THANKFUL FOR MY BRETHREN
Elder James Isaacs
[The following was written over the Thanksgiving weekend especially to brethren in the churches in our area, but it could have been to a multitude of saints across the country who know and love this precious brother. – Ed.]
That the Apostle Paul was thankful for his brethren hardly could be denied. Look at the introductions to his epistles to the Philippians and to the Thessalonians. He says that he gives thanks always for them, that he gives thanks every time he thinks of them, and that he mentions them in every prayer to God. In 2nd Thessalonians, he says that he is bound to give thanks for them.
Oh, that I could honestly say to you brethren that I am so thankful for you. I want to be. I do have every reason to be as thankful for all of you as Paul was for his brethren. Only the weakness of my sinful self causes me to be so forgetful of the many blessings of God upon me, one of the chief of which is the fellowship of you brethren. Truly, the Primitive Baptists of Western Arkansas are the most wonderful people on earth to me. Like Paul to Timothy, I can remember the faith of many of your mothers and grandmothers. I have grown up with some of you, and much ahead of others of you. How I do love the younger brethren who are so full of zeal for God’s house. How I do appreciate the faithful pattern of those older brethren who mean so much to us now. What joy fills my soul when I see our younger members studying the Scriptures and asking for direction and help. How my heart does rejoice when I see our older brethren caught up in the Spirit and rejoicing in the truths of the gospel. How precious has been the faithful course of so many of our older sisters whose love and devotion to the church of God has been exemplary for so long. Who can estimate the value of young mothers determined to keep their homes and to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
Lord, make me more thankful. Cause me to see the blessings of this company and fill my soul with thanksgiving. Help me to remember thy works and thy love for these my brethren. Help me to see Thee in their lives. Help me not to think more highly of myself than I ought to think, but rather to rejoice in the special blessings that come from Thee to us. From The Primitive Baptist/The Christian Pathway, submitted by Elder Mark Green.