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Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This month I found myself impressed with a couple of seemingly unrelated Bible passages: 1 Samuel 3:19-20 and Matthew 5:39-41.

"And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord."

"I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."

As I meditated on these Scriptures, I saw a single, simple truth.

God loved Samuel, and Samuel loved God. God says of His own words that none shall fail or pass away. But as a young man treasures every word of his beloved bride, God's relationship with Samuel was such that He did not let any of Samuel's words fail, as though He esteemed the words of this man as His very own. Here God is revealed to highly esteem the utterances of the man Samuel, but so often we fail to value the blessed Word of God. God did not let Samuel's words be spoken in vain, but we often seek ways to bypass God's word and do the least we can and still get by.

Likewise, the Lord teaches us to go out of our way to do good to our neighbors, and even our enemies. If we are smitten on one cheek, turn the other also. If someone sues us out of our coat, we should give more than we were required. The Lord says that we should "go the extra mile." So, as Christians we often seek ways to help others, and to do good. Maybe we don't always go that extra mile, but we try to at least go the first mile. But when it comes to serving God, all too often the believers seeks how he can get by with the least amount of effort!

This ought not to be so! If God has called you to give your coat, find a way to give your shirt also. If God has compelled you to go one mile, you should seek how to go that extra distance. If God values the words of believers, how much more ought we to hang on every Word of God? Let every word of God be treasured by His Saints, not in idea only - but in practice. If He's asked it of us toward our neighbor, how much more is He worthy of our very best, who did not even withhold from us His own dear Son to purchase our redemption. God be praised forever! Amen.

I hope to see you as we gather to celebrate the Feast of Ingathering Sept. 30 - Oct. 3. Let us gather with our heart set on giving our all to Him, knowing that He has done the same for us! God bless you, dear friends.

David M. McNabb
Editor & Bible Guy