by Stan Mitchell

"I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord'" (Psalm 122:1).

A student at Oxford University began to tire of the boring lectures and hard work required to attain a degree, so he stopped attending class. Soon he had missed an entire term. The professor decided to contact the backsliding scholar and approached his dorm room. There the young man was, at two in the afternoon, asleep on his bed. Driven to indignation by the sight of the slovenly boy, the professor declared:

"You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm. Please leave Oxford on the next town drain!"

I'm sure the professor felt much better after getting that off his chest!

Even in a day of the Internet and virtual reality, it still helps to attend class if one wants to learn his history lessons! Absentee parents should be a contradiction in terms, and perhaps you have noticed that turning up at work helps one's employment status enormously. Being present at Bible class and worship services also helps the Christian grow. You cannot treat beloved brothers and sisters in Christ with compassion and caring unless you see them. You cannot foster a relationship with a God you do not encounter on a regular basis. You cannot learn his will without frequently opening his word and studying it.

Conversely, I cannot imagine the most spiritual and Christ-like element of a congregation being those who habitually miss worship. Sorry. I just don't think it happens.

The result of habitual truancy is that our love for God is drained, the Bible becomes a mystery to us and our taste for spiritual things is diminished. God's will has to be, well, spoon-fed to us! And what I'm worried about most is that those who fail to attend might miss more than a "term"!

by Stan Mitchell

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:31).

Have you ever tried to corner a chicken? Paving stones are more aerodynamic than chickens! Somehow this most inelegant of birds senses that flight is a matter of greatest urgency, and in a flurry of claws and feathers she does her best to avoid a destiny with an iron skillet and a bottle of Crisco.

Would this be poultry in motion?

Have you ever tried to corner an eagle? Ten-foot chicken wiring tends to be inadequate confinement. And in the broad, blue sky, a thousand feet above the earth, there aren't many corners, anyway.

That would be a receding raptor.

When we attempt to rise above life's difficulties on our own, our efforts are usually about as exalted and dignified as a harassed hen. And the temptation usually catches us, red feet clasped in hand, hanging upside down and ready for the fryer!

So why do we try vainly to live life without the help of God? Don't we want to soar on wings like eagles? Don't we want to rise above the dust and grit of the hen house? Why do Christians try to get along without the benefit of Bible Study and worship time? Why do we fail to seek consolation in prayer?

Rest on the wings of the Lord. Pray for his strength. Be in his presence for worship. Serve his people.

"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself" (Exodus 19:4).

Are you a fryer or a flier?

by Stan Mitchell

One of my elders used this familiar phrase Sunday -- you know the one. "Preacher, you quit preachin' and gone to meddlin'." It's a sad day when preaching meddles in our marriages, meddles in our work ethics, meddles in our use of money. Of course that elder was kidding. But I like the phrase because it says something important. There is an idea out there, not quite said but believed nonetheless, that preaching isn't supposed to actually demand lifestyle changes, commitment, or repentance.

It's not supposed to suggest that some actions are morally wrong, or that if there are true teachings there must be false teachings, too. It's not supposed to proclaim that there is a right way and a wrong way, or worse, that there is just one way, one truth, and one life (John 14:6). That's so exclusive! We need to include all kinds of lifestyles! "Talk about theology, or esoteric subjects like how many angels can stand on the head of a pin. But don't talk about the sin within the audience. Demand change in worship, but don't demand change in hearts. Criticize the church of Christ, but don't criticize the sin in the lives of those who hear. Point out hypocrisy in church leaders, but don't point it out in us!"

"Heaven has only one sermon -- repentance," says Charles Hodge, "Sinners cannot return to God with their sins. The good news begins with bad news! Peter's first command on Pentecost was 'repent' (Acts 2:38)." (Gospel Advocate, October, 2002).

Sometimes a sermon's intent is to inspire; sometimes its intent is to motivate; sometimes its intent is to comfort. And sometimes, beloved, its intent is to bring about repentance.

"In those days, John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, 'Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is near!'" (Matthew 3:1,2). So in a word, if it isn't meddling, it isn't preaching!

by Stan Mitchell

You have probably heard that great comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen where a thug points a gun at them and says:

"Your money or your wife!"

What follows is an agonizing pause. Finally the crook presses for a response:

"Well? Which one?"

"Don't rush me," the raspy-voiced Burns yells, "I'm thinking about it!"

What makes the skit funny is that this is supposed to be a false dilemma. Burns doesn't want to give up either his life or his wife!

The other week I heard someone say it again. "I would rather my kids listen to Christian Contemporary music than some of the other stuff that's out there. Their lyrics are so ungodly. Surely it's better to listen to Christian sentiments, even if they use instrumental music?" This is a false dilemma. There is no question that much of the Country/Rap/Rock music we hear on the airwaves these days is brutal, sex-saturated and ungodly. I don't want their smut and resentments polluting our children's thinking.

But I have been confronted too many times by young people, in all sincerity, asking why we cannot bring a guitar, band, or piano into church because "We listen to Contemporary Christian music, and we like it!" It's not their fault; it is we who sent the wrong signal. Two wrongs do not make a right, even when the one wrong is clearly worse than the other.

But the fact remains that the same scripture that instructs us to sing "songs, hymns and spiritual songs" (Colossians 3:16) is as silent as a church mouse on the instrument. As a wholesome alternative, phone a Christian University and ask for tapes or CD's of a good a cappella Chorus. You won't be sorry.

"Now these things, brethren, I have transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written" (1 Corinthians 4:6).

by Stan Mitchell

Montgomery, Alabama: Chief Justice Roy Moore has made the headlines for his insistence that the Ten Commandments be displayed in his courthouse. He says that the Biblical code is the foundation of law in America, and our society's efforts to remove them represent a dangerous collapse of morals and ethics in our country.

Moore, a Vietnam veteran, declared: "We've turned the Constitution and the First Amendment from a shield to protect us into a sword to deprive us of our civil and religious rights."

You know the story; you've seen it on the news. But what I want to comment on is a placard the TV cameras were showing. It said: "We Demand Freedom From Religion." I had to laugh at that. Of course the phrase should be Freedom of religion, not from religion. But it's not just the ACLU and the Coalition for the American Way that want freedom from religion. That's what every rebellious teenager wants, and every independent man who doesn't want to be "told what to do" wants -- freedom from religion! That's what couples living in sin want, and drunks too -- freedom from religion. That's what dishonest politicians want, and most of us, too -- freedom from religion.

We don't want to be responsible to a God who demands our obedience. We would just as soon not change bad habits. We don't want a preacher, or a judge, or the Bible telling us how to live! We want freedom from religion!

Perhaps that's why so many are trying to push the Ten Commandments -- and the rest of the Bible -- out of our public places, and out of our hearts. We want freedom from religion. But remember this. Worship of pleasure is a religion. Worshiping rap artists, and flashy new cars, and our own self indulgence -- all of these is a religion. We have simply switched our loyalty from God to idols. There is no freedom from religion. Only freedom in Christ!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).