A SIMPLE LESSON FROM A PENCIL

Part 1

 

I can remember back when we got our first VCR. My cousin was visiting and he brought the Karate Kid and it was the first movie that we saw on our new VCR. One thing I remember about that movie was that Mr Meogie would use ordinary things such as waxing a car or painting a fence to teach Daniel Karate.

 

In a similar way, I am going to use an ordinary pencil to teach you a spiritual message. While I am using a pencil for my lesson today, you can use any number of objects or actions to teach similar lessons to your kids or to anyone.

 

The first thing I want to point out about a pencil is that it was created by man and it created for the purpose to write with. The pencil did not explode into existence. No, it had to be created by a designer. In fact, the pencil has not been around all that long.

 

From pencilpages.com:

 

Some time prior to about 1560, graphite was discovered near Borrowdale, England, supposedly when a large tree was uprooted in a storm, exposing a black substance beneath its roots. The usefulness of graphite as a marking substance was quickly realized. Though the exact date is not known for certain, the year 1565 marks the first record of a pencil consisting of a piece of graphite inserted into a wood shaft, making the first ancestor of today's pencil.”

 

If man had not created the pencil, then the pencil would not exist.

 

In a similar way, you and I nor anything on this earth including the earth and our universe would exist if had not be carefully created by a designer, which is God. We read about God handy work in the first chapter of the Bible:

 

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.  4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.  5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.  6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."  7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.  8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.  9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.  10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.  11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.  12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.  14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;  15 "and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.  16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.  17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,  18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.  19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.  20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."  21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."  23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.  24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.  25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."  29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.  30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.  31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

 

While some deny God’s existence, there is no adequate way for man to explain away our existence or the complexity of life on earth. Now they try to, I will give them that, but nothing they offer makes any sense especially when they use evolution as the basis of their explanation. Just as a person would never deny that a pencil was designed by a creator, no one with a rational mind can look at our universe and the complexity of life on earth and say that it all happened by some random chance by some random explosion. It clearly had a designer and was created, which we as Christian know was God. As:

 

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

 

Psalm 19:1  The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

 

Like the pencil God has created us for a purpose:

 

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 

Like the pencil we were created for a purpose and that is to do good works, but unlike the pencil we have a choice of how we will be used, which brings us to our second point about a pencil.

 

In order for a pencil to write it has to be guided by a person’s hand. How that pencil is used depends on who is guiding it. In the hands of an artist beautiful pictures can be drawn. In the hands of an author, beautiful books can be written. In the hands of the angry or those that are evil, vicious destructive words can be written.

 

In a similar way, our lives will be guided. However, unlike the pencil we get to decide how we will be guided. We basically have two choices according to Paul:

 

Romans 6:16  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

 

We can either allow ourselves to be guided by the world and those things that will cause us to live a life of sin, or we can allow ourselves to be guided by God through His Word, which is the pathway to righteousness. It is our choice of how we be guided and it our choice to whether we go to heaven or to hell. As Joshua said:

 

Joshua 24:15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

 

As Christians, we should always choose the righteous path and follow the advice of:

 

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.  7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.  8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

 

When we put our trust in God and allow Him to guide us through His Word, then and only then can we be confident that we be guided in the way of righteousness. For those who choose to be guided by the world or by their own selfishness, they will find themselves separated from God and they will face His wrath. As Paul writes:

 

2 Thessalonians 1:6  since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,  7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,  8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,  10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

 

The 3rd thing we learn about a pencil is that it bares a mark. It tells you who made it and who it originally belonged to. Those who created the pencil had had purchase the materials and the equipment to call their particular pencil their own.

 

As Christians, we also bare a mark of who we belong to:

 

Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,  14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

This is not a physical mark we can see, but when we obeyed the gospel and were baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins we were marked or we can say sealed by the Holy Spirit. When we are baptized, we are baptized into the possession of the Godhead. That is what the Great commission literally teaches in:

 

Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

 

When we become a child of God, we belong to God. We have submitted ourselves to His leadership and to His protection. The privilege of being about to receive this spiritual mark, it came a high cost:

 

Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),

 

The manufactures of the pencil only had to pay some of their money and give of  some of their time to make it possible for them to put their mark on their pencils, but Jesus had to leave the riches of heaven to become man, so that He could live like one of us. Not only did He have to live like one of us, He had to do so without sinning so that He could fulfill the Law of Moses and become the perfect sacrifice, so that we could we could conquer sin. Jesus had to pay with His life, so that we could bear the mark or the seal of the Holy Spirit, which shows that we belong to God. Since we belong to him, we should follow the advice of Paul:

 

1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!  16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh."  17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.  18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.  19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.  

 

Every manufacture that puts their mark on their pencil wants their pencils to represent the quality of their company. In the same way, we must represent the quality of our Creator by living our lives based on His Word. It is up to us to either uphold the mark we have been given so we can glorify God or to misrepresent Him by being a defective Christian. Hopefully, we will do our best to be a good example and give others a good idea of what a child of God is supposed to be like.

 

If we do not have the mark of God, then we do not belong to God and we are lost, but thankfully as long as we are still living we can accept the seal of the Holy Spirit by obeying the gospel.

 

The fourth thing we learn about a pencil is that lead on the inside is the most important part of the pencil because without the lead, it would just be a painted piece of wood with an eraser on it.

 

In a similar way, the most important part of man is his soul and spirit. Without the inner man, there would just be a lifeless shell of flesh and blood. While we should treat our body well, while we are in it, we must understand that body is only temporary, but our inner self will live on forever, which is why Paul said:

 

2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,  18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

 

It should bring us great comfort knowing that these bodies we have and their weakness will be no more when we make it to heaven. Peter put it this way:

 

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,  3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.  4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.  5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.  6  So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.  7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.  8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.  9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.  10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

When we take care of our inner-man by living for God then we are will get experience having a new body provided to us by God. One that will never wear out and one that is not flesh and bones. For more information on this idea, I recommend that you read 1 Corinthians 15.

 

Sometimes people are superficial, and all they care about is their outer appearance, but Jesus makes it clear, that is the inward man is what we should focus on:

 

Matthew 15:18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

 

If our heart is ugly so are we, but if heart is pure, then we are beautiful and well pleasing to God. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had real problem with this, which is see Jesus rebuking them in:

 

Matthew 23:27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  28 "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  

 

Let us never forget that our inward self must come first then our bodies next because God looks at the heart and not what we look like on the outside. That exactly what God taught Samuel in:

 

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 

 

Let us never forget what Paul taught Timothy:

 

1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 

Let do our best as Christians to keep our inner self pure and spiritual fit.

 

We have looked at for things we can learn from a pencil, but I am not done yet and hope you join us again tonight as look at four more spiritual lessons that we can learn from a pencil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A SIMPLE LESSON FROM A PENCIL

Part 2

 

This morning we began looking at some things we can learn from a pencil that we could use to learn a spiritual message. This morning we looked at 4 things.

 

  1. A pencil was created by a designer for a purpose just as we were created by a designer, which is God, and we were created for a purpose.
  2. A pencil must be guided by someone. Depending on who it is being guided by will determine how it would be used. In similar way, we are all guided by something, but we have a choice on what our guide will be. The faithful will allow themselves to be guided by the Word of God.
  3. A pencil bares a mark, which shows who created it and who it belongs to. When we obey gospel and are baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we are given a mark by the Holy Spirit, which shows that we are child of God and that we belong to Him. Everyone else bares the mark of the world and will be lost.
  4. The most important part of a pencil it what is on the inside, which is the lead. The most important part of man is what is on the inside, which is his soul and spirit.

 

Tonight we are going to look a four more spiritual lessons we can learn from a pencil.

 

The fifth thing we learn about a pencil is that it must be sharpened often in order to function at its best. In the same way, a Christian must continue to sharpen himself with the Word of God because if he does not, he will become dull.

 

The writer of Hebrews rebuked his listeners for being dull:

 

Hebrews 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,  10 called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek,"  11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

 

One way we can make sure that we continue to stay sharp, is by making God’s Word part of our daily life. The more we neglect taking time out of busy lives to read it and mediate on the duller we are going to become. That is what happened to the people we just read about. They allowed themselves to become complacent and some of them had stopped assembling with the saints on regular basis (Heb. 10:25). Though they should have been teachers of God’s Word by now, they were still like new born baby who still needed to be fed milk instead of meat. 

 

How many Christians do you know that have been in the church for many years, yet they are still in need of milk? It is sad when Christians choose to neglect the Words of life that will make them prepared for heaven. I just received email on Friday that fits perfectly with my point.

 

 

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?


What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to our kids as gifts?

What if we used it when we traveled?

What if we used it in case of emergency?

 

This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing.

Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being

disconnected because Jesus already paid the  bill.


Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!

When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you!

Friends, we do not have any valid excuse we can use for not allowing ourselves to be sharpened by the Word of God. It readily available to us in all kinds of ways, but we must make reading and meditating on God’s a priority in our life. When we do, we be blessed and we will be able to function our best as a Christ-like example.

 

If a pencil could feel pain, which thankfully it does not, it would be painful for it be sharpened every time, but it would be necessary to help it remain sharp. In a similar way, we our faithfulness to God will be sharpened through the trials that we face and endure. As James says:

 

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

 

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

 

Sometimes increasing our faith and our effectiveness as Christ-like example can be very painful, but many times it is necessary to help keep us sharp and focused on loving God, trusting Him, and serving Him. While growing in the grace of our God can be challenging, let us understand the importance of our trials and tribulations and use them to grow closer to God. It will be worth it in the end as Paul said:

 

2 Corithians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

 

The sixth thing we learn about a pencil is that it has an eraser. So, when we make a mistake, we can rub it out and try it again. In a similar way, Jesus’ blood has made it possible for us to rub out the sin that in our lives.

 

Christ died for us on the cruel cross and suffered the shame, so that we could receive the forgiveness of our sins. While it wonderful to be able to erase a word or line that we messed up on, to be able to wipe out all the mistakes that we made in our lives so that we can try again is the greatest gift we have ever been given.

 

I am certainly thankful for God allowing me to have my sins forgiven and forgotten. It brings a smile to my face knowing how loving our God is that He had made forgiveness available for everyone who chooses it. Unfortunately, some choose not to erase the sins out of their life because they are too proud to admit their faults and to humble themselves before God. They are too stubborn to change their ways.

 

Another thing we learn about the pencil’s eraser is that yes it does remove pencil mark, but the impression made on the page still remains. The same thing is true when it comes to our sins. Yes we can and will be forgiven of our sins when we repent and confess them to God, but the impression of our sins will remain because the consequences of our sins will not be undone.

 

For example, if we chose to harm our bodies with taking drugs or abusing alcohol and our liver begins to fail or teeth fall out, those things cannot and will not change even though we have been forgiven of the sin itself. Another example would be someone killing another person. Yes, they can be forgiven of their murderous act, but they cannot bring that person back to life, and they cannot take away the void in the heart of that person’s friends and family.

 

The best advice I can give you is to do your best not to sin in the first place. Just because our sins can be rubbed out does not mean we should have the attitude that we can just commit sin and rub it out because the consequences and their lasting effects will linger on and can destroy lives. So, let us do our best to live our lives in a such a way that we do not have to use our eraser all the time.

 

The seventh thing we learn about a pencil is that it will leave a mark. Of course, the mark it leaves depends on the hand that is guiding it as I mentioned this morning. Just like a pencil, we all leave a mark, but it us to us what kind of mark we leave. If we want to be pleasing to God and have the hope of eternal life, then the marks we leave must be based on the Word of God.

 

We never underestimate the power of our influence on others. Our actions do matter, and how we act around people and live our lives can make the difference between someone being led to Christ or driven away from Him.

 

Sometime people might have the false impression that what they do does not really matter. When people say stuff like that, I think about the widow lady we read about in:

 

Mark 12:41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much.  42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury;  44 "for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." 

 

Many times those that are rich have a great influence on those around them and they use their money to help them push their influence, but that is the way of the world. In our text, we get a glimpse into what God sees and what He considers as a good example that is worth following.

 

From a worldly perspective, this widow would be burden on society and her meager two mites would be worth the time to even bend over and pick up off the sidewalk, but from Jesus’ perspective, He saw a lady who loved the Lord and was willing to give all she had to Him. Her heart was in the right the place and she was giving from her heart and not for show, which why her two mites was worth way more than the rich men giving out of their abundance.

 

Though she was a poor widow lady who only gave two mites, the Word of God records that great example for us and shows us how Jesus used her mark she was making that day to teach His disciples a great lesson. So, do not ever think that what you do does not matter is insignificant because every thing you do whether it be small or large can be influence others in ways you never dreamed of because when we serve God with out heart and not for show, we are leaving the kind of mark that God wants us to.

 

Of course of the main ways we can make sure that we are leaving a mark that will influence others in a positive way is by following the advice of James:

 

James 1:19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;  20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 

 

One of the biggest things that can cause us to leave a negative mark in this life is by being quick to speak and quick to wrath, but if we can train ourselves to keep our mouths shut and allow ourselves to listen to what is being said and give ourselves time to fully understand, then we will be able to answer in a way that will be positive, and we will be able to keep our anger under control.

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 

 

If we ever hope to leave a good mark in our life and be the example that we need to be then we must train ourselves to hate sin and keep it out of lives. The way we do this is by humbly receiving the instructions from God’s Word because it will save our souls and teach us how to the positive influence we should be.

 

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

 

It is enough to just read God’s Word and know what it says. The Pharisees knew God’s Word, but the problem was that they did not obey the Word or practice it, which is why Jesus rebuked them sharply in Mt. 23. So, if we want to make a good mark in this life, then we need to be doers of God’s Word. We have to put it into practice; otherwise it will not benefit us.

 

Anyone can tell you that hands on experience is that best way to learn something and become better at it. Someone could read how to do open heart surgery, but if they have never done with their hands would you want them doing the surgery on you or would you want the person who has practiced what he has read? The answer is obvious, you would want to the person who has actual done open heart surgery. So, let us not be hearers of God’s Word only, let us be doers of His Word. When we put into practice, we will be blessed.

 

James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

 

Once again, James emphasizes the need for us to control our words because he knows full well that in order for us to make a good impression on someone, we must follow the advice of Paul:

 

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

 

While the worldly do not care what kind of mark they leave, Christians must always be concerned about what kind of mark they leave and we must be very careful with the words that we use because Jesus said:

 

Matthew 12:36 "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  37 "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

The 8th thing we learn about a pencil is that is time is limited. Eventually, after much use and many sharpenings it can no longer be used. In a similar way you and I have an expiration date. Some of us will live a short life, others will live longer lives, but one thing is for sure we will all die in the end and our time on this earth will be over.

 

Unlike the pencil, we have a choice of how we live our life and what we accomplish with it. Let us do our best to make the most of the time we have on this earth to do good for God. We must realize that we cannot change what has already happened in the past. We must learn to move on like Paul says in:

 

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; 

 

Since we cannot go back in time and change the past, let us use what time we have left on this earth to live our lives for God and do everything in our power to lead others to Christ, so they can have the same hope of eternal life that we do. Of course is another big difference between us an pencil because once a pencil is used up is discarded and never seen again, but God has made is possible for us to live for every. Yes our physical body will return to dust, but our soul and spirit will live on and we will be given an new spiritual body just like the one that Christ’s right now that will last forever. So, let us rejoice, in what God has done for us and not fear physical death, but see it as time of great rejoicing because then we will be with the Lord.

 

There you have it. We have learned 8 simple spiritual lessons from a pencil. Before I close out my lesson, I want share the little article from which this two-part lesson was inspired by.

 

The Parable of the pencil

 

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. “There are five things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and you will become the best pencil you can be.”

1.You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand.

2.You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.

3.You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

4.The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.

5.On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

 

Now put yourself in the pencil’s place; always remember these five rules and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

1.You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God’s hand, and allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

2.You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.

3.You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

4.The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.

5.On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.