We went a long time before we finally gave in and bought a cell phone.  It was an expense we did not need, and an aggravation we did not want.  I am not the servant of my phone and will not allow it to have me running at its beck and call!  But finally the phone companies took down most of the phone booths I had used when there was an emergency or I just needed to make some unexpected last minute arrangements.  I had to have a phone for those things. 
            It still isn’t the cure for everything, especially where I live.  While I may be one of the only people in the state of Florida to actually use her cell phone for emergencies only, when I need to use it, I really need to use it.  Then it becomes more than a little aggravating to get only one or two bars or worse, the big red X—no service.  Wherever that tower is, it is to the southwest, and I have spent a lot of time wandering around in my southern field trying to turn that red X into at least three bars so I will hear more than static and be less likely dropped. 
            Once I was meandering with such rapt attention on that tiny little screen that when I finally got my three bars and stood stock still so I wouldn’t lose them, I found myself jumping around a moment later, covered in fire ants.  The only place I could get reception was in an ant bed!
            But cell towers do not matter when you need the Lord.  Whenever His children need Him, he is just a word or a thought away.  You don’t even have to dial, and you certainly don’t have to wander around outside in the heat or cold or rain trying to get a signal.  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” James tells us (4:8).  Indeed when I looked up the word in a concordance, I discovered that the only reason God is ever “far” from us is because we have gone far from Him (Isa 29:13; 33:13;  46:12; etc.).
            The next time you pull out that little monstrosity, remind yourself how blessed you really are.  You have a Father in Heaven who will answer your call no matter how many bars your spirit has left within you.  He will hear you, even if you only have strength left to whisper.
 
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, Heb 4:16.
 
Dene Ward

I recently found this compilation on berksblog by Warren Berkley:

Henry Ward Beecher: “Let me speak in the language of heaven and call you Christians.”

Albert Barnes: “These divisions should be merged into the holy name Christian.”

Martin Luther: “I pray you leave my name alone. Do not call yourselves Lutherans, but Christians.”

John Wesley: “I wish the name Methodist might never be mentioned again, but lost in eternal oblivion.”

Charles Spurgeon: “I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ’s name last forever. I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living.”

Peter, the Apostle: “Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name,” (1 Pet. 4:16).

Paul, the Apostle: “Now, this I say, that every one of you says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:12-13).

Luke, the writer of Acts: “…And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,” (Acts 11:26).

(Pulpit Helps, 7-89)  From Expository Files 4.3; March 199

I started jogging and working out when I was 29.  By the time I was 30 I jogged 30 miles a week.  Oh, to have all that energy again!  I still work out, but several surgeries, medication side effects, psoriatic arthritis, and bad vision make it impossible to do what I used to—not to mention age, which will tell on even the healthiest of us.
            Some days, usually Mondays when I have had a couple days off the elliptical machine, I do well, finishing my chosen program two or three minutes ahead of schedule.  Other days I just plod on through until the programmed timer goes off and I notice that I was a quarter mile short of my programmed distance.  But I got it done.  I sweated and I panted and my muscles burned for the allotted amount of time.  Mission accomplished.  Maybe I will live an extra day because of it.
            Some Sundays I have no trouble at all keeping my mind on the worship. I am full of spiritual pep and vitality.  I sing with gusto and listen attentively to the classes, prayers and sermons, even making connections I never had before, priming myself for more study when I get home.  Other Sundays it’s all I can do to just be there.  My mind is as lethargic as my body.  I hear, but I don’t really comprehend.  When I leave I wonder if it did me any good at all.  Surely God is upset with my poor showing that day.
            Is He?  If the day was difficult, but I made it anyway; if it was a struggle to worship “with the spirit and the understanding;” if the “all” I had to give was very little, was my service to God a failure?  I don’t think so.  We have no trouble understanding the concept of the widow’s mite in a literal way.  She gave all she had that day, and Jesus praised her for it.  Some days the spiritual mite is smaller than others.  If I give it all, why isn’t that what God expects of me?  Won’t God be pleased that I still tried as hard as I could with far less available than usual?  If God goes by effort, I worked harder that day than on any day when it was easy, didn’t I?
            And if this sort of thing worries you, if you find yourself thinking you have failed because you weren’t at your spiritual peak, then you have certainly shown the heart of flesh that God told His people He wanted from them.  You didn’t feel like it, but you still obeyed God’s instructions in your service.  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, Ezek 11:19-2.  Obedience in spite of it all—that’s the heart of flesh.  A hard heart can shout amen and sing the rafters off the roof in the middle of blatant disobedience.  God made it clear which He prefers.
            By the end of an exercise week I am really dragging.  My legs feel like lead and my lungs seem starved of oxygen.  But I still go at it and get it done.  It still does my body the good I intended.  If you are dragging at the end of some spiritual interval, a time that might have started out with all the vitality you could have wanted but gradually wore down, just keep on plugging.  The energy will return and you will be back where you want to be.  It does not mean that you are not where God wants you to be.
 
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint, Isa 40:28-31.
 
Dene Ward

My grandsons have “buddies,” their favorite stuffed animals/characters/items to sleep with.  For Silas it is a soft fabric Spiderman, a well-worn and slightly dingy Puppy, and his “blankie,” a receiving blanket that has been with him since he was an infant.  For Judah it’s Lucky the Tiger (stuffed of course), Marshall (a stuffed Dalmatian he named after the Paw Patrol character), and his blankie, Leo, several times bigger than his brother’s.  They go with them everywhere.  On any sort of trip, you will see those buddies in the back seat.  Sometimes they are not in the arms of those little guys, but just their presence somewhere nearby has a calming effect.

Can they do without them?  Yes, they can.  They never take them into the church meetinghouse, or into a restaurant, and especially not to school.  Their primary function is as bedtime buddies.  However, should they become frightened or upset, guess who they look for?  Guess what they ask for?  When the tears start, guess what Mommy and Daddy start scouring the house for?  Once they are found, the relief is instant.  No more crying.  No more fear.  No more worries about what lies ahead.  They have their buddies, and they are just fine.  They will even tolerate being left with a babysitter or taken two plus hours north to Grandma’s house for several days without Mom and Dad as long as those buddies are with them.

At the risk of sounding irreverent, isn’t that how God and our Lord should be to us?  Shouldn’t we recognize their presence every day, in fact, plead for their presence in our lives and be grateful for it?  When things go awry, as they will sooner or later in everyone’s life, shouldn’t they be the ones we look for?  And once we are assured of their presence, shouldn’t the relief be instant?  Isn’t that what faith is all about?

Hannah could not have children, it seemed, the great longing of every Hebrew woman.  In addition, her rival wife “provoked her” constantly.  She was “in great bitterness” and “wept sorely” (1 Sam 1:10).  What did she do?  She went to God and prayed her heart out.  “I poured out my soul before Jehovah,” she told Samuel (v 15).  And what happened afterward?  “Her countenance was no longer sad (v 18).

What do you do when a crisis rears its ugly head?  What do you rely on?  Who do you count on?  What calms your fears and dispels your worries?  Hannah knew who her real Buddy was, and He calmed her as no one else could.  If your “buddies” are anyone or anything besides your Father and Older Brother, you will be sorely disappointed in the results.  Those little boys will go anywhere as long as they have their buddies.  We sing a song, “If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go—anywhere.”  Can you?
 
I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence, Ps 140:12-13.
Dene Ward

Many years ago we were wandering through a piano store looking for a light to go over the music stand on my own piano.  My parents had allowed me to take that one with me when I married, a Baldwin Acrosonic built in 1960 for which they paid $750.00, new.  As we meandered through the store waiting for a salesman to become free, I passed a mahogany studio grand and stopped in my tracks for a closer look.  It was a Knabe, the brand used by the Metropolitan Opera in those days, and the price tag said $5500.00.  No way, I thought.  This is a $20,000 instrument!  I sat down and ran through a Scarlatti sonata and the first movement of a Haydn.  The piano sounded and felt just fine.  What was going on?
            Finally the salesman made it over to us and showed us the piano lamp we had been looking at, but which had no price tag.  It clipped to the music stand so that the light was not on the back of the piano, but directly over the music, just like I wanted, and needed, for these eyes.  After a moment or two of research he came back with a price--$75.00!  As I said, this was many years ago and that represented nearly half of our weekly income.  I didn't even spend that much on groceries for a family of four back then.
            We were ready to walk out when Keith happened to ask about the grand and we got the whole story.  It had been willed to the University of Florida by an alumnus from Miami and it was a huge contrast to all the other brand spanking new pianos—it had a scratch here and there.  This one, we were told, came out at the turn of the 20th century because it had a chestnut core, and a blight hit the American chestnut first in 1904 and completely destroyed them within the next 40 years.  Yes, Knabes were great pianos and this one probably classified as an antique, but it just would not do on the stages of the University of Florida Music Department, which ultimately became a Steinway School of Music.  The university had traded it in on another new Steinway.  That accounted for the price.  For the average piano buyer, it was a steal, and it competed with the new ones on the floor.  The store owner simply wanted it sold as quickly as possible.
            Then Keith suddenly started dickering with the salesman about the piano.  I could not believe my ears.  We couldn't afford a $75.00 piano light, but he was talking about buying a $5500 piano?  I stood there in shock as he first got the salesman down to an even $5000, but that wasn't good enough for him—and it certainly wasn't good enough for our budget.  He mentioned our piano and asked about a trade-in. 
            Finally the salesman had to stop.  "I can't go any further," he said.  "You'll have to talk to the boss."
            And talk he did.  We left that place with a date for delivery, plus a $1000 trade-in (for one that had originally been $750!) off the new price of $4000, leaving $3000 for us to pay.  They threw the piano light in for nothing.  The next morning we would go to the bank for a loan, but on the way out of that store that afternoon, the news having reached him as he waited on another customer, the salesman called out, "Come back when you need another light!"
             So that's the story of how one of my dreams came true—a grand piano.  But the more important story is this:  Did you notice that the salesman was only authorized to do so much, and after that he had to go ask the boss?  In religion today, people scoff at authority.  Anyone who claims we need to have God's permission to do something is called a Pharisee, a legalist, or worse.  Yet every day we deal with the concept of authority and have no problem understanding it at all.  Who can sign your credit card?  Who can withdraw money from your bank account?  Yet people suddenly get up in arms when someone questions their right to change the worship God asked for, the method of salvation he demanded, or the life he requires us to lead.  If God does not have the authority to tell us how to do these things, then pray tell, who does?
            Most people think they do.  Perhaps you should consider that notion again if you find out someone has taken your credit card number and charged a few thousand dollars on it.  How can you complain when you don't think your Creator has the right to tell you how He wants to be worshipped, or what it would take to form a relationship with Him?  If that salesman had given us the deal the boss did, he would have probably been fired, and he knew it.  Why are we so smart everywhere except when dealing with the Almighty God?
 
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of [by the authority of] the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col 3:17).
For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever (Mic 4:5).
 
Dene Ward

Most of us know the story of Hannah who asked God for a son and promised to give him back.  She certainly made an amazing vow and an astounding sacrifice I can scarcely understand.  But do we consider her many examples in prayer?
            Hannah was the second wife of a man of Ephraim, a Levite (1 Chron 6:33-38) named Elkanah.  The story reminds me a bit of Leah and Rachel, except that Hannah  and Peninnah were not sisters, and Hannah, the favored wife, was far more righteous and God-fearing than Rachel, who stole her father’s household gods (Gen 31:19) and nagged Jacob to death about her inability to conceive as if it were his fault (Gen 30:1,2).  Going to God was Rachel’s last resort, after first badgering Jacob, then offering her handmaid (Gen 30:3) and finally using mandrakes (Gen 30:14), the aphrodisiac of the day.  You should take a few minutes sometime and read the meanings of her children’s names (by her handmaid) if you want a flavor of her mindset, and compare them with the names of Leah’s children.  Then of course, there was Joseph.  When God answered her prayer for her own child, she named him, “Give me another one.”  Look at the marvelous contrast of Hannah, who after asking for a child and receiving him, gave him up to God, with no promise that she would ever have another.
            Hannah shows us what prayer is supposed to be—not some halfhearted muttering of ritual phrases, but a “pouring out of the soul” 1 Sam 1:15.  She prayed so fervently that Eli, watching her, thought she was drunk.  As she told Eli, “Out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken” v 16.  Her prayer life was such that her relationship with Jehovah gave her the confidence to tell him exactly how she felt, in the plainest of speech, evidently.  You do not speak to someone that way unless you have spent plenty of time with him and know him intimately.  Are we that close to God?
            She also teaches us what prayer should do for us.  Look at the contrast between v 10 and v 18.  Before her prayer “she was in bitterness of soul…and wept sore.”  Afterward, she “went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.” 
            Of course, Hannah had the reassurances of a priest and judge that God would give her what she had prayed for, but don’t we have the assurance of the Holy Spirit through the word He gave that God listens and answers our prayers?  Shouldn’t we exhibit some measure of ease after our prayers?      In whom do we have our faith?  If the doctors say it is hopeless, do we pray anyway?  Do we carry our umbrellas, even though the weatherman says, “No rain in sight?”  Do we pray on and on and on, even when it seems that what we ask will never come to pass?  God does not run by a timetable like we do.  Hannah had the faith that says, “It’s in God’s hands now,” and she was able to get on with her life.  Life does go on, no matter which answer we get, and God expects us to continue to serve Him with a “thy will be done” attitude.
          “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” James tells us in 5:16.  Hannah shows us it works for righteous women as well.  Can people tell by our lives that we believe it?
 
Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.  From the end of the earth will I call unto you, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  For you have been a refuge to me, a strong tower from the enemy.  I will dwell in your tabernacle forever.  I will take refuge in the covert of your wings.  Psa 61:1-4
 
Dene Ward

Keith and I teach a class called Preparation for Marriage and Parenting.  Below are a few comments we throw in during these classes that are not in the lesson book we compiled, but which probably ought to be.  For what they are worth…
 
            Headship is not about getting to do whatever you want to do.  It is about carefully considering the needs of the entire family and doing what is best for them, whether it is what you want to do or not.
            Any woman who has difficulties with subjection has difficulties with being a Christian.  Submission is what being a disciple of Christ is all about.
            A man who makes subjection difficult for his wife might as well get himself sized for a millstone.
            There are many different ways to handle problems in a marriage.  The first and most important thing you should do is make up your minds that you will make it through this.  Never keep a divorce lawyer on your speed dial.
            It doesn’t matter whether you understand women or not.  It doesn’t matter whether you understand men or not.  What matters is understanding that your spouse does not think like you do.
            If you ladies are going to use your hormones as an excuse for bad behavior, then you should allow your husband to use male hormones as an excuse for his.
            Marriage is a high maintenance relationship.  As soon as you start neglecting it, it will go downhill.
            Spouses who do not communicate well and on a regular basis will soon be total strangers.
            Letting her talk is useless if you don’t listen.
            Your children are not your own.  They are merely souls God has given into your care, and He expects them to be returned in good shape.
            You are teaching your children whether you intend to or not.  What textbook are you using?  Look in the mirror.
            Make no mistake about it—you are waging a war with your toddlers, which you should win before they reach school age.  Any time you “give in,” you have lost a battle and retaking that territory will take twice as long at twice the cost to your relationship with your child.
            Too many parents don’t train their children, their children train them.
            A father who won’t change dirty diapers probably won’t be much use to his children when the messes of life afflict them either.
            If you tell your child, “If you do that again, I am going to _________ you,” and then don’t ______them when they do it again, you have lied to your child.
            Don’t tell me that a child is too young to comprehend punishment before the age of 2.  My child is smarter than any puppy dog I ever saw.  So is yours.
            Raising kids is hard work.  Our society and its children are suffering from parents who were either too lazy or too selfish to do the job right.
 
            Gleaning in the field sometimes gives you choice produce that was simply overlooked.  Other times there is a reason it was left there.  So this morning choose from the list and take what is most helpful.
 
Except Jehovah build the house they labor in vain that build it…Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate, Psalm 127:1, 3-5.
           
Dene Ward

I certainly do not mean to be judgmental, but when people actually say it out loud, when they write it on Facebook posts, isn’t it a matter of “by your words you will be condemned” (Matt 12:37)?

            Listen to the things people say about why they worship where they worship, or what makes that place appealing to them.
            “I love the singing there.”
            “The preacher is so easy for me to listen to.”
            “I feel so good when I leave.”
            “Everyone is so friendly and loving to me.”
            “They came to visit me while I was in the hospital.”

            Okay, so maybe a few of them are not terrible reasons, but do you see a common denominator in them all?  It’s all about me and how I feel.
Why is it you never hear things like this?
            “I go because my God expects me to be a part of a group worship and accountable to a group of brethren and godly elders.” 
            “I go so I can provoke others to love and good works as the Bible says.”
            “I go to study God’s Word and this group actually studies the Bible instead of some synod’s pamphlet.”     
         “The sermons often step on my toes, but I want to be challenged to improve as a disciple of Christ.”

Can you see a completely different center of attention in those?  In fact, if the second list can be said to center on the object of our worship, what does that say about the object of worship in the first list?

I hear items from the first list often, but from the second seldom, if ever.  So here is my question:  If a person cannot find any items from the first list in a church, does that excuse him from the assembled worship in his area?  Of course not.

So why do we act like we are sacrificing something if the only place available has a preacher with poor speaking ability, no one who can carry a tune, and isn’t particularly outgoing?  If that is my idea of sacrificing for my Lord, I’d better hope our country never builds a modern Coliseum. 

Sometimes serving God is not a lot of fun.  Sometimes it isn’t very exciting.  Sometimes it is a lot of work with little appreciation.  Sometimes we will be ignored.  Sometimes we will be criticized.  Sometimes we will be the object of scorn and sometimes these things will come at the hands of our own brethren.  If I can’t take a boring sermon and off-key singing, what makes me think I can handle real persecution? 

If I would be ashamed for my first century martyred brethren to hear my griping about the church, why do I think it is acceptable for anyone to hear it?  Does it glorify God?  Does it magnify His church and His people?  No, I imagine it sends everyone else running from instead of running to “the pillar and ground of the truth,” the church for which “he gave himself up,” the manifestation of His “manifold wisdom” (1 Tim 3:15; Eph 5:25; 3:10).

And if somehow we could call it some sort of trial or persecution to worship with a group that is not exactly the ideal, what would the proper attitude be?  Certainly not griping about it, but rather “rejoicing that we are counted worthy to suffer,” (Acts 5:41).  Why, maybe we should actually go out and look for those places to worship! 

And if I did choose one of those places to hang my hat, would it really become any better with someone like me in it?  Make no mistake.  It isn’t about whether the kingdom of God, specifically the one I attend, is worthy of me and my commendation, it’s about whether I can ever be worthy of it.
 
For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory, 1Thess 2:11-12.
 
Dene Ward
 

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm* as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
’Tis all that I can do.
           
            This post is not so much about what the song lyrics mean as it is about teaching us to pay attention to what we are singing.
            Read the lyrics above, if you have not already.  Some of them may be unfamiliar because they are routinely left out of hymnals.  Songs of Faith and Praise is particularly bad about choosing three verses whether their order makes sense or not.  Sometimes they will choose four, but why makes no more sense to me than just choosing three.  In the case of this song, it really fouls up the meaning of at least one verse.  Can you find it?
            Look at the fifth verse.  It begins with "But" which means that verse is reliant upon something that came before.  Yet the fourth verse is one that is routinely left out of many hymnals.  "But drops of grief" refers back to "melt my eyes to tears."  Each verse gradually leads you to the answer to the question in the first two lines of verse one, "Did my savior die for me?"  Then it speaks of the reactions that answer should provoke in us:  mortification, gratitude, grief, and, finally, total surrender.  Now the song makes sense.
            But then I hope you have also noticed the complete disparity between the music of the verses and the music of the chorus.  Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics in 1701, using the Scottish tune "Martyrdom."  The above lyrics were the entire song.  In 1885 Ralph Hudson added the words and tune of what is considered the chorus or refrain:  "At the Cross."  It was written in a "campmeeting style" which some people believe means it was added to more than one tune.  It is indeed a completely different style than the verse melody, a bit more raucous and knee-slapping, and it completely interrupts the flow of the verse lyrics, which may well account for few people noticing the problem with the verse 5 "but" having no antecedent that makes sense.
            As a musician and writer, I would like to suggest that all five verses be sung, with the refrain sung at the end, if at all.  It would make more sense both lyrically and musically.  And, as mentioned earlier, this sort of thing is a good test of how much attention we pay to what we sing.  The answer to the title question, in this case at least, "Do You Know What You Are Singing?" might well be, "No, we don't."
 
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Rom 5:6-10).

*Yes, "worm" is the correct word.  Some hymnals have pandered to modern desire for self-esteem and changed it to "one."  We need to realize just exactly how low and utterly irredeemable we were, and the unthinkable sacrifice of a God becoming like us and living and dying like we do, though he never deserved it.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

It seems to be popular to make comments about the old church of Christ attitudes as though the last generation knew little of grace and faith and focused only on obedience, exact obedience.  I have made a few of those comments myself and can point to sermon outlines from 35 years ago where I endeavored to change such attitudes. However, when the comments become disparaging and self-serving (look how much better I am), then perhaps it is time to consider.
 
They grew up in tough economic times, faced tough spiritual battles to be allowed to exercise their faith in the way God commanded, and they did not express emotions as readily as today’s generations. They did not talk a lot about God’s grace for that was God’s business. Their business was to obey God.
 
That they did understand that obedience must proceed from faithful trust and was founded on God’s grace can best be understood by the songs they sang:
 
“True hearted whole hearted, faithful and loyal…..
“My faith looks up to thee……
“Looking to thee from day to day, trusting thy grace along the way….Sure of thy soul redeeming love….
“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
“I know whom I have believed….
“He will give me grace and glory…where he leads me I will follow, I’ll go with him, with him all the way
“Faith is the victory….
“Is thy heart right with God?
“To Christ be loyal and be true in noble service prove your faith and your fidelity, the fervor of your love
“What a friend we have in Jesus….
“Purer in heart O God….
Take time to be holy….
“Only in thee….trusting, I’m cleansed from ev’ry stain, thou art my only plea….
 
And it was in those days and by one of those men that “Lord I believe” was written.
 
And, the list could go on and on.
 
 Because some treated service like a checklist and may not have expressed as much heart as some do today, please do not mark them all as empty. In fact, if a checklist religion was the spiritual ceiling for some, “who art thou that judges the servant of another?” (Rom 14).  More people should fear minding God’s business about God’s servants!
 
And, if all the expression of heart and trust and faith and grace today makes one careless toward obedience, then how is that one any better before God?
 
These were our parents and grandparents, our spiritual fathers in the faith.  Most knew more about the grace of God than many today who spout fancy words, but they just tended to their own business of serving faithfully.
 
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:17-18).
 
 
Keith Ward