Living The Book

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

            "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."                                                                                                                                                James  1:22

The Word of God is the "seed of truth" which requires clean soil if it is to thrive and be productive.  The Holy Spirit must be allowed to purify our lives, to clean out the debris of malice and lust - to weed out besetting sins, then, in the soil of humble modesty and true dedication to Christ, the Word will take firm root and bring forth the delightful clusters of the "fruit of the Spirit."  God wants us to walk in obedience to the faith that has been worked into our hearts, and to reflect to those about us the truths of His Word.  Many are ready to hear, discuss, argue, and place into mental pigeonholes the great doctrines of the Bible, but this is mere "religion."  It is all in vain, unless the truth is spiritually digested and translated into vital action that is discernible and effective in our everyday walk and conduct.  Mere theological knowledge is not enough.  We can only be sure that the truth has been received when it brings forth fruit.

     A Brahmin is said to have written to a missionary:  "We are finding you out.  You are not as good as your Book!  If your people were only as good as your Bible you would conquer India for Christ in five years."

     Indeed, the grace of God in our hearts should cause us to live "soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world"  (Titus 2:12).  How true it is that often:

                                        We are the only Bible the careless world will read,
                                           We are the sinner's Gospel, we are the scoffer's creed,
                                        We are the Lord's last message, given in deed or word;
                                           What if the type is crooked?  What if the print is blurred?

     If we who are Christians were only as good as our Book, what startling things would happen!  No doubt it would be said of us as it was of the disciples of old,  "These....have turned the world upside down"  (Acts  17:6).

"Bread For Each Day"

God's Kind Will

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

"For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."  Mark  3:35

     We need never fear to resign ourselves completely to God's will.  It is not only our duty, but a precious privilege that can bring us nothing but the greatest good.  In addition, those who do the will of God experience a warm, personal relationship with Christ that is deeper and dearer than any human tie could ever hope to be.  Jesus said of such that they become in a special sense His brother or sister or mother!

     Many years ago the Sunday School Times carried this story:  A lady who had an only child said to Mrs. Pearsall Smith,  "I do not dare to pray - 'Thy will be done' - because I am afraid God will take away my little boy or will send me some heavy trials as a result of my yieldedness."  To which Mrs. Smith replied, "Suppose your child should come to you and say,  'I want to be and do just what you desire today,' would you say to yourself, 'Now is my opportunity to make this child do all the disagreeable duties I want done;  I will take advantage of his willingness to please me by cutting off his pleasures today and will keep him at hard discipline'?"  "No, no!"  said the mother,  "I would give him the best day I could possibly plan."  "And you can think that God is less just and loving than you?"  The lady saw the point, resigned herself to the Father's will, found the joy of the Holy Spirit's blessing, and experienced the preciousness of the promised intimate communion with the Saviour.

     Trust God when you cannot trace Him; you will find that His will is always kind!

"Bread For Each Day"

The Plain Path

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

                  "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path."  Psalm  27:11

     A convert in Africa was once heard to remark,  "The trail is hard and tangled, but I am not afraid, for there is a Man up ahead!"  Yes, our Saviour always goes before us for He is the Good Shepherd.  He is ever out in front, smoothing out the tomorrows, but it is our duty to follow in His way.  The plain path is not always the easy one, but it is the right one if He is leading.

     The story is told of an old Scotch woman who tramped about selling goods from house to house.  She was in the habit of tossing a stick into the air when she came to a crossroad and then taking the direction in which it pointed.  One day she was observed tossing the stick several times.  On being questioned, she said the road to the right looked so very dreary that she continued to toss the stick until it pointed to the left, for that seemed to her to be a much nicer way.  How often we go to God for guidance in the same fashion.  If His way seems dull we want to choose a brighter one, forgetting that He sees the end as well as the beginning.  Only as we seek to know His will and earnestly follow in His way will we find our steps plainly directed and our life's journey lying along the highway of peace and blessing.

     It is well for us to remember the words of Moody when he said,  "Every hard duty which lies in your path that you would rather not do, that will cost you pain, or struggle, or sore effort to do, has a hidden sweet in it.  Not to do it, at whatever cost, is to miss God's blessing.  Every heavy load that you are called to lift hides in itself some strange secret of strength."

     Study His Word, follow the Holy Spirit's leading, and you will find the plain path to be a highway of joy, but also a narrow way of holiness and self-denial.

"Bread For Each Day"

Leeks

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

                                             "We remember . . . the leeks."  Numbers 11:5

     Leek, like onions, are mentioned only once in the entire Bible and then only in association with the fruits of Egypt as contrasted to the heavenly manna.  Leeks, together with the onions, melons, and cucumbers of Numbers 11:5, are symbolic of the works of the flesh and the old nature.  When Moses delivered Israel, they went out of Egypt, but Egypt was not yet OUT of them.  Egypt was still IN them, though they were no longer in Egypt.  This is a picture of our salvation.  When we know and follow our Lord and Saviour,we do not immediately lose our "old nature, but instead we receive a "new" nature, which must ultimately overcome the old.  The Bible nowhere teaches eradication of the old man in this life.  Instead it teaches that every believer has two natures:  the old, received by natural birth from father Adam,and the new, received in the new birth by the Spirit of God.

     Hence there is the struggle for mastery between the two.  Paul tells us  "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:  and these are contrary the one to the other"  (Galatians  5:17).  Every true born-again believer is conscious of this struggle between the flesh and the Spirit - between the appetite for "leeks" and learning to feed upon the manna.

     Someone has said,  "A man is what he eats."  This is surely true of the believer, for his entire spiritual development depends on his diet, even more than his exercise.  Will you take a careful inventory and seriously examine your spiritual menu for today?  How much time for the Word, for prayer, for witnessing?  That's manna for the soul.  And then add up the time you spend in frivolous pursuits, idle talk, questionable entertainment.  Study the long list of "leeks" to be avoided in Colossians  3:5-9:  Uncleanness, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, filthy communications, and lying.  The nature you feed is the nature which will be victorious.

"Bread For Each Day"

Shining Pathway

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

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."                                                                                                                                 Proverbs 4:18

     The upward course of the righteous is not always smooth.  Often there are difficulties, winding ways of perplexity, and annoying obstacles of hard trial; yet it leads eventually to the invigorating heights of final victory in Christ!  Often the ascent is so gradual, the path so circuitous that its celestial destiny is not obvious to the unenlightened eye.  The zig-zag course is designed by God to break the force of the hill lest the ascent be too steep, too breath-taking, too difficult.  By faith, however, we are certain that the path He chooses for us is ever onward and upward toward the noonday splendor of full blessing.  He has promised that it shall end in "perfect day."  Our Saviour, as He did at the wedding at Cana, reserves the "best wine" until the last!

     Recently someone sent me a bulletin in which Rev. Kenneth Cober points out that the worldly man's broadway of carnal desire is "a dead-end street that terminates in frustration and despair.  Lord Byron gave himself wholeheartedly to the pursuit of pleasure, but at the age of 35 he was writing -
                                                            My days are in the yellow leaf,
                                                                The flowers and fruits of love are gone,
                                                            The worm, the canker, and the grief
                                                                Are mine alone.
     Compare the word of Lord Byron with those of Adam Clarke, a Christian saint and Biblical expositor.  At 85 we hear him saying - 'I have passed through the springtime of life.  I have withstood the heat of its summer.  I have culled the fruits of its fall.  I am even now enduring the rigors of its winter, but at no great distance, I see the approach of a new, eternal springtime.  Hallelujah!'"

     Yes, the worldly avenue of pleasure is a dead-end street; but those of us who are on the narrow "shining pathway" know that it progresses toward God and will eventually terminate in a blaze of glory in His presence!

"Bread For Each Day"

Matthew 5:45

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


" . . . for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

The Darkness Of Hell

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

                                   " . . . . they shall never see light!"  Psalm  49:19 kjv

     There is a certain horror about absolute darkness that throws a chill over the human soul; for man was made to live in the light!  Heaven is always depicted as a place of eternal brightness where there is "no night.." The psalmist, however, declares that the wicked shall "never see light" ; and Jesus warns that they shall be cast into "outer darkness"!  What a horror of blackness that will be when each doomed soul is curtained off from every other in an eternity of utter loneliness.

     Recently I was in a cave in Kentucky.  When we had gone deep into the bowels of the earth through many winding passageways, the guide suddenly turned off all the lights and said,  "I alone know the way out.  If I were to leave you in this dark chamber, you would probably never make your way to the surface.  Those who have been lost in this cavern have become insane inside of a week from the oppressive loneliness and the maddening, incessant drip of the water from the roof.  Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!"  I remember my youngster clutching my arm.  Soon terror began to edge its way into all of our hearts.  After about thirty seconds, someone in the party could endure the ordeal no longer and whimpered piteously,  "Turn on the light!  I'm going crazy NOW!"  The guide laughed, but none of us will ever forget that eerie experience.  I thought of the "outer darkness" of an eternal Hell and shuddered!

     An evangelist once encountered a skeptic who, when asked to receive Christ, said,  "I'm not afraid of Hell - all the Hell we get is here on earth!  The preacher's reply was quick and devastating.  "I'll give you three reasons why this cannot be Hell.  First, I am a Christian, and there are no Christians in Hell!  Secondly, there is a place just around the corner where you can slake your thirst, but there is no water in Hell!  Thirdly, I have been preaching Christ to you, and there is no Gospel in Hell!"  Friend, would you escape the eternal darkness of Hell?  Receive Christ who is the Light!

"Bread For Each Day"

Verily! Verily!

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

                                                         " . . . Verily, verily!"  John  3:3

     Jesus used the word  "verily"  101 times as recorded in the four gospels.  He uses the two words,  "Verily, verily,"  together 24 times in John alone, for a total of fourty-eight times.  In the original the word is AMEN!  It is also translated:  "So be it."  It is a word of finality - it is Jesus' last word."  No more can be said, Jesus said Amen to His promises and that settles it.

     A poor Scotchwoman in Glasgow who had attended some evangelistic meetings, resolved that she would rest her salvation on the words of the Lord Jesus as found in John  5:24.  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life."  Major Whittle, the evangelist, wrote the words on a card, and gave it to her.  She became very happy, so much so, her little boy was attracted by the joy of his mother, and asked what had happened.  She told him the best way she could;  the consequence was that he too was led to trust in the Saviour.  But the next morning she felt very different.  Despondency and doubt had taken the place of peace and joy.  Her son noticed it at once, and asked her what was the matter.  She replied:  "I thought I was saved, but my feelings are all gone."  "But,"  said the little fellow,  "Mother, has the verse changed?"  Quick as a flash he got the little card and read it, and looking up radiantly, replied:  "Why no, Mother, it's just the same."  And then he turned to the Bible, and read it there with great joy, shouting almost as he cried:  "It's here, Mother, the verse is just the same!"

     The unalterable Word of the living God is the only ground for assurance.  The Word is the anchor to keep us steady amidst the storms of life  (Hebrews  6:18).  It is the harbor light which shows us where the port of the Lord's protecting presence is  (Philippians  2:16).  It is the foundation upon which the believer can rest in safety  (1 Peter 1:23).  Do not insult the Saviour by asking for more than His  "Amen!"

"Bread For Each Day"

No Interest

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

                                 "Yea, I think it meet . . . .to stir you up."  2 Peter 1:13

  An elderly lady was once leaving a missionary rally in the company of a young woman.  One who was close enough to listen to their conversation was surprised to hear the young girl say rather flippantly,  "I just can't get interested in missions!"  "Well, dearie,"  said the sweet old lady,  "tisn't to be expected you would - yet awhile.  It's just like getting interest in a bank.  You have to put in a little something first or you'll never have any!  The more you put in, the more you'll get out of it.  Try it, dearie, just put in a little something and you're sure of the interest."  The old lady's philosophy was simple, but true.  If you lack interest in something, it is probably because you have put very little into it.  You say you can find no pleasure in Bible study, but have you ever sat down with a concordance and the Scripture and cross-checked the proof text on a given subject?  Have you ever read the book of Psalms until you came to some promise that comforted you, and then meditated and rested upon that choice blessing until your soul had drawn all the spiritual honey out of it and your heart overflowed with the sweet nectar of praise?  Have you ever completely read a book of the Bible at one sitting so that you could get the entire sense of its message?  If not, no wonder you have no interest!

     You say you can stir up little enthusiasm for soul winning or personal work, but have you ever tried to speak to someone or really worked at showing others the love of Christ?  Have you ever volunteered or spent time visiting the poor and / or needy?  If not, it's no wonder you have "no interest."

"Bread For Each Day"

The Devil's First Question

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

                                                " . . .  Yea, hath God said?"  Genesis 3:1

     This is the first question mark in the Bible or in all history.  It was asked by the devil, and he has been asking it ever since.  His favorite attack is always to cast doubt upon the Word of God.  He insinuated that God was very unjust and cruel by denying to His creatures the blessings of the garden.  Of course, the Devil "misquoted" the Word of God.  He altered it just a little, but that little was fatal.  He quoted God as saying,  "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden."  God had said nothing of the sort.  God had said,  "of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat"  (Genesis 2:16).  This was exactly the opposite of satan's statement.  There was only one exception - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

     Think of the foolishness of satan's question.  If Adam and Eve had been prohibited from eating of EVERY tree, how then could they live?  They were not permitted to eat FLESH, only fruit and vegetables  (Genesis 2:16).

     If satan were correct in his quotation of God's Word, it meant that Adam and Eve were doomed to die of starvation.  What a cruel suggestion.  What a diabolical twisting of the Word of God.  The first attack of satan is to create in man's heart "doubt" concerning the Word of God.  Satan is the author of doubt - God is the author of faith.  Therefore, doubt is of the devil - faith is of God.

     Are you troubled with doubts?  Doubts about God, the Bible, and your salvation?  You can only find the cure for those doubts in God's Word.  God is true - the devil is a liar  (John  8:44).  Peace of heart and mind depends upon the answer to one question:  "Whom do you believe:  the devil's lie, or God's Word?"  Meet your doubts today by using the weapon of our Saviour Himself.  "It is written!"  "The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants:  and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate"  (Psalm  34:22).

"Bread For Each Day"

Burdens or Wings?

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

                            "For every man shall bear his own burden."  Galatians  6:5



     There is an ancient legend about the creation of the birds which is very interesting.  It tells us that when God made these feathery creatures, He gave them sweet voices and colorful plumage, but did not provide them with equipment for flying.  The story goes on that God then laid some beautiful wings on the ground and said to the birds,  "Take these burdens and bear them."  The birds replied,  "Burdens?  Oh, how dreadful! Still, Lord, at Thy word we will carry them as bravely and cheerfully as we can."  So, although they dreaded to do so, they took them up courageously.  Then something wonderful happened!  The burdens began to grow and attach themselves to their bodies.  The birds stretched them out and suddenly found that by them they were able to fly.  What God had called burdens were really wings, without which they would never have been able to soar gracefully into the clear, blue heavens.  The story is pure fiction, but it does teach a worthwhile lesson:  Our burdens, too, can be turned into wings that will bring us spiritual blessing!  If we take them to our hearts with liberal amounts of grace, they will always bear us nearer to God and Heaven.

     In life there are burdens of physical pain - heart sorrows - and soul distresses, that others cannot bear for us, much as they may want to help us.  There are trials and certain weights of woe that we alone must carry. Although these burdens at times may seem unbearable, we may be sure that the Lord will never give us more than we can carry.  Surprisingly, they will become lighter as we ascend to the heights of sanctification.  In the end we will find His yoke  "easy"  and His burden  "light"  (Matthew  11:30).

     While our personal burdens cannot be shifted to the shoulders of others, they can be cast upon the Lord.  He does not promise that He will completely remove them but He does assure us that He will  "sustain" and give grace sufficient for our need!

"Bread For Each Day"

Everlasting Remembrance

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

                      " . . . the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance."  Psalm  112:6

     All of us like to be remembered!  Some men, like the Pharaoh of old, build pyramids to perpetuate their memory; others, like Nebuchadnezzar, design "Hanging Gardens"; while still others do exploits of historical renown or create things of exceptional beauty to call attention to their name.  But all earthly glory will sooner or later fade into nothingness; for "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."  The Bible tells us that the wonders which men have created to perpetuate their name will someday be consumed in a great, end-time explosion when God obliterates the old creation and makes room for His new world-order  (2 Peter 3:7-13)!  Temporal fame, like the painted wings of a butterfly, may be lovely to look at today, but it will be gone tomorrow!  By contrast,  "He that doeth the will of God abideth forever" and shall "shine as the stars"  (1 John 2:17; Daniel 12;3).  We are told that the "name of the wicked shall rot"  (Proverbs 10:7), but that the righteous shall be in "everlasting remembrance!"

     Dr.Alexander Whyte asked a friend who had been subject to unusual persecution how he was able to endure it.  "Oh,"  he replied,  "I always live with the Judgment Seat of Christ and eternity in my view and that makes it easier to bear!"

     A veteran Methodist preacher on the way to church was hailed by a scoffer who sought to question his motives for serving the Lord.  "Well John,"  said the infidel,  "I suppose you are going to minister because you will get half a crown today for your sermon."  Nay, nay," replied the other promptly,  "I'm going because I want to get a whole crown by -and-by!"

     Faithful servants of God may go unnoticed here, but someday they will receive a "crown of gory which fadeth not away!"

"Bread For Each Day"