OF THE WRITING OF BOOKS...

Jerold Jenkins, president of Jenkins Group Inc, a publishing house, posted these shocking statistics:

33 % of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.

42 % of college graduates never read a book after college.

80 % of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

70% of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

It seems to me that those who don’t read choose to be ignorant.  Sounds harsh, but you can only learn so much from your backyard.  I like what Barbara Tuchman, the respected Jewish historian wrote back in 1979:   Books are the carriers of civilization.  Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.  Books are humanity in print. 

Someone’s going to throw Ecclesiastes 12:12 at me: “Of making many books there is no end.”  Solomon said that, but how do you suppose it happened that “his wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people…for he was wiser than all other men…and people from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon” (1 Kings 4:30-34).   Do you think he might have read a book or two?

 

 I have long encouraged parents to foster a love of reading in their children.  A child who reads will be educated.  And the best way to instill that love is by setting an example.  Share with them what you’re learning from your reading.  Read to them and with them.  My parents never had a lot of money, but they never scrimped on books.  We bought them and we borrowed them, but the policy was- every other book I read had to be a book of the Bible.  Read “Call of the Wild” by Jack London, then read “The Gospel by John Mark.”  Thus both mind and soul were stretched.

From the pastor’s pen

Pastor Wayne

ONLY GOD IS DESERVING!

Time and again, like many other people, I have found myself thinking and feeling that am deserving of the Lord’s good because of my occasional righteous living. Its as though God owes me for doing good in his eyes. I find myself behaving like that little puppy who expects to be rewarded by the trainer for every acrobat achieved. Not so with God!

Deuteronomy 9:4-6 is so pivotal. 

“Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

This is so amazing to many of us out there who think we are deserving. Friends, God looks, plans and purposes beyond us. Can you imagine, while Israel thought God was giving them the promised land because they were a chosen people, God on the other hand was doing so because the foreign nations were so wicked that He had to deal with them. Besides, Israel was equally undeserving as she was also a stiff-necked people.

What about individuals in the Bible who we may have thought that they are more deserving? Righteous people whom we expected all good from the Lord should have follow them all the days of their lives but it turned out that while in a place of righteousness they faced a lot of pain, suffering and afflictions. People like Joseph, Job, Moses, Ruth, Naomi, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea just to mention a few are great examples of men and women who loved the Lord and lead righteous lives and yet their lives were never all roses. Yes, the Lord’s favor was on them and they saw His glories in many ways and yet God let them experience pain, suffering and affliction one way or the other because God had a plan and purpose to achieve for His own glory even through them.

Consequently, whenever we experience good, welbeing or evils of life let us learn to attribute it to God working out all things for his own glory and purpose. It is not about our ability to do good and be righteous that the Lord does a lot of well with us or for us, rather it is so much about His plans and purposes that He has set out to accomplish that we providentially find ourselves busking in the Lord’s good will. At the same time, even when evil like death, decease or economic struggles befall us, again, let us learn to ever pray seeking to see what the will of the Lord is.

Though my personal effort of occasional righteousness matters, it is still undeserving of any reward. For it is all about the Lord, His will, plans and purposes that matter the most. Surely, though goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, it is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in.

HAVE A THANKFUL HEART!

Because of the self-centeredness of the 21^st Century Christian a thankful heart is almost a scarce virtue in the church today. Believers seem to follow the trends of the world: wallowing in the mud pond of pride and egocentric-ism (self-centeredness). It seems these have become the hidden hub upon which the hearts revolve. And yet, on the contrary, the Bible endlessly instructs us to cultivate and nurture a thankful heart in all thinks and at all times.

That’s not to say that there is none thankful in the church today. I have come to know people who are so thankful and such a great delight to have around. Thankfulness is written all over their face and life. They say “thank you” even in the most unexpected situations. They leave you desiring to do more good again, either for them or for other people in need. They just spur you to good works! While I pastored Faith Baptist Church in Riverside Kitwe I was so privileged to shepherd some thankful hearts.

 On the other hand, sad as it may sound, there are believers who are so swallowed up in pride that every good done for them is perceived and received as though it was a debt you owed them. The phrase “thank you” is one of the most rare vocabularies on their lips. Even acts of thankfulness are only done for personal gain. Any good, materially, financially, or spiritual from others or by others is never viewed from a thankful heart but a competitive and inquisitive spirit. Such is not good at all. It is surely awful in the nostrils of God.

Pause and ponder with me for a moment. Is thankfulness an area of your struggle? Do you struggle within yourself at the good of others? Look at the apostle Paul’s heart and learn from him.

Paul was a very thankful person to the Lord for believers in another church that he had never seen or met. It was enough for him to exalt the Lord upon hearing the fruit of the gospel among them. Two churches can attest to this claim: the church at Rome and at Thessalonica. Observe:

Though the church at Rome church was not yet physically known to Paul at the time of his writing the book of Romans, he demonstrated a thankful heart to them. All he had heard about them was that the Lord had turned their hearts to Jesus Christ. Whatever he had heard of these young in the Lord spurred him with great eagerness to visit them. Therefore before he had ever traveled to meet with them he communicated to them his thankfulness to God. “First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (Romans 1:8).  

To the Thessalonians as well, with the same spirit, Paul communicated a thankful heart. First, he admonished them to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess 5:18). Then second, in his second letter to them, he declared to them that being thankful was his obligation towards God for them. “We ought always to give thanks to God for you…” (2 Thess 1:3a).

 Friend, incase you have forgotten, a thankful heart is a mark of true spiritual worship to God. Take time to nurture and cultivate it. Read your Bible and pray about this virtue to be made true of you. Choose to learn again to express gratitude towards what God has done in other’s life. Whenever you notice an act that bears the fruit of the truth of God and meets a need in others or yourself be thankful with your heart. Your simple gesture of thankfulness either by word of mouth or a good act can be a great encouragement to others, especially to those who watch your life.

So, the next time you encounter others doing good deeds be mindful of demonstrating a thankful heart towards God for them. It is a Christian virtue and a true mark of spiritual worship.