Know Your Bible

VOL. 7                           January 18, 2009                           NO. 52

WHAT YOUR ABSENCE WILL DO

1.    It will cause some to question the reality of your religion.

2.    It will make many think you are a pretender and not really sincere.

3.    It will make many think that you regard your spiritual welfare and that of others as a small concern.

4.    It will weaken the effect of the church services.

5.    It will make it harder for the preacher to preach and the singers to sing.

6.    It will discourage some of the members, and therefore, rob them of the spiritual blessings that they could have received.

7.    It will cause others to stay away, and give the devil more power over lost souls.

8.    It will make it harder for you to meet the temptations of the devil, and will encourage the habit of not attending services.

9.    It will rob you of many blessings, and may even cause you to lose your soul.

—Selected

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LIFE COACHES

    According to several websites, life coaching is the up-and-coming field of personal development. What is a "life coach?" As the name suggests, it is a person who helps others develop skills and direction which make for success in life. iCoach Academy.com says that "Life Coaching is one of the fastest growing professions in the world," and that you can become certified by the International Coach Federation, the ICF, "which means that you can trust (our program's) quality and rigour." There are many such websites on the subject.

    Well, there is no doubt that folks need some coaching in their lives, with the breakdown of family life in America and the shallow place religion holds among our populace. Used to be that fathers were relied on for direction, instruction, and passing on values. Also, religion, particularly the Bible, was trusted as the proven guide to the better life. Failure was not attributed to the sources of wisdom, but to a person's lack of diligence in following the guide. Contemporary wisdom is that we should now trust our lives to strangers and merchants who are certified in telling us how to live.

    Amazingly, the big thrust among these life-coach advocates is to invite you to become a life coach yourself. Imagine getting paid to tell other folks how to live their lives without first having to prove the product with your own.

    Further, who is deciding what a "successful" life is? Who is setting the rules for getting there? Is there a guarantee -- if at the end of your life you consider yourself a failure, do you get your money back? The vagueness of the whole business is seen in the title as a "telecast with ICA trainer Sherri Boone speaking on 'Mastering the Art & Skill of Acknowledgment." (iCoachAcademy.com).

    Contrariwise, the Bible starts with the weightier matters of fact and moves to our lives, then to the specific outcome of our lives:

First, There Is God: -- The universe and life are not here by chance, and they certainly are not all about "little ole me." Whatever one might consider success, in the end it will hinge on the center of the whole scheme of things, which is God.

    "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:13,14).

    "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord...our Savior Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..." (2 Tim. 1:8-10).

Second, We Should All Get Our Lives Ready To Meet God: -- Doing so begins with elementary stuff like manners, etiquette, mothersly discipline, and showing respect -- all from the Golden Rule. How ironic that the folks who go out in public looking like they've slept in a cave (uncombed, unshaven, the girls still in their nighties) are now a fertile market for Life Coaches. The real need here is for mothers who will teach their kids about the virtuous woman (Prov. 31) and fathers who take care of their own (1 Tim. 5:8).

    When our fathers do not chasten us to make us into their own, we are called "illegitimate" in the Bible -- a legal problem, by definition, and uncomplimentary at the least (Heb. 12:6-11).

    When elementary lessons are not taught, how can kids be expected to value "formal" worship? (Acts 2:42). They will not be taught to be "conformed to the image" of Christ (Rom. 8:29), or to let their lights shine by self denial and sacrifice. Their goals will be to go for their part of the "gusto," with the magical help of a Life Coach.

    Those who are taught about Jesus Christ from the pages of the Bible will be exposed to people like preachers, who are specifically instructed, "in all things showing thyself an example of good works; in thy doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity..." (Titus 2:7); and elders who are charged with, "being examples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5:3). God certainly has good reason for a person's exposure to such examples. He expects us to imitate them! (Heb. 13:7,17; Phil. 3:17-20).

Third, Real Success Will Not Be Achieved Until We've Heard The "Well Done" From God The Judge In The Last Day: -- The final judgment will not be about how cool a person is, how much money a person has, what degree of education a person has, how far he has gone in his career, or any such thing. It will be about how a person has served God. Success is about God and how we relate to Him and His business (Matt. 6:33).

    Astonishingly, some who claim Christ have jumped on the Life Coach bandwagon. (the Christian Coach.com). A preacher from way back once said that since the church is in the world, we'll have to work to keep the world from getting into the church. The "Christian Life Coach" business is about the most poignant and bewildering example of the man's statement I have ever seen.

    Jesus put it this way: "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matt. 15:13,14).

    Friends, make no mistake, true success is pleasing God with our lives. "There is nothing new under the sun" when it comes to the purpose and meaning of life (Eccl. 1:9). Please do not be deceived into thinking that anyone can improve upon God's book, the Bible; God's organization, the church; and God's way, the gospel. (Jn. 14:6). Failure comes to the degree that we do not apply what God has so graciously given us.

---George Hutto in Tidings,

Vol. 23, No. 11, November, 2008

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Know Your Bible" is e-mailed weekly by the church of Christ which meets at 112 Roberts Avenue in Wise, Virginia. If you know of others who might benefit from the articles contained in this bulletin, we would be glad to have you submit their e-mail addresses and we will include them in next week's mailing. If you are receiving this bulletin and do not wish to continue to do so, please e-mail us with your desire to be removed from the mailing list and we will remove your address promptly. Continue to the bottom of this page and further instructions will be given as to how you may contact us.

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