Editorial December 16, 1985 Issue

A motto for today—"Watch"!

WILLIAM E. MOODY

The motto for this magazine is from the Bible. It's in the words of Christ Jesus: "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."^{Mark 13:37.} That keynote is of vital importance to anyone who is concerned for the welfare of humanity and who yearns to uphold the Master's standard of Christian living.

What are some of the immediate implications of Jesus' words? Certainly we have to watch our own thinking. The New Testament speaks of the necessity of bringing "every thought to the obedience of Christ."^{II Cor. 10:5.} In watching our thinking more carefully, we can examine ourselves regularly and ask: Is what we're holding in thought conforming to spiritual truth? What about our next thought? Is there a tendency toward mortal and material impulses, or are our motives and decisions unselfish, pure, God-impelled, and God-inspired? We need to be alert not only to what we've been thinking in the past and to what we're thinking now but to what is coming. We can test the basis for our thoughts even before they come forth in silent or audible word or in deed.

In this watch we see to it that evil doesn't gain any foothold in our lives. We're not impressed by the materialism and sensualism of our times, and we don't get caught up in the pleasing thralldom of the hedonistic dream of material living so that we stop growing and progressing spiritually. It's not easy to watch while we're dreaming! To watch, one must be awake. So we don't dream away the hours, either by being captivated with the sophistication of today's worldliness or by simply gliding along with the pleasantness of a self-satisfied life in matter.

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