The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-08-07
BY RALPH ROGERS

s'aS~s SsAtE -
BY RALPH ROGERS
AS a youngster my Daddy used
to come home and as he approach
ed held his two hands behind him
and asked which hand I'd choose.
It would either be the right or left
for ] knew that in one hand he held
a prize. II / should choose the
wiring hand, he'd show me the
other with an apple, an orange or
perhpas q stick Of candy, then at
ter teasing a while he would give
it to me even though / failed to
choose Alright.
The lessons today deals with
choice. The difference in this case
is that one can see what is in each
hand and keep in mind that there
is q choice of only two things the
Heavenly Father offers all man.
kind. Jesus describes in Matthew
the things that make birds happy,
the things that make nature beau
tiful, and finally tells us that if we
choose just one thing, the kingdom
Of God, we can have both - our
earthly needs and also the king
dom Of our Father.
We Make The Choice
Scattered throughout the New
Testament are the parallels telling
us in plain language what we might
choose. He tells US of the sheep
and goats, the figs and thistles, the
right and wrong, the "world" or
the Father, the broad road or the
narrow. Emphasis is placed on the
fact that we can't have both - we
can't have our cake and eat it too.
We either must be satisfied with
what God offers or we fall into
the danger of being the servants OF
mammon. eye cannot serve God
and mammon. We make the
choice.
Our women used to write letters
to friends asking them to send .
parcel post package which they
could sell for q quarter. Some Of
the packages contained shoddy
gifts which could be purchased for
q dime or q quarter while others
contained beautiful gifts worth a
dollar or more. The purchaser at
the bazaar would look the pack
ages over and choose the one they
wanted. One youngster selected a
nice big package, thinking the size
revealed its worth only to discover
some cheap and useless article.
Other packages which were small
and seemingly insignificant often
contained the more valuable arti-
Gle.
People down through the ages
have often been deceived choosing
the nice big shining package Of
worldliness = wealth, power, fame,
only to find at the end of the road
they are absolutely worthless. Wise
indeed has been the Christian who
chooses the life of trials and tri-
bulations, or persecution, danger
and heartaches only to find at the
end Of the journey the narrow road
opens into Paradise, the bright and
shining life in the eternal presence
of God, our Father.
Time was when the subjects of
q kingdom would accept the reli-
gion Of the king. With the change
Of kings or rulers the mass of :peo-
pie shifted their loyalty from one
god to another. Time has erased
the illusions that s'the king. can do
no wrong" and today it is a mat
ter Of individual choice. Christiani-
ty has discovered for us the per-
sonality. Out Of the idea of indi-
vidual responsibility comes the
craving for other freedoms, in po-
litics, in social life. God doesn't
destroy = Sodom or Gomorrah any
more. He deals with individuals.
Jesus deals with persons and the
wife cannot choose for the hus-
band, or parent for the child, only
advise and counsel them. We must