The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-01-04
Ready When?
Lesson for January 6, 1868

The same man or woman will
be admired by different people
for different reasons. Our Lord
was no exception. What is it in
Jesus that draws, as He said,
"al men" to himself? 1t is now
as it was then. Not every one
would say the same. The four
Gospels are not alike, and one
reason they are not alike is that
the four evangelists writers of
the gospels found different as
poets of Jesus life and thought
challenging an compelling.
Mark, from whose short book
these Bible studies for the next
three months are to be taken,
was drawn to Jesus on account
Of what he did rather than what
He said. Jesus is here intro
duced to us as the mighty Son
of God, who demonstrated His
right to be Master of Men by
His acts Of power. Jesus had a
meek and gentle side; but there
is not much in Mark about a
meek and gentle Jesus; rather
about the KIND of character that
would appeal to the Romans
among whom the book first cir
culated. Jesus the Mighty One.
Not by Age, not by Books
When is a man ready to go
out and begin his LIES work?
Many young people begin too
soon. They drop out of high
school and get married. they
are burdened with the cares OF
a job tor trying to find one) and
family at a time when they
should still be preparing for
such responsibilities. 9th e I S
keep on preparing because
they are actually afraid to go
out and get into the swing and
the fight of living. A person is
not necessarily ready when he
has read a certain number of
books. A book, many books, can
help handily in preparing those
who read them for active useful
living, but a young man may
have put his nose into many
books without ever having put
his mind into any one of them.
In many books is much knoWl-
edge, but in many books may
be little wisdom. Age by itself
will not prepare a youth for liv-
ing. In two states young people
can legally vote at the age Of
10; in two others, 10 and 20: and
in all the rest, II. The theory is
| that anybody old enough to
fight is old enough to vote. But
is this true? Does any one sup
pose that every boy or girl just
turned Il is suddenly endowed
with the sense and the ability
to make the serious choices de-
manded of a good voter? Mere
years will not bring wisdom.
The Call OF God
Jesus of Nazareth, be it re-
nembered. was not a bookish
man. He knew His Bible. but
there is no evidence that He had
attended any of the gre a
schools of that day. His "ignor-
ance" was always thrown up
to Him by those who failed to
| see" Him. Furthermore. Jesus
was what some would call over
age before he embarked on his
| llfewOrk. He was 30 years old
! before beginning to preac h..
| BOOk-WiSe, He was less than
ready: age-Wise. He was more
than ready. But He considered
these things Cif at all as being
far down the list of indiSpenSa-
bleS. Jesus did not enter on His
llfeWork until He was convinced
that He had divine call. Now
the call of God comes to people
in various ways. But surely it
stands to reason that no matter
what you know or have expert
| enced, If you set out on a course
| God does not want you to take,
you are headed for real failure
The Voice of the Tempter
There was once a dedicated
woman missionary On her fur
loughS i'll this country. she would
go from college to college, look
ing for those who had vollln-
teered to go as foreign mission
aries. She would talk to these
young people. and try as hard
as she could to persuade them
not to 60. She turned more than
200 away in this fashion; but
those who could not be discOur-
aged were the ones she was
looking for. They were the
ready ones. Now il it is neceS-
Sary to hear the voice of God
(which may well come 10 US II
the voice of q friend or loved
one) before We are actually pre-
pared for our LIES work great
or small as God wills. It IS also
well that We should listen as
Jesus had to- TO the voice
tempting us to do something
else. anything else but what
God calls us to do. only
those are truly ready who have
learned to saw NO to the Evil