Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 19
November 2, 1967
NUMBER 26, PAGE 7b-8a

Donkeys No Dumb-Bell

Billy Moore

Everybody loves a prize!! This is true of Christians. The other day I saw an article with the above caption. In fact I read the article because of the title. I wanted to learn about "the old carrot trick." The following paragraph is quoted from that article, and application made to being a Christian, whereas the author of the article, Virginia Stumbough, made it to business.

"Draw for yourself a mental picture of a donkey. Think of him pulling a cart with a long pole attached so that a carrot dangles in front of him. A donkey is not a dumb animal; he's smart enough to work only when the inspiration strikes him. He knows that he'll be fed at the end of the day, whether or not he cooperates, but walking toward the carrot all day is more fun than just walking. It's a trick the driver uses, and it works. Without the carrot the donkey balks; with it, he goes."

No doubt the driver of the cart felt that he had accomplished quite a trick by keeping the carrot before the donkey all day long, and really he had. But the Lord knew this incentive long before man discovered it.

God warned Noah of the coming flood, and promised him deliverance. This was sufficient incentive, for Noah to obey God. Thus we read, "By faith Noah...prepared an ark to the saving of his house." (Hebrews 11:7) The promise of deliverance from the flood was the "carrot" held before Noah. During the months and years of building the ark, while others mocked and ridiculed him, Noah could see the promise of God before him.

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8) Abraham left his native land, and his father's house, but all the while there was the "carrot" before his eyes, the land which God said shall be yours. God told Abraham something about a heavenly city, and this was held before him to the extent that he was content to "dwell in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob...for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:9-10)

My friend, God holds something before our eyes too, but it can be seen only with the "eye of faith." Christ there is held before men the "remission of sins." How wonderful it would be for one whose life is marred with sin and evil to be able to begin anew, to have all those sins and mistakes forgiven never to be remembered again. This is just what the Lord promises to those who will believe and be baptized in obedience to his will. (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38) To encourage this newborn child of God, he gives unto him the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Gal. 4:4-6), and also unto him is given the blessed hope of eternal life with God. Let us never lose sight of this hope of everlasting life for it is "an anchor of the sour' which keeps us "sure and steadfast." (Hebrews 6:19) The Lord says, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." (Rev. 2:10) The writer to the Hebrews said, "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." (Hebrews 10:36)

Why do so many leave the church of the Lord and go back to the ways of the world? I am persuaded it is because they do not keep this hope of eternal life before their eyes. They see the "cares and riches and pleasures of this life" (Luke 8:14), rather than that home of the soul that Jesus has gone to prepare. (John 14:1-4) Would not every disciple of Christ live closer to his Lord, and be more faithful in his life, and more zealous for his cause, if he would begin every day by thinking of that "inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven" for him? (I Peter 1:3,4) Would not our children be better prepared to meet the varied temptations that shall surely loom before their eyes if we would daily remind them of our hope of eternal life?

Trials and tribulations may come, persecutions may arise, but let us serve God joyfully. We have a "carrot" before our eyes, for we serve "in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus 1:2)

-Box 204, Butler, Mo.