“For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”-  James 4:15
Someone said,” Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you want, but you can spend it only once”. How true that is! But most people are like a kid in a candy store – they can’t make up their mind on how they want to spend it. Sadly, most folks end up wasting it. They allow the things of the world to distract them. They allow good things to crowd out the best things. They allow personal pleasures to take them down a path they will regret later. They’ve developed the idea that they can’t find happiness unless they travel to far away places, do exciting things, get expensive stuff, and rub shoulders with the rich and famous. They call it “getting ahead”. But they keep coming up short.

Rather than being content where they are with what they have they are always looking for something else. Solomon tried to warn us when he said “all is vanity”, but hardly anyone listens. Paul spoke about abiding with God in whatever situation we are in ( 1 Cor. 7:20-24), but the flesh resents that idea. Perhaps we ought to consider the example of Christ. Vance Havner gave us this food for thought:
“Wouldn’t you think that Jesus, with only three years to go, would have visited Rome and Athens, would have sought all available publicity, would have called on celebrities and appeared at forums and symposiums, would have rushed from dawn to midnight, making every moment count, would have held public debates and put on healing exhibitions? Instead, He stayed in an obscure little Roman province, talked with a few individuals, mingled with ordinary people, exasperated His brothers by not performing in Jerusalem. It is all so foreign to our American way of doing things. Maybe we had better learn the gait of Galilee!”

I realize that we live in a different time than the days of Christ, but we would be wise to keep our priorities in the proper order. So let’s keep first things first ( Matt. 6:33). Redeem the time and invest your life in that which pays eternal dividends. As the British Missionary C. T. Studd said, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Do not be distracted by the pleasures of this world, nor discouraged by its problems. Stay focused on what matters most. As the old song says, “It will be worth it all”. -HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.“- Acts 4:13

A little child was thinking about the unseen Christ to whom she        prayed, and came to her mother with the question, “Is Jesus like anybody I know?”
       
The question was not an unreasonable one — it was one to which the child should have received the answer of “Yes.” Every true disciple of Christ ought to be an answer — in some sense, at least — to the child’s inquiry. Every little one ought       to see Christ’s beauty mirrored in its Christian mother’s face. Every Sunday-school teacher’s character, should reflect some tracings of the Eternal Love on which the scholars may gaze. Whoever looks upon the life of any Christian, should see in it at once the reflection of the beauty of Christ. (copied)

Every Christian should and could become more like Christ, but we must realize that it doesn’t happen as a result of changes we make. The Holy Spirit is the change agent. He transforms us as we keep our focus on Christ. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18 –  HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“… be thou an example of the believers..” 1 Tim. 4:12

In 1996 a zoo in Copenhagen, Denmark added a new attraction. It put a human couple on display! The man and woman was placed in a see through cage next to the baboons and monkeys. They even put up a plaque describing their habitat, diet, and threats to their existence. They placed living room furniture, a computer, a TV, and a stereo inside the cage. Naturally they were allowed to leave occasionally. Can you imagine spending day after day on display as an exhibit in a zoo? Just picture people standing at your cage watching you!

Well, the fact is, if you are a Christian you are on display. People are watching you. As Paul said in 2 Cor. 3:2-3 “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” You are on display before the world. The question is “What do they see?” They should see something of Christ – something that shows the difference he makes in a person’s life. We are to be salt and light in this sinful world and that requires that we be blameless in all things. God forbid that we live in such a way that it makes the glorious gospel repulsive to others. As someone said, “You are the only Bible some people will ever read.” Let us then, “… be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” ( 1 Tim. 4:12) – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“…Prove your own selves..” – 2 Cor. 13;5
Examining yourself is one thing, proving yourself is another. Spurgeon illustrated the difference like this: He said, “Prove your own selves.” That means more than self-examination. A man is about to buy a horse; he thinks that possibly he may find out some flaw, and therefore he examines it; but after he has examined it, he says, “Let me have it for a week, that I may prove the animal before I invest in him.” A ship, both before and when launched, is carefully looked at; and yet before she is allowed to go to sea, she takes a trial trip; and then when proved she goes out on her long voyages. Now, many a man’s religion will stand examination that will not stand proof. It is like some cotton prints that are warranted fast colours, and so they seem when you look at them, but they are not washable when you get them home. It is good enough to look at, and it has got the “warranted” stamped upon it; but when it comes out into actual daily life, the colours soon begin to run, and the man discovers that the thing was not what he took it to be.”

Paul’s point is this – don’t tell me what you are, show me – prove it! You claim to love the Lord, and serve the Lord, and care for others, but where is the proof? Many testify as to what they are but upon cross-examination they can’t prove it because all the evidence is against them. That’s not only a disgrace, it is a difficulty. It hinders our ability to reach others for Christ. The sad fact is that many have a title and hold an office in the church, but that’s all they do. They fail to fulfill their office by doing their duty.

In Paul’s last letter to Timothy he speaks of his impending death by saying, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” – 2 Tim. 4:6-8. Then he leaves Timothy with this charge, “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”( 2 Tim. 4:5). We would do well to do just that. Prove you own selves! – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346