The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-03-04

Va VIC OAtGCA Gov CARCA lCI1CCS VI
life come when a person dis
covers that this sentence does not
mean quite, or perhaps at all,
what he thought it did. The name
given in the church to the truth
that God watches over us and all
things and all men, is "Provi-
dence." In fact all that God
does, in relation to mankind, and
to his universe. is summed up in
two words, Creation and Pr0vi-
dence.
But the current lesson from the
Bible. part Of the story Of Paul,
may help to untangle the truth
about Providence, Gods care
for his creatures, from some
wrong ideas about it.
We sometimes say that God
will keep us from all harm: but
if we stop to think about it. if
we see how God has acted in
times past and what the expert
ences of Christians have been,
we shall realize that to say that
God will keep me from all harm
is saying more than the facts
will support.
God will not keep you from dy-
ing. He has not kept many of his
children from death. Even his
only Son Jesus Christ actually
died on Calvary. We sometimes
think a man is peculiar if he
keeps a coffin in his house for
future use; but while it may be
unusual to do that. it isn't crazy.
Unless you die at sea. or get
vaporized by an H-bomb. or
something extraordinary lik e
| that, you may as well buy your
casket now. What is left of you
! will need a coffin of some kind
This is true no matter how good
you are.
God will probably not keep you
from all suffering. Even if you
never have an ache or a pain in
your body. even if you die at 80
with all your teeth as good as
new, even if your friends all out
live you SO that you never have
to noun their deaths-if you have
a heart at all, if you share the
mind of Christ. you viii be torn
with compassion. as he was. by
the thought of the millions with
out a shepherd. The more Chris
tan you are. the more the Sor-
rows of the world will weigh on
you.
From Final Evil
What God will keep you from.
is what we might call final evil
II we think over the lives of
great Christians and saints. we
can see what Gods Providence
meant in their lives. Take Paul
as a fair example. There at Je-
| rusalem God did not save him
from being halfkilled, though he
did save him from being killed.
He saved him from being
scourged, but he did not save
him from being a prisoner. There
is always worse something
from which God spares us.
And what is the worst? It
surely is this: that man be
separated hopelessly and finally
from God his Creator and
Father. Sorrow and suffering
may keep us from seeing God;
but no darkness need keep us
from knowing that He is there.
The Christian may have to walk
In the valley of the shadow of
death-and what greater dark
ness is there? There is one
greater darkness than this, tho
black night in which man has
lost God forever. But this does
not come to the. man of faith.
Paul more than once thought he
was going to die. and finally was
killed: but he never lost God
Is God My Bodyguard?
When the President of the
United States goes on a trip,
even for a few blocks. he does
not worry about his personal
safety. The Secret Service men
DO the worrying for him. AS his
bodyguard it is their RESPONSE
blllty to see that no harm comes
to him. He carries no gun; but
he is surrounded by guns on all
sides.
Is God my bodyguard? Does
he take all responsibility for my
personal safety? Can I leave all
the worrying to him? We can
leave the worrying to him. yes;
but we have a personal v,spopSi-
hility too. We can say that God
kept Paul from the agony and
danger Of q Roman srcurg1ng
but how? II Fs,I had not SPOKEN
up when be did. and told the otfi-
Ger that he was Roman citizen.
he would have been stourred
anyway. Gods care Of us works
best when we act in partnership
With him.
BASED on outlines copyrighted
ty the Division Of Christian Edu-
cation. National Council Of the
Churches of Christ in the U. S. A.
Released by Community Press
Scrvicc.l