When I was just a kid back in North Central Arkansas, in the early 1940s I remember my Grandpa had a wagon we rode places in, even to town which was six or seven miles from his farm. Even at that we were better off than a lot of the neighbors, his wagon had rubber tires, and most didn’t. One day in particular the two of us were going down a stretch of rough road and hit one of the many chug-holes it almost threw me off the wagon, he caught me and said “this old wagon is just like going to church, if you hit a rough spot you have to have a strong motivation to hold on” He was an Elder and sometimes Preacher in the Church of Christ. I didn’t appreciate what he was saying at the time, but I have grown to appreciate it more and more as I have reached and surpassed his age at the time he said it. The Church is like an old rubber tired wagon there are times when it is smooth sailing and there are times when the road gets mighty rough and we need motivation to stay on board. I believe that is one reason why we were told to congregate, so we can catch each other and prevent us from falling off the wagon.

We have to be motivated for the right reason, if I had been motivated to stay on that wagon because of the great pleasure and riches of the ride that would have been the wrong motivation. I was motivated to stay on that wagon because I thought if I fell off I would be terribly injured and could die; I surly did not want that. From then on I hung on tightly so as not to fall. As Christians today, if we lose our hold on the motivation which brought us to Christ’s Church and fall off that wagon, unless we have someone or something there to catch us and set us straight in the wagon again we will surly die. Mt:24:13: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 2Thes:1:4: So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Sometimes life gets rough, but if we are to reach that glorious final destination, we must endure.

On TV today there are many preachers who are no more than motivational speakers, these men and women could make a fine living speaking at motivational dinners given by companies to motivate their workers, and some do. Most of these people preach a one legged sermon on how GOD loves everyone and wants everyone to go to heaven, and although they are right as far as they go they don’t go very far in preaching salvation to the people congregated there to hear the WORD. Oh they invoke the name of Jesus a few times, but mostly it is a sermon on how to improve your position in this life.

The better the crowd feels when they leave the more money they leave behind and the more the checks keep coming in so they can build a bigger building, and so it goes on and on. The congregation is motivated to give, the problem with their giving is, it is for the wrong reason they give in order to receive. Not out of concern for their fellow man, Oh they pretend they are concerned that the children of the world are starving, dying of horrible sicknesses, they have no place to live except the garbage dump, but their reason for giving is to better their own situation, they are told give and GOD will return your gift hundreds of times over. They are not told you collect GOD’S gifts in the hereafter. They start looking for UPS or Fed-ex the next day. 2Tm:4:3: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; I believe these people have the wrong motivation, and unless they are taught to be correctly motivated and are pulled aboard the rubber tired wagon they will be lost. Mk:16:16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. We need to be motivated by the right thing.
Offered in Christian love and concern

If the Wooddale church of Christ can provide you with spiritual assistance, please contact us by E-mail by just clicking on the name of the person you wish to contact Bill Bryant or Tom Smith

We want to thank those of you who have been reading these daily devotionals. If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily word. Why not include a family member or friend in the Daily Devotional distribution? If the Devotion is not being forwarded to you, why not become a regular subscriber? Simply send your E-mail address(es) via Devotions. Please be sure to inform us of all E-mail address changes. To be removed from the distribution list, send a reply with "Remove" typed in the subject field.