“imitate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12 )
I was thinking the
other day of old G.W. Jameson, one of our former pastors—a dear friend and
devoted servant of the Lord—who would have celebrated his 91st
birthday had he lived until August 2nd. Now, he doesn’t miss us, I’m sure, being with
Jesus in that beautiful place called Heaven, reunited with his darling
Lillie. But, I miss him.
Yet, in many ways,
he is still with us. We have a spiritual
heritage which has been handed down to us from faithful pastors and people who
have gone before us and blazed the trail for us to follow. Scripture enjoins us to imitate their
lifestyle.
Homecoming Day,
September 8, is an opportunity to reflect on that heritage. We must ever be mindful of those who planted
the trees under which we find shade and enjoy fruit today.
I recently read a
few lines in John MacArthur’s book, “The Truth War,” that sadly states, “The
traditional, nominal devotion to ideals and moral standards derived from
Scripture is dying with the senior generation.”
That does not mean there are no young people who are holding firm to the
truth—there are! But, the numbers are
small, and so as the older population fades, so does the influence of the
church in our culture as a force for good.
It may be that even among our dedicated young people, there is not the
appreciation given to the legacy of faithful Christians of the past. We may look at Homecoming Day as old folks
singing old songs thinking about the good old days. What we ought to do is celebrate and be
grateful for that godly past, and imitate them!
But, we mustn’t
stop there. If we do, we miss the point
of what heritage is about—and that is to inspire hope. On the foundation of the past, for which we
are thankful, we look to build in the future, for which we are hopeful! You can’t go forward while looking backward,
or you stumble. So, along with our
remembrance of those saints who’ve passed on, we are challenged to take up the
baton and run our leg of the Christian race, in view of transferring the torch
of truth to another generation to come.
With that in mind,
we look forward to hearing Perry Brindley, our new Director of Missions for
Buncombe Baptist Association bring us God’s Word that morning as the service
starts at 10:45. His wife Della used to be one of our church secretaries, and
their son, Ricky is one of our fine young deacons. In the twenty first century, we cannot
fulfill our mission with the methods used in the twentieth, but we must never
compromise our message. Some day, the
happiest of homecomings will arrive—when Jesus comes for His bride, the
church! Until then, Pole Creek must
continue in the heritage of faith to the Gospel, with a message of hope for the
world!
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