I heard recently about a "big city" boy who was
preaching in a small country town. He wanted
to learn everything "country" so that he could fit
in. As he was searching for Widow Jones' farm,
he got lost on the back roads. He saw a farmer
walking into his barn so he stopped for
directions.
The farmer was just beginning to milk his cow
but took time out to tell the preacher how to
get to the Jones' farm. "By the way,” the
preacher asked, "Do you know what time it is?"
The farmer leaned in to the udder of the cow
and said, "12:30."
The preacher started to leave but he just HAD to
know. He told the farmer, "Hey, I've just moved
from the city and I really want to know the
ways of the country. How could you tell what
time it was?"
"Sit right here on this stool, son." The preacher
did.
"Now, grab hold of that udder." He did.
"Now lean into the cow and lift up on the
udder." The preacher did.
"Lean over and look right over there on that
wall. See, that's a clock. When the little hand is
on the 12..."
Sometimes it appears that other Christians have
a special "secret" to be able to do what they do
or to know what they know. But the truth is,
there's no secret. The story is told about
someone coming to Gus Nichols, a great
preacher, and saying, "Brother Nichols, I'd give
my life to know the Bible as well as you do." It
is reported that Nichols' reply was, "That's
exactly what it took."
There's no secret to knowing the Bible -- just a
determination to spend time studying the Word
of God. There's no secret to always having time
to devote to the Lord's work -- you just have to
make the time. There's no secret to developing
spiritual maturity -- it's a lifetime commitment
to growing up in Christ.
There's no secret: "Giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to
knowledge self-control, to self-control
perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness love." (2 Peter 1:5-7)
Alan Smith.