|
They say fingerprints serve as evidence. Fingerprints prove the presence of a specific individual in a particular setting. They’re used to prove, or disprove, criminal cases all the time. It’s also said that each person’s fingerprints are unique to that particular individual; no two individuals have the same fingerprints.
Near his treatise on the misuse of the tongue James stated, “For we all stumble in many things” ( Jas. 3:2 ). Boy, do we ever! The devil is our adversary- enemy- ( 1 Pet. 5:8 ), and he’s very skilled at leading us into sin and away from God. It’s obvious that James is, referring, primarily, to sinning by his use of the word “stumble.” The phrase “in many things” points to the fact that we find ourselves sinning in many different ways.
Ponce de Leon was a Spanish adventurer who, with the sanction of the king of Spain, set out to find the legendary Fountain Of Youth . In the year 1513 he searched the coast of what is today the state of Florida in a vain attempt to locate what he envisioned to be a source of perpetually life sustaining water. What a dream, what hope! Eliminating physical death. Of course, his efforts proved to be futile. There is no such water source.
We’ve crossed over the threshold of time, moving from one year into another. This article is number thirty seven in a line of bulletin articles I’ve been privileged to write at the beginning of a new year. Four such articles have come at the beginning of a new decade, and one served to usher in a new century and millennium. I suppose it’s common for a preacher to mull over, to a somewhat greater degree, just what he should write at the beginning of a new year. He wants to say something profound, something that will motivate thoughtfulness and action in a positive direction on both an individual and a congregational basis.
|
AuthorGary L. Hutchens Categories
All
Archive
September 2022
|