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YOURFEARS
(Continued from page
21)
trol. Patience is that broadness of
mind by which you wait for the
result to be achieved. Patience is
the opposite of worry. One who is
patient does not become frustrated
because problems don't always
solve themselves immediately. Pa–
tience comes from exercising self–
control under trial . " Tribulation
worketh pa tience," wrote Pau l
(Rom. 5:3). You can't sit down and
make yourself patient. You must
work at it, under tria! and test!
Fifth, add godliness to patience.
Godliness means to be like God in
character. God defines his charac–
ter throughout the Bible. Many
" religious" people pretend to have
godliness, but they " deny the
power thereof'
(II
Tiro . 3:5). God
is a powerful character, nota weak–
ling. Godliness means strength of
c h a r acter- it s ums up v irtue,
knowledge, pat ience, self-control.
T oo many try to imagine what God
is like apart from reading the
Scripture. Little wonder that they
deny his power!
Sixth, add brotherly kindness to
godliness.
It
is often easier to act
righteous than to be kind to a broth–
er! J ames says of the human tongue,
"Therewit h bless we God, even the
Father; and therewith curse we men,
which are made after the similitude
of God" (J ames 3:9). God is perfect.
We need to be perfect. But our
brothers have faults of the ftesh. lt is
sometimes difficult to be kind, to be
helpful , to be generous, to be stern
only when necessary to fellow
human beings.
In misguided zeal many impose
thei r " kindnesses" on others. We
must learn to exercise good judg–
ment in being kind. On the other
hand, many neglect kindnesses that
they can never make up. This
breeds sorrow and worry.
Seventh, add love as a clímax to
perfection. J esus said, "Love your
enemies and pray for those who
persecute you" (Matt. 5:44, RSV) .
When you !ove your enemies this
much, you won't fear what they can
do to you. Love, when perfected,
casts out al l fear! Jesus also said,
"Greater !ove hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life
June
1983
for his friends" (J ohn 15: 13). Per–
fect !ove removes the most terrible
fear of all-the fear of death!
What l s Love?
Love is the perfection of God's law
according to its spi rit or intent.
" Love worketh no
ill
to his neigh–
bour: therefore love is the fulfilling
ofthe law" (Rom. 13: 10) . You can–
not love anyone without fulfilling
the law. And you cannot fulfill the
law completely without loving your
neighbor and your enemy! Love
sums up the spirit and intent of
God's law. And is the summation
of all that is good and right. Tbe
fear of God leads us to divine
love.
Notice how the Scripture defines
love in its fu llness: " And though
1
bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though
1
give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profits
me nothing" (RAV) . Brotherly
kindness without the attitude of
divine love profits nothing! In the
Authorized Version (the archaic
word
charity
needs to be translated
/ove,
which
1
have done) we read,
" Love suffers long" - it is patient–
" is kind"- it includes brotherly
kindness; "love envieth not , vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up"-it
doesn' t exalt itself, it is virtuous-is
not " unseemly, seeketh not her
own"- love is directed away from
the self- " is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil"- it is patient and
not resentful- " rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the
truth"-it is godlike.
Love "bears all things"- better, it
covers
every requirement- " believ–
eth all things"-love is not gullible
{which a misreading of this verse
might imply), but it believes all
things written in God's Word–
" hopeth all things"- it hopes for all
the promises, which gives us cour–
age-"endureth all things." Love
rises above all confticts, making it
possible for us to r ise above the suf–
ferings and fears that engulf this
age.
" Love never faileth"
(1
Cor.
13:3-8).
This is how you can conquer
your fears and worries! Ask God
for help to carry out his sevenfold
plan to attain real peace of mind.
" Ask, and it shall be given you"
(Luke 11 :9). o
HAPPYCHRDREN
(Continued from page 17)
knows you have for him. Physi–
cally, mentally, morally and emo–
tionally, he will grow up to be a
more decent , confident and bal–
anced individua l because you
exerted the effort to rear him with
true wisdom, underst anding and
love.
Perhaps you have heard of the
intoxicated man on his way home
on a snowy afternoon. Hearing
someone right behind him, he turns
and sees his 10-year-old son follow–
ing closely behind the drunken,
weaving father.
"What are you doing, son?" the
man asks.
"l'm j ust following in your foot–
steps here in the snow," explains
the hoy.
How about you?
Shou ld you r chi ldren really fol –
low in your footsteps? Should they
reflect the
altitudes
you have
toward your fellowman , your job,
your nation and its officials, and
toward your God?
Should they?
The point is that they definitely
will reftect many of your attitudes,
actions and habits.
Example is one of t he mos t
powerful teaching tools in this big
wide world. Whether you like it or
not, your child's mind simply can–
not arbitrarily separate what you
say from what you do.
So teach your children kindness,
courtesy and outgoing concern for
others by being that way yourself.
Help them develop a healthy, posi–
tive atti tude toward life by building
this ingredient into your own life.
Teach them honesty by keeping
your
word- a nd discussing the
importance of it.
·
Teach them respect for the laws
of the land by your example- and
then by follow- through discussions
on why such laws are important
and why we should honor the posi–
tion of those in authority for our
good.
Teach them to love good music,
art and literature by incorporating
an appreciat ion for these things into
you r own life and
sharing
t hat
appreciation with your fam ily.
Teach them to love God and to
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