The Issues Of Life

Come, sit and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice."   Ephesians  4:31


             "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."  Proverbs  4:23

     A man passing by a small lake heard some frantic calls for help.  Diving into the water fully clothed, he saved a youngster from drowning.  The boy was grateful, and tried to stammer out his thanks.  The rescuer patted him on the head and said,  "That's all right, you fellow;  just make sure that you're worth it!"  In later years the boy often pondered those well-chosen words.  He came to understand that life is much more than mere existence.  To be worthwhile it must be filled with service and praise to God!  This can issue only from a heart touched by grace!

     Someone has said,  "Take a piece of wax, a piece of meat, some sand, some clay, and some shavings, and put them on the fire.  Each is being acted upon by the same agent, yet the wax melts, the meat fries, the sand dries up, the clay hardens, and the shavings blaze.  Just so, under the influence of identical circumstances and environment, one man becomes stronger while another, without Christ, becomes weaker and withers.

                                                       "One Ship goes East, another West,
                                                           By the selfsame winds that blow;
                                                       "Tis the set of the sail and not the gale,
                                                           That determines the way they go.
                                                        Like the winds of the sea are the ways of time,
                                                            As we voyage along through life;
                                                        'Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal,
                                                             And not the calm or the strife."

     Has the course of your soul been set at Calvary so that Christ is now the Pilot at the helm of your heart?  Is the "wind" of the Holy Spirit blowing your bark ever closer to the Celestial City?  Then your life is meaningful and worthwhile!

                                                          Had I but this one day to live,
                                                            One day to love, one day to give,
                                                          One day to work and watch and raise
                                                             My voice to God in joyous praise,
                                                          One day to succor those in need,
                                                              Pour healing balm on hearts that bleed,
                                                           I'd spend, O God, much time with Thee
                                                              That Thou might'st plan my day for me.
                                                                                                          - A. H. Muir

"Bread For Each Day"