The Year Gone By The Pastor's Letter by W.J. Seaton

I'm sure you'll agree with me that in so many ways the Christian is almost always walking a tight rope. There are so many things that we must avoid, and so many things that we must observe to do, that very often, in avoiding one thing, we fail to observe another, and so become one-sided instead of well balanced.

I'm thinking especially of that sin of King David's where Satan proved him to take a census of the children of Israel. This was pride on David's part, and how often we employ the broad principles of that incident as a safeguard to falling into spiritual pride and exhibiting the "great things" that we imagine the Lord has been able to accomplish through us. Now, we are right, in so many ways, in doing this; for the Christianity that consists in "counting heads" and "results" must be an abomination in the eyes of the Lord; especially since the majority of the heads are not worth counting and the great proportion of the results transient. And yet, there is a biblical recognition of, and giving thanks for all that the Lord has evidently done for us, and so, we must be careful that in avoiding one we don't neglect the other.

As this year lies ahead of us, then, let us be encouraged in the tasks that loom large by honestly reviewing some of the things that the Lord has been pleased to do for us in the year that has just gone.

How much there is to thank God for, brethren. Who can commit to paper the feelings of joy in the Lord that we have known on great many occasions over this past year? Brother! Sister in Christ! "Go tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee".