THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 39, OCTOBER 27, 2002

ANOTHER GOSPEL MEETING  

            In anticipation of our upcoming week with Tim Coffey, how would you say the title of this article?  Would it be, “Another gospel meeting?”  Perhaps it would be “Another gospel meeting”.  Or maybe it would be “Another Gospel Meeting!”   You can tell a lot about how a person feels from their tone of voice and inflections.   

            Twice a year the elders make arrangements for us to have a special week of bible study and time spent together in the worship and service of our Lord.  If we attend each service of one of those special weeks it totals approximately 9 hours.  Now I realize that there is coming and going time, but actual time together studying the Word of God is 9 hours.  In one week there are 168 hours.  If I am not mistaken, that is roughly 5.36 % of one week.  That’s not very much.  

            Let’s expand this math a little bit.  If we attend all of the services here at Northern Kentucky in the course of a year, that is 4 hours a week for 52 weeks a year, for a total of 208 hours.  Add in another 5 hours for each Gospel Meeting week.  That brings our total to 218 hours a year.  Each year has 8736 hours in it.   So, if we attend every service we have devoted approximately 2.5 % of a year’s worth of time.  

            Isn’t it interesting that one of the primary criterion  we use to measure “faithfulness” only involves 2.5 % of our time each year?   We tend to think that if we attend all of the services we are really doing something big for the Lord.  It is 2.5 %  of a year’s worth of time.  Quite frankly, some, for no reason other than “want to”, do less than that.  How does it compare to other things in our lives just in terms of time?  

            Just think of some of the statements that Jesus made indicating the type of commitment that He desires.  “But seek ye first the kingdom of God , and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33)  “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me.  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.” (Matt. 10:37 – 38)      

            How about, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.” (Matt. 22:37 – 38)  And, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  (John 8:31 – 32)

            2.5 %!  That is not very much, is it?  If we give just that, does it sound anything like what Paul urged us to in 1 Corinthians 15:58?  He wrote, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  Does it sound like, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)  

            I know that we serve and honor the Lord in many different ways.  When we are good citizens, good employees or employers, when we are good spouses, mothers or fathers, grandparents or friends, we are serving the Lord.  All of those are important relationships and the Lord tells us how to live in each one to be pleasing to Him.    But for the life of me, I can not understand how anyone would begrudge the Lord 2.5 % of the time that He blesses us with, to devote strictly to the worship of Him and the study of His Word.  

            If you have been lax in this area, in something as simple to do as attend each service, why not determine right now that you are going to change that.  I know that on some Wednesday nights we are tired.  Jesus got tired too.  Remember when He sat down at Jacob’s well, “being wearied with his journey?” (John 4:6).    I know that sometimes we are busy.  Well, Jesus was so busy in His work for you and me that sometimes He didn’t even have the time to eat a normal meal.  That is why His disciples were plucking the wheat and winnowing it with their hands as they walked in Luke 6:1.    I know as well that kids have homework during a gospel meeting.  But I also know that that homework isn’t as important  as teaching our children that nothing can usurp the #1 position of importance in our lives from the Lord.  I know that my primary responsibility as a parent is to bring my children up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).  From our attendance alone, can our children tell that Jesus comes first, no matter what?  

            Someday we are all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ  (2 Cor. 5:10 ).  On that day there is no way that I want to have to face my Savior, the One who died for me, and know that I begrudged Him 2.5 % of the time He gave me.  I love Him because He first loved me.  Jesus deserves the best I have in all that I have.  He deserves my love, my energy, my time, my money, my all.

                                                            Greg Litmer

THE GOSPEL MEETING IS ONE WEEK AWAY. PRAY FOR ITS SUCCESS, BE PART OF ITS SUCCESS!