Signs of the Times

with contributions from William Irwin, David Goodman

The Reverend William Irwin,
Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Aurora, Illinois
in the Aurora Beacon-News

It has been said, "The person who grows up without discipline is a slave the rest of his life." By observation we are led to believe this is true.

Any fair, impartial observer of the life of our day must admit that a lack of discipline of every sort parades itself before us daily. In such a world, personal discipline is not easily achieved. Yet it is clearly written into the marching orders of the Christian, and should be everybody's aim. For, contrary to certain opinions, true manhood and true womanhood are not reached along the path of unbridled indulgence. They are the rewards of unwavering loyalty to high ideals, unceasing resistance to temptation, and ever vigilant self-discipline.

We know that right thinking is the first step along the road to self-discipline. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23). It is "out of the heart" high ideals come forth, and it is "out of the heart" that . . . unworthy things proceed. Unworthy thoughts emerge in unworthy habits. Low standards reveal themselves in lower level of living. The loss of ideals means the loss of an incentive to live upon the highest levels of life.

May we dedicate: our hearts to God, our minds to right thinking, and our mouths to clean speech, and our lives, by God's grace in Christ Jesus, to the highest standards of moral behavior. We shall then hear God speak to our hearts "well done."

Dr. David Goodman
in the Stamford Advocate
Stamford, Connecticut

"How can prayer affect my physical health?" the skeptics ask. "Now you're just talking mystic nonsense."

"Prayer," said our great sage Emerson, "is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view." When we thus lift up our eyes unto the hills, we rise above self-centeredness, which is a main cause of both physical and mental distress. . . .

Who are the sickest people on earth? The hypochondriacs, thermometer in one hand and medicine bottle in the other, forever looking for ills, and usually finding them. "Let go and let God," and watch your health improve.

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