(July/August 2002 Edition)
At the Lord's Table - Anointing with Oil
Please, Let Us Get the Right Emphasis
The children of God should be sober-minded and self-controlled. They are not to be easily excited or impulsive. They are to cultivate a sound mind, nourished and built up in the truth, directed and motivated by clear, well thought out decisions upon the basis of God’s Word.
Its origin
Self-control originates in the mind. This inward or internal feeling of
goodness is then reflected in outward or external behaviour. The end
product is a completely balanced display. There is no place or space for
disorderliness or flamboyance. Instead the self-controlled brother or
sister is orderly, decent, well-mannered, and uses acceptable means of
communication especially in public. Not only is the sober person open, but
he is also courteous and considerate toward others. Even in small affairs,
the sober-minded brother or sister can actively and publicly reflect the
example of Christ.
Action and
speech
Our
actions and our speech must be controlled by the desire to do right in the
sight of God. Therefore we do not try to hurt or wound one another, nor
disgrace our brethren and sisters. With the mind of Christ in us, we do not
gossip or slander any one. Many of our brethren and sisters seem very
quarrelsome and argumentative. If you don’t agree with them you are in for
a rough ride! Sometimes there is no obvious reason for this other than self
exaltation. This should not be so. It is a deviation from the teaching of
holy Scripture. Let everything we say and do be done in a controlled
manner.
The Christian journey requires a great deal of self-control. The child of God orders his life on moderation, love and peace. Judging by their writings, there are brethren who actually glorify contention, and urge us to be aggressive in our attitudes to others. Ignoring Jesus’ warnings, they find what they think are justifiable occasions to judge and condemn. This is not the mark of a true believer or a godly person. It is actually a sign of spiritual immaturity and psychological insecurity.
“Slackness”
There is a rising culture in the Caribbean that is disgusting. It is
popularly known as “slackness.” We all know that it glorifies and takes
pride in sneering at everything that is decent, upright and moral, boasting
of casual, sloppy, untidy minds and bodies, clothing, behaviour, appearance
-- everything. It is increasingly the “life-style” of our age. But it
should have no place amongst us. Slackness is spoken of as a sign, even a
typical characteristic of the “last days” (II Tim. 3:3; Rom. 1:30; II Pet.
2:12).
Patience
Self-control requires patient waiting in meekness for the salvation of God
(Lam. 3:26). There is no room for being over anxious over things of this
life, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and they that
desire to be rich fall into temptation (I Tim. 6:9). Real patience is faith
in God’s ability and willingness to perform that which He has promised,
believing that there is nothing too hard for God to do. The believer is
self-controlled and calm even in the midst of a raging storm. His heart is
“fixed” as the psalmist put it, full of true inner peace, knowing that
ultimate deliverance will come from God. A real antidote to feelings of
impatience and frustration is to read Acts 27, the story of Paul’s journey
to Rome. Paul’s behaviour on that voyage was a marvelous blend of all those
qualities: inner peace, quiet confidence, patient assurance, and
self-control. He was the master of the situation in the midst of more than
200 distraught people.
Manner of life
Our
manner of life should reflect spiritual development (I Pet. 2:12). We are
to shun every appearance of evil. Don’t give either believer or unbeliever
any reason to doubt our profession of loyalty to the Lord and our high
calling in Christ Jesus. Some of us send bad signals in the brotherhood and
in the world. The true believer lives a clean, clear, self-controlled life
so that at no time is there any reason to doubt his or her behaviour.
Through self-control we refrain ourselves from giving the adversary any
occasion to “blaspheme” the holy Name or to speak against us (I Pet.
4:12-16). By practicing self-control, we also keep or raise our
self-esteem, and can take a proper godly pride in ourselves. Not
arrogantly, but with a sense of worth and integrity.
Body language
Don’t forget that self-control guides our body language. If we become
thoughtless and careless, we will soon find that our behaviour is sending
the wrong message. It has long been accepted that actions speak louder than
words. In Proverbs 16:32 we are told, “He that ruleth his spirit is better
than he that taketh a city.” Therefore, whatever we say and do, thoughts
that we encourage in our hearts, wherever we go, the things that we enjoy or
find pleasure in are all to be subject to godly self-control.
In other words, our life style must be a reflection of a self-controlled mind. How is this possible? Paul gives us the answer in I Thessalonians 5:5-8: “We do not belong to the night, or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”
Gerzel Gordon
Islam in Trinidad Since September 11
It is twelve years since Yasin Abu Bakr and the militant Muslimeen took over our country in a brief but bloody coup that left around thirty people dead. They were subsequently ousted and pardoned, but openly used their freedom to rally moderate Muslims to their cause, build up financial links with Libya, the Sudan and Muslim activists in Britain, and smuggle “massive quantities” of arms into Trinidad.
Like Yaser Arafat and Muslims everywhere, Trinidad’s militants speak out of two sides of their mouths. While “mourning the loss of life at the WTC,” they insist that in the war the “Jewish and Christian infidels” have declared on Islam, they will win or die in the attempt. “Islam is the only medicine that can cure the world,” Umar Rajeem stated in launching a recent big recruitment drive for Jamaat al Muslimeen, Yasin Abu Bakr’s particular sect, which now numbers ten thousand throughout Trinidad.
Jamaat’s version of Islam boasts of a wave of converts since September 11. They claim that Islamic family life is very attractive to West Indians, with its emphasis on male dominance, polygamy, and highly regulated home life. Abu Bakr’s own family of three wives and fourteen children is held up as a “beautiful family model,” according to their printed propaganda.
Whatever we may think of the morals and devious piety of Islam, the fact is that it is growing in popularity, especially since September 11. The notion that Jews, supported covertly by Christians, run the world for their benefit through their financial, business and political networks is absolutely basic to the education of thousands of young Trinidadians. I know personally three Islamic schools in Port of Spain where this indoctrination is carried on. They are taught that although Hitler and Stalin were unsuccessful in destroying Judaism and Christianity sixty years ago, and the Jews were allowed to create the state of Israel, God [Allah] has promised that militant Muslims will soon succeed in establishing Sharia’ [Islamic law] throughout the world. Obviously, a head-on confrontation between our preaching of the Truth and militant Islam is inevitable. It is hard for us to accept, and it is a bit scary, but little Trinidad has become a miniature of the whole world.
Our ‘man in Trinidad’
According to Judges 6, an angel of God told Gideon of Manasseh: Go and save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Understandably, Gideon was timid and very cautious about the idea – as I am sure I would have been. After all, those Midianites destroyed the increase of the earth and left no sustenance; they came as grasshoppers for multitude: for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
Coping with the Midianite occupation must have been difficult enough for Gideon and his countrymen, and now this! His initial response to God’s commission was not surprising: Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then has all this befallen us? But God fully understood and sympathized with his nervousness. That’s what’s so encouraging about this story. Adapting Hymn 121 in Praise the Lord,
Have we trials
and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged: take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
The Lord knows our every weakness – take it to the Lord in prayer!
Gideon sent out an appeal for help in this daunting task of delivering God’s people. And he heard that help was on its way. Then the misgivings, the “ifs,” all came rushing back. God had called him “mighty man of valour,” but he didn’t feel anything like that. He had knots in the pit of his stomach. So he did a kind of deal with his God: he would put out a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If the ground was dry and the fleece was wet, then he would know that everything would work out. Next morning, there it was. Gideon looked at the bowl of water and wondered. Someone could have played a trick on me. It’s easy to pour a bowl of water on a fleece. So he went back to God. Don’t be angry, Lord. Let me pray again. Let me prove You, please. Let it be dry on the fleece, and wet upon all the ground. If the ground is wet and the wool dry, you can’t fake that. That’s got to be God. And so, next morning, there it was. Right, I am going. I know He will be with me in the dark.
Every day we need to be like Gideon, looking for evidence of God’s hand. If we don’t, we will surely lose our way and be very lonely too. I have asked for a wet or dry fleece many times. I have been through Gideon’s experiences, and I know how hard it can be when the Lord has pointed the way for us and we feel inadequate and fear to accept it.
When I think about that fleece, I realize that it is not shameful for even a mighty man of valour like Gideon to need divine assurance. These days I tremble when I read in our magazines of some sister who has “borne affliction with exemplary fortitude and patience.” I wish I was in that category, but I am not. But then neither was Gideon, and I am glad because he will be in the Kingdom. Neither was Elijah and Jacob and David, and they will all be there, for they all died in faith.
So when I am faint hearted, I pray for my wet or dry fleece, and I know that God will understand, and that helps me so much.
Mary Eyre