Recently I have spent much time working on helping brethren understand that as Christians we should change. We should study the Bible to find out what it is that God wants us to be.<\/p>\n
I have been thinking about some of the things that surfaced among the African brethren. It seems that they follow the Bible as long as it is practically possible. When they suddenly find themselves in a threatening situation, they will revert back to their old customs. Making a living, getting food, is important. They will sacrifice simple principles in order to eat.<\/p>\n
Then I thought about us Americans. Are we that different? We are also “practical” in our worship of God. We do it when it comes naturally and easily. But when it involves a “worldly crisis,” or an old bad habit, it is a different story. Think about this statement. Obedience does not count when it comes naturally. I have never smoked, and have not been drunk ever. This in spite of the fact that I grew up quite ungodly. There are some things I did that I do not wish to mention, but even as a “sinner” I did not want <\/b>to smoke or drink<\/strong>, not because of what I thought God says, but because “I” did not like it. I can therefore take no credit, act superior because of that.<\/p>\n The drunk and the smoker finds it difficult to overcome these bad habits. Because they are so hard to overcome, by some, they are often “ignored,” or considered to be “grey areas,” especially smoking. You do not preach against tobacco in Kentucky? Notice, not only because of people smoking but because of people making a living out of it. In San Francisco, you do not preach against homosexuality? l know this is an obvious violation of God’s word, but should our preaching be regional according to the customs of that region?<\/p>\n So, we are not that different from our African brethren. We can preach on their habits, but not ours?<\/p>\n This morning in my discussion with them, I talked about how they would forsake the assembly in order to go make money to get their kids through school. They have to go out to find work. Prostitution becomes an accepted way for “paying,” and for earning money. We need to read Matthew 10:34ff and Luke 14:36ff and meditate on them. We need to sacrifice for the kingdom of God. We need to change, to grow, to become different.<\/p>\n The lesson caused discussion. Bongani did a good job in discussing the matter with the brethren. I could follow the conversation in Zulu sufficiently to throw in a comment or two here and there. Then I had to go and apply it to myself …<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hendrik Joubert Sentry Magazine, December 1999 Convenience or Conviction? Recently I have spent much time working on helping brethren understand that as Christians we should change. We should study the Bible to find out what it is that God wants us to be. I have been thinking about some of the things that surfaced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1297,54,416],"class_list":["post-34586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-habits","tag-obedience","tag-submission"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62453,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/finding-liberty-in-silence-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":34586,"position":0},"title":"Finding Liberty in Silence (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was one of those interesting coincidences. I received two correspondences dealing with separate issues, but both seeking justification in the same manner. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In attempting to justify the use of instrumental music, Gary Mattingly, a preacher for the Christian Church wrote: \u201cFirst and foremost, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4185,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/finding-liberty-in-silence\/","url_meta":{"origin":34586,"position":1},"title":"Finding Liberty in Silence (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton It was one of those interesting coincidences. In the same week I received two correspondences dealing with separate issues, but both seeking to justify their beliefs in the same manner. The first was in an article. It contained a quote from Gary Mattingly, a preacher for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/brethren-with-too-many-relatives\/","url_meta":{"origin":34586,"position":2},"title":"Brethren with Too Many Relatives","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O Bragwell, Sr. via Guardian of Truth, April 18, 1985 No, I am not talking about a population explosion. I am not even talking about long-lost cousins that surface when someone starts a rumor that we have come into some money. I am talking about relatives as opposed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48047,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seek-first-the-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":34586,"position":3},"title":"Seek First the Kingdom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp Billy was 6 years old. It was springtime, close to summer vacation. When school was out, he and his mom, a widow who was remarrying, were moving. He came home from school and told his mom he wouldn't return to baseball. When she asked why, he replied,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92818,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/church-autonomy-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":34586,"position":4},"title":"Church Autonomy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Dewhirst via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 2, June 1993 The word autonomy is not a Bible term, but it is certainly a Bible principle. It means independent or self-governing. Universally, the church is under the headship of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:22-23); we are His body and must take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57307,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-importance-of-listening\/","url_meta":{"origin":34586,"position":5},"title":"The Importance of Listening","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by T. Sean Sullivan How significant is listening? Listening is the fullness of hearing. It is possible to hear someone talk and not listen. In order to hear and listen, one must be paying attention. My wife becomes very annoyed with me when she speaks and I do not listen.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Listen.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}