Articles
Eight Button Shirt
How often does a man stop to consider all the little blessings of life? Blessings are measured by the value the individual has placed upon the event, and/or object under consideration.
When Solomon said, “Four things are small on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: The ants are not a strong people, But they prepare their food in the summer; The shephanim are not mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks; The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks; The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings' palaces. (Prov. 30:24-28). Of these wise creatures, do they appreciate the value of their work? Do they appreciate the places in which they dwell, i.e., the lizard that may have residence in the kings’ palaces: or spider, depending on the translation?
The point of it all are the simple blessings of life that do not register as a blessing. For instance: for years men have lived with the common design of a seven-button shirt. The shirt buttons appear to do the job they were designed to do, until you have an eight-button shirt.
Much of the world lives according to the flesh: the natural impulses of flesh, eyes, and vainglory of life. They live so because they know no better. Paul told Timothy that “godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). The problem is that much of the world knows no difference.
On another occasion, the Lord told his people “Ye are cursed with the curse; for ye rob me, even this whole nation. Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3:9, 10). The people were cursed because they had turned away from the ordinances of God. The Lord told them, in verse 7, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts." So, Jehovah said, “prove me,” i.e., do as you have been commanded and see for yourself that Jehovah would open the windows of heaven.
God has promised great things to those who obey, but much of the world will not give Jehovah the opportunity to open the windows of heaven unto them. But for those who “For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:4-5), who do not fall away, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister. And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end: that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:10-12).
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