The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
September 2, 2007
In
This Issue:
A
Time to Refrain from Embracing
by
Steve Klein
Understanding
Trouble
by
Sewell Hall
A Time to Refrain from Embracing
In Ecclesiastes 3:5, Solomon observed that there is "a time to refrain from embracing." He would know. The Bible says that he "clung to" many foreign women. These are women whom he should not have embraced, for God had said, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods" (1 Kings 10:2). Solomon would have saved himself and his nation a lot of grief had he recognized earlier in life that there was a time to refrain from embracing.
Young people today need desperately to come to this same realization. Consider the following statistics, reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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In 2003, 62 percent of 12th graders had had sexual intercourse
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The median age at first intercourse is 16.9 years for boys and 17.4 years for girls
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34 percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 - about 820,000
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Approximately four million teens contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) each year
These statistics are both shocking and sad on a number of levels. They reveal that our culture's overemphasis on sex is having a very negative effect on our young. They show that many young people are having to face the burdens of dealing with illness, pregnancy and parental responsibility long before they are mature enough to do so. The statistics are especially disturbing because they reveal a great disregard for God's will. They indicate that many young people do not recognize that there is "a time to refrain from embracing."
As stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6, "this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God." In other words, God's will is that each person should understand how to keep themselves pure by preventing their passions and lust from leading them into sexual immorality.
If they follow God's will, most young people can look forward to a lifetime of enjoying a loving physical relationship within the confines of marriage (Hebrews 13:4). But for now, while they are young and unmarried, it is a time to refrain from embracing. It is not the time to inflame passions with extended "make out" sessions or "dirty dancing." "For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, and be embraced in the arms of a seductress?" (Proverbs 5:20).
-- Steve Klein
When we suffer accidents, sickness, financial reverses or other hardships, it is easy to consider God the source of them.
Sometimes people actually blame God, grow angry with Him and become rebellious in an apparent effort to spite Him. Others blame themselves, wondering if they are being punished for some mistake they have unwitt-ingly made.
Each of these responses is wrong. God does not send evil on us in this life. James 1:17 says "Every good thing bestowed an4 every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow".
What we suffer here is Satan's work. Instead of run-ning away from God when we find ourselves in trouble, we need to run to Him; He is our only real protection.
"But God does not protect me", some say. It is true that God sometimes allows His children to suffer, but only -- ONLY -- when it is for their good.
In II Corinthians 12, we read that Paul was suffering what he called a "thorn in the flesh". In verse 7, he identifies it as "a messenger of Satan". Paul wanted it removed and three times he requested God to remove it. But God saw some good which He could bring out of "Satan's messenger" and, instead of removing it, God said: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness".
What was Paul's response? Read the remainder of verses 9 and 10: "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong".
-- Sewell Hall
(Via bulletin, Embry Hills church, Atlanta)