____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ January 7, 2001 ____________________________________________________ Days of thy Youth -- #2 by Mark J. Ward This column is designed to deal with various problems that face young Christians as they strive to please God. It is essential to note that people in their teens and early twenties have problems just like ``older folks.'' Some of these problems are very similar in nature...others are peculiar to a particular age-group. The Bible will help us solve our problems, whatever age we might be, but we must study God's Word and learn how to apply Bible knowledge to situations as they fall before us. In this article we would like to look at the Bible text from which this column gets its name. This scripture is found in Ecclesiastes 12:1 and says, ``Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.'' Remember To remember something is to call it to mind; not to forget. We can see the evidence of a Supreme Creator of the universe simply by looking at the things in the world in which we live. ``The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork`` (Psalm 19:1). Romans 1:20 points out that by looking at creation we can know there is a God. Putting God first in our thoughts, and keeping Him there, is the best way and only right way to live. When we read the Word of God and see all the spiritual blessings we can receive through Christ Jesus...how can we not remember our Creator? The wicked of the world do not have God in their thoughts. Psalm 10:4 says, ``The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.'' The persuasion of the wicked is what Christians want to stay away from! Christians, trying to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:12), should concentrate on spiritual matters. Psalm 119:98 reads, ``O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.'' Certainly one will not have much problem remembering his Creator if God's law is constantly on his mind! Now The old saying, ``Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today'' is applicable to Christian living. Young people have no more assurance of ``tomorrow'' than those who are older in years. Too many of us get in the bad ``habit'' of procrastinating (putting things off until it is almost too late). Such an approach is not in keeping with one who is trying to be a zealous worker in the kingdom of the Lord. Felix was waiting for a ``convenient season'' to obey God's plan of salvation. As far as we know, he never got around to it! Are we waiting for a ``convenient season'' to straighten up some spiritual problem we may have? Certainly we can all think of someone whom we know who learned a lesson or two (the hard way) by waiting to do something that needed immediate attention. The Bible principle is, ``Now is the accepted time, today is the day...'' (2 Cor. 6:2). This should be our attitude and practice when it comes to our spiritual responsibilities. Thy Creator We often sing a song with the words, ``Praise God from whom all blessings flow...'' carrying the idea that all that we are blessed with here on the earth is bestowed upon us by our Father in heaven. If we can keep that attitude foremost in our lives, we will remember our Creator. It is God who allows us to be. He made the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). It is from Him we are to get our instruction (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16,17). When our thoughts are not upon our Creator continually, we can fall into the problem described in Hebrews 3:12, which says, ``Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.'' We are not our own, for we have been bought with a price (I Cor. 6:19,20). For that reason, we are to glorify God from Whom all blessings flow. Our attitude should be in harmony with the idea expressed in Jeremiah 10:23, ``It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.'' When we remember our Creator, we follow God's ordinances and not rules substituted by men in place of His law (Galatians 1:6-9). In the Days of Thy Youth The expression in the Bible text, ``in the days of thy youth...'' stresses the importance of remembering our Creator early in life. We are not to wait until we are ``old'' before we give due attention to spiritual matters. How early should it begin? In Proverbs 22:6 we learn the proper time to begin, ``Train up a child in the way he should go...'' The adult lifestyle is conditioned by one's youth. The environment, associations, recreation, the amount and kind of discipline, and other aspects of childhood play a critical part in determining how a person will live for the rest of his life. With this study we put forth a foundation upon which to build. Future articles for this column will give special attention to ``problems'' facing the younger members of the household of God. ___________________________________________ The Need for Understanding by Tom Edwards I once heard an amusing story about a farmer who wasn't too bright and walked into an attorney's office to file for a divorce. The attorney asked, ``May I help you?'' The farmer replied, ``Yeah, I want to get one of them dayvorces.'' The attorney said, ``Well, do you have any grounds?'' The farmer told him, ``Yeah, I got about 140 acres.'' ``No,'' said the attorney, ``you don't understand. I mean, do you have a grudge?'' ``Yeah, I got a grudge,'' said the farmer. ``That's where I park my John Deere.'' ``No, sir,'' said the attorney, trying to make it clearer for the farmer. ``I mean, do you have a suit?'' The farmer replied, ``Yes, sir, I got a suit. I wear it to church on Sundays.'' The frustrated attorney then asked, ``Well sir, does your wife beat you up or anything?'' ``No, sir,'' answered the farmer. ``We both get up about 4:30.'' Finally, and probably reaching the end of his patience, the attorney asked, ``Okay, let me put it this way: why do you want a divorce?'' The farmer then told him, ``Well, I can never have a meaningful conversation with her.'' It would be hard to find someone who misunderstands as much as the farmer in the above story, but it certainly does illustrate how confusing life would be if we always misunderstood each other; and, therefore, how important it is to not only be able to comprehend what others mean, but also to be clearly understood ourselves; for this is helpful in every relationship of life. Peter exhorts husbands to ''...live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered'' (1 Pet. 3:7). From this verse, the necessity for being compassionate and understanding toward one's spouse is made clear. The King James Version renders the phrase ``in an understanding way'' in this verse as ``according to knowledge.'' A lack or neglect of this can hamper one's prayer life, as the verse also shows. Do you remember what happened in Genesis 11:7 when the people could no longer understand one another? It caused them to divide. This would seem to indicate that understanding is one of the requirements toward unity, which we can also infer from Amos 3:3: ``Can two walk together, except they be agreed?'' Perhaps one of the communication problems today is simply not taking the time to fully listen to what the other person is saying--so, naturally, we won't be able to fully understand something we've heard only partially. As one old preacher used to point out, ``Maybe the reason why God gave us two ears, but just one mouth is so that we'll spend twice as much time listening than speaking.'' How many times, though, have we just assumed what others are thinking, without full knowledge? We need to remember that though jumping rope can be a good thing for our health, jumping to premature conclusions--because we haven't taken the time to listen--is not a good thing for a proper understanding. Not only, however, must we strive to be understood and to understand others, but even more so, to fully fathom God's mind, as revealed in the Scriptures. As the Lord implores through Isaiah, ``Come now, and let us reason together...'' (Isa. 1:18). It is through God's word that we can have ``the mind of Christ'' (1 Cor. 2:16)--and what better understanding is there than that? It is a ``wisdom from above'' (Jms. 3:17). In the short episode recorded for us of the Ethiopian eunuch, we read of a man who soon went from a lack of Bible knowledge and a lost state to an understanding that led to his salvation and rejoicing in the Lord (Acts 8:26-40). What more major of a change could one undergo? This was the ultimate transformation of a sinner to a saint--of a lost soul on the road to hell to a redeemed soul on his way to heaven! Paul, in speaking of the very ones who murdered God's Son Jesus, points out that ``they would not have crucified the Lord of glory'' had they truly understood God's message (1 Cor. 2:8). What a stark contrast between understanding and misunderstanding. And not only in what is done to others, but also in what is done to self: The Lord said through Hosea, ``My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge....'' (Hos. 4:6). An understanding and the lack thereof marks the difference between life and death. As Jesus teaches in John 6:44,45, the way people are drawn to Him is by having ``heard and learned from the Father....'' Salvation is not by some mystical experience that cannot be explained. May we who are Christians always strive to make the gospel clear and plain in order that more people will accept it as the Ethiopian eunuch did, or as Paul who, through an understanding of the gospel, was transformed from being an intense persecutor of Jesus and His church to being one of our greatest examples of a life fully dedicated to the Lord and to His people, the church. As we close, let us meditate on the exhortation that Paul expressed in Ephesians 5:17, ``So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.'' No higher learning--nor more important--can there be than this. ___________________________________________ News & Notes Joey Kirkner, Mary Cox's son-in-law, recently underwent surgery for cancer and will be receiving radiation treatments. He is now back home. Let us pray for a complete and speedy recovery for him. If you are visiting with us this day, we want you to know that we are grateful for your presence. Please come again. Free Bible courses are available upon request. ________________________________________ Avondale CHURCH OF CHRIST 1606 Glen Willow Rd., Avondale, PA 19311 (For postal service, use P.O. Box 421) (610) 268-2088 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 11:00 A.M. Worship 6:00 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:00 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (610) 925-3567 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://www.mypage.onemain.com/tedwards/avondale ________________________________________