As the multitude followed Jesus, looking for another miracle like the feeding of the five thousand,
He said to them, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life" (John 6:27). This meat is knowledge, spiritual knowledge, a knowledge which
is necessary for the power, productiveness, and right application of every other kind of
knowledge. We are to "labor" for this knowledge, yes, labor more earnestly than for what we call
our necessary food. Every instinct of our spiritual nature claims it from us.

I believe that God has now, as never before since the apostles’ days, really opened the Bible, and
put it into our hands, and is testing us with it. How sad if now we turn away!

Our land_the Word of God_is a good land, but it must be worked in order for its value to be
realized. We need to refer continually to the Word to meet the constant demands upon us in the
world through which we pass. And thus God, in His faithfulness to us, has not put the truth into
creeds which we might learn by heart and lay aside; nor has He written everything out plainly so
that there should be no difficulty. The conflicts and bitter controversies about even fundamentals,
which at least we might have thought could have been spared us, have not been spared us, as we
all are witness. Better it is, in God’s thought, that we should have constant need of reference to
our lesson book than be allowed to sink into mere dullness and lethargy, as otherwise we are
prone to do.

Truth is not taught always in Scripture in such plain form as the epistles give us. By far the largest
part of it is not this. The Lord taught much in parables. The Book of Revelation, with all the
intensity of interest attached to it, is allegorical in the highest degree. The Christian truths in the
Old Testament are taught in typical institutions and history which we are taught to "allegorize."
The man of understanding in Proverbs is expected "to understand a proverb, and the
interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings" (Prov. 1:6). So, "if thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searches!
for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the
knowledge of God" (Prov. 2:3-5). In fact, we are even told that "it is the glory of God to conceal
a thing" (Prov. 25:2), hiding it where a diligent spirit shall find it as its reward.

But what does all this imply? What but labor, labor, and more labor:a labor which cannot be
delegated to another, though we all are meant to help one another in it. In this there are no "laity,"
to be fed with a spoon once or twice a week, taking thankfully, and with little question, what is
given to them. In this there is no division of labor_secular things for the common people, and
sacred things for a special class. Rather, we are to "be able to comprehend with all saints what
is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height." And we shall need all saints to help us to
comprehend them.

What a new state would begin for us if we should find that, between our necessary work in the
world and our still more necessary_and more fruitful_occupation with Scripture, our time was
so fully taken up that we should have little or no time remaining for anything that was not
absolutely productive and profitable; if all that was idle, empty, and frivolous disappeared out of

our lives; if the newspaper were supplanted by news of fresh discoveries in the things of God and
of fresh blessing poured upon our lives by them!

The apostle Peter exhorts us:"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies,
and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that
ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:1, 2). It is not, of course, that he desires us to remain "babes";
the whole effect and pretty much the purpose of "milk" is that the babes should grow up, as he
says here. But we are to be as ardent after the Word of God as a newborn babe is for its milk! And
how much is meant by that! The one business of the newborn babe is to secure its milk! The Word
of God is to be sought and longed for after that fashion.

Then notice the incompatibility of such occupation with "all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies,
and envies, and all evil speakings." Must it not be that if the Word of God becomes to us in this
manner the nurture of our souls, all things contrary to this shall pass away out of our lives and
perish, as the dying leaf falls, crowded out by the new bud? Is it not very much what is presented
to us in the delightful picture of the Israelite in the First Psalm:"Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful." That is the negative side. Now for the positive_ and in this is the power:"But his
delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." This is a sweet
and glowing picture. Let us look at the result:"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper."

Would it not be a blessed thing to be able to sit for such a picture?

(From A Divine Movement and Our Path with God Today.)

The general theme of the articles in this issue of Words of Truth is the Word of God. As we begin
a new year, what better object can we have before us for the coming year than for the Word of
God to have a more prominent place in our lives. How much we need to feed upon the Word and,
indeed, to "labor … for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life" (John 6:27). But we need
much more than storing up Biblical facts, learning Scriptural doctrines, and committing verses to
memory. These are very important and necessary, to be sure, but by themselves are not very
helpful to our spiritual lives. It is like eating and swallowing a piece of bread, only to have it lie
in a lump at the bottom of the stomach; it will not provide energy to the body or build up the
tissues of the body unless it is digested, absorbed, and assimilated. So it is with God’s Word. It
only becomes good to us as we allow it to act upon our hearts and consciences, to change our way
of thinking and our way of behaving, and to guide us in all the ways of our daily lives.

I fear we often (and it is sadly true of myself) read God’s Word with the main thought of seeing
how it applies to our brother or our neighbor. So as we learn new truths, new principles, our first
thought tends to be, "This Scripture certainly applies to Brother X," or, "This is a good one to
throw at my wife’s cousin." How often, when we read the Word, do we honestly, earnestly
beseech God as did the Psalmist:"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my
thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me" (Psalm 139:23, 24). In Hebrews 4:12 we
read that "the Word of God … is a discerner [or literally, a ‘critic’] of the thoughts and intents of
the heart." Do we allow the Word to criticize us as we read it? This is not an easy thing to do:the
flesh within us rebels at such a thought. But this is the only means of spiritual growth. We must
not be sparing of ourselves. We must allow the Word to do its necessary work in our own lives
before we can think of wielding that "sword of the Spirit" toward others. May we learn to use the
Word to build up others and criticize ourselves, rather than to tear down others and defend
ourselves.

The article on television m this issue may at first appear to be out of place as far as the general
theme of this issue is concerned; however, it was actually selected with the theme in mind. Can
anyone think of a force present in today’s world that so eats into the time of God’s children and
so deadens the appetite for spiritual food as television? But not only is it a negative influence in
the sense of taking the place of God’s Word in the believer’s life; there are positive though very
often insidious evils in television. I speak not only of the obscenity, the sensuality, and the
violence:these are the more obvious evils found on television, and I hope that our readers are at
least attempting to keep themselves and their children from watching programs which are
characterized by these particular evils. The more subtle evil lies in the philosophies of life which
pervade the programming These are the philosophy of permissiveness (liberty to do whatever one
wants to do his own thing"), materialism (keeping up with the Joneses), fighting for our rights
relativism of sin (that is, the idea that an action is wrong or sinful, only if another person is
harmed by it), and evolutionism, to name a few, These philosophies are presented as much, if not
more, in the "clean" programs_the news analyses, the documentaries, social commentaries, and
so-called "family programming"_than in the movies and "adult programming." I have no doubt
that Satan is using this device as a very insidious, and effective, means of chipping away at the
Christian’s foundation in the truth and filling the cracks with these worldly philosophies.

Let me hasten to add that these problems and evils are not by any means the exclusive property
of television. The same philosophies pervade the radio, newspaper, and secular magazines. The
effect on the senses may be more profound and lasting with television, hitting as it does both eye
and ear, but radio with its "talk programs" (an extremely potent source of our opinions and
thought patterns are the opinions of the common folk, the people just like ourselves), and
newspapers and magazines with their editorials, commentaries, and worldly-minded selection of
news stories.

Let us be watchful. Let us be extremely careful in our choice of what we read, what we hear, and
what we look at. May our thought patterns, our attitudes, our opinions be formed only by the
Word of God.

"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and READ" (Isaiah 34:16).

"HEAR the Word of the Lord, all ye … that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord" (Jeremiah
7:2).

"Go VIEW the land.. . . There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed" (Joshua 2:1; 13:1).

"But we all, with open face BEHOLDING as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).

(Ed. note:This is the first in a series of articles submitted by one of the readers of Words of
Truth.)

Many outstanding persons of the Bible spent part or all of their lives as shepherds. Abel was the
first shepherd. Abraham and Isaac had large flocks of sheep but evidently servants actually did
the shepherding. Jacob kept Laban’s cattle and sheep and in the process built up large flocks and
herds for himself. Moses, David, and the prophet Amos kept sheep before the Lord called them
to other work. Women were also engaged in keeping sheep (Gen. 29:9; Exod. 2:16).

Keeping sheep in Bible times was often a lonely job. The sheep were the shepherd’s constant
companions and he developed affection for them. He took good care of them, not only because
it was economically wise to do so, but because he loved them. This gives meaning to Psalm 23
where Jehovah is described as a Shepherd, and also to the Lord’s description of Himself as the
Good Shepherd in John 10.

In the Old Testament those responsible for the spiritual welfare of God’s people were termed
shepherds (Jeremiah 23:1-4; Ezekiel 34; and Zechariah 11). The word pastor means shepherd; a
pastor is one of Christ’s gifts to the Church (Eph. 4:11, 12). What should characterize these
pastors or shepherds of God’s people? Feeding the sheep or leading them to good pastures was
one of the main duties of the shepherd (Psa. 23:2; Isa. 40:11; John 10:9). Peter was told to feed
his Lord’s sheep and lambs (John 21:15-17) and he passes this exhortation on to other pastors (1
Peter 5:2). Conversely, the wicked shepherds were judged because they had not fed the flock
(Ezekiel 34:2). The feeding of God’s people is of course feeding them the Word of God. This
means that the spiritual shepherd must be a student of God’s Word.

There are two aspects to this feeding. The making them lie down in green pastures and leading
them beside still waters might imply pointing them to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ in all of their varied aspects. This would be ministry suitable to the flock as a whole. But
the individual sheep have individual needs and problems. Some wander and sustain injuries of
various sorts. Others remain with the flock but still have needs. The wicked shepherds had not
cared for the needs of the sheep:"The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed
that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought
again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and
with cruelty have ye ruled them" (Ezekiel 34:4). The Good Shepherd, in contrast, is concerned
about the needs of even the lowliest members of the flock (Isa. 40:11).

Feeding the sheep does not require the ability to expound the doctrines of the Word so much as
the ability to apply them to the needs of the individual sheep. The parable of the lost sheep (Luke
15:3-7), which is evidently based on observations of real-life shepherds, shows the care and
concern a shepherd had for each individual sheep. In order to know how to apply the Word to the
problems and needs of his sheep, the shepherd must get to know the sheep as individuals with
individual problems and needs.

The sheep trust the shepherd and will follow him (John 10:4). A spiritual shepherd must be
trustworthy. His advice and counsel must be true and he must be able to hold in trust those things
which are told him in confidence.

Another duty of the shepherd was to protect the sheep from wild animals (John 10:11, 12; 1 Sam.
17:34, 35; Ezek. 34:5, 8). Both the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul warned the disciples that
wolves would come among the flock of God’s people (Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:29). These wolves are
false prophets or false teachers. Some would proclaim sensuality as an acceptable part of the
Christian life (2 Peter 2), some would introduce false doctrines as to the person of Christ (1 John
4), and others would preach some form of law (Galatians; 1 Tim. 4:1-6). What role does the
spiritual shepherd have in protecting the flock from these wolves? If he has been faithful in
ministering the Word, the truth should be so much a part of each member of the flock that error
will be recognized immediately for what it is; and the wolf will find no hearers, but will be
rejected by the sheep themselves. If this first line of defense fails, the pastor must warn the flock
of and denounce the specific evil which any given wolf brings into the flock. If the wolf succeeds
in convincing some or all of the flock that his doctrine is true, the shepherd must use the rod of
Scriptural discipline. (A discussion of discipline in the assembly is beyond the scope of this article,
but a spiritual shepherd should understand the Scriptural principles of such discipline.)

Now, some Christians definitely have the gift of a pastor, but do the thoughts above apply only
to them? Should not each of us have a care for God’s people and be ready to give them a Scripture
which may suit their specific need? Should we not be able to pray for many of God’s people by
name and concerning specific needs? Women are not left out of this ministry. Just as there were
shepherdesses in Scripture, so there can be women today who act as spiritual shepherds _not in
the public office of pastor as usually thought of in Christendom or in public ministry of the
Word_but in loving care and concern for the spiritual needs of children and other women (Titus
2:4, 5; 1 Tim. 5:10) and even of men in the privacy of the home and in conjunction with their
own husbands (Acts 18:26). Let us ask God for a shepherd’s heart and the shepherd’s work will
follow.

The fourth fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22 is longsuffering. The word in the
original Greek is makrothumia and means literally, "long-temper." This word is similar in
meaning, yet distinct from hupomone which is usually translated "patience" in our English Bibles.
Long-suffering is the quality of controlling one’s temper and not quickly retaliating when
provoked by other persons; it is the opposite of anger, and is associated with mercy. Patience is
the quality of bearing up under trials or adverse circumstances; it is the opposite of depression or
despondency and is associated with hope. So longsuffering has more to do with trials from
persons, and patience has to do with trials from things or circumstances.

It is perhaps significant that it is the former_longsuffering_which is specifically mentioned as
a fruit of the Spirit. The natural man seems to find it easier to bear up under adverse
circumstances and trials than to bear without anger or retaliation the taunts and provocations from
his fellow men. Thus it is often a particularly impressive and noticeable mark of being Spirit-filled
for the Christian to manifest this quality of longsuffering, or long temper, in the face of
antagonism by others.

Longsuffering is an attribute of God. "The Lord is … longsuffering to usward, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9; see also Rom. 2:4; 9:22;
1 Peter 3:20). And how beautifully was this attribute manifested by the Lord Jesus, "who when
He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not" (1 Peter 2:23).

As we consider God’s longsuffering toward us (and how often, surely, have we provoked Him!),
may we grow in our desire and ability through the power of the Spirit to manifest this same
longsuffering toward others (Col. 1:10,11; 3:12,13).

"Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1-3).