Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 70

March 04

Lord Baden Powell, as is well known, founded the Boy Scouts organization. To be a Scout, a boy must promise, on his honor, to do his duty to both God and country, to help others at every opportunity, and to obey the Scout law. Lord Baden Powell chose a fine motto for the Scouts: “Be prepared” is a fine precept indeed, even for those of us who are quite a bit older.

It is rather unfortunate, I think, that the whole concept of duty seems to be out of favor in so many quarters in our day and age. Duty, of course, carries with it the idea of responsibility and obligation, and somehow many feel that they don’t owe anything—even to God.

If we think about it, we owe a great deal to our God. He is our Creator. He made us. God supplies us the very air we breathe—the sunshine, the rain, the fertile soil.

With familiar phrases, the final chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes also speaks of a word that is prominent in the code of the Boy Scouts—duty: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). And we find these words in verse 13 of the same chapter: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.”

Like good Boy Scouts, we have a duty to our Heavenly Father.