by A. A. Neale

Nosiree, I didn't commit a grammatical error in the title. A litotes* is a figure of speech, and a common one at that. It is, according to a Webster clone, an "understatement for effect", especially when expressed by a negative to the contrary. In plainer words, you use a negative when you mean a positive.

An example: You say, "I have not a few regrets." You mean, "I have many regrets."

Another example: You say, "That's not bad." You mean, "That's good!"

A third example, and I'll get to my point. You say, "He's no dummy." You mean, "He's intelligent."

The Bible uses litotes as well, as we might expect.

We know that when the angel says to Mary that "with God nothing will be impossible" (Lk. 1:37, NKJV), he means to say that with God all things are possible.

Paul calls his hometown of Tarsus "no insignificant city" (Acts 21:39, NASB), meaning quite an important city.

To the Galatians, Paul says, "You have not injured me at all" (4:12, NJKV), and he wanted them to understand, "You treated me very well."

So this contrary understatement shows up not infrequently (oops! another litotes, there) in the Bible.

I suspect Romans 13:10 brings us another case.

"Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

Paul had a reason for putting this in the negative. He has just cited several of the ten commandments, "Thou shalt not." So Paul continues the idea of the negative when he sums up. But the studied apostle knows that the commandments just cited aren't mere "don't-do" orders. They go beyond the prohibition to give life to how one is to love neighbor as self.

So his "do-no-harm" affirmation is understatement. Between him and his readers, everybody understands that love does much more than refrain from injuring others.

There are plenty of people who will tell you God must like them because they don't steal, murder, rape, or set fire to the neighbor's poodle. Aren't they wonderful people? (Especially the last class.)

Love is a positive. Love not only does no harm to one's neighbor, but actively promotes his good. Love searches for ways to serve, is on 24/7 guard duty for opportunities to do a fellow right. Love is good will in action.

But you didn't need a litotes to tell you that, now did you?

*Most people pronounce it LIGHT-uh-tease.

by A. A. Neale

Though it's not politically correct to use military language in religious talk, I'm going to do it today. If a Muslim is reading, here's my disclaimer: I don't want to kill any single human being; I want to overcome Satan's influence in my life and show everyone how to do the same.

Israel was God's physical people in the Old Testament, and as such were blessed physically by the Lord and were given instructions to overcome the other peoples nearby. We don't do that today, for our arms are not carnal, but spiritual and rational (2 Cor. 10:4-5). But the physical battle suggests lessons for the spiritual.

In a physical battle, one man knew how to proceed:

"When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel's best and put them in battle array against the people of Ammon" (1 Chron. 19:10, NKJV).

Joab's battlefield actions are suggestive for Christians today.

1. Know the field. Joab "saw" where the battle line was and could take appropriate action. We need to know where, as a church, the main problems are and deal with them. The battle line can and does move. New issues and challenges arise, overshadowing what were issues 30 years ago. As an individual, my problems and difficulties today may not be the same ones as last year or last decade.

2. The battle is all around us, before and behind. The devil circles us constantly looking for a weak point at which to enter (1 Pet. 5:8). Attentiveness is the watchword.

3. Put the best in the most critical points. This can apply in the body of Christ, where we should put our most qualified people in the mission fields, in the pulpits, in the schools, and in the streets. Personally, it means I should shore up my efforts where I am most vulnerable. The "best" may be hard to measure in a spiritual sense, but we may apply it in the sense of our best efforts and our most effective workers.

Joab was an excellent strategist as commander of David's armies. Jesus wants astute disciples following him as well. It was when he sent out the Twelve to preach that he said, "Behold, I send you out in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matt. 10:16).

I'm thankful for those lessons.

by A. A. Neale

December 31st is a special day to me. It means I have finished up one more year of life chocked full of love and blessings and family and friends. The Lord has been good to me in every sense of the word, and I can't complain about a thing.

Oh, sure, I've had a lot of bumps and taken plenty of wallops in my time. But every good road has a clod now and then, so I'll not complain of the ride because of it.

January 1st is a special day to me, too. It means I have stuck my foot into a new year, and, though only the good Lord knows how far I'll make it, it gives even an old codger like me a chance to learn new things, spread around a little of my limited wisdom, and head a soul toward eternity together with God.

And that's where I want to land today. I want you to make double- triple- quadruple-sure that your life is right with God today.

You may be a Christian who is not faithful to God's call. You can make that right, here and now.

You may be a religious person following tradition because your parents or aunt or uncle did. Please know, my good friend, that you're walking a dangerous trail. Throw away any teaching that denies, contradicts, or cancels out the commandment of God (Mark 7:1-13).

You may have no spiritual commitments at all. You may be what they call a seeker, or melon-thumper, but haven't made up your mind yet. This is a perfect time to jump whole-hog into the life with Christ.

That means your next step is to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and follow him to the cross, by turning from sin to serve God, publicly acknowledging him as your Master, and plunging into a pool of water where he has said you will meet the blood that gives life. (See Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Luke 24:46-47; Rom. 10:10; 1 Pet. 3:21.)

The writer of Hebrews pitied those poor Israelites who offered the same old sacrifices year after year and never got a clean bill of health. "But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year" (Heb. 10:3, NKJV).

God's people today have a weekly reminder, nay, a daily reminder of the One Final Sacrifice that took care of all sin for all time. (Instead of remembering sin, they remember forgiveness!) But I find the new year a great time to celebrate as well, much like the old wino who took any little reason for another swig.

I'm swigging on the forgiveness of Christ, and I'll take any little time marker or personal reason of yours or mine to celebrate. More than anything, I want to enlarge that celebration and include as many folk as I can. That means you, too.

So let's hit January 1st, if the Lord lingers that long and you and I make it to the new year, as a special day given to the Lord, because we are saved by the blood of the Lamb. Make it right, make it sure, make it certain.

This is one thing we can't afford to mess up.

Let's make it a happy new, new year.

by A. A. Neale

"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!" (Job 23:3, NJKV).

Dear Friend Job,

You certainly had a rough time of it, my old man. And who can blame you for the bitterness you felt, since you couldn't see anything that was going on in the background?

As early as you appeared in the Sacred History, you didn't have much advantage either. You didn't see the great acts of God in behalf of his people. Much less did you have the view of God in the flesh.

Where to find God? That appears to be our dilemma, doesn't it, my fine patriarch? But it turns out that question is barking up the wrong tree. For God is there, ever present, every watching over his own.

Though that kind of language can certainly be justified, and especially in your case, turns out that God has already found us. And, without making a game of it, God lets himself be found by his creatures.

• After a fright from the angel of the Lord, shepherds found Jesus lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes (Luke 2:12, 16).

• Oriental wise men were led by a star, not by a King, to find the young Child and worship him (Matt. 2:1-2, 8, 10-11).

• After a panic, Jesus' parents find him chatting in the temple with the scholars (Luke 2:46).

• In two similar moments, Andrew runs to a brother and Philip, to a friend, to say, "We have found the Messiah!" (John 1:41, 45).

• The disciples find Jesus, having risen early to find a secluded spot to pray, only to get themselves rustled into a preaching trip (Mark 1:35-38).

• Bread-seeking multitudes find more than they were looking for, they found the Lord, for all the good it did them (John 6:25).

Jesus will even talk of the nature of the kingdom of Heaven as a man finding a treasure in a field or an extremely expensive pearl on the market (Matt. 13:44, 46).

You, Job, who searched so much for God, might consider it unfair that Isaiah can be so bold to say, as Paul will later quote him, "I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me" (Romans 10:20).

When Jesus was on earth, it might have been easier to find God, if people had realized, with Nathanel, who he actually was. Which makes me think how much easier it is for me today, Job, to find God, more so that even in Jesus' day, or yours.

Or is it?

It's hard to find God past the Christmas tinsel or the court battles to "put Christ back in Christmas," whatever that's supposed to mean.

It's hard to find God in that contemporary music they call Christian, but tastes commercial and sappy as secular pop stars (not to mention the instruments).

It's hard to find God in the fast action of mega-churches or in the shallow sermons of pastors and preachers.

It's hard to find God even in the stars anymore, what with all the pollution, street lights, and scientific searches for ETs.

So maybe you and I aren't so far apart after all, Job. Our boils just take a different shape, maybe. So scoot over, make room, and we'll scrape them with a piece of broken pot.

And while we scrape, let me pull out a battered old piece of leather with a few leaves in between to read and pass the time.

Since we have no stars zipping across the sky. No brilliantly lit angel to send us scurrying. No Transfiguration to leave us ga-ga. No quiet miracles to cause a ruckus in the crowds.

Just you and me, Job. And an old book.

Where do you want to start?

"Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6).

by A. A. Neale

I have so many things to be thankful for, but THINGS are the least of my blessings. The greatest of my blessings, after my salvation in Jesus Christ, the loving presence of our divine Father, and the aid of his Holy Spirit, are PEOPLE, those beloved friends, family, neighbors, and spiritual brothers and sisters who have circled my entire life, as my journey winds down.

The late Bob Hope often ended his tour appearances with the now-famous phrase, "Thanks for the memories." Yessiree, but those people are more than memories, for I hold a part of every kind person who has touched my life, not only as a memory, but as a trait, a trace, a remainder of each one who has left me with some precious gift.

The older we get, the more memories are precious to us, but more than memories are those people who are still around to bless and to receive a blessing.

Some folk, and you may be one of them, have not had the privilege of many friends and loving family members. They (and you) can and should find plenty of reason to be thankful for the church of our Lord, where they can discover a richness of personal relationships. A father, a mother, a sister, a brother, maybe even a wife or husband, awaits us in the great Shepherd's fold.

As the apostle Paul said, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now" (Phil. 1:3-5, NKJV).

The joy of fellowship is something to be cherished and passed on, says John (1 John 1:3). It is to be extended and defended, protected and not neglected.

That makes my family, friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ, both past and present, more than memories. They're blessings!

I'm thankful for that. And I'm thankful for you.