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Restored New Testament Christianity

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Thought for the week

New Opportunity

Every now and then a new opportunity comes along that has the potential to set you alight with enthusiasm. Recently I have had just such an opportunity. It involves promoting the concept of motivating parents to finance their children for future higher education so that one day their children may have the opportunity attend some form of tertiary education later on in life via a scholarship provided through the interest from investments that a vast membership is able to provide. This is even more important in this day and age where successive governments are cutting grants and charging parents with the responsibility of providing for their own children to attend higher education along with the resultant ever increasing burden of student debt falling on the shoulders of an already worried job seeking graduate. I believe the concept to be wonderful and much needed for I testify along my wife that we became members of this society some 15 years ago for the benefit of our youngest son who will now use the contributions we made over the years to fund his poly tech course next year. What I think is really neat is that I now have the chance to encourage other young families to also think ahead using the same not-for-profit friendly society that runs the programme in my country which is, by the way, the only organisation to do so in New Zealand.

Now Paul had a similar concept in mind for the church situated in Colossae only his thought was for motivation to obey the gospel and the spiritual well-being that comes as a result. In Colossians 4:2-3 his desire is for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be spread so that many others may enjoy the fruits of eternal life in heaven along with the Divine Godhead and the throne of obedient throughout the ages. This, he believed, could be accomplished by praying to God that “God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ.” You see, it is only through the word that can we know why and how we need to be saved because “faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The word received is that which saves (James 1:21) from which man finds the only way in which the burden of sin may be lifted from his shoulders.

A new opportunity exists and abounds every day to motivate us to this higher thought; the trick is to take that motivation and use it to benefit souls for eternity.

Graham

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Thought for the week

What The Rich Man In Torment Would Have Us To Know

Have you ever stopped to consider what the rich man in torment would say to us if given a chance? Make no mistake about it, he would speak to us if he could, but he can’t (cf. Luke 16:26-31). God gives us all the information we need in His Word and it’s up to each of us to find those facts and apply them to our lives (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3)! But let’s suppose for a minute that it were possible for him to speak to us. What would he say?

The rich man would tell us that our time on earth is limited and that death is inevitable. He’d fared sumptuously every day. He had it all, and I’d dare say that death and eternity were the furthest things from his mind, as they are with many still today. But despite the comforts and pleasures he’d enjoyed in this life, time ultimately came for him to cross over into eternity. We’re all going to die (cf. Heb. 9:27; Jam. 4:14). Cemeteries are proof that our time is limited. People of all ages and from all walks of life can be found buried therein! Thus, what time we do have in this life should be spent in preparing for that life to come!

The rich man would tell us that hell is real! It’s amazing to hear people talk about there being a heaven, but in the same breath reject the notion of there being a hell. Hell is a prepared place for an unprepared (spiritually) people, make no mistake about it (cf. Mat. 25:41; 2 The. 1:8-9; 2 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 21:8). Because hell is real we must fear it and use it as motivation to keep us on the straight and narrow (Mat. 7:13-14).

The rich man would tell us that earthly things have no eternal value. What do you suppose his fare and sumptuous life before death meant to him after death? Those things he had enjoyed in this life could not help him, comfort him, or aide him in eternity! It’s what we do in this life that will follow us into eternity, not what we have (cf. Rev. 14:13; 2 Cor. 5:10; Mat. 6:19-20; 2 John 2:15-17; 2 Pet. 3:10-14).

The rich man would tell us to quit making excuses and obey God today! He will spend eternity in torment thinking about the excuses he made and the subsequent opportunities he squandered to obey God’s Word. Opportunities to obey God’s will are quickly passing and will soon cease! Today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2; Heb. 3:15)!

Where we spend our eternity will be determined by how we spend our time on earth. Let’s not make the same fatal mistake as did the rich man. Let’s spend our time in this life preparing for and looking forward to that life in the hereafter.

Terry R. Townsend (October 9, 2012)
Terry preaches for the Curry Street church of Christ, Jasper, Alabama
http://www.currychurchofchrist.org/

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