Voices From The Past

Getting By With It

"He got by with it!" That colloquial expression means that

he wasn't caught. The THINKS he "got by with it," but this

is never true. The one who makes the statement knows better,

and has already changed his opinion of the one who tried to

"get by with it." There is very little we really "get by

with" - even in this life.

I believe man's capacity for greatness is a divine

endowment (we are made in His image). But we are molding

our individual character day by day by our response to the

experiences of life - drawing closer or pulling farther

away from what our Maker would have us to be. And make no

mistake about it! We ARE what we ARE, not what we like to kid

ourselves into thinking we are (1 John 3:7).

When a man gives into temptation, no matter how well the

matter is concealed from others, his own makeup is affected.

... He is guilty before God and, even if he cares little for

bthat, he has whittled a bit more from the stature of the man

he could have been...

Proverbs 11:3f reads, "The integrity of the upright shall

guide them: but the perverseness of the treacherous shall

destroy them." We can build into our character that which

will sustain us in adverse times, or we can cut ourselves

loose from solid mooring and drown in our own folly.

And we fool God none of the time. All creatures stand

before God "naked and opened" (Hebrews 4:13). ... How can

we expect to "get by" with anything when we are so

exposed to Him who judges righteously? (Robert F. Turner,

"Stuff about things" page 15)

********** This Weeks Memory Verse **********

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things

are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever

things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good

report, if there be any virtue, and if there be

any praise, think on these things."

(Philippians 4:8)