From the Preacher’s Study

By ED ALLARD
Minister
Monticello Church of Christ
So, you’re running into problems and here it is only February. The new year started off so good, but now it seems that everything is turned upside down. You don’t know which way to turn or what to do. You’re confused. Those you though were your friends aren’t coming around. You can’t seem to find anyone who understands. You’ve reached the end of your rope.

There was a saying that seemed appropriate a good many years ago. It was, “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot in the end and hang on.”

Then there was another of those cute sayings for those trying to assemble some object that advised, “When all else fails, read the instructions.”

That last one has come to my rescue many times. But when it comes to trying to put our lives back together, are there any instructions? Yes there are. Did you ask where to find them? I’m glad you asked. You see, a good many years ago when things were at a standstill in my life, nothing seemed to make things any better. So I did what was unheard of. I did the unthinkable. I actually followed the advice of my father.

After trying for a good many years to make it on my own and be self-sufficient and totally independent, without need of advice from anyone, I found out that my father wasn’t the “stick in the mud,” inept, out of date, know nothing that I had thought.

What was his advice? His advice was to direct me back to my upbringing, my raising, and instruction in the Bible. My mother told me that she had never stopped praying for me all those years. That’s a mother’s love. And so when I went back to the instructions I had been raised in, back to the instructions of the Bible, I realized as never before, just why God gave us the Bible.

After all, He is our Creator, our Maker. The one who imparts to us our soul at conception. No, the story of creation in Genesis is not a myth, a figment of imagination, it’s God’s revelation to us of how we came into being. The Bible is the very word of God. Who better could possibly give us instructions for life?

And those instructions turned my life around. The Bible calls it repentance. It is a change of mind concerning our lives coupled with a decision to turn to God and follow His instructions.

His guidance had been available all the time. But I had laid it aside and did not consider it. But, all the time, He had the answers I needed, and the answers everyone needs.

They are in God’s Instruction Book for life, the Bible. Who could possibly give us better instructions than our Maker? No one can. If I can point you to His way, please call on me.