Bible Thoughts

October 8, 2000

Modern transportation did not exist for the Lord when he was upon earth. Outside of a boat or an animal, one had to walk. The Lord went about Galilee, as he would go about in other places, walking and teaching. What a privilege it would have been to walk with the Lord during his earthly journey; to hear his words; to see the miracles; and to be close to the Son of God himself. Would you have walked with the Lord when he was in Galilee?

The Lord walked into the synagogues and taught, often firing the ire of those who were dedicated to the Law of Moses. As he pointed out their failure to honor the Law and rebuked them for their departures, the anger of the Jewish leaders was apparent. The multitudes, at this point, listened to him gladly and many would accompany him to see what would happen. Would you have walked with the Lord when he confronted these erring teachers?

The Lord walked beside the Sea of Galilee. A great multitude followed him. They were without food and Jesus, to satisfy their needs, took a small boy's lunch and fed them. Would you have walked with the Lord when he helped others?

The Lord walked with his apostles as he went about teaching and performing miracles. One of these disciples betrayed him; one denied him; the others "fled." Would you have walked with the Lord when others abandoned him?

The Lord walked down a lonely path to give his life for the sins of the whole world. Would you have walked with the Lord when the crowd shouted "crucify him, crucify him?" Would you have continued with him as he made his way up Golgotha, as he prepared for the nails to be driven, as he wrenched in pain when they stood the cross upright? Would you have been there when they crucified my Lord had you lived in that time?

My friend, if you will not walk with him now, you certainly would not have walked with him then.

One door and only one, and yet it’s sides are two. I’m on the inside on which side are you!

The above sentence is a short chorus we used to sing and it basically states the same thing as the above verse, you can’t be on both sides at the same time.

We all walk through doors all the time, and we all understand that a door separates two separate environments: inside and the outside. And we can also understand that we can’t be on both sides at the same time, we need to make a decision where we want to be.

Basically we can say that the outside is mammon. When we are outside we are at the mercy of the surroundings; when it rains we get wet; when the sun is out we get hot; when it snows we get cold and we can’t change that. But when we go inside it changes, inside gives you safety and comfort. You are isolated from the rest of the world, it is a place where we can belong.

We have two choices, Satan offers us a life of fleshly pleasure here on earth and an eternal punishment in hell. When you follow Satan you can do whatever you want, no matter how evil it is, he even allows you to serve God to. He has made the path easy to follow, and wide, so that all may follow. And it might seem that he cares for you, but all he wants is your soul, nothing more. When we follow him we are at his command, at his mercy.

God has offered a life with laws, laws that he expects all who follow to obey. He does not accept excuses and does not want to share us with Satan. The path that leads to him is narrow and difficult. He has told us we would have a life full of hardships.

God is like the inside, he looks after us and gives us a place to belong; our reward will be great one day. The question was asked, I'm on the inside, on which side are you?-Vaughn Botha

In a society where job security is nothing short of a dream and the fear of company downsizing looms around the corner, how is it that we can ever truly feel secure? If a spouse dies, what will happen to the family? How will we be able to provide for ourselves and our families in the event of a crisis?

The point that God is making in this passage is that worrying about all of these things takes up too much of an individual’s time. The Christian has an awesome and much needed responsibility to uphold the truth and convert the lost. How can the lost be saved if we are all too busy worrying about the mundane aspects of life? The answer is, they can’t.

Sadly, though, this mental fallacy seems to be the state many Christian’s are in and it is one that goes directly contrary to that which God seeks to promote. Many do not even realize just how much time they are already robbing from God and mankind by taking the truly important things in life and giving them to the dogs.

It is for this reason that God says, “Do not worry...” He fed the Israelites manna in the wilderness and He fed the 5000 fish and bread some time later. All throughout the Bible we read of God taking care of His children both physically and spiritually. He has offered them comfort and protection for many thousands of years, why would things have changed suddenly for us?

We may not understand as much of the process as we would like. However, we can realize, based upon His promises, that just as He has taken care of His children in time past, so will He continue to do today. When we realize this truth and give ourselves fully to it, then we will begin to know what true job security is.-Joe Cook