Two active young brothers were in the bathtub together, supposedly getting their bath. But like most young boys, these two were more interested in playing in the water than they were in washing their bodies. They had the rub filled with toys of every kind\u2014plastic boats and bottles and cups; toy soldiers and little cars\u2014 all kinds of toys, so that they\u2019d have something to play with in the water.
One of the boys, feeling an unknown slippery object under the water, picked it up to see what it was. It was just a bar of soap, an unwanted item, and so he threw it out of the tub onto the floor. His comment as he discarded the soap was, \u201cIt\u2019s only soap; we don\u2019t need that.\u201d
\u201cNow, hang on a minute,\u201d you say. \u201cI thought they were in the bathtub\u2026to get a bath!\u201d Yes, that\u2019s true. \u201cWell, isn\u2019t soap pretty essential to getting a bath?\u201d Yes! \u201cSo, didn\u2019t they discard the very thing they needed the most?\u201d That\u2019s right! \u201cHow silly,\u201d you say! And you\u2019d be right!
But isn\u2019t that exactly what we sometimes do when it comes to listening to the Word of God taught? We sometimes discard the very thing from a Bible lesson that is most important to our lives. While the preacher was preaching or the Bible class teacher was teaching, have you ever caught yourself thinking, \u201cBoy, he sure is giving it to brother Jones over there\u201d? If you\u2019ve been guilty of this (as most of us probably have been at one time or another), chances are that you discarded something in the lesson that may have been applicable to you\u2014you may have tossed out the most important \u201csoap\u201d.
Whenever we listen to God\u2019s Word taught, we need to be aware of our personal responsibility to the one doing the teaching. With every sermon that is preached or lesson that is taught, we need to pay close attention and try to get something out of it that will apply to us. We need to listen to every lesson as if it were pointed directly at us. Every Christian needs to find in every sermon the things that apply to him or her and become a doer of the Word\u2014because: \u201cone who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does\u201d (James 1:25).
Throwing out the soap may be kind of funny when it comes to two boys in a bathtub, but it\u2019s sure not funny when the \u201csoap\u201d is God\u2019s Word. Don\u2019t you dare become guilty of discarding the \u201csoap\u201d\u2014of ignoring an important application of Bible teaching to your own life! You may be discarding the very thing you need the most! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This bulletin is being published for the purpose of encouraging a further study of the Word of God. Editor \u2013 Josh Liggin <\/p>\n\n\n\n