good methods which we will not decry. But there is a finer way of studying which so often is neglected. This is to read the Word carefully and to pray and read again and again, meditating and musing upon the words, drawing apart into the secret chamber, the Quiet place of which we spoke in our last article, and there allow the Lord God who caused these things to be written to fill our minds with His thoughts, and to guide us in the correct and unbiased interpretation of His holy Word. We do not need to be intellectuals, or even to be educated at all in order to understand the beauties of the Bible. What saith the Word: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally . . and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). Do we believe it? I do. And Brother Roberts must have believed it, too, for he left school when only thirteen years old. That did not make him an illiterate man, as we know. We realize that he was one of the finest, most competent preachers of the Word of God, equal to any of the philosophers and theologians of his day with all their education, and able to dispute and debate with them in a most powerful and eloquent manner. Why . . . ? ? ? It is obvious that he believed in what James had written.
Come with open heart
We don’t have to be great scholars, but we must come to God with meekness and faith and ask Him to open our hearts and minds. He will, if we come to Him in such a spirit and frame of mind. When we have a problem, as sometimes we do, it is not necessary for us to turn to the writings of Dr. Thomas and Brother Roberts and others. We can, and it is profitable. But we will do far better, as we have already suggested, if we take it to the Lord. Let me try to explain just what I mean. Suppose I wrote a book on Mathematics while in England, and you had a problem regarding one of the theories I advanced. What would you do? Why, you would get in touch with me and ask for further explanation. Indeed, we would do that with any author providing he was still alive. In other words we would go to others only as a last resort. So why should we do differently in regard to God’s Book? He is always there, He can always be reached, and He is ever ready to impart His wisdom to you and me. This does not mean that we should not use the writings of some of those wonderful brethren who have gone before us, but let us use them as a supplement to the Bible, rather than as a substitute. The prophet Isaiah, speaking the word of the Lord, says: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 9). Even though this is so, we can, nevertheless, by constant reading of the Word, gradually imbibe the very spirit of God, and, thinking like Him, begin to form a character like His, so that, ultimately, when the Lord Jesus returns to the earth, “. . . we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (1st John 3: 2). This is a process of development which begins now and not when the Lord Jesus returns.
Let me try to explain how this happens. Many times we talk to someone in the Truth regarding some Scripture interpretation, and this brother disagrees most strongly with us and our point of view which we have very thoroughly presented to him. After many months or possibly years we again meet the same person, and, discussing the same topic as before, we now find him expressing the very view which we had held before, and which he had rejected. This sort of thing is done constantly in all walks of life. Those of us ho have children have noticed that even when we were sure they were not listening, yet somehow they managed at some later date to surprise us, with what they had heard. These ideas go deep down into our subconscious minds and are later assimilated as our very own. This process should likewise be at work in regard to the Word of God, and if it is not, then it means that we are not drawing nigh to God through the Word as much as we should.
Study and Meditate
The psalmist writes: “Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalms 119: 97). Do we study and meditate upon the word of God all the day? If not, why not? He says: “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies . . .” (Verse 98). David was not being presumptuous, he was stating a fact, he was made wiser than his enemies just as the Lord Jesus was wiser than His foes. It was because they were filled with the Word of God. Likewise, if, like David, we ask for His wisdom and divine guidance we, too, shall prevail against our enemies. He continues: “I have more understanding than all my teachers . . .” (Verse 99). David was not a man given to boasting, nor was he a proud man, he was just stating a simple fact. Is it not so today? Sometimes a brother teaches in the Sunday School. A young person from his class is baptized. He then reads and studies for himself, and, before many years have passed, he has advanced beyond the level of the brother who was his original teacher. Eventually he is in a position where he explains things to the older brother. When this occasionally happens it is a sad state of affairs. It suggests that the older brother has ceased from studying and has remained inactive in the truth, thus allowing the younger one to have more understanding than he.
Then, of course, there are always those who never learn any more after they come into the Truth. “. . . when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again . . .” (Hebrews 5: 12). In other words they are still on the Sincere milk of the word when they ought to be on Strong meat. When we consider the vileness of human nature as seen in the life of David, we realize how frail and weak we are when we try to emulate the righteousness of God. Here was a man who stole, committed adultery, and had a man killed. And yet we read that he was a man after God’s own heart, not because he said he was, nor because I say he was, which would be unimportant, but because God Almighty said he was. In spite of his frailties and weaknesses which were many, God loved David, for the obvious reason that he meditated daily, and drank deeply from the waters of life. This made him wiser than his enemies, and will do the same for you and me.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One