Happy New Year

Happy New Year

 

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalms 90:12)

 

I venture to say that over the last few weeks and even continuing on for a few more, everywhere you go someone will say to you, "Happy New Year". This is a time in which people look back over the past months remembering what has occurred in their lives or as the case may be, what hasn't occurred and based on this remembrance resolve to do things differently in the new year. I venture to say that most of us have been thinking about the approaching days of 2026 to the point of planning what we will or will not do during the course of those days. There is nothing amiss in doing this but we must not forget that there are no guarantees that we will see any of those days or if we do, they may be few in number. None of us know how long we are going to live. We number our days by living each one as if we know it will be the last one (1 Samuel 20:3).  We should enjoy every moment of our lives but as we do, we had best learn from Solomon the vanity of not thinking, not planning ahead for the day in which we will stand face to face with our God (Ecclesiastes 9:10, 12:13; Acts 17:31; 2 Cor. 5:10). As we enjoy life today and as we look forward to the new year, let us make absolutely sure that we include God in our lives (Luke 12:15-21). Live each day on the premise, "the Lord willing I will do this or that" (James 4:14).

 

No one lives in an ideal situation. Oh, we dream of the perfect life but everyone of us will face all of those trials and burdens that will from time to time make us cry out "Why". We must strive each day to acquire the strength and courage that can be obtained only through a complete trust in God. Consider for a moment the trust that Job had in God (Job 1:21-22, 13:15). I think of  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego whose trust in God was such they could face the fiery furnace without fear (Daniel 3:13-18). O, that you and I will strive to have such faith in our God. May the words of David from Psalms 62:7-8 echo through our hearts as we prepare, the Lord willing, to embark on a new adventure on this journey we call life: "In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust him at all times; ye people pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah."

 

Charles Hicks

J. D. Tant (1861-1941)

HUGH'S NEWS & VIEWS

 

LOST OPPORTUNITIES
J. D. Tant (1861-1941)

 

The sun has gone down behind the western hills. The last faint rays are dying upon the purple clouds. Another day is in the past with all its golden opportunities. How many of them have been lost? Little did we think this morning, when the sun sent its glittering arrows of light gleaming through the fleeing clouds, of the sweet possibilities the day held for us, when the moments slipped from us one by one, how they would never return, and how we should improve them, but now the sun has gone down, never to rise again for many, many weary souls, and with it the lost opportunity.

 

Thus, another year is fast passing off the annals of time. It is almost gone. How have we improved the past days and hours, the opportunities of drawing nearer to God ourselves and others to Him?

 

In our Sunday School lessons during the past year we have had two good examples of lost opportunities—when Felix said "Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." The more convenient season will never come, and the words of Agrippa: "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Almost saved, but completely lost—how despairing the wail of the lost soul! The last opportunity is forever gone. Why will men and women go carelessly on, day after day, neglecting the opportunities for doing good, absorbed in business and other affairs, and, when the subject is brought to mind, think only of the "convenient season?" Thus the days, months and years pass by, and at last the "grim monster" death closes forever the door upon the last opportunity neglected, leaving the soul unprepared for eternity, and thousands of human souls who, but for their negligence, might have been better.

 

Those lost opportunities can never return. Let us profit by the example and with the coming of the New Year prepare for ourselves the opportunities that will come through the passing days; speaking words; remembering that "a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver'" (Prov. 25:11),doing kindly deeds that help and bless mankind, not forgetting the "cup of water" given in His name, learning the will of the Lord more perfectly, that we may "do those things that are pleasing in His sight." Then when time shall be no more we shall not regret throughout eternity our lost opportunities.

 

Note: The above article appeared in the Gospel Advocate, Vol. 39, #51, p. 814, 1899, and came to me via David Tant's blog of August 3, 2025. David is the grandson of the article's author. I have known David for several years and am both happy and honored to count him as a friend. His grandfather was a Texas pioneer preacher. Fanning Yater Tant, David's father, wrote an excellent biography of his father: J. D. TANT – TEXAS PREACHER. I first read this book when I was twenty-two or twenty-three years old. Over fifty years later I read it again. It is a fascinating story of the toils and struggles of the people of God in an earlier time, on whose shoulders we stand today. The book is also a sober reminder of how history repeats itself, and how that battles once won in the religious arena often have to be fought again. It will be noted that the article appeared at the very end of the 19th century. One and a quarter centuries have passed since it was written, yet it speaks a solemn truth that needs to be spoken today. As I read the article I intentionally determined to save it for this, the final edition of "Hugh's News & Views" for 2025. It is not often that we get to hear from such a one as J. D. Tant.

 

Hugh Fulford