the other hand, took the attitude that they should be more liberal. The young man himself became a football between two parents. The argument grew more and more intense. The hus band took the position that the wife was wasting her time getting counsel from us. He insisted the sessions be terminated. On our records was the warning, “In our judgment, if these two people do not resolve their tensions we would not be surprised if some very serious and drastic things might have to be faced.” Murder seemed a little remote at the time. But a bitter young man was caught in a feud between mother and father. The squeeze and pressure was more than he could bear. The Bible tells us that one of the products of the human heart is murder. How plain it ought to be that we must take care of the condition of our own heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the second folder were some other small clippings about another sniper. Again it involved a young teenager. After talking with him, we began to realize that behind his life was a mother and father too busy to bother much about him. He was the kind, too, who really needed a lot of attention and very serious guidance. We had warned the parents of their serious responsibility. A failure would mean to expect dire consequences. Fortunate ly in this case, his aim was bad. While he missed, yet the attempt was still there. Murder isn’t something that happens all at once. Jesus said, “I say unto you that if you are angiy with your brother, you have committed mur der already.” Actually, murder is just getting a little madder; mad enough to kill. Realize, however, that to be mildly annoyed is the first step. To be nursing these miserable situations in our hearts and the ..manufacturing of these grievances makes the differ ence. The Lord Jesus has come to give inner peace and to deliver us from the pressures and grief of human probleins and difficulties. See what God can and wants to do for your heart if you will simply recognize Him as the supreme Source.
The Sniper (continued) answered them by saying, “There is nothing from without a man that can defile him, but rather those things which come out of him. These are the things that defile the man. Think of some of the things that go into you: alcohol, dope, smoke, too much food, these are a few of the kinds of things that go into a person. But, according to Jesus these aren’t the things that de file Him. Our Saviour pointed out that some of the things which proceed out of the heart of man are evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lust, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and fool ishness. That is a rather imposing and frightening statement isnt’ it? When you say to your husband, “You make me furious,” is he putting that into you, or is he bringing it out of you? It makes a big difference because if he is putting it into you then we will need to treat him. But if he is bringing it out of you then we will need to treat you. Some sobering things happened in our office a few weeks ago. In one of our case conferences the person in charge put two folders in front of me. One of them contained case records of a contact which we had had with a woman. There were also some news paper clippings in there. A short time ago we had a sniper loose in our com munity. He was shooting bullets through people’s windows. Naturally it caused considerable consternation, as you might well imagine. People wondered who would be next. Then one day it came out in a newspaper that a woman had been shot and killed. The woman happened to be one of our clients about a year previously. She had come because one of the bur dens upon her heart was the relation ship between herself and her husband. She told us that they were growing farther and farther apart. The biggest current issue was an argument over how to treat their teenage son. She thought the boy should be expected to live according to the precepts of the church which they attended. He, on
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