Picking Your Battles

How Do I Know Which Fights to Fight and Which to "Pass On"?

1. Framing the question
   1. Extreme 1: Never fight.
      1. Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
      2. 1 Timothy 2:24, “And the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gently to all, apt to teach, patient.
   2. “Leave ‘em alone won’t work. Won’t accord with Scripture. God never meant for children to run the home.
      1. Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”
      2. Proverbs 29:17, “Correct your son and he will give you rest, yes, he will give delight to your soul.”
   3. Extreme 2: Fight every battle to the death.
      1. Proverbs 22:15, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it from him.”
      2. Proverbs 23:13, “Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.”
   4. Fight every battle to the death won’t work. Won’t accord with Scripture. God never meant for home to be a war zone.
      1. a. Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way that he should go (literally “according to his way”) and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
      2. Ephesians 6:4, “And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”
   5. Definition of “fight.”
      1. “You should never fight. Families should never fight. Families love and respect one another. They don’t fight, they discuss.”
      2. Shorthand communication. Truth.
2. Guiding Principles
   1. There are times to fight. Times to take a stand and hold it.
      1. Fight for truth and right. Fight when not fighting would dishonor or disobey God.
         1. Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
         2. Remember Eli and his sons?
            1. 1 Samuel 2:29-30 and 3:11-13.
            2. It wasn’t that Eli didn’t try. Read 2:22-25. It was that he didn’t try enough.
      2. Fight when not fighting shows apathy. Fight when not fighting shows lack of love.
         1. Remember the terrible incident with Amnon and Tamar, recorded in 2 Samuel 13?
         2. David knew what Amnon did. He knew how wrong it was.
         3. 2 Samuel 13:21, “But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.” That’s it. Angry, but inactive. Angry, but detached. And we know what it cost him.
         4. Fight when not fighting shows lack of love. But, don’t fight when you can’t fight in love. Without love, we make a mess of everything.
      3. Fight when not fighting shows lack of backbone.
         1. 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave be strong.”
         2. Wisdom of 2 parents, united in parenting. They support one another. When one wavers, the other bolsters them both.
         3. Fight when not fighting means abdicating your role as parents, when not fighting would diminish your character or destroy your credibility.
         4. Some say, “Fight only when you can win.” Because of the point that we’re discussing now, I disagree. Sometimes we fight even though we know we can’t win. We fight because of what we’d be if we didn’t.
   2. There are times not to fight.
      1. Don’t fight just because others have or do.
         1. Tremendously strong tendency to reproduce or perpetuate our families of origin. To continue the same flaws and fights we grew up with. To bring battles and baggage from our youth into adulthood.
         2. It takes honest, insightful, wise people to avoid this trap.
         3. It may be that none of us avoid it perfectly.
      2. Don’t fight just because you always have.
         1. Key management principle, “If we keeping doing what we’ve always done, then we’ll keeping getting what we’ve always got.”
         2. Counseling version, “If what you’ve been trying isn’t working, try something else.”
         3. Some fights have gone on for so long or they’ve been so badly handled that they must be given up. There’s not resolution. There will be no winners. The only way to mitigate the damage is to just stop fighting.
      3. Don’t fight when the issue is just a matter of preference or opinion. IE, when its preference or opinion rather than right and truth.
         1. Pierced ears. Age of dating.
         2. Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others.”
      4. Don’t fight over things.
         1. Matthew 5:40, “If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” V. 41 = go the second mile.
         2. 1 Corinthians 6:7, regarding those who “go to law before the unrighteous,” “Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept the wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?”
      5. Don’t fight when natural consequences can do the teaching for you.
         1. True of homework. True of dirty laundry.
         2. Don’t rescue when that takes away their responsibility. Don’t do their worrying for them. Don’t fight when their real battle is with themselves.
      6. Don’t fight when you can’t keep your cool. IE, keep your temper and your perspective.
         1. Galatians 6:1-2. Excellent.
         2. Romans 12:17-21.
         3. Example of Christ. 1 Peter 2:22-23, “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. Who when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously…”
   3. Times to stop fighting.
      1. Stop fighting once you’ve made your position clear.
         1. 1 Peter 3:1-2. Why? What?
         2. Don’t nag. Once you’ve gone on record and stated the needed truth, let you life do your talking.
         3. Why? Further words do more harm than good. They become nagging. They are reduced to the level of irritating background noise. They’re not heard any more. They’re not heard, they’re just resented. They grind away at your relationship.
      2. Stop fighting if you realize that fighting is all you are doing.
      3. Stop fighting if you realize that your main objective is to win. Christian objective = to love, to help, to protect, to serve

Reviving Your Marriage

Soul Mates … OR Cell Mates?

Written by Cory Collins

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Gen 29:20

Though there are many degrees in between, and though marriages may be measured in any number of ways, we may consider it as fact that some husbands and wives are soul mates; others are cell mates. The former seem to have hearts that beat together; the latter may want to beat each other, physically and/or emotionally. Very happy couples sprint hand in hand. Sad couples drag on, feeling locked in handcuffs by the marriage “bond.”

Virtually every person that marries thinks he or she has found a soul mate. All is blissful, peaceful, and rewarding. Yet, ironically, months or years later, the joys have turned to chains. The husband (and/or the wife) feels imprisoned and yearns to breathe free! What happened? What can be done about it? If in your marriage you feel like a cell mate …

• Remember and renew the earlier, happier days. When you were free, you chose not to stay that way. Why? Tell your spouse, “I chose you because …” “Some of my favorite memories with you are …” “God blessed us when …”
• Admit the unkind ways you have helped to create the prison. “I have been impatient … unfair … selfish … arrogant.” “I have expected too much, and given too little.” Then, and only then, ask your spouse to take responsibility for his or her part as well.
• Realize that your spouse may feel trapped as well. Give your cell mate some slack, some gratitude, some support. Decrease his or her misery, and you will ease your own. The more you pull on his or her handcuff, the more your own wrist will ache.
• Let some fresh air into the cell. Stop arguing for a week, and talk about areas of agreement, especially basic values. Read the Bible together and pray. Talk about faith, hope, and love. Go for a walk. Share a new hobby and a new church ministry.
• Invite a trusted friend into the cell. An elder or preacher, with his wife, can listen, pray, and offer confidential, godly counsel. So can a trained Christian therapist. Do not be ashamed. Do not deny your struggles. Do not let the devil win.
• Act like a soul mate first. Be the person that you would want to share a cell with, before you ask your mate to be that person. Allow your spouse time to deal with the shock.
• Become a closer soul mate of Jesus Christ. Let His beauty be seen and reflected in you. He forgives. He encourages. He affirms. His yoke is easy, because He shares and carries the load with you. The more you think, speak, and act like Jesus, the more your spouse will want to be bound to you for life.

Helping Other People

People Helping Skills

Written by Dr. Bill Bagents

Christian counseling is too important to be left to professionals. More people talk to family, friends, and brethren than will ever visit a professional counselor. That’s a good thing. Example of professional counselor and client with: my husband is mean, hateful, neglectful, and unappreciative. I’m thinking about leaving him.

• Ann Landers, cost/benefit: “Are you better off with him or without him?”
• Strong feminist: “Marriage is an evil institution invented by males in an attempt to subjugate females.”
• Nutty: “What you need to do is to have a blazing hot affair and make him jealous.”
• Nutty religious: “The devil is in your husband. Bring him for an exorcism.”
• In any helping relationship, the personality, values, attitudes, and beliefs of the helper are vitally important. Galatians 5:22-26. Galatians 6:1-10. Proverbs 3:5-8.

Christian counseling is not getting degrees, learning theories, mastering techniques.

Christian counseling is rather:

• John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this will …”
• Matthew 22:34ff, One of the Pharisees who was a lawyer, posed a question to Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law?” V. 39, the Second = Leviticus 19:18.
• Matthew 7:12, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
• Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” See example in Galatians 6:1ff.
• Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:14, “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.”

In any helping relationship, the personality, values, attitudes, beliefs, and MOTIVES of the helper are vitally important. It is also true that…

The helpee’s attitudes, motivation, and desire for help are vitally important.

The helping relationship between helper and helpee is vitally important. Trust. Relational. In counseling, we don’t fix people. We neither know enough nor have the power. We try to help people learn to help themselves. We care, listen, teach, encourage, challenge, and confront in an effort to help people move closer to God.

Helping must include attention to the helpee’s emotions, thoughts, and behavior – all three. There are many counseling theories/approaches which give attention to only one of these aspects.

Helping involves a variety of skills. Among these are:

1. Listening. Jeffrey Kottler has written, “Listening is the most crucial helping skill.” There are three types of listening:
   1. Passive: formulating your response while the speaker is talking.
   2. Active: mirroring what the speaker says
   3. Attentive: validating the speaker’s feelings, entering the speaker’s world.
2. Encouraging. Encouraging honesty, openness, exploration, taking responsibility, and/or proper action.
3. Supporting. Particularly creating a supportive interpersonal environment.
4. Confronting. In the best case, we help the helpee confront his own bad thinking, inappropriate and/or disproportionate emotions, and/or destructive behavior.
5. Teaching. Through the counseling process, the helpee learns how to act, feel, and/or think differently.

The ultimate goal of Christian helping is to help others draw nearer to God. Ed Welch states it, “The biblical counselor’s purpose is to help persons discern if their lives fit with biblical patterns.” See Proverbs 3:5-8.

Working for the Devil

If I Worked for the Devil

Written by Dr. Bill Bagents

There’s a place for everyone in the devil’s work. He needs dedicated volunteers and bunches of them. Satan has a terrible job. He has to persuade people that they don’t want to live in heaven with God forever.

Heaven is a place of boundless joy. There’s the tree of life, a street of pure gold, and all the redeemed of the ages. There are no tears. There is no pain and no dying.

Hell is a place of total darkness. It’s a place of fire, brimstone, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. The pain is perpetual. Worst of all, hell is a place of no hope.

The devil has a terrible job. Despite the Bible, the influence and example of Christians, and the sense of right and wrong that’s built in to every person, he has to sell the idea that hell is a myth.

Naturally, he uses lies and deceit. That’s all he has to work with. John 8:44 records the words Jesus spoke to some religious leaders who opposed Him, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

What lies does Satan use to keep people out of heaven? In this article, we’ll consider five.

Lie Number One

If I worked for the devil, I’d tell you that the Bible is way too complicated for you to understand. It has all those unusual (and seemingly unpronounceable) names, like Ahasuerus (Esther 1:2) and Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1). There are people who keep changing names, like Abram (Abraham) and Jacob (Israel).

Besides, the Bible is confusing on other levels. We meet Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament. They die. Then, we find the alive in the New Testament (Luke 9). Good guys, people who are God’s servants, do terrible things. David committed adultery and murder. Solomon had all that wisdom, but left God for idolatry. Peter confessed Christ, but then denied Him three times. On top of this, there’s the book of Revelation where locusts shaped like horses come out of the smoke (Revelation 9).

Honestly, there are some things in the Bible that are difficult to understand. But, as a rule, the gospels aren’t. Acts isn’t. Much in Paul’s epistles is quite clear. The heart of the gospel can be understood in one sitting. Check out Romans 13, 1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 4 and 5, or Psalm 100. You’ll find so much that is so clear.

Besides, wouldn’t you be a bit disappointed if everything in Scripture was elementary? Peter acknowledged that Paul’s letters contained “some things hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:14-18). But, isn’t God’s truth something worth digging for? Doesn’t it deserve our time and effort?

Lie Number Two

If I worked for the devil, I’d tell you that if you live as well as most people, you’re OK. After all, this works in many areas of life. The nursery school will keep your child if he’s no meaner than average. Most employers don’t fire their average workers. Policemen don’t usually stop cars that are traveling with the flow of traffic, even if they are speeding.

This lie of Satan works on the assumption that the majority of people are OK with God. Hell is only for “the truly bad.” After all, won’t most people be saved?

You know the words of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and the are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Exodus 23:2 warns against following a multitude to do evil.

Biblical examples help us here. In the days of Noah, was “average” good enough? Was the majority right in 1 Samuel 8 when they demanded a king? In the days of Jeremiah, who was correct, the one prophet predicting seventy years of captivity or the many prophets predicting peace and prosperity? Who were more numerous in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, disciples or crucifiers?

The Bible teaches individual judgment (Hebrews 9:27, 2 Corinthians 5:10), not salvation by group.

Lie Number Three

If I worked for the devil, I would tell you that people just aren’t interested in the gospel anymore. This one is really easy to believe. If you’ve ever tried to be evangelistic, you’ve met with some polite dismissals. Perhaps, you’ve even met with impolite dismissals.

Of course, this lie misses the point. We plant and water, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). In the famous parable of the sower (aka, the parable of the soils), only one of the four proved ultimately fruitful (Matthew 13). Of all the people in Jerusalem on the Pentecost of Acts 2, only about 3,000 gladly received the word and were baptized on that day. And, remember Paul’s missionary journeys. He and his companions often met fierce resistance, but they stayed true to God’s commission.

Certainly, some people are not interested in the gospel. Many will not agree to a “cold contact” Bible study. Often, however, people will agree to study the Bible with those whom they have seen living it. In evangelism, it is faithful effort, not results, which God commands.

Lie Number Four

If I worked for the devil, I would tell you that you deserve complete happiness now. I’d tell you that you have the right to wealth, health, a wonderful family, great friends, and a long life.

I’d tell you this lie for three key reasons. First, I’d hope that you would blame God when disappointments come. I’d hope that you would believe the lie and think that God had promised you a bed of roses just for being a Christian. I’d hope that you’d forget Isaiah’s description of the Messiah as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53). I’d hope that you’d forget the cross, the persecution of Acts 8, and all that 1 Peter says about suffering for Christ.

Second, I’d tell you this lie because it is one that people love to believe. People love to believe that they are immune from suffering and struggle. Job was right, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). Jesus told the truth when He warned His disciples, “In this world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33).

Third, I’d tell you this lie because, if you believe it, you’ll work to make it true. If you believe that you deserve complete happiness now, you’ll live selfishly. You’ll use people and waste things. You’ll reject every difficult truth of God and every demand of discipleship. And you’ll be consumed by your own selfishness.

Lie Number Five

If I worked for the devil, I’d tell you that sin isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I wouldn’t deny that sin is bad, that’s too unbelievable. I wouldn’t deny that sin can destroy through separation from God. Romans 6:23 and 3:23 are too clear to deny. I’d just try to persuade you that sin has been handled.

After all, didn’t Jesus come because “God so loved the world”? Didn’t Jesus die to so that we wouldn’t have to be condemned? Isn’t God’s grace greater than sin? Read John 3, Romans 6, and Ephesians 2. God has handled sin.

Of course, I wouldn’t want to read those chapters carefully. I’d hope that you never notice Jesus’ words, “…Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). I’d hope that you never notice Jesus’ words, “…He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:8). I’d hope that you never notice how Romans 6 demands that we stop letting sin reign in our lives and choose to “walk in newness of life.” I’d hope that focus so much on grace that you never notice the importance of faith in Ephesians 2.

Of course, I’d never remind you of the hardening that can come through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). Above all, I’d never want you to notice the terrifying truth of 2 Thessalonians 2:11. After all, who wants to believe that God could actually let a person reject Him and believe lies?

Conclusion

If I worked for the devil, I’d tell you these lies and more. I’d tell you whatever I could to hide God’s love. I’d tell you whatever you needed to hear to reject God’s offer of life in Christ. If I worked for the devil, I’d know how much misery loves company.

And, I’d hope that you never had the wisdom to search the Scripture and learn God’s truth for yourself.

Introduction to the Gospel of Luke

An Introduction to the Book of Luke

Written by George Goldman

The Beloved Physician

Outside of the “we sections” in Acts, Luke is mentioned three times in the New Testament (Col. 4:14; Philemon 24; 2 Tim. 4:11). In each of these cases Luke is with Paul in prison. The context of the Colossian reference shows that Luke was a Gentile medical doctor (Col. 4:10ff).

The New Testament is not a book written mostly by or about Jews. Luke, a Gentile, wrote more of the New Testament than any other man. The book of Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. Luke and Acts combined are longer than the thirteen letter of Paul. Luke is the most polished writer of the New Testament with the possible exception of the writer of Hebrews. The writings of Luke have a wide vocabulary, 750 – 800 words peculiar to the New Testament appear. His writings are the least Jewish in the New Testament. Except for the first two chapters of his gospel he quotes exclusively from the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX). He presents to the Greeks the ideal man. Jesus, as the Son of Man, is presented as the apex in social, physical, mental, and spiritual attainments (Lk. 2:52). His genealogy is traced all the way back to Adam (Lk. 3:23 ff).

In the early church of gospel of Luke was between Matthew’s and Mark’s in popularity. From his writings it is apparent that Luke was a man of education and culture. He begins his gospel and Acts with an elaborate paragraph which shows the style of the Hellenistic historians of his day. From these paragraphs we learn that the same man wrote both books, which are addressed to Theophilus, and Acts refers to the first book (Lk. 1:1-4; Acts 1:1). Also, from the first words of his gospel it is apparent that he collected his material from eyewitnesses and other written documents. Luke is a careful historian dating the birth of Jesus from six contemporary rulers of his time (Lk. 3:1-2).

The writings of Luke have been called the most beautiful ever written (Renan). The Nativity scene and childhood of Jesus are fresh and different, and suggest the writer’s personal acquaintance with Mary. Beautiful poetry adorns the book: the Magnificat of Mary (Lk. 1:46-55), the Benedictus of Zechariah (Lk. 1:67-79), the Gloria in Excelsis of the angels (Lk. 2:14), and the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon (Lk. 2:29-32).

Luke exalts womanhood. He mentions thirteen women otherwise omitted by the other gospel writers; Elizabeth, the widow of Nain, Anna, Lot’s wife, the widow’s mite; the ladies who ministered to Jesus, etc. More details are given on the lives of Mary and Martha (Lk. 10:38-42), Mary Magdalene (Lk. 8:1-3), etc. (cf. Lk. 8:48; 13:16; 23:28).

Luke stresses the Lord’s attitude toward the poor. Quite a few of the money parables are unique to Luke: the two debtors (Lk. 7:41-43), the rich fool (Lk. 12:16-21), the unrighteous steward, and the rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16), and the pounds (Lk. 19:13-37).

There is an interest in the outcast and underdog: the good Samaritan (Lk. 10), the word of praise for the grateful Samaritan leper (Lk. 9:46-56), the sinful woman, Zacchaeus, the thief on the cross, and the praying publican.

Luke also gives prominence to prayer. Luke records eleven of Jesus’ fifteen prayers. Jesus prayed at His baptism (Lk. 3:2), before His first conflict with the Pharisees (Lk. 5:16), before He chose the Twelve (Lk. 6:12), before He asked the disciples who they thought He was (Lk. 9:18), at His transfiguration (Lk. 9:29), on the cross (Lk.23:40), and only Luke tells of Jesus’ prayer for Peter at Peter’s hour of testing (Lk. 22:32).

Luke gently handles the faults of the apostles and early leaders of the church. He omits James and John’s ambitious request to sit beside Christ. He writes a milder version of Peter’s denial. Similarly, the disciples in the garden slept “for sorrow” (Lk. 22:45), and their desertion of the Lord in the hour of trial is not recorded.

The medical knowledge and interest in seafaring are apparent in Luke’s gospel. In the fourth century Jerome commented, “Luke is a physician as his writings indicate.” In 1882 W.K. Hobart in his book The Medical Language of Luke found over 400 medical terms in Luke-Acts. Adolf Harnack in Luke the Physician (1907) reduced the number but said that Hobart’s thesis was still true. H.J. Cadbury in the Style and Literary Method of Luke (1920) found many parallels between Luke’s vocabulary and other medical writers such as Hippocrates, Galen, and Dioscorides but also pointed out that other educated Greek writers who were not doctors used the same language such as Josephus, Lucian, Plutarch, and LXX.

In the first century there was no special medical language as there is today. A vocabulary of medical terms cannot be used as a main point in establishing who wrote Luke-Acts. Yet there are these interesting observations when comparing Luke to other writers. Peter’s mother-in-law had a “high” fever (Lk. 4:38 cf. Mt. 8:14). The man was “full of leprosy” (Lk. 5:12 cf. Mt. 8:2). Luke omits the statement “she had spent all she had on physicians and was no better” (Ml. 5:26 cf. Lk. 8:43 RSV). Luke refers to surgical needles (belowes) while Matthew and Mark use a sewing needle (rhaphis) (Lk. 18:25; Mt. 19:24; Mk. 10:25).

Sharing our Faith

Leave it in the Sock Drawer

Written by Travis Harmon

From 1999 to 2004, I worked for a police department in northeast Arkansas as a patrol officer. The story I am about to tell is possibly the single most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. If you are not a police officer, you may not think it so embarrassing. But I have rarely felt more like a complete and total failure than I did on this day. In fact, I have told only two or three people in my life about this incident.

I worked the second shift, so I got off work at about 10 p.m. On this particular day, I was asked to come back to work at 6 a.m. to help the short-handed first shift. My routine was completely thrown off. When I got home I made my gun “safe,” and I left all of my gear out because I had to put it back on and go to work so early.

I got to work the next morning and the first call I took was a vicious dog call. It is so rare to actually find a vicious dog that I rolled up to the house knowing that I would find a loveable little pup that was just annoying a neighbor. When I got to the back of the house, I was confronted with the most ferocious bulldog I have ever seen. We had about 90 feet of open grass between us. When he saw me, he immediately started to growl. As I was drawing my pistol and taking aim, he started to charge. I rapidly aimed and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. For some reason the dog stopped about 30 feet from me and I realized my gun was on safety. I felt so inadequate. I quickly moved the safety to fire, and the bulldog, fiercer than before, started toward me. I pulled the trigger and was again rewarded with nothing. I stood perfectly still, out of fear or bravery, I do not know. As the animal charged and ran by me, he tried to bite my arm. By only the grace of God, he missed, and his teeth only made a glancing blow at my hand, leaving an imprint. He ran by me and circled for a third charge. I knew instantly what had happened. The night before, in an attempt to make my gun “safe,” I had also taken the bullet out of the chamber. I quickly backed away to my car. In my retreat, I loaded my gun, having missed two opportunities to save myself. I then called the dog catcher and waited in my car until he arrived.

I cannot tell you what a miserable failure I felt like. Even now, years later feelings of embarrassment and inadequacy flood my heart over the incident. I almost lost an arm. If it had been a person with a gun or a knife instead of a dog, I would be a dead man. My two girls would have been fatherless. What if I had been sent to a bank robbery instead of a dog call? I was defenseless. I had the skill to save my life but it was a false sense of security because I had made the tool that could do it inoperable. If I had needed to use my weapon to protect a brother officer, he or she would have been dead because of me. It was all because I wanted this dangerous object to be “safe.” I never felt so unworthy to be an officer.

One day when discussing firearm safety with fellow officers, I heard one remark, “If you want the gun to be safe, leave it in your sock drawer at home.” I wonder if many Christians are not putting their Christianity in the sock drawer at home and leaving it there, or if they put in on safety and try to take the bullets out?

For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb 4:12

Christianity is not safe. We do not want to talk to our friends about it because we know it can pierce the joints and marrow. We live in fear that our friendships will be damaged if we discussed our beliefs. In reality, Christianity is a defensive weapon that is to save life. In the Great Commission Jesus says, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mar 16:15 We are not to leave it at home. We are to take it with us. In fact, our friends should be furious with us if we do not try to talk to them about our Lord. They will be one day. Our Lord will also be furious with us if we try to make it safe. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire Mat 7:19-23

I have a hard time not taking Mark 4:8-9 personally; “And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. (9) And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” I have ears. I hear. How am I doing on my hundred yield increase? My sixty? Or even my 30? You know what? I have a neighbor that I have lived by for four years that I have never talked to about the Gospel because I wanted our relationship to be safe. How safe is that? I cannot tell you what a miserable failure that makes me feel like. I think I better go see him on the way home if I want to make it home. Rom 1:16

The Power of Song

“Give ‘em Watts, Boys!”

Written by Cory Collins

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them … Ac 16:25

Believe it or not, a 17th-century British hymn writer indirectly helped American troops to withstand British forces almost one hundred years later, during the Revolutionary War.

Isaac Watts was born on July 7, 1674, in Southampton, England. His father was a religious dissenter who spent much time in jail as a result. Young Isaac learned Latin at the age of five, Greek at nine, French at eleven and Hebrew at thirteen. For twelve years, his mother taught him to write rhyme and verse. He devoted much of that learning to hymns.

Altogether he penned more than 600 hymns. Among the best known, still beloved today, are: “Joy to the World;” “O God Our Help in Ages Past;” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross;” “I Sing the Mighty Power of God;” “When I Can Read My Title Clear;” “Alas and Did My Savior Bleed” (also known as, "At the Cross"); “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” and, “Come We That Love the Lord” (also known as, “We’re Marching to Zion”).

English immigrants to the American colonies brought hymnals, filled with Watts’ songs, with them to the New World. They intended to use them just for singing, of course, but war changed their plans. On June 23, 1780, at the Battle of Springfield (New Jersey), British forces attacked with about 5000 men and almost 20 cannon. They seemed invincible. Gen. George Washington had left the area, leaving others to face the invading army.

During the battle the American colonists ran out of ‘wad’ for their muskets. A chaplain on the scene ran into the nearby church building and gathered up the hymn books, containing Watts’ songs. He then proceeded to tear out the pages and give them to the soldiers to be used to wad their muskets, as he yelled out, "Give 'em Watts, boys!" They did. The British forces retreated, never to attack New Jersey again. From the Battle of Springfield came the modern phrase used to express anger, "to give them 'watt' for."

Paul and Silas “wadded their muskets” with songs of praise in a Philippian jail. Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn after the Last Supper, before going to Gethsemane. David found God’s strength through song when persecuted by Saul, attacked by the Philistines, and defied by his son Absalom. Paul spoke of this “wadding:” “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Col 3:16

Christian, use that songbook! Fill your heart and your lips with victorious songs of God’s glory. Come into His presence with praise and thanks. Share those songs with your family. Live out the words you sing. Then watch the enemy run.