By Van Yandell
Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest”
My dad always carried a pocket knife. The old-timers did as a matter of habit and necessity much the same way many today are glued to their mobile phones.
Dad used his pocket knife to remove insulation from electrical wire, trim his fingernails, and times cut a spline to secure a wood screw. The uses never ceased to intrigue me. To live without a pocket knife would have been a lifestyle change I’m not sure he could have coped with.
In the down town area of our small Western Kentucky town was an area with a couple of public benches the older men would occupy a majority of their retirement days.
This was probably typical in the 1950’s. Small towns across America seem to mirror each other. The basic town square or a commons area served as a place of meeting. Sometimes there was a park where the older guys played chess or cards. All in all, the American dream was alive and well and a peaceful environment was paramount in the desires of everyone.
Those days may be mostly over and the younger generation will never know the tranquility of a small town and the whittlers on the town bench.
The common practice was to be productive or at least appear to be. That attitude simply went with that generation. To be a “do-nothing” freeloader would have been completely askew to the ways of thinking and an embarrassment to their entire family.
Two favorite pass times involved pocket knives. Whittling became an art. To produce the largest pile of wood shavings determined the greatest. The other challenge was knife trading. To be the most skilled knife trader and to secure the better part of the deal was a mark of genius and greatness.
In my “little-boy” days, between fishing trips and exploring adventures, I would sit and attempt to glean what knowledge I could from their years of accumulated experiences.
I heard stories of World War II, the Great Depression and from a few, their experiences working in the factories in Detroit.
The more experienced and skilled of the whittlers would bring their own piece of wood but the newbies picked up sticks. The highly skilled at times made whistles, sling shots or tooth picks. Usually though, the end product was a sliver that was neither identifiable or useful for anything other than termite food.
Many churches and their members are like the whittlers. They work all day and appear to be busy but at the end of the day, nothing for the Kingdom of our Jesus has been accomplished.
Jesus told us in The Great Commission: Matthew 28: 18-19 “All power and authority has been given unto me. Go ye therefore of and preach this Gospel to all nations.”
Apparently many Christians in today’s church think this means a superficial performance. We have heard said many times for any years, “plant the seeds.” This is well and good but at some point someone must harvest the crop.
John 4: 35 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” If this verse was applicable in Jesus’ day, can we even begin to imagine how relevant it is in today’s world of over eight billion people.
There is an old saying about a rocking chair: “It gives you something to do but it doesn’t take you anywhere.” If a church mission project isn’t winning lost souls to the Lord Jesus, someone needs to re-evaluate the methods and priorities.
A pastor friend once said, concerning food/feeding projects, “If you feed them and forget to tell them about the saving power of Jesus, you’ll only send them home with a full stomach.
We’ve worked with three disaster relief agencies, two of which were faith/Christian based. It was obviously noticeable, the volunteers became so enthralled with the disaster work, most never had the thought of sharing the Gospel of our Jesus. Teachable moments are often missed.
We must always teach that eternal salvation is attained by a faith based belief in Christ Jesus crucified for the remission of sin and resurrected regardless of the circumstances.
The purpose of any church mission endeavor is to get the Christian worker in proximity of people. It doesn’t matter the project, don’t forget to tell the people about Jesus.
We must always teach that eternal salvation is attained by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) in Christ Jesus crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (1 John 1: 9) and resurrected (Matthew 28: 6).
It is a given among many, even a few non-Christians, the Holy Bible is the first and foremost guideline for human actions and behavior. As a matter of survival, the world must be taught the Bible teachings of right and wrong. How else is the world to know?
Without a standard of acceptable actions (and unacceptable) the world will continue to devolve into chaos. As a matter of human reckoning, we must evangelize for a future world in which a society can be called civilization.
If we “work our fingers to the bone” and forget the purpose of Jesus’ last commandment to us (Acts 1: 8) we may be like the whittlers on the bench killing the day.
And one more thing, the Buck knife in my pocket at this moment is a habit and one that will likely not end in this lifetime. My cell phone is usually lost but my knife, never!