Volunteerism
We had a pet pig when I was a boy. Separating it from the other pigs in the pen was easy. It knew it was a pet. Out in the yard it followed us around gentle as a puppy. We washed it---soap and water. Put a ribbon on it. Rode it.
But Mama would not let us bring our pet pig into the house. I have heard of rich people in Hollywood having pet pigs in their homes. We were not rich, but Mama had a notion God had not made pigs to live with people inside the same house. It was probably just Porky's infernal and incessant "Oink...Oink" that irritated Mama.
At the end of the day our pet had to return to the pig pen. Odd thing was that when Porky was back in the pen, he acted just like the other pigs. Back to the dirt. Loved the mud...messing up his pretty ribbon and sweet-smelling bath. He just "oink...oinked" as if he had never seen the good life. We would hang over the fence and try to tell Porky to stay clean and act like he was higher class than the other pigs. He ignored us.
Grown up and on a mission trip to the backside of the world Laila and I visited a family living in a thatched hut with a dirt floor. The lady of the house was very busy. We observed that she swept the dirt floor of the hut as carefully as if it were mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City. With a straw broom she probed every corner and whisked the loose dirt toward the make-shift door. Outside she swept an area about 10 x 10 feet with the same care.
Evolutionists say that we came from archaic sea water...a living cell...matured into an amphibious creature over millions of years...finally with vertebrae and standing up on two feet...
One of the big problems of evolution is finding the missing link. The distance between man and all other creation is still light years. The smartest creation of animals, birds, or fish can only handle a few variables at the same time. No one has ever determined how many different things a human being can think and do at the same time. The intelligence difference between man and beast is infinitesimal. (Yes, I have studied under scholarly evolutionists, anthropologists, etc.)
To the point of this letter. Have you almost been persuaded that man is a product of time without God having anything to do with the creation? Have you wondered if there is a difference between man and beast? Have you wondered if man has a soul and if animals do not have a soul?
Allow me to share the litmus test. Man yearns for greatness. Man seeks to make his mark upon time and eternity. Did not the people of Babylon say: "Let us make a name for ourselves?" Is it not the nature of man to desire to break records, to climb the highest mountains, to explore ocean floors, to test the limits of gravity, and to search out the heavens?
Atheists and agnostics, infidels and pagans, Christians and people of other religions, do we not all seek to find meaning in things bigger than we are? Do we not all seek to find intrinsic value, i.e., gratification from giving of ourselves to touch the lives of others? Is there any fame so wonderful as when soul within us reaches out to care and to love? Is not love the greatest commandment?
Tell me: When have you last seen a pig volunteering to help make the world a better place? Sure a dog may defend its wounded master, but is it not finally self-serving for the dog? What dog has volunteered to go to college to learn how to do brain surgery? What fly has decided not to carry germs of sickness? What cow has invented a new process for purifying milk?
Sunday comes. From fifty-plus miles in every direction we come to worship, study God's Word, and fellowship. Think of 250 children's volunteers loving and teaching little ones from birth to age 12. Think of teachers studying, praying, and preparing materials to teach intrinsic values that will be trans-generational with eternal values.
Porky never volunteered to do anything that seemed to have eternal value. He learned some behaviors, but returned to his nature of being a pig. Volunteers who follow Christ have changed our world. Check the record and find that Christians have been in the forefront of prison reform, women's reform, starting orphanages, educational development for children and adults, medicine, inventions and development in the food industry, etc.
My hope and prayer is that you recognize it is a God trait to invest in the lives of others. The intrinsic value of volunteering is healing to the body, mind and spirit. Being humanitarian will not save a person's soul, but a person who is saved will be humanitarian. If you love Jesus please read Luke 4:18,19 and follow Jesus in intrinsically touching lives. The best proof you can offer that you are not a product of evolution is to be like Jesus and serve others.
Pastor Bare
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who...humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:5-11).