My dear readers,

(Excerpts from Building Firm Foundations, Dr SH Tow)

1. Guard your eyes

"O be careful little eyes what you see!

O be careful little eyes what you see!

The Father up above looks downin tender love,

O be careful little eyes what you see!"

This children’s hymn beams an equally pertinent message to adults whose roving eyes (like King David’s) are still a pitfall. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt 6: 22, 23). An evil eye lets the body into a host of trouble – all avoidable if the eye had been single i.e. of sound judgment and able to shut out that which is unwholesome.

In most modern cities, lewd and seductive advertisements, periodicals and commercials battering the eye gates are carried on moving vehicles, large billboards and shop windows. These are largely unavoidable sources of visual pollution. But there are others over which we can and must exercise control. Not to do so is to yield to the lust of the eyes, and one false sensuous look maylead the unwary one down the slippery slope of sin.

The Apostle John’s words apply. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 Jn 2:15, 16).

What preventive measures do we have to keep our eyes "single" and pure? "The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:41b). Pray, therefore! After prayer, make a commitment to God. "Lord I want to be pure for Thy service. Keep my eyes from sinning. Help me to hate sin, and to treat it like a venomous snake." Then search out all evil, pornographic, obscene books and other seductive materials, and burn them. Finally, beware the TV (or cinema). Let not any child of God invite evil and pollution right into the bedroom or living room. Choose your viewing carefully, and be strong to switch off when you sense the world creeping in.
Parents, children, check on your TV-time! Keep your TV viewing to NEWS, DOCUMENTARIES, EDUCATIONAL AND HISTORICAL FILMS.

Lord, take my eyes and let them be consecrated toThee.

2. Singing in your heart to the Lord

Christianity is a singing religion, but atheism is songless. It has nothing to sing about. The funeral notices of Robert Ingersoll, the noted agnostic stated, "There will be no singing." Quite rightly too, for what joy is there for a departed soul bound for hellfire?Without God, without Christ and without hope, infidels, skeptics and atheists truly have no cause for song.

For the Christian there is every reason to sing. The knowledge of sins forgiven and the assurance of a home in heaven must evoke in the believer joyous songs of everlasting praise. Songs of praise to God uplift the believer’s spirit and brighten his life. Men of the world foolishly seek solace in drink. The Apostle admonishes Christians: And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Our salvation joy should move us daily to praise God with our voices: in times of loneliness, depression and anxiety, nothing comforts the heart as hymns of heaven and our eternal hope in God. Every circumstance in the Christian’s life is an occasion for praise and thanks to God. The believer ought to fill his day with spiritual songs.

Martin Luther said, "Music is a fair and lovely gift of God which has often wakened and moved me to the joy of preaching … Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honour. My heart bubbles up and overflows in response to music, which has so often refreshed me and delivered me from dire plagues." A hymn a day will refresh us too, and deliver us from a despondent or sharp and sour spirit.

In days of yore, Christian martyrs went to their deaths in the Roman arenas, singing psalms for courage and strength. Thus they faced savage beasts with the full assurance that to be with Christ was far better (Phil 1:23). Such a spectacle alerted the Roman rulers to a new and supernatural force at work, so that even the blood-thirsty spectators were filled with awe.

Heaven is vibrant with the songs of saints and angels praising God for endless days. In heaven, "they sing the song of Moses ... and the song of the Lamb." We shall never stop singing His praises. If so, should we not begin now on earth to fill our hearts with joyous songs of praise?

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor