Gems worth pondering
September 9
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved'."
(Acts 16:31)
God does not call upon a sinner to believe in anything that Christ did, but to believe in Christ. He knows what He did, and accepts the sinner who believes in Him according to His own knowledge of the value of Christ's work, and not according to the knowledge the sinner possesses of it; still it deepens and strengthens the believer in the knowledge of God and His grace, as the soul comprehends how the judgment of God for sin has been borne by the Son of God - how He ended in Himself that to which the judgment attached - and, rising out of the dead, is the One in whom every one believing in Him lives. (F.G. PATTERSON)
N.J. Hiebert - 3822
September 10
"A bruised reed shall He not break, and a smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory."
(Matthew 12:20)
A bruised shall He not break: the poorest shepherd boy on our South Indian hills is careful to choose, for the making of his flute, a reed that is straight and fine and quite unbruised. But our Heavenly Shepherd often takes the broken and the bruised, and of such He makes His flutes. But life, like His book, is full of parables of tenderness; and one of these has often come into this room of late. For he whose name means God's Peace has brought his autoharp to play to me, and has first tuned it while I expectantly waited for the music which I knew would follow the tuning.
Is music to come from our harp? music of prayer, of praise, of consolation? The strings are relaxed, or perhaps too tensely stretched. Illness can cause either condition. But we have a Tuner.
Tune Thou my harp;
There is not, Lord, could never be,
The skill in me.
Tune Thou my harp,
That it may play Thy melody,
Thy harmony.
Tune Thou my harp;
The Spirit, breathe Thy thought through me,
As pleases Thee.
(AMY CARMICHAEL - ROSE FROM BRIAR)
N.J. Hiebert - 3823
September 11
"But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."
(1 Timothy 6:11)
On June 15, 1957, a brand-new car was buried in a concrete vault under the courthouse lawn in Tulsa. In June 2007, the car was unearthed as the city celebrated Oklahoma's 100th year of statehood. Writing in the Tulsa World, Randy Krehbiel said: "Now we know what 50 years in a hole does to a Plymouth Belvedere." Water seeping into the vault had turned the once shiny car into a rusted monument to the past. A hot-rod expert hired to start the engine pronounced it "hopeless."
Spiritual inactivity corrodes the soul like moisture acting on metal. Paul urged Timothy, his young protege, to "follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness." (1 Timothy 6:11) This command had no expiration date attached to it. The spiritual disciplines require continued attention throughout our lives. If rest becomes our goal, then rust is right behind.
Oswald Chambers said: "The intellect works with the greatest intensity when it works continuously; the more you do, the more you can do. We must work hard to keep in trim for God. Clean off the rust and keep bright by use."
Our capabilities may vary with age, but pursuing the righteous life to which God has called us should never end. Don't rust out! (DAVID MCCASLAND)
Spiritual inactivity corrodes the soul.
N.J. Hiebert - 3824
