Topic(s): Bible Study, Evangelism, Prayer, Priorities

1. Resolve not to miss a single service of the church. No excuses this time, but for a change make a sacrifice for the Lord. Give up a few of those material things that you have been neglecting your duty to have (John 4:23,24; Hebrews 10:25).
2. Read and study your Bible every day, even if it means turning off the TV (Acts 17:11).
3. Pray every time you have a problem or decision to make. If you feel the slightest need, pray. While you are at it, also try praying for your enemies—for those you don’t get along with too well (Matthew 5:44; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
4. Make it your responsibility to bring at least one visitor to services, preferably a family member. Don’t just invite them, but make a date to go by and pick them up (Proverbs 11:30).
5. Take at least one night to go visiting people besides those you know and like best. This time visit with someone that you do not know too well, perhaps someone that you feel a little “strained” towards. Get to know them and see what a difference it will make (Matthew 5:46; James 1:27).

Make of it What You Will

Topic(s): Christian Life

Don’t let others decide what your attitude will be. We can do right despite what someone else does. We must make the best of the circumstances we are given.

• A blacksmith makes five dollars worth of iron into horseshoes and gets ten dollars for them.
• A cutler makes the same iron into knives and gets two hundred dollars.
• A machinist makes the same iron into needles, and gets sixty-eight hundred dollars.
• A watchmaker takes the same iron and makes it into mainsprings, and gets two hundred thousand dollars; or into hair-springs and gets two million dollars, sixty times the value of the same weight of gold.

Strange as it may seem, the honeybee makes her honey from exactly the same nectar from which the hermit spider distills one of the deadliest poisons known to man. The bee’s makeup allows her to produce honey, while the hermit spider’s allows her to produce poison. Only one brings a smile to the lips of a child. Two people can respond to the same circumstances in completely different ways. One will use them to produce “honey” to the glory of God, and the other will produce “poison” to the shame of his Maker. Think of the honey that Joseph made with the circumstances his brothers provided for him (Genesis 37-50).

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21,22).

A "TV Timeout"

Topic(s): Children, Moral Issues

In 1991, we passed the thirtieth anniversary of former FCC Chairman Newton Minow’s famous speech which classified television as a “vast wasteland.” He was definitely ahead of his time. Through the medium of TV, the average child in America today will view 25,000 murders by the age of eighteen. Minow, who is now a lawyer based in Chicago, feels things are only getting worse: “In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television,” he told an audience at Columbia University. “In 1991, I worry that my grandchildren actually will be harmed by it.” Television is a neutral tool. What we do with it determines its benefit or harm. Today’s benefit may best be found in turning it off more often and using that time to write to a network and tell them what types of entertainment you would like to see and support. Who knows, the silent box may even inspire you to engage in a little daytime drama with your own family. —Marriage Partnership, Summer 1991, p. 87

Research has revealed that 93% of the 10,000 sexual situations which occur on television each year involve non-married people. Even worse is the fact that nearly 50 percent of American teenagers believe TV accurately portrays the consequences of sex outside of marriage. Statistics show the average adult would gain thirty hours a week by turning off the TV. In reality, much more than time would be gained. — Focus on the Family, Sept. 1995, p. 10

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” —Philippians 4:8