Gems for the Week
August 23 - 25
"Why should be thought a thing incredible with you,
that God should raise the dead?" (Acts 26:8)
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In our childhood days we were taught to sing, "Pity my simplicity." Simplicity of the right kind calls not for pity, but for admiration and imitation, and most assuredly it will receive the Lord's commendation at the last. Men are becoming too wise to be simple; this explains why some find it hard to credit the story of Peter walking on the sea. To all such we are disposed to say in the words of Paul; "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you?" (Acts 26:8). Take God into account, and every difficulty disappears; leave Him out, and difficulties bristle around us hopelessly. (W.W. Fereday - Peter the Apostle)
N.J. Hiebert # 2713
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." (Romans 12:15)
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Do you like organ recitals? It all depends on what kind we're talking about, doesn't it? The ones I have in mind, however aren't usually considered very enjoyable; in fact, most folks find them quite exasperating. In many cases, they do more good for the performer than for the audience. A friend gave me a clipping about the type of "concert" most people would rather avoid. "After a week in the hospital for examination and observation, an aged woman cornered a neighbour one day and told him the results of her experience. Her heart was the worst the doctor had ever examined; her kidneys were ruined; her liver was shot; her stomach was in a terrible condition, etc. 'Before I could get away,' said the neighbour to a friend later, "I'd listened to a complete 'organ recital.' "
We've all encountered such situations, and our selfish nature looks for an escape from a boring and seemingly endless recitation of minute physical details. But we should possess enough Christian love to be interested in that person's problems. There's a tremendous need in this old troubled world for concerned friends who will be good listeners. What comfort and encouragement is imparted by just being willing to give a ready ear to some soul suffering under the pressures of hardship and affliction! This can be a real service for Christ.
The Lord Jesus had a "healing ministry." Every one of us with a compassionate and understanding heart can have a "hearing ministry"! (R.W.D.)
Give me a heart sympathetic and tender,
Jesus, like Thine; Jesus, like thine;
Touched by the needs that are surging around me,
And filled with compassion divine. (Anon)
We can measure our likeness to Christ by the range of our sensitivity to
the pain and trials of others.
Our Daily Bread - July 21, 1972
N.J. Hiebert # 2714
"Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet (room), and when
thou hast shut thy door, pray." (Matthew 6:6)
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We find time, it may be, even to preach the gospel and minister to the saints while our own souls are barren for lack of secret prayer and communion with God! What saints we often appear before people! Oh, the subtlety of this Adam nature! When we go into our closet and shut the door, no one sees us, no one hears us, but God. It is not the place to make a fair show. No one is present before whom to make a little display of our devotion. No one is there to behold our zeal for the Lord. No one is there but God; and we know we dare not attempt to make Him believe we are different from what we really are. We feel that He is looking through us, and that He sees and knows us thoroughly. If evil is lurking within, we instinctively feel that God is searching us; for evil cannot dwell with Him (Psalm 5:4). It is a searching spot - alone in the presence of God. Little wonder so many beg to be excused from it. But it is the lack of it that is the secret of much of the lifelessness and carnality which abound. The prayer meeting will not suffice us, blessed privilege though it be.
How many there be who have gradually left off secret prayer, until communion with God has been as effectively severed as if for them there were no God at all! (Christian Truth - Vol. 21 - January 1968)
N.J. Hiebert # 2715
