The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1964

directed our lives to serve Him in our vocation, the 8ipparent enigma of the Chri tian and culture vani h. I can ay that God led me into medi– cine through events that, prayerfully considered, left no doubt that this wa God's direction. God also dealt severe– ly with me regarding His crlptural commands. He showed me on the basis of II Cor. 5 14-21 that I could not escape my respon ibility to be His ambassador by staying home from the "mission field. " This divine ob– ligation rests on my shoulders regard– less of location, profe sional status, or association. Therefore, ,to my family, to my patients, to my colleagues in medicine, to my community whether I like it or not I am an ambassador for Je u s Chris t. T,he real i ue is am I the kind of am.bas ador th 1 at represents Him most adequately in the ituation where I find myself? If we are to be -the right kind of ambassador, the right kind of com– pelling force must direct our lives. The scriptural tandard and admon– itio n transcends my own self ambition. Paul leaves no doubt what this stand– ard is. It is the driving imperative of Christ's love within us and our return of love to Him (II Cor. 5: 14). In P aul's time the lowly Christian slave's whole life was transformed because h e no longer was merely serving men, ,but he was admonished ' 'whatever your task work heartily, as ser ving the Lord" (Col. 3: 23) . How much more should our whole life be lived and work be done in the ser vice of our Lord and Savior? Whenever I am impelled by a lesser motive, i.e., professional ambition, pride of achievement (even for ' 'status" in the Chri 1ian community) or humanitar ian feelings I fall short of the scriptural ideal which Christ intends for my life as a hri ti an physician. These cultural values, how– ever good in themselve , mu t be lransformed by •that relationship with brist which lets u see ancl live in light of eternal values. Since thi is to be my motivation J1ow then are the practical af tair~ ot 111y Jife to be conducted ? How hould I divide up my ,time between the l1eavy de1nands of a 111ed1cal practice, my fa111il}', c hurcl1 , ar1d so– callcd hristian se rvice? In short, how can tl1e doc tor 's life be integratc<l o t11at lie c an lJe botl1 'pl1ysician" and ' J1ristia11 "'! here are 110 eaS}' olutio11 or J)at a11 wers l Lhcs q Ut,;; lion . l~acl1 of t l1cse areas 111 ust 1,e ll1 ougl11 u11d r th~ ords11ip of J1rj t a11d an 'A'ers tf rged J11 t t1 e cru– ibJe 1 CX J) ri JlCC i11 111 ~ ligl1t O tl1e c l ar 1eacl1ir1g f cri1,t ur . l~£1cJ1 THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST of u mu t give aoount of himse lf before his Lord and Ma ter (Rom. 14: 12). Divine purpose Each of u s must fulfill his mission in a imilar way as Christ fulfilled His. Regardless of what H e did for men there was an overriding sen e of purpo e which charaoterized Hj life rhe divine commi sion to give His life a ransom if or many (Mk. 10 :45) . We, rtoo, have a divine com– mission - that of making known the wonderful good news ,that men can be reconciled ,to God . Thus, regardless of our medioal services to men and women, there must also 1 be that com– pelling sense of divine purpose which char,acterizes our lives. This may be expressed in many differing ways, but we all must be faithful to the command of our Master to go, preach and teach (Matt. 28 19-20). We return to our original question and ee we must revi e iit. We avoid the f al e dualism , "Should the Chris– tian physician serve Jesus Christ or his profession?' ' We must ask in– s tead, ' Should the Christian physician serve Jesu s Chrisrt in and 1through the profes ion to which God has called him?' ' We prayerfully hope the answer is a dedicated, but emphatic "yes". Letter to the Editor TITHING ARTICLE To the Editor: I feel compelled to comment o n the article R a\ph T . Nordlund wrote objecting to the teac.hing of tithing of Brother Llewellyn Thomp on as set forth in Scripture. Strange how quick we r e pond when our pur es are being con idered. The Rev Mr. N ord lund may have done much h arm by ea ing the con– cience and r elieving the peop1e from their re pon ibilitie a tewar<l . The teaching of tithing i in order a a mean of providing for the mini try of the Word. crtainly one cannot find chapter and ver e for the great un1s that arc poL1red into ed ifices what even the Bible doe~n' t call ch urche . We do, don' t we? Wl1y? We even refer to it a\ the Hot1~e C1od. My Bible say we are the tcn1plc ot C1od . Whe11 we 1t 111 the r>e \V an(l tl1c coll cctio11 J11,1tc i" tl11 t1 ~t t111d c r our noses I\ thi s ltt\\r or grace? If so111e one 1s looking it'. la\.\ , 11 onl ) JOd is looki11g it is g1 ac.~ 'J'l1c11, too, J ca11' t fincl oha J)tt:r dtlu ,,crse for ll1is! o d ltl)l Br ll1cr or llt111LI \ ' as "orlf ai11 I" an I ,vl1 a t l1aJ) ter a11 I v r s foes l1e tis f >r tl1i ? i \l o }1 has a title ' 'reverend". I fail to see that God ever gave uch titles. Yet we accept all this very graciously and say nothing. Yet mention ( and Scripturally) a sound way to operate the work of the Lord and do we scream! When the first of the month comes around , do I tell my cr editors, "Sorry, I 'm under grace"? Don't we have an obligation to the Lord for all these blessings we enjoy, air, water, health, wealth, USA and its freedoms , friends, families, clothes, homes, etc. We are irresponsible aren't we? When I see these large edifices and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested and some eligible missionary going ,from pillar to post to scrape enough to go to the field, I ay "Shame on u ." What's wrong with being r e ponsible steward ? P ay God His 1ithe and give besides so they can go! JOHN M . PATfERSON Rt. 2, Box 70 Garrett ville, Ohio ·~ a,~,.,, t (Take Home Paper) CHRI STIAN YOUTH has a "new look," and more. It now features: ew tt04•\a I Oil , 1: , • n n•••• n w • -.--.1i1 \I popular size (5V2 x 7 Inches) blacker type for better read ing more colorful Illustrat ions Improved editorial features For Intermed ia te through Adult departments. I\Je~ tow subscript ion prices $1 00 each per year .or 3 or more copies; $ 1.15 per yedr for single subscription. Subscript ion prlce for a single quarter 25 cen t s each for 3 or more copies. Send today for san,ple copies. Dept. 018 American sundav scnool Union 1816 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 -=-=--=------= - - -~- APRIL, 1964 PAGE 5