A college philosophy professor once asked after a gospel meeting if I could explain eternity to him. When I confessed that I could not, I asked him if he could explain time. He did not explain what time is, but the ways we try to keep track of it. I then asked him which of the following models was the most accurate? 1. We are stationary and time is passing by us. 2. Time is stationary and we are passing by it. Of course, he did not attempt to answer. We find it more and more difficult to comprehend the swiftness with which times passes, nor can we grasp how soon “we may find when passing on, time gone.”
On the threshold of the year of our Lord, 2001, we find tremendous comfort in the assurance, “But I trusted in thee, 0 LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand (Psalm 31: 14-15).
The first issue of the Truth and Tidings was published in May 1948. The editors, AW. Joyce, F.G. Watson, G.G. Johnston, and H. Alves were godly men who loved the Lord, His people, and His gospel, and stated that the object of the magazine was “the glory of God, the blessing of His people, the declaration of His truth, and the furtherance of the gospel.” May we never lose sight of this goal!
There are two opposite dangers in thinking that teaching is correct because it is old, and then, that new things are wrong merely because they are new. Although this may often be a true maxim, it is not the final test of what is true. The words of Paul to the Ephesian elders has never been more appropriate than to us today, “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). The Word of the Living God is our only guide and authority. Let us be very careful to obey it, and be as equally careful not to add to it!
The Stoic, Seneca, was a contemporary of Paul. He denied all emotion, and therefore could not be motivated by love or devotion to God or truth. How different was the deep, heartfelt love and devotion of the dear apostle who could write, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Phil 3:8). 0 for more love and devotion to our blessed Lord and Savior!
The time is short, our day of testimony will soon be past, but let us take courage and thank God for the fact that “His Spirit remains among us.” One of our greatest reasons to be encouraged is that there are many young believers among us who display deep devotion to the Lord Jesus and show a desire to learn divine truth and be obedient to it. This is verified by hundreds of them at conferences, eager to hear God’s Word.
