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Articles
Invisible Asterisk
In one Steve Burdine's Berean Letter he had a phrase that got me to thinking. The article was talking about James 4:14, "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." The point was made that we need to always keep in mind the idea that of any future planning, it is always conditioned on the fact if the Lord wills that we live. "For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." vs.15. We use the asterisk many times to footnote things in documents. We make statements and then put an asterisk at the end of the sentence or paragraph. Then in the footnote we use the * and the explanation we desire to give. The point is we need an "invisible asterisk" or we might call it a "mental asterisk" or a times let it be a "verbal asterisk" by saying if the Lord wills or if God permits. We need not boast about tomorrow, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." Prov.27:1. It is easy when things are going pretty good to forget that each day may truly be our last on this earth. Remember the parable of the rich farmer in Luke 12:16-21? He had everything planned out for many years, but God said to him: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" vs.20. This guy failed to have the "invisible asterisk" in his mind, nor was it upon his lips. He simply was not rich toward God, Jesus said in vs.21, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." We must ever remember our own mortality, and the reality of death is ever possible, thus the need for this "invisible asterisk" in our everyday walk of life.
