OCCUPATION WITH CHRIST

P. Gasston

2 Timothy 2: 3, 4, 8; 1 Timothy 4: 15

I am part of a generation that is growing up, our brother was part of a generation that is passing. I could not help but think of what our dear brother has said—how thankful we are for the shepherd caring spirit of our brother. We can bear personal witness to the fact that, as young persons having come to know Jesus, we were helped in our souls by the spirit of Jesus that was in our dear brother. One of the first things that impressed me about him was the fact that in everything he was just occupied with Jesus. I wonder how much of our lives is occupied with Jesus? This man was fully occupied with Him; you could not have a conversation with him

without his bringing in the name of Jesus, he was fully occupied with the glory of Christ. He said to me once, ‘Never contend about anything unless it involves the glory of Christ, anything else is not worth it’. I took that home to my soul, and the spirit of Jesus that was in our brother has encouraged me, to this day, and my wife and family too. The Lord Jesus said,

“I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business”, Luke 2: 49. The same word for “occupied”

is used in 1 Timothy 4: 15—‘ Occupy thyself with: these things; be wholly in them’, the apostle says. O, how Jesus loved to be occupied with His Father’s business. He was single-minded about it, you might say, speaking reverently. Everything about anything that He did was occupied with the Father. So Paul would exhort us, as following in the footsteps of Jesus, to be fully occupied with divine things. There is nothing more stimulating to the spiritual mind than occupation with Christ.

I would just like to finish by saying that there is a generation of young ones that held our dear brother in the utmost honour and respect, because of the spirit of Jesus that he portrayed in everything that he did. May the Lord bless the word for His name’s sake.

Words at the burial of Mr. B. M. Deck, Motueka, New Zealand
22 June 1991