by J. Randal Matheny

In my email program, I have two kinds of folders. The first are the automatic ones, like Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Trash, and Junk Mail. These stay at the top of the list. The second set I created, for people, lists subscriptions, and ezines.

In that second set is a folder called aaineedthis, for emails important to me. Perhaps a special message dear to my heart. Or something I want to read with some frequency. Hence, the "ineedthis" part (I need this). I added the two "aa's" at the beginning to place this folder at the top of the alphabetical listing.

When I named that folder, a funny thing happened.

The last automatic folder is Junk Mail, where my spam filter throws dubious messages. The first created folder is aaaineedthis. So the two folders, Junk Mail and aaineedthis, are neighbors, one right below the other.

The content of each is drastically different.

Life is like my folders.

The junk and the treasures often lie side by side. Trash is often thrown beneath -- or on top of -- the treasure. Next door to the church building may operate the strip joint or the alcoholic's bar. On the bookshelf a commentary faithful to the text may stand next to a work marred by skepticism and faulty scholarship.

The catch is knowing the difference. Because in real life, the junk may be named treasure and the worthy may be called trash. (This is not a new problem, says Isaiah 5:20-21.)

So Scripture tells us to watch out, to discern between what's good and what's bad.

"... test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, NRSV).

"... weigh what is said" (1 Corinthians 14:29).

"A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth" (Proverbs 17:24, NIV).

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

Let's make sure our junk file doesn't hold something precious. And that our "aaineedthis" file, or whatever you may name it, doesn't harbor trash.

For our freedom depends on it.

by J. Randal Matheny

People who tell us we can't all understand the Bible alike often have an agenda to push or a doctrine to promote. They like to create a chasm between the original readers and us today. We are so far removed from that original setting and situation, they say, that we can't be totally sure that what is being taught therein is applicable today. By doing so, they purport to muddy the waters and cast doubt on the ability to comprehend and apply what the Scriptures say.

Jesus himself shows that no such chasm exists. Much time had elapsed between the day God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and 30 A.D. or so, when the Sadducees plied our Lord with a question about the resurrection. In spite of a time span of more than 1,500 years, Jesus cites a phrase from Exodus 3 to demonstrate the existence of life after death and the resurrection.

Before doing so, he says, "And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ..." (Matthew 22:31, NRSV).

Jesus affirmed that in the Exodus passage, God was talking to the Sadducees. "Said to you by God." They should have read it and understood that it taught the resurrection of the dead. They were therefore culpable of teaching there was no resurrection. It mattered not at all that so much time has passed, nor that they were not present to understand fully what was taking place on that lonely mountainside.

Yes, the truth was there to be read and understood. But they had been influenced by philosophies and teachings of men. So they read over that verse and kept right on going, happy in their self-imposed ignorance.

Jesus told them, however, that God was talking to them through that passage. God was communicating important truths in something he had said more than 1,500 years earlier. Only their political and social agenda kept them from admitting it.

Be sure that when people today cast aspersions on the ability to understand the message of the Bible and come to a right conclusion about what it teaches, Jesus doesn't share their opinion.

We can know what God is saying to us about the nature of salvation, the proper human response to the gospel, the right way to worship the Lord, how to conduct ourselves in this evil world. We can know and we can fulfill God's detailed will for our lives.

Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

For God's talking to us today. Will we hear, understand, and obey?

by J. Randal Matheny

The Earth has rotated on its axis at the same speed since creation, I suppose. But we feel Einstein's relativity of time, since some of us would solemnly affirm that the days are shorter, the years go by more quickly, and there just isn't time enough to do what's needed.

We want to get to the Center of things, near the heart of God.

But we feel like we're on a merry-go-round, hanging on for dear life, about to be slung off by the centrifugal force.

Everything seems to work against us. Push us away. Obscure our goal.

It's too much fun, too fast. Even a day set aside to remember the cost of our freedom (Memorial Day in the USA) gets lost in travel and television and tasting the goodies.

No time for thinking, for thanking, for visiting, for praying. For being.

So where do we go from here?

We don't go. We stop.

Just as Jesus did. He stopped for the blind men (Matthew 20:32). He stopped to bless little children (Mark 10:15-17). He stopped to climb the mountain to be with the Father (Mark 1:35).

Jesus was not driven. He was drawn to the cross by the will of the Father. And he knew where to stop along the way.

So we may need a full stop as well.

A full stop to consider the blessings of freedom, the cost of liberty, the responsibilities of citizenship.

A full stop to breathe deeply the air of life, to see the beauty of our surroundings (even though we may consider them otherwise), to acknowledge the presence of others close by.

A full stop to ponder a word of Scripture, to chew our food, to relish being alone with God.

A full stop to consider the consequences of my habits, to hear myself speak, to look in the mirror.

We don't need more time. Nor more do. Nor more go. Little less do we need more fun and games.

We need more stop. More slow.

Maybe the tortoise knew more than he let on. He did, after all, win the race.

by J. Randal Matheny

I had my Sunday all planned out. We had gotten to Brazil early Friday morning. Our son Micah arrived by bus from another city at 6:30 a.m. Saturday to spend a few days at home. No extra sleep that day. Sunday, we had to rise early for church. No sleeping late then, either.

So the plan was to meet with the brethren in Sao Jose dos Campos in the morning, eat lunch and then rest some in the afternoon before heading off to the new congregation in Taubate, 40 minutes away from us.

Until I walked in the auditorium yesterday morning and saw the note on the white board. Door-to-door canvassing in the afternoon to offer a Bible correspondence course.

Hmmm, do I knock doors, or do I sleep?

I was leaning toward the latter until the Bible reading and sermon text. This verse made me sit up straight:

"Jacob's well was there [in Sychar], and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon" (John 4:6, NRSV).

We know what follows. Jesus brings good news to a Samaritan woman and the entire city of Sychar.

Like anyone else, Jesus felt the normal wear and tear of being human. He got hungry and thirsty. He got tired. He felt heat and cold, frustration and elation. As far as his humanity was concerned, he was a normal guy.

But he was above normal because, even in the heat of the day and beyond the hunger of the stomach, he could still consider the needs of others and offer them what they needed most. In his privation, he made others abound.

If Jesus did it, could I be content to sleep and let others work? Would I be just normal, and let my tired body keep me from bringing the Good News to someone in need?

My willing spirit was still wrestling with my weak flesh when someone announced that the canvassing had been postponed. I was saved from the choice.

But perhaps I still need to be faced with my tiredness, my poverty, my lack of optimal conditions, and the continuing need to offer the water of life.

I'm still pondering that one.

by J. Randal Matheny

In the last five weeks, I have visited nine congregations of the Lord's people in four states. I return to Brazil this week encouraged by what I have seen.

(1) Growth. One congregation is building a facility of 32,000 square feet to accompany their growth. Another is facing space problems as well, and must either build or plant a new church, just as they were planted a few years ago.

Those who work and preach the truth of the gospel will be blessed with fruits of their labors. Indeed, this is God's will (John 15:16). These churches have not changed their approach nor the gospel in order to reach people. They are doing what the Lord told them to do. With results produced by the Lord.

(2) Evangelism. One congregation is beginning a new emphasis on reaching the lost. They mean business when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission. In many of the others, I heard stories of Christians, aside from the designated leaders, teaching their friends and neighbors.

Jesus gave the church a single mission: to save souls by preaching the gospel, edifying the saints, and caring for their needs. Christians evidence spiritual values and demonstrate the single task by rejecting immediate concerns for eternal gains.

(3) Commitment. All of the congregations visited remain true to obeying Scripture as the authoritative word of God, to preaching obedience as necessary for salvation, to rejecting additions and subtractions from God's will, to worshiping God in spirit and truth, rather than resorting to entertainment and other worldly tendencies to gain numbers. The commitment to truth and to outreach go hand in hand.

What encourages me is to see almost all of these churches, in their obedience to Christ, combining love for one another, zeal for the truth, and faith in God to produce results through their preaching. With so much bad news and criticism of the brotherhood today, we might think such a combination was impossible. But it is not only possible, but happening in many congregations across the country.

As it happened in the first century as well. Paul wrote to one such church, "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV).

So let us be encouraged, and continue to persevere in faithfulness, love, and obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are many who are doing that already, and for them we give thanks to God.