Ownership

The long Arctic night was approaching fast. Above the airplane was a low, threatening deck of clouds. Below him was a seemingly limitless expanse of snow and ice covering the tundra. Somewhere out there in that whiteness was a lone boy and his dog team. The local men from the village had gone out by land in their dogsleds looking for the boy. They had searched for two days, to no avail.

In his epistle, James specifically wrote about giving actual physical assistance to widows and orphans. It is not enough to care for them or to feel sorry for them. In the same context, James asked believers, “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:15–16).

Many couples have found that the marriage years slip past with increasing and alarming rapidity. Oftentimes, young couples on their honeymoon assume that they will have an entire lifetime to spend in each other’s company. But the realities of life soon crowd in. Career and home pressures consume time and attention. Friends and family make their demands upon a couple’s time. Even church events, as good and edifying as they might be, can encroach upon valuable time that a couple might spend together.

The dawn of a new year is an excellent time to remember the importance of time and to consider how we ought to redeem it in the coming days. It has been wisely stated that “life is what happens while you are waiting for life to begin.” When young people hold the attitude that life doesn’t really start until marriage, they will live in constant discontentment, longing for the next stage of life.

“Can I be content with singleness and yet desire marriage at the same time?” or “Does one exclude the other?” God’s Word never contradicts itself. Thus, if God calls His children to contentment and simultaneously encourages His children to pursue good things, then there is no contradiction. We can apply this truth to other areas of life and then draw a few conclusions about anticipation for marriage.

Four hundred years ago, an aging couple in their fifties left behind all that they had known and loved to journey to the rocky, untamed wilderness of North America. William and Mary Brewster, in spite of their advancing ages, were among the brave Pilgrims that boarded the Mayflower to sail to the New World. Unlike most Pilgrims, William Brewster had a family heritage among the landed gentry of England. He had been educated at Cambridge University and held the public office of Postmaster while living in his manor house in Scrooby.

There was a day when Abraham laid his wife Sarah in the grave. In the touching account of Abraham’s purchase of a burial plot, he “came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (Genesis 23:2). No matter how expected the death, how long the life, or how bright the hope of the resurrection, it remains a sad, sorrowful blow to the heart of a man or a woman when the closest bond on earth is severed by our last enemy.

Finally, the time for the sermon came. Henderson leaned forward in his pew. Bruce ascended the pulpit, opened his Bible, and announced his text. He read aloud the first verse of John 10. The words of the text pierced Alexander Henderson’s heart! Did the preacher know that he, the pastor of Leuchars, was there? More importantly, did God know Henderson’s thoughts, his ambitions, his motives, and his very heart?

When he was just 11 years old, he not only killed his first lion, but he also took part in the bloody Battle of Vegkop. The political history of the South African Republic is a complicated one, but one fact is clear: Paul Kruger became the dominant figure of Boer history for half a century.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” I John 4:7–11.

As human beings, we tend to love what is lovely. Conditional in nature, our natural love is based upon the worth of the object of our love. But God’s love is unconditional. It is eternal. It is unmerited. Thus, God is able to love the unlovely, the despised, the vile, the outcast, and every single one of us who are sinners.

We are all prone to think of our “neighbor” in the comfortable circle of those whom we already love. It is easy to define neighbor to include our close friends at church, the next-door neighbor who watches over our house when we are away, the coworker who shares our viewpoints, and the people with whom we enjoy socializing. But what about the family on the other side of the street with the barking dog? What about the coworker who is continually gossiping about other coworkers? What about the one person who always seems to ask the wrong question at the wrong time? What about people from a different cultural background than ours? Are these our “neighbors” too?

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). How many times have you heard this familiar, beloved verse? It has been used in a variety of ways. Christian business leaders have used it to encourage their employees to do their best. Christian politicians have quoted this verse to announce hope for the future. Christian military officers have referenced it on the eve of battle, encouraging the soldiers under their command that Christ gives strength for the victory. It has even been used by Christian volleyball teams as a pep cheer before a game!

When we mature, our values should mature with us. We should no longer value things over people, profit over principle, and time over eternity. We should not waste our time worrying about things that do not matter or working overtime for things we will sell at next year’s garage sale.

In every circumstance, Elisha was content with God’s provision and protection. According to II Kings Chapter 6, on one occasion while Elisha and his servant were in the village of Dothan, an entire army was dispatched with the express purpose of capturing Elisha. The man of God remained perfectly calm and content in the midst of almost certain capture.

In today’s modern culture, we are bombarded with advertising. Christians who do not have a proper defense against covetousness can easily fall prey to impulsive spending. The opposite of covetousness is contentment. A contented man is a grateful man who has learned to rest in what God has provided for him, regardless of what God may have granted to others.

Twelve dusty and weary warriors approached the edge of the Israelite encampment. For forty days, these twelve men had been scouting in enemy territory, in the land that the children of Israel knew as the “Promised Land.”

Before COVID-19, a person could not enter a bank with a mask on. The simple reason? Masks were not normally allowed in banks because a robber often used a mask to disguise his true identity. The eighth commandment states, “Thou shalt not steal.” In our study of the eighth commandment, we have been on guard against the dangers within our own hearts of robbing God or others. In this final article covering this particular commandment, we will consider not stealing from the perspective of guarding our own genuine treasures from the disguised, subtle robbers that abound, looking to steal and destroy from us.

We often hear the claim that the Pilgrims stole land, resources, and crops from the Indians. Plenty of scholars promote this view who see all European settlers as robbers and all North American natives as victims. However, there are plenty of scholars who vigorously deny all wrongdoing on the part of the Pilgrims and paint all Indians as bloodthirsty savages who killed and plundered, and needed to be placed in subjugation. Before any hasty or emotional judgment on the question of relations between European settlers, known commonly as “Pilgrims,” and native inhabitants of Cape Cod, known commonly as “Indians,” it is important to view the settlement question in the light of a broader, historical view.

We have become so accustomed to price tags that we take them for granted. But one hundred fifty years ago, price tags were rarely used in most stores in America. Merchants and consumers were accustomed to the system of barter and trade. If a merchant thought that he could sell you a good axe for ten dollars, why would he let a customer buy one for only seven dollars? Merchants intentionally did not show their customers a fixed price. But this system led to much corruption, and many people were taken advantage of over the years through unscrupulous and greedy “negotiations.”