Topic(s): Christian Life, Evangelism

The burial detail at Bataan found this poem on a 19-year-old lad from Indiana who lost his life in a bloody battle:

And if our lines should sag and break,

Because of things you failed to make-

That extra tank, that ship, that plane-

For which we waited all in vain;

Will you then come to take the blame?

For we, not you, must pay the cost

Of battles you, not we, have lost.

This is a burning indictment of industrial absenteeism and how right was that lad! Bataan and many lives e were lost for the failure on the home 0 front.

But we are concerned with the Army of the Lord. Around us, millions die without hope because we do not furnish the means of their salvation. We haphazardly study God's Word. We miss Bible study and worship. We halfheartedly work at our jobs. We give too little. Our vision is limited. And this neglect, this absenteeism, this idleness, causes a dark blot on the church. It is the taproot to almost every weakness and failure. The "world at its worst needs the church at its best." Let's do our part!

-Eldred Stevens

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin"   --James 4:17