HERE IN THE REAL WORLD

The story, I am told, goes somewhat like this: There had been a meeting of the “War Council.” General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson listened as the each of the men presented their views, but when it came his time to speak Jackson asked for permission to state his views in the morning. As the men adjourned for the night General A. P. Hill is said to have commented to Lieutenant General Ewell, “Well!, I suppose Jackson wants time to pray over it.” History doesn’t record and cold type can’t tell us if Hill’s comments were in sarcasm or not. Cold type does tell us that later that night Ewell walked up to the tent of Jackson and heard talking. Looking in Ewell saw Jackson on his knees and heard the prayers Jackson sent up asking God for guidance with the perplexing matters at hand. Jackson had no knowledge that Ewell would look in on him; Jackson spoke only to God, he gave no public performance. History records that Ewell was so deeply touched by this incident that he said, “If that is religion, I must have it.” And, after making a profession of his faith not long after this Ewll said he attributed his conviction to the influence of Jackson’s piety.
Jesus said we are to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). That is easy for us to do when we know there are people watching our moves. That is the time when many of us are at our holiest! But, what about when you are in your private alone time, does your light still shine when no one is there to see its glow?
Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). Even in our most private moments, moments that are away from everyone, we are to keep our lights shinning. To Jackson, his only audience was God that night in that tent. Yet, his light was shinning bright to guide Ewell. In what was one of his most private moments, Jackson kept his light shinning. He was the light of the world and could not be hid.
In Matthew 5:15 Jesus said, “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” The candle, the Light of God shinning through Jackson, was lit and couldn’t be hid under a bushel, or in this case a tent. That is how we are to live our lives. When that light in us is lit, we are to keep it shining not just in our public times, but in our most private times. Those times when we think we are alone, our lights are shining on someone just as Jackson’s light shone on Ewell without any knowledge on Jackson’s part.
Think back about your last “private” time. Did your light shine? If your light shone on anyone what type of shadow did it cast: one that would lead someone towards Christ or one that would scare them away? Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

My baby is growing up. Of course we knew it would happen sooner or later; it just seems sooner was way too soon. Such classics as “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” have changed to the “Aeneid” and “Don Quixote.” I long again sometimes for the good old days when I read them to her; now she reads the classics to herself. I think my favorite was “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.”[1] You know the story: The mouse wants a cookie and of course when you get a cookie you have to have a glass of milk. When the mouse sees the refrigerator he wants to draw a picture to put on it so he needs crayons and paper; and the story goes on and on with all the things needed just because the little mouse wanted a cookie: one thing leads to another! Our lives with the temptation to sin are much like the little mouse who wanted a cookie.
Just like that little mouse wanting a cookie, the temptation to sin will at some time creep up on all of us. James 1:14 tells us “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust.” Just like that little mouse who was tempted to get a cookie, we will be tempted to sin. We have two choices; we can give into sin “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15), or we can “Resist the devil, and he will flee” (James 4:7). We can give our mouse a cookie or we can stand firm!
There is no doubt that we will sin. The Bible tells as much. John writes, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not” (1 John 2:1). Yet, in the next sentence John says, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1b). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). We will sin; if there was no chance that we would sin there would have been no need for a savior. But, when we do sin we have a savior, we have a way to be saved of that sin: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
It is the habitual sin that is our “feeding our mouse a cookie.” We start with one sin and it is left unrepented and it leads to another then another, then another to cover up the others. We fall into the trap of sin. Paul wrote to the Romans, “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:14). When we are led away into repeated and habitual sins we make “provision” for the flesh; we begin to fulfill its lust. We have to have a cookie, then milk then crayons; we fulfill our fleshy lust by doing sin after sin after sin. When John wrote “whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him” (1John 3:6) he was talking of those who lead lives of habitual and unrepented sin. He was talking of those who were living lives fulfilling their fleshy lust. He was writing to those who were feeding their mouse a cookie, and those who kept giving their mouse more and more!
We don’t have to be caught up in a life of habitual sin. Paul said we are to “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). When we feel that first temptation we are to go to the Lord in prayer. When we slip and fail instead of falling deeper into sin, we are to go to the Lord for forgiveness (1John 1:9). We don’t have to feed our mouse a cookie, but in the event that it happens we have to make sure we don’t follow up by giving him milk.

Bobby Cohoon

“Ugggggggggh, there goes the clock; it’s six thirty time to get up and get ready for the more of the same old same old: the work place” “Guess who got drunk last night?” “Well you know who spent the night with him right?” “Well ever body knows she’s sleeping her way to the top.” “You know that Michael was Jesus right?” “Well that’s not what Joseph Smith said!” “Joseph Smith? He didn’t know anything; Let me tell you what my Reverend Falwell said say on his radio show……..” And, that’s just from the professing Christians; I have to contend with the atheist too! “Can you believe they found another piece of the puzzle of our evolution?” “Did you hear about that meteor that is made up of cosmic dirt from the beginning of the world a gazillion years ago?” Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). But, Jesus never worked in this office. What’s a Christian to do? Witnessing and balancing the Bible in the workplace can be a very hard task.
Paul said our citizenship was not of this world: For our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). But, until we go to that home above we have to work with those who are citizens here: “Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5:10). And, there will be times when the conversations will turn to religion. At times we may be tempted to beat them over the head with the Bible, but that is not the correct course of actions.
We have to show our colleagues Christ through our actions. Paul wrote that they, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, made themselves “example of how [the Thessalonians] should follow [them]” (2 Thessalonians 3:9). We have to show our workmates the Christian Way through our Christian actions. Paul said, “Therefore I urge you, Imitate me” (1 Corinthians 4:16). And, where did Paul get his example, his way that we are to imitate? “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). With those who are “in the world” yet claim to be in Christ, we have to show them the Way through Christ like actions; we have to show them through imitating Christ, not becoming weak and imitating the world: “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” (3 John 1:11).
One group that presents a special problem is those who follow every false doctrine known to man (and made by man). They all teach some truth, but then go on wild tangents that form doctrines that at times are not even remotely related to the scriptures they are derived from. Many times they accept proof text, pretext, and any other text except the Holy text as the acumen of God’s most Holy servants. My friend and brother in Christ Gospel preacher Steven Clark Goad writes[1], “Is it fair to completely and irrevocably close one’s mind on any subject? If one does, isn’t he implying that he is somehow infallibly correct, at least on that particular matter?” They key to winning those types is not to close your mind, but to open it and theirs. We have to look for the agreements in our doctrines, then branch out and study what the scriptures teach about our differences. With these you have to be as the people of Berea were. You have to approach the scriptures with these people with “readiness of mind” and “search the scriptures daily to see if [these] things [are] so” (Acts 17:11). We have to get away from all the teachers of the world and get down to the Word. We have to get them to look beyond what they believe, and as the Bereans did, search the Word for WHY they believe. We have to; as we want them to, look at the scriptures with an open mind, with freshness.
The workplace presents a unique venue for witnessing God’s word. At time we may be tempted to turn witnessing into a Holy war, but we have to be even tempered with those who don’t believe as we do. That noted philosopher from MASH 4077, Walter “Radar” O’Reilly, said[2], “Sometimes when you don’t holler and shout the loudest, they hear you the mostest.” We have to have balance. We have to let our lights shine, but make sure we don’t blind them; we have to let the fruit of the Spirit be seen, and make sure were not the bad apple that spoils the whole bunch. We have to lead by imitating Christ, and not by imitating the world; we have to be Berean in our searching of the scriptures and not JIHADish in our dealings with those who do not see the Word of God as we do.

[1] Goad, Steven Clark “Open-Mindedness,” THE EXAMINER
Volume 8, Number 4 http://www.theexaminer.org/volume8/number4/openmind.htm
[2] MASH 4077 The Korean Surgeon, Episode 105, 23 November 1976