According to a newspaper writer, much more money is being spent on AIDS research than on cancer research and much, much more is being spent on cancer research than on heart disease research. This is in spite of the fact that heart disease claims far, far more lives every year than does cancer, and cancer claims far, far more lives than does AIDS. The writer explains all this by saying that it is the squeaking wheel that gets the grease. That principle is also true regarding our religious activities. It is the squeaking wheel that gets the grease. Since that is true, religious people must be aware of two things.

First, we must know what ought to be squeaking the loudest. As per the illustration above, that which ought to squeak the loudest may not be. Have you been saved? Have you obeyed the gospel? Have you been born again? Until you have been, the rest of your religious activity doesn’t matter. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). Having been born again, you must be wholly committed to Him and live for Him according to His standards revealed in the New Testament. Being born again and living for Him must be first and foremost in our lives.

Second, we must become squeakers. Heart disease people are being out-squeaked. In the religious realm, that which ought to be first often ends up last. It gets out-squeaked. The saved must be teachers of the lost and examples of Christian living. It is the whole duty of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world (Matthew 28:18-20).

That is the aim of the Elkins church of Christ.

• Jack Harriman, pulpit minister & teacher