Magyar Egyház, 1968 (47. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1968-01-01 / 1. szám
8 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH Deo Volente — If God So Wills James 4:13-17 Our forefathers always began the New Year with prayer and ended it the same way. We can only be called Christian believers if we do the same. Our greatest trouble is that we take life and time for granted. We almost live as though God is obligated to give us this time and life. Most of us have to go through terrible experiences like one young man confessed to me after a terrible accident, that his time and life were an unmerited gift from God. Let us learn in this year that time and our earthly life in it are a gracious gift from God. Have you ever evaluated time and life? What an unspeakably precious gift? What are you going to do with this gift? How will you use it? You can spend this year either with or without God. There are two kinds of men — one who plans without God anl the other who plans with God. God’s special message to us is that we make our plans with Him. There is a kind of people who look out upon the year with misgivings. They say “We don’t know what tomorrow and the future will bring, one thing only is sure, today, this hour, this moment — this is ours and we most use it. We should not always think of death, but make life rosy.” This is the line of thought of happy-go-lucky people who live only for the sunshine of today and who can quickly become the beggars and the pitiful men of the tomorrows. All their glasses will be empty ones some time and their money will be gone, all their music will be stopped as they sob over their ruined lives which can never be restored. They had no plan and they never had a God and they never felt that they belonged to God, having been redeemed by Christ. The tragedy of these people is that they never realized that time, life and opportunities were given to them not for selfish pleasure but for some higher purpose. The most pitiful people are those who never had time to make plans with God. To this kind belong those who confess that God exists but is too busy to think of us little men. To these the words of Christ’s teaching that “even the hairs of your head are numbered” are meaningless. They live in a world where they don’t have the providential love of God because they do not accept it. They never make plans, they forget God; God forgets them, too. There is a very peculiar type of people called fatalists. This type believes in God most seriously, but wrongly. They believe that the majestic God determined the fate of man and man in his own power and strength cannot change it. If everything happens by the providence of God, all of our efforts are unnecessary. It is better to trust ourselves to the providential love of God and it is stupid of us to do any planning. The fatalist says if the providential love of God will carry through His plan for us, then why not fold our hands and do nothing — why are we anxious? They forget that God who sees the end from the beginning, has commanded us to carry out His plan. These types of people of whom I have spoken do not have any plans. They live but for today — they take life as it comes — useless children of the world and of God. Now we will talk about the other kind. These are those who take their fate out of the hand of God and try to manage their own affairs. Yes, but how? A man’s character is easily revealed in his plans. In our text we see a man who had plans. The trouble is not with his plans — it is not wrong to plan for gain, the trouble is that his plans were made without God. He wanted to rule his life without God’s control. He was too full of self-confidence and in his plan he was selfish — he thought only of himself and planned only for himself. He did not take God into consideration. The plan itself was good, but it was bad that he wanted to gain and did not want to do good with his gain. In his plan, there was another great mistake — that he took his time for granted and was sure that he would live one more year to carry out his plan. This is where he made his biggest mistake. He thought himself the Lord of tomorrow. The man who plans without God makes a terrible mistake in his planning. The self-confident man must learn that the Word of God teaches us that life is like a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanishes away. It is well for these people to remember that to the foolish man God said “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose will these things be which Thou has gathered?” A plan without God is fruitless effort. In the past, very often, an abbreviation of two letters was used in correspondence. The letters were D. V. which stand for Deo Volente meaning “if God wills.” By this they said what the apostle James says “for that ye ought to say if the Lord will, we shall live or do this or that.” This means that the believer never lets God out of his work, his life or his plan. In this there is a humble submission to the will of God. We acknowledge that our human life is under divine control and this divine plan shapes our destiny. The Christian confesses utter dependance on God and he submits himself entirely to Him. You might ask the question, “If God shapes our destiny, then where does our free will come in?” Then we would be required to do nothing and God would carry out His plan. Let me refer you here to the story of the life of Paul to whom God said “As thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou testify also of me at Rome.” Paul knew that He would have to reach Rome, but he knew too, that from the beginning he would have work to do. God has a plan for us and we must carry it out. In this year, discover for yourself God’s plan for your life and find your plan within it. Life is entrusted to us that we may spend it in working out God’s plan. We wish all of you in behalf of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America a blessed, peaceful and prosperous New Year. Dr. Sándor Kiss Louis Nagy Chief Elder Bishop
