William Barclay writes that once President Lincoln was asked how he was going to treat the rebellious Southerners when they had finally been defeated and returned to the Union of the United States. The questioner expected Lincoln would take dire vengeance, but he answered, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”

There was a father with two sons. The youngest came to his father and demanded his inheritance. His father complied, and in short order the young man had wasted it away. Far from home, penniless and friendless, he resolved to return, confess his sins, and ask to be made a household servant. From a distance his father saw the wayward son approaching. The father ran to him, embraced him and kissed him. In short order the young man was cleaned and a great celebration held. What a wonderful story of forgiveness, but it’s not over, yet (Luke 15:11-24).

The elder brother, returning from the field, heard the merrymaking as he approached. Inquiring of one of the servants, he learned that his brother had returned, and a celebration was underway. Outraged, he stubbornly refused to participate. His father came out and pleaded with him to join the festivities, but he would not. He had been a faithful son, yet he had never had a party. How could his father possibly justify a celebration for his wayward brother (Luke 15:25-32)?

I have no doubt that story was told by Jesus not only to illustrate the Father’s capacity to forgive, but to indict the Pharisees for their unwillingness to do so. Forgiveness is something we all need. No one can honestly claim personal uprightness. No matter how hard we try, we still fail. Without forgiveness we would be hopelessly lost.

It is important to keep before us the fundamental fact that forgiveness only comes to the forgiving! (Matthew 5:7). Jesus stated it clearly: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:25, 26).

We must learn to forgive if we are to know the Father’s forgiveness!

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Sixth and Washington Streets Bulletin, Marietta, Ohio

Recently, there have been pleas by good men, some in high places, for our nation to return to the ideals of the “traditional home.” By traditional home, they mean a home with both a father and a mother, married to each other, living together, loving each other, and together rearing children.

We should affirm that the “traditional home” is also the home as God would have it. We should contend for it, not merely because it is “traditional,” but because it is God’s only approved arrangement. (Genesis 1:24; Matthew 19:1-9; Ephesians 6:1-4; Titus 2:1-8, etc.).

God’s arrangement is under relentless, and sometimes vicious, attack today. Alternate home arrangements are being zealously promoted and practiced: live-ins without marriage, homosexual and lesbian “homes,” single parent homes. Some are bringing children into these arrangements.

These alternate home arrangements are inadequate, some are unacceptable, some are downright wicked. Live-in-without-marriage arrangement is fornication and condemned by the Lord God (1 Corinthians 6:9; Galatians 5:19). Homosexual and lesbian arrangements are an abomination to God (Romans 1:26,27; 1 Corinthians 6:9).

Single-parent arrangements are not desirable, though we recognize they are sometimes unavoidable. Children need both parents. They need a father (male) role model and a mother (female) role model to see and follow so they will have a healthy view of their own sexuality. It is difficult for a child to grow up well adjusted, well balanced, and have a really healthy view toward masculinity and femininity when he comes from a single-parent home. It would be almost impossible from a homosexual “home.” They will produce “after their kind.”

People sometimes find themselves in a single-parent arrangement they cannot avoid. They need our compassion and help. We admonish them to do the best they can.

But to deliberately create a single-parent arrangement by a child out of wedlock, artificial insemination, a single-parent adoption, or homosexual arrangement; is against God’s plan, is contrary to human nature and needs, and is a gross injustice to the child. It is morally questionable, often economically disadvantaged, and extremely selfish. It is not seeking what is best for the child. The child is often condemned to abuse, warped views of human sexuality, and a lifetime of maladjustment.

God’s way is best. It is the right one. Other arrangements will lead to a maladjusted generation which will destroy itself. We need to defend the traditional family on the basis of what God says in the Bible, actively promote it, and practice its principles in our own lives.

Copied from South Florida Avenue’s Bulletin

I passed something on the way to the church building the other day that caught my eye. It was an old, white-haired man cutting a patch of weeds around his mailbox with a pair of household scissors. I thought to myself, “Doesn’t he know about a weed-eater or Round Up or even a sling blade?”

As I thought about it, I admired the old gentleman more and more. He was attacking the problem with what he had, even if just one weed at a time.

THOUGHT: We need this gentleman’s spirit in our world. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We can’t stop the weeds in China, but we can stop them from covering our own mailbox in our yard.

One of the highest compliments Jesus paid was to a woman who did what she could with what she had. When someone criticized, Jesus said, “Let her alone...She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.” (Mark 14:6,8).

Copied from The Sandusky Sower