Two brothers
wanted to perpetuate their memory. One built a
beautiful monument, and he carved his name on it with
big and bold letters. The other went to the desert,
and alongside the highway he dug a well. There was no
inscription. The well didn't need one. I think of
three men of might. They built no monument, but they
were wells of water. Even to this day they refresh
us. Their names? They're recorded in 1st
Thessalonians 1:1, "Paul, Silas and
Timothy."
Let's meet
Paul. He had two names: Saul of Tarsus, and Paul the
Apostle. There was an Old Testament Saul, and a New
Testament Saul, and what a contrast there is between
the two Sauls. At the end of his life, the Old
Testament Saul sighed, "I have played the
fool!" At the end of his life, the New Testament
Saul shouted, "I have kept the faith!" The
difference? One turned from the Lord, and the other
turned to the Lord. The New Testament Saul, still
breathing murderous threats against the Christians,
journeyed to Damascus to arrest them. But on the way
a light from heaven flashed from the sky, and he fell
to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
"Who are You, Lord?" he asked. "I am
Jesus," answered the voice, "Whom you are
persecuting." "Lord," he replied,
"what do You want me to do?" On that day
the Lord converted him, and he became a changed man.
That's when he ceased to be "Saul," and
became "Paul." The name "Saul"
means "great." I imagine his parents gave
him that name because they hoped that some day he'd
become a great man. But the name "Paul"
means "little." After he met the Savior, he
lost his self-importance, and he became a humble man
of God.
A father and
his son were walking down a street in New York
looking at the skyscrapers. Seeing men on top of a
tall building that was being erected, the boy said,
"Dad, what are those little children doing up
there?" "They aren't children,"
answered the father. "They're men."
"Why," asked the boy, "do they look so
small?" "Because the higher up we go,"
replied the father, "the smaller we
become." The boy was silent for a while, and
then said, "Well, Dad, if those men are
Christians, they won't be anything much when they get
to heaven, will they?" How true! There, Christ
is all.
Let's meet
Silas. There was, in Latin mythology, the sylvan god.
This fabled god was expected to save sheep from wild
animals. When Silas became a Christian this name must
have reminded him of his duty to care for the flock
for which the Good Shepherd gave His life. When David
kept the sheep it's recorded, "there came a lion
and took a lamb out of the flock." Testified
David, "I went out after him and delivered it
out of his mouth." That's the business of every
believer. The Bible says, "The devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour." As David went out to deliver the lamb
out of the mouth of the lion, so did Silas, and so
must we. But did you notice that the Bible doesn't
say, "The devil walketh about roaring like a
lion"? That wouldn't describe the method of a
lion at all. The lion goes after the lamb quietly. He
gives no warning. He catches the lambs off guard.
That's why the Lord commanded, "Watch!" Be
on your guard!
Let's meet
Timothy. He was a native of Lystra. It was on Paul's
first missionary journey that he came to this city.
Paul met this 15-year-old boy and found him well
versed in the Scriptures, and he led him to the Lord.
Timothy became a great man of God, and he was Paul's
constant companion. D. L. Moody returned from a
meeting and reported, "God blessed with two and
a half conversions." "Two adults and a
child, I suppose?" replied a friend.
"No," said Mr. Moody, "two children
and an adult." And he added, "The children
gave their whole lives, while the adult had only half
of his to give." Let's go forth to lead the
little ones to the Lord.
One day John
Bright was a guest of Queen Victoria. They were
discussing the great men of their day, and the Queen
asked, "Where did all these great men come
from?" "From babies," answered Mr.
Bright. It's from that source the leaders of our
church and country must come. That's why it's so
important to train them in the Scriptures and to take
them to the Savior.
"Ere your
child has reached seven, have him taught the way to
heaven;
Better still,
if he would thrive, he should know before he's five;
Best of all,
if at your knee, he knows the way before he's
three."
copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic
Association
All Scripture verses are
quoted from the New King James Version.
