Bible Thoughts July 12, 1998
The Israelites had been delivered from a life of bondage by the power of God. They have been in the wilderness forty years. Now, as they entered the promised land, they must decide whom they would serve. Whether it be the idols of Egypt or the idols of other countries--but choose, they must!
The experiences of the past 400 years should have made that choice a welcome opportunity. They had lived as slaves, they had seen the iniquities of others, they had suffered when they disobeyed God, and they should have had enough of the past! Yet, one more time--who are you going to serve?
To the credit of that generation, their answer was we "...will also serve the Lord; for he is our God"(Joshua 24:18). That generation did continue to serve Jehovah, but there arose a later generation "which knew not the Lord." The later generation had the power to choose, but it was the wrong choice.
The power of choice is in each person at present. One may choose to serve God or not to serve God. There is no physical/material force that God will use to make one serve Him. God does not want robots; He desires those who are willing to make the sacrifices, live up to the standards, and continue throughout life in a willing submission to His will. But within each person, there is the power to make choices, right or wrong.
When the right choices are made, one can(and will) live a life that is pleasing to God. An example will be set before others that, hopefully, will influence their choosing to serve the God who made them. Choices, then, not only affect the person who makes such, but will also influence those in their family, among their friends, and others with whom they have contact. Also, one does not always recognize the power he/she has in leading others. Many souls have been led to the Lord because of a righteous influence. It is feared many souls have been lost because of an unrighteous influence. The choice of the individual can reach generations yet unborn.
The choices that one makes each day have an effect upon one's own soul. When Demas chose to love the "present world" more than he loved the Lord, he forsook Paul(II Timothy 4:10). There is nothing in the scriptures to indicate that Demas ever forsook the choice that he made.
A person can make an evil choice and follow a path
away from God as did Demas. However, the power of change is within
the individual(and Demas could have changed back to the right).
Realizing that one is on the wrong path, just change paths! Choose
the path of righteousness and continue on the journey.
History Speaks! "The disposition to amend and change the
appointments of God was at work and was restrained in its growth by
Paul's authority as an apostle of the Lord; but when he was taken out
of the way it had free course and developed rapidly. It is not
difficult to trace its growth through succeeding centuries,
culminating in hierarchies for which God's word made no provisions.
But that principle is not confined to one or two churches. Its
presence is manifest in a greater or lesser degree in all the
churches, in the changes in the order of worship, in the ordinances
of the church; and in the multiplication of societies and
organizations that seem for a time to add to its beauty and activity,
but which in the end, as parasites, sap the life out of the churches.
This principle is manifest especially in the organization of the
churches themselves into societies and ecclesiasticisms that first
usurp the work of the churches and then control them and come between
man and God." -David Lipscomb
Out of the Past..."From a child Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures and
they were able to make him wise to salvation through the Christian
faith. How many more Timothies might we have, if we had a few more
of the daughters of Lois, and a few more mothers like Eunice!
"Most saints, in this generation, appear more zealous that their children should shine on earth than in heaven, and that they may be rich here at the hazard of eternal bankruptcy. They labor to make them rich and genteel, rather than pure and holy; and spend much more time in fashioning them to the foolish and wicked taste of polished society than in teaching them by precept and example the word that is better than gold and more precious than rubies." -Alexander Campbell in 1835.