The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-08
NOT ENOUGH TIME
GIVEN TO THE LORD
Rev. Atkins breaches on "a
Crowded Life"
MANY DISTRACTIONS
Religion Often Overlooked, Says Min
lister, in Chase After Dollar and
Time-Riches Do Not
Bring Happiness
MANY DISTRACTIONS

Speaking on the subject of "a Crowd
kins, pastor of the First Christian
church., yesterday afternoon made an
eloquent appeal for the people of today
to give more of their time to God and
not allow spiritual things to be crowd
ed out of their hearts by the material
cares and interests of life.
The sermon was the third in series
of discourses on the parable of the
sower The minister took as his text
Matthew 1877 and %, reading as fol-
lows And some fell among thorns;
and the thorns sprung up and choked
them" and He also that received seed
among the thorns is he that heareth
the word; and the care of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, choke
Is Good Ground
There are three kinds of soils in
the parable" said Mr.. Atkins. "The
hard soil, the rocky and the thorny
soil and it is the latter that we will
consider this afternoon. The thorny soil
ed out. Where the cares of this world
gave 1t no time. 1t is good ground but
the man is preoccupied with cares and
becomes unfruitful Cares are not neo-
essarily worries, they are distractions
People have so many distractions
today. There are three things a man
considers, his business, his social life,
and his pleasures. And how may man
measure what is good and what is
bad? By asking himself what is the
effect on the better things of his ma
ture. Alas, should we examine ourselves
carefully many would be forced to ad-
NIT that the pursuits which they fol-
low are not the best.
How much time do you give to God?
How much place has God in your heart?
They speak of the American as eter-
nally chasing the almighty dollar, but
think that the chase after time is
just as strenuous. We have no time for
meditation but hurry from one thing
to another, often omitting God.
when we think of the lives of the
patriarchs, how barren they seem. How
narrow they appear. But did you ever
stop to think that it is not out of the
crowded city that God chooses His
thinkers? How barren the Sahara and
Arabian deserts seem, but out of the
deserts come riches. The dweller on
the desert knows the Lord He Is ever
present. in the dim silent places there
are no distractions and the man can
give God his time. Paul withdrew for
| three years after the revelation on the
road to Damascus So it has been with
all great thinkers.
Deceitfulness of Riches
THE second reason given by the Mas
| ter why the seed did not grow was the
deceitfulness of riches. What is the
deceitfulness of riches? Pomp and
glory are not satisfying When man
has labored and striven and crowded
everything out of his life in the strug-
gle for money he is apt to find that it
turns to ashes in his hands when he
has 1t. He does not find joy In it. L
say unto you that by way of riches
blessedness will never come
How much more does a man want
the gift than the giver. Do you desire
God or the blessing of God money, hap
piness, something material, something
you can measure and feel? The great
artist Turner was once painting a land
scape when lady who was looking on
exclaimed as he laid color after color
on the canvas. Mr.. Turner, / don't see
all that No. replied the artist. you
don't see that Don't you wish you
could?'
And so 1t is with us. If we have
not found that peace in religion, that
happiness which is depicted in the writ
ings of the saints, IL our natures have
not been big enough to grasp the great
truths and we have not felt what they
have felt, well might they say. Don't
| you wish you couldY"