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The solemn fact that a complete
record's being kept of all of life's activities should cause
us to stop and consider well; to cause us not only to watch
our outward acts, but to weigh carefully the motives which
underlie such thought and deed. In order that our minds and
hearts be fully convinced that such an account is being kept,
I'll give a few quotations from the Word of God: "Rejoice, O
young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the
days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in
the sight of thine eyes, but know thou [remember], that for
all theses things God will bring thee into judgment" (Eccl.
11:9). "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to
another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before him for them that feared the
Lord, and that thought upon his name: (Mal. 3:16). "As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give an
account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:11,12). "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).
We should ever keep in mind the solemn thought that the
Bible's the voice of God speaking to mankind, from our vast
eternity, and in the words of international law, it's God's
ultimatum to the family of earth---from its promises,
prohibitions, and decisions there's no appeal.
Moving-Picture
Camera...
In the days of old, rich men
had observation-stations situated near the center of their
great plantation, from which elevation they could watch the
laborers performing their different tasks. It's supposed that
it was while watching his employees from one of these
observation posts that the father in the parable was enabled
to see the prodigal son "when he was yet a great way off." The
Lord's not only watching the whole human family, but he's
observing us as individuals. The eyes of the Lord run to and
fro upon the earth, beholding the evil and the good, as if
with a moving-picture camera/CAM-corder (grin) focused upon
us; every movement of every hour of the day is recorded---and
the Lord won't forget.
The Record's
Indestructible...
That record of our actions
which is being kept beyond the sky is written upon eternal
parchments, and thus can't be destroyed, as though recorded
upon paper, stone, or steel. When a purchase is made at the
market, the cashier presses certain keys of the cash register,
and the cash account of the sale is recorder upon the inside
roll, and also indicated above where the purchaser can see if
a mistake's been made. The same principle's set forth in God's
dealings with men. As soon as Cain killed his brother Abel,
God came down and made the startling announcement that "the
voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground"
(Gen. 4:10). It should make us think soberly and seriously
when we remember that Nature's keeping an exact account of our
activities, and that some day she'll reveal her secret,
althought it may be long delayed.
Repetition may give
emphasis, but it doesn't add to facts or truths. To repeat a
dozen times that the square root of the sum of the squares of
the base and perpendicular equals the hypotenuse, wouln't add
to its fact, and similarly, when the Bible affirms a truth,
one statement is suffiecient. Therefore, from the premise laid
down we deduct, that if the blood of one man cries from the
ground for justice, then the blood of all whose lives have
been cut short by the assassin's hand...have registered a
protest, and their voices are calling, ever calling, for
justice and redress.
All the blood that has been
shed down through the ages because of man's inhumanity to his
fellow men is today crying from the ground. Mature's laws are
unalterable, and she might truthfully declare, like Pilate of
old, to those guilty ones swho are apologizing and offering
her bribes, "What I have written I have written" (John 19:22)
What an awful record humanity must meet on that great judgment
day! If all the blood that has been shed from the dawn of
creation unto this present time coud be gathered and
congealed, its crimson blocks would make a monument s vast
that it would add another wonder to the world. If a memorial
slab could be placed over the grave of each person who has
been murdered, postnatan or prenatal, it would make a cemetery
so lare that the inhabitants of the world would be startled
and amazed.
If there's one crime more
cowardly than another, it consists in the wilful, premeditated
murder of an unborn child. Those little ones in
theirundeveloped, embryoic state have rights of moral
citizenship which God and nature acknowledge, and which must
be respected by the state and by the individual. Far mor
honorable would it be for one murderously inclined to go out
for adults to kill, rather than to attack from ambush
unsuspecting human beings who have no chance to defend
themselves against a murderous assault. In that day when
nature's secrets shall be "shouted aloud upon the housetops,"
what an awful sight it would be to behold there millions of
little ones pointing their boneless, bloodless fingers in
identification of those who gave consent to the abrupt ending
of thier earthly lives!
A Completed
Record...
Every act of injustice done
by man to his fellow man, unless repented of and made right,
cries to the God of justice for redress. "Behold, the hire of
the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you
kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have
reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth"
(Jas. 5:4). A complete record of all we do is being kept upon
the walls of memory. We seemingly forget many of the details
of life's activities; yet from time to time they suddenly
return to us as vividly as though they had taken place but
yesterday, thus proving that whatever clearly enters our
minds, and to whatever matter we give consent, these are
photographed upon memory's eternal walls.
Some time ago a lady in a
delirious state of mind repeated even after even, as
accurately as thoug she were at that moment passing though
theri various details. After her recovery she was astonished,
and mortified, that those secret things of her past life had
been discovered, and she was still mor surprised when she
learned that those very secrets (which she admitted as true)
were related by her own lips, which in that delirious state
caused by typhoid fever. Let's be sure...our sin will find us
out. The story of the drowning man before whose eyes there
passed in even succession all the events of his past life, has
been used by witers for years, and confirms the fact that
memory, as an expert accountant, is assisting in the
record-keeping department of life.
Too Many
Records...
Reputation is that common
estimation of the qualitites we're supposed to possess, and
most of us would be glad to have htat record kept in sight.
Character isn't altogether what people think us to be, but
what we really are at heart---what God knows to be ture in oyr
lives. Reputation is formed by our acting, but character is
formed by choosing. There's only one side to a Christian's
life---although looked upon from God above, seen by his fellow
man, and known by himself. Some who would be glad to have
their companions and employers behold their record as know by
reputation, would shrink if those about them could see the
book of character. God knows how many hours of the employer's
time have been squandered; how many dollars of other people's
money have been pocketed; how many marriage vows have been
broken; have many false affidavits made---God knows, and he'll
not forget. Oh! what will the judgment day reveal? What an
awful day of reckoning it'll be! There's only one way of
escape for the guilty soul, and that's in Jesus Christ. The
Bible speaks of some men's sins being open beforehand, that
is, gong before to judgment, and it also speaks of some whose
sins, like a dark cloud, are following behind. If our record's
no clean, we'd better make hast and get right with God.
Tomorrow's sun may never rise for us. Today, if we hear his
voice, if we feel his wooing Spirit, let's be reconciled to
God. In words of assurance, there comes to every troubled
soul---"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us," and when we ask and believe he declares, "I will
remember them against you no more forever."
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