February 23 - 28
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
(Psalm 119: 105)
The Book, that opens heaven to our sight,
Reveals the Son of Man in glory bright,
At God's right hand exalted, till the day
He comes to take His Church from earth away,
To share His kingdom, and enjoy His love
Forever in His Father's house above.
The Book, oh, blessed Book!
What thousands there have found relief from anguish and despair!
The lost it tells of pardon full and free,
For such as I am, and for such as thee.
(J.G. Deck)
N.J. Hiebert # 2532
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
One day when Dr. F.B. Meyer was speaking he paused in the middle of his address. Stooping down, he picked up from the floor an old discarded violin string which had been flung away by one of the players in the orchestra. Holding it up, he said, "There shall never any more music come out of this; but contrariwise, though your life be broken and your heart full of sin, God can bring harmony out of them again." That is what the transforming power of grace does to broken human lives! Many a man is a harp with many a broken string: imperfect, defective; but if he will yield to the influences of the Holy Spirit, God can bring forth heavenly music from his soul. From an outcast of the highways he can become a guest at the marriage feast of the Lamb. One of the greatest triumphs of the famous Italian violinist, Paganini, was on an instrument with a single string. (Mountain Trailways for Youth) He shambled awkward on the stage, the while Across the waiting audience swept a smile, With clumsy touch, when first he drew the bow He snapped a string. The audience tittered low. Another stroke! Off flies another string! With laughter now the circling galleries ring. Once more! The third string breaks its quivering strands, And hisses greet the player as he stands. He stands - while his genius, unbereft, Is calm - one string and Paganini left. He plays. The one string's daring notes uprise Against the storm as if they sought the skies. A silence falls; then awe; the people bow, And they who erst had hissed are weeping now; And when the last note, trembling, died away, Some shouted, "Bravo!" some had learned to pray. (Selected)
N.J. Hiebert # 2533
"Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." (Revelation 3:1)
The Pharisees had the name of being the most religious people of their day but the Lord said to them, "Inside you are full of dead men's bones and uncleanness"! We too normally carry the names, "born again" and "evangelical". If so, has my life been transformed by a personal encounter with Jesus Christ? Is He daily saving me from practicing sin? Following that experience of being "born again", am I personally witnessing to those who are still under the sway of sin?
Or do I just carry the name? (David Croudace)
Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows, Loving his Saviour to tell what he knows, Once more to tell it would I embrace, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. - James Gray
N.J. Hiebert # 2534
"God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the
coming of Titus; and not by his coming only, but by the consolation
wherewith he was comforted in you." (2 Corinthians 7:6,7)
It is worthwhile to be afflicted, if God Himself becomes our comforter. Titus arrives bringing good tidings to the effect of his first epistle, and the apostle is full of joy. God often takes away the affliction itself and fills the soul with gladness, pouring His consolations into the heart which thus becomes more matured for communion with Himself and for heaven. In every case of affliction prayer is our resource; we own our dependence and we confide in His goodness. The heart draws near to Him, it tells out to Him its need and its sorrow, laying it down on the throne and the heart of God, who answers either by circumstances which make us happy, or by pouring in His consolation - an answer which is still more blessed than outward happiness - but ever by that which is best for us, acting according to His perfect love. (J.N. Darby)
N.J. Hiebert # 2535
"The greatest of these is charity (love)." (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Love is of God. Therefore it is of the deepest importance that it should ever be genuine and incorrupt: for the higher its source, nature, and character, the more dangerous where that which is spurious (not genuine) usurps its place and name, misleading others and oneself under a fair but false pretension.
Love is the activity of the divine nature in goodness, and hence is inseparable from that nature as reproduced in the children of God. Nevertheless this does not absolve them from the need of self-examination that it be sincere and undefiled, seeking the good of others according to God's will unselfishly. The letting in of hopes, fears, or objects of our own falsifies it.
Where love is real, there is and must be the detestation of evil, no less decidedly than the close attachment to good. If the latter attracts, the former offends and is often ill received in the world. (W. Kelly)
N.J. Hiebert # 2536
"Whereof I (Paul) was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power." (Ephesians 3:7)
God's power is just fitted for the saints' weakness; and the saints' weakness is just fitted for God's power, so we suit each other.
N.J. Hiebert # 2537
