The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
March 26, 2006
In
This Issue:
Is
It Worth Losing Sleep Over?
by
Steve Klein
God's
"Only Forgotten Son"
by
Tom Edwards
Is it Worth Losing Sleep Over?
Have you ever been told, "It's not worth losing any sleep over"? That is pretty good advice for people who are overly concerned about trivial matters. There are many things that aren't worth worrying about. Christians are commanded to "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
As a general rule then, God's people should sleep well at night, not only because they have turned their anxieties over to God, but also for the following reasons:
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"They have entrusted their safety to the Lord. "I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8)
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"They are hard workers. "The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much..." (Ecclesiastes 5:12).
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"They have kept righteous commandments. "When you roam, they will lead you; when you sleep, they will keep you; and when you awake, they will speak with you." (Proverbs 6:22)
That is not to say that there is nothing worth losing sleep over. In Luke 16:12 we find that Jesus "went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." And in the epistle of 2 Corinthians, we find the apostle Paul describing his life of service to the Lord as one that included "sleeplessness" (6:5), and "sleeplessness often" (11:27). Surely there are times in the life of a Christian when there is extra focus on spiritual concerns and it is appropriate to lose sleep in prayer or in the meditation and study of God's word. The Psalmist declared, "My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word" (Psalm 119:148). Such occasions do not indicate anxiety in the heart of a Christian so much as they indicate dedication.
There are many things that are not worth losing sleep over, but there are some that are. Do we have both the faith and the dedication to know the difference?
-- Steve Klein
A young girl who was once quoting John 3:16, said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only forgotten Son...." Though her mistake sounds amusing, what's not amusing is the reality that to too many people today, Jesus is a "forgotten" Son.
How soon one can forget--and even after having received blessings from God. In Psalm 106 (one of the "historical psalms"), God "...rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up; and He led them through...He saved...and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left. Then they believed His word; They sang His praise" (vv. 9-12). Yes, Israel certainly had much to praise God for; but how long did this thanksgiving last?
The very next verse tells us that "They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert" (vv. 13, 14).
While Moses had been on the mount, receiving the Ten Commandments from the Lord, the people were down below, engaging in sinful activities--even making a molten image to worship. The Bible says that "They forgot God their Savior" (v. 21)--and all this took place just days after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the miraculous parting of the Red Sea.
Shortly before he died, Moses admonished Israel to "...watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you" (Deut. 4:23).
Sometimes when all is going well, one has a tendency to forget about the Lord. This is what Israel had done numerous times. When Moses spoke of the blessings of the Promised Land - "a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything...."--he also went on to say, "Beware lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments..." (Deut. 8:8-11).
Is not the same true of us today? If we forget the commandments of the Lord, we have forgotten God. It's true that we are to take the Lord's supper in remembrance of Jesus; but that is only part of the way in which we are to remember Him. For our very lives--our thoughts, our actions, and our reactions--also reflect on just how much we remember Christ.
May it never be that Jesus to us will be a "forgotten" Son, but rather one whom we will remember daily--above all others--and show that we do by the way in which we live.
--Tom Edwards, Via The Gospel Observer, March 25, 2001