by Mike Benson

Somehow I can't quite imagine it coming down to this level, but it did. Harold and Frances Mountain stood, well...actually "sat", on the floor of a Las Vegas courtroom and delved up what was left of their belongings - a $5,000 Beanie Baby collection. The couple had finalized their divorce some four months previously, but hadn't been able to reach an agreement over the stuffed toys. When Harold filed a motion to get his share of the BB stockpile, family court Judge Gerald Hardcastle said "enough!" Hardcastle ordered the two to solve their disagreement by piling their possessions on the floor and dividing them up one by one. "Because you folks can't solve it, it takes the services of a...judge, a bailiff and a court reporter." According to the news, Maple the Bear went first. A few spectators in the gallery quietly snickered when the selection was made. Somehow I missed the humor though. A marriage had been severed (Matthew 19:6b; Malachi 2:16) and all that was left were some brightly-colored cloth and dried beans.

Evidence would suggest materialism was at least one factor in the dissolution of the Mountain's marital relationship. "Materialism" - according to Webster's it is, "the tendency to be more concerned with material than with spiritual values." On one occasion Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of covetousness..." (Luke 12:15; cf. Romans 3:9; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; James 4:2; 2 Peter 2:14). To engage in covetousness, Greek - pleonexia, is to engage in the greedy desire for more things. /1 Paul said, "Covetousness...is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5). An idolatrous person worships or bows to the inferior (1 Corinthians 8:4; Jeremiah 10:14); he renders ultimate devotion to an object of limited value. Therefore, materialism is a "bowing" to the greedy desire for and pursuit of things - and exalts such above God. "There is a sort of religious purpose, a devotion of the soul" to tangible, temporal concerns. /2 One brother appropriately calls materialism "the gospel of the flesh." /3

"...Man is bowing down figuratively to an idol when he keeps for himself much. It is remarkable [that] covetousness is listed with fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire; all such passions so detestable within the heart of a Christian. Yet, it is listed there evidently because it is what turns the heart of a Christian away from God! It dethrones God from His rightful place. When a man seeks happiness in things, possessions, money, etc., he has dethroned God from his heart." /4

While our modern-day idols may share little physical similarity to their crude counterparts of wood and stone (today ours could be made of brightly colored cloth and beans), we - like Harold and Frances Mountain - pay them a certain reverence, don't we? And although the position of our bodies may be somewhat different (in that we do not physically bow), the position of our hearts is essentially the same.

Friends, materialism is a threat to the stability of our marriages, and the Word is clear, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthians 10:14). "Keep yourself from idols" (1 John 5:21).

Are there any idols in your house? What do they look like? Perhaps Maple the Bear?

/1 Fritz Rienecker, Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, '76), p. 177.

/4 Roy Lanier, Jr., A Little Contribution (Montrose, CO: Lee and Mark Hanstein, '92), p. 28

by Mike Benson

Confession time (James 5:16). There have been periods during my forty-three-year sojourn that I have experienced a certain apprehension about the future (Mark 9:24). As much as I hate to admit it, I've not always taken the "Christian perspective" in regard to my days (Psalms 90:12). "Fearful" - yes; "faithful" - no.

I have occasionally fantasized about how much easier and nicer life would be if...dare I say it...if I wielded control over the future. If I, in some God-like fashion, could keep tomorrow and all its attendant circumstances under my tight supervision. I would be master of my environment. I would manage my surroundings - controlling where I live, how I live (i.e., my standard of living), what I buy, where I go, what happens to me, etc. (Did you notice all of those personal pronouns)? "And Mike said..." and it would be so (cf. Genesis 1). Life would be according to my script - with no anxiety, no uncertainty, no trepidation.

Well, experience has been something of a "tutor". Newspaper headlines and untimely events continue to remind me that physical security is fleeting at best and subject to fluctuation (Job 1:13-2:7; 2 Corinthians 11:23-27). I'm not in control of tomorrow, nor will I ever be. Mike is Mike; God is God - and each of us has different roles and functions - mine is to learn faith and trust (Matthew 14:31; Hebrews 11:6a); God's is to oversee and determine my days (Daniel 4:35). I like the way one author illustrates these truths:

"Imagine two fight-type aircraft three feet apart in tight formation through a wide range of maneuvers. Perhaps you have seen the Thunderbirds do this at five hundred miles an hour.

Now picture the return to base for landing. These aircraft can fly in tight formation all the way to touchdown. When the weather is poor, landing becomes a little 'hairy'. Let me explain.

These two aircraft in the clouds have about twenty feet of visibility. They fly very close, and the lead pilot just looks at his instruments. The number two pilot just looks at lead. When they approach the field, the two pilots will, on signal from the lead, lower the landing gear, and together the aircraft change pitch like a porpoise in the water. Because the number two pilot is looking out the side of the aircraft instead of straight ahead, his sensory perception gives him funny signals at he decelerates and the nose pitches up and down. Sometimes he feels as if he is in ninety degrees of bank when he is wings-level with the horizon. Now if he shifts his focus from lead to the cockpit, he could easily either slide into lead or away from lead in the clouds close to the ground. Either could be disastrous. What we as instructors had to burn into the memory of students learning to fly in bad weather is to trust lead no matter how scary it feels. 'Your job,' we would say, 'is to follow lead and stay in position; his job is to make a safe approach.' But this is tough when you feel as if the plane is in a steep bank and about to crash. It involves focus and trust." /1

1. Trusting God with my future is like formation flying in a fighter jet. It involves following His lead no matter how scary it feels at times. "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength..." (Habakkuk 3:17-19a).

2. My job is to focus on the here and now - today. "See then that you walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15,16; cf. Matthew 6:11).

3. God is responsible for my future. "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that'" (James 4:13-15). He wants me to relax about the days ahead and trust Him. "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'...For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:31-32,11; cf. Psalms 31:1, 9; Proverbs 3:5-6).

/1 Doug Sherman, "Holding Your Career with a Light Touch," Keeping Your Head Up When Your Job's Got You Down, p. 108).

by Mike Benson

Speaking from personal experience, I know firsthand that preachers sometimes get discouraged when church members habitually miss the worship assembly.

Recently, I read a story about one particular preacher who had become so disheartened that he asked his secretary to compile a list of the ten members who were absent most often. He then asked her to mail each of these folks a copy of their attendance records in addition to a letter of admonition and concern.

After only a few days, the preacher received a letter from a doctor in the congregation. The physician confessed negligence in his life and even included a generous $1,500 check to cover the contributions that he had missed during his absence. He closed his letter with a promise to be more faithful in the future than he had in the past. Then at the bottom of the page, the MD wrote, "P.S. Please tell your secretary that there is only one 't' in dirty, and no 'c' in skunk."

It is difficult to know exactly what to say to a wayward brother, isn't it? There's a fine line between lovingly urging a man to repent and "browbeating" him. Certainly the words "dirty skunk" would not be appropriate, but something needs to be said. Something has to be said in the interest of his soul (James 5:19,20).

The Bible tells us,

"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one IN A SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS..." (Galatians 6:1a; cf. Ephesians 4:2; Hebrews 10:24 - emphasis mine, mb).

Dear Christian, what do you need to say today, and to whom do you need to say it?

by Mike Benson

. Take one harmless event.

. Add one ugly motive.

. Stir in your own opinion.

. Add one suspicious tone.

. Put in a measure of "they say".

. Add imaginary details to increase the taste.

. Sprinkle well with the spice of rumor.

Heat slowly over the flame of envy. Serve secretly as often as possible to anyone who will give attention.

Boy, if ever there was a recipe for gossip, this would have to be it. Little wonder that the Bible reminds us, "The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles ["dainty morsels" - RSV] and they go down into the inmost body" (Proverbs 18:8 NKJV).

Kind reader, let's be extra careful that we don't share this recipe.

by Mike Benson

Diana Ross McCain wrote an insightful article entitled, "The Hardships of Worship." In it she described what it was like to worship in a Connecticut church meetinghouse some two-hundred plus years ago. She observed:

"There was no fireplace, no stove, no significant heat source of any kind. Half-frozen men, women, and children, bundled up in their heaviest garments, hunched themselves to conserve precious body heat and peered through clouds of condensation formed by their breath. In the pulpit the minister himself might be preaching clad in a greatcoat and mittens. At times it got so cold the Lord's Supper froze..."

Comfort was not a primary consideration of those who constructed early Connecticut meeting houses. Here one came every Sunday to attend to the serious business of hearing the word of God and how it might be applied to daily life. And that solemn duty was to be carried out no matter what weather it pleased the Almighty to provide."

Wouldn't it be interesting to some day note the following in the local paper, "Come worship with us. Our building is cold in the winter; hot in the summer. We use neither heat nor air conditioning. Our pews are not padded. We meet not for physical comfort, but spiritual worship. You are cordially invited"...(John 4:24; cf. Acts 16:24,25)?

Now, what was it you were saying about the thermostat?