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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 22, JUNE 3, 2007 I QUIT! There are times when I get discouraged. There are times I feel like walking away from the responsibilities that accompany a minister of the gospel. There are times when I’ve been tempted to say, “I QUIT!” Surprised? But I won’t…and I can’t. Like Jeremiah of old who voiced his frustration to the Lord when the people mocked his message, ignored his warnings, and discouraged him to the point that he was ready to quit preaching (Jeremiah 20:7-9), so it is with many a preacher today. However, I can also identify with the prophet’s passion for perseverance and his love for the message of God when he revealed that every time he thought about quitting, “…then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.” If a man can’t identify with Jeremiah’s “burning fire” to preach, a passion to communicate God’s message, then he should quit. (I suppose that sounds rather blunt, but it’s the way I feel!) However, the passion to preach does not shield God’ servant from common discouragement that results when people neglect the message. Jeremiah was certainly no stranger to discouragement. Neither am I. For example, I get discouraged when: 1. I’ve preached to people for years who ought to obey the gospel, but don’t. Sometimes I question my ability only to remember that the power is in the message, not the messenger (1 Cor. 3:5-7). 2. I see parents who are guilty of “spiritual” child abuse. I know of parents who are lax in their attendance and who won’t bring their kids to Bible classes designed especially for them. Such behavior is inexcusable and violates every passage about parental responsibility in the spiritual nurturing of children. And then I remember the many parents who do care, and the burden is somewhat lifted (Prov. 22:6). 3. People argue with what the Book says! Mark 16:16 is not my interpretation (which is what one man said to me after merely reading the verse!). Yet, people have always tried to argue with God…about everything. And in the end, they have always lost. 4. Churches promote immorality by ignoring God’s instruction on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. It’s easy to do. Given the times we are in, when few take seriously their vows before God, the simple course is to soft-peddle clear biblical instruction on the subject. Many churches do. 5. I see our nation cater to homosexuals and behavior that the Bible condemns in the strongest of terms (Lev. 20:13). There is no question that ours is a society well on the road to moral decay. Such would be disheartening except for the fact that many do care and are fighting for a return to moral responsibility and the principles upon which the country was founded. Count me in! Sure, I get discouraged. Sure I’m tempted to quit and walk away. But I won’t. And for the same reason Jeremiah didn’t. There are just some things worthy fighting for…and standing above them all are the souls of men. Me? Quit? Not on your life! Wilson Adams “TEACHEST THOU NOT THYSELF?” One of the easiest things to do is to tell others of their shortcomings and faults and to tell them what they ought to do. But one of the hardest things to do is to pay attention to our own advice. In our spiritual affairs we come too near the proverbial barber who is the last to get a hair cut. An inspired man put it this way: “Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou steal?” (Rom.2:21) This was an indictment of the Jews, who were proud of their religious heritage, but were doing nothing to merit the spiritual advantages of which they boasted. Though God had given them advantages they had demonstrated their faithless unworthiness of God’s blessings. They were no better than the despised Gentile. Paul further says: “What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no not one; There is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:9-11). Later on he restates it: “for all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:32). Today we have too many in the churches and too many churches who take pride in the notion that they have the truth and that they are sound. They may not have the church institutions, but they may have the same motive in their deeds which resulted in the church institutions with others. Others were looking for something big which would compare with and compete with “the nations around them.” … People are “sound” in keeping the church out of human institute-ions, but show little care about whether the church is internally keeping God’s institution of organization. You can find many churches who are “sound” in work and organization, but are filled with people who are moral derelicts. You can find many people who are meticulously honest in their business dealings with others, not taking a penny that is not rightfully theirs; but when it comes to giving they are as penurious with the Lord as they were honest in their business dealings. Parents who smoke have been known to try to keep their children from using tobacco. Others complain about their children being out of control when they themselves are never at home, never providing home life which children and youth need, not giving them the spiritual encouragement which is vital to their faith. When we become “confident” that we are the “people of God” that we can be “a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes,” we may right then and there need to ask ourselves the question, “Teachest thou not thyself?” Robert Welch
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