Gems worth reading
December 27
"God hath tempered the body together . . . that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." (1 Corinthians 12:24-27)
If God sets a man in a certain position, and gives him a certain work to do, and his fellows think proper to quarrel with him simply on the score of his doing that work, and filing that position, then is their quarrel really with God, who knows how to settle it, and will do it in His own way. The assurance of this gives holy calmness and moral elevation to the Lord's servant, in moments when envious and turbulent spirits rise up against him.
It is hardly possible for anyone to occupy a prominent place of service, or to be preeminently used of God, without, at some time or other, having to encounter the attacks of certain radical and discontented men who cannot bear to see any one more honoured than themselves. (Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert # 3566
December 28
"And even as they (heathen) did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to reprobate mind:" (Romans 1:28)
"Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, . . . God shall send them strong delusion, that they might believe a lie; that they all might be damned." (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
There is a vast difference between the divine method of dealing with the heathen (Romans 1) and with the rejecters of the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2), verses quoted above.
The heathen refuse the testimony of creation, and are therefore left to themselves. The rejecters of the gospel refuse the full blaze of light which shines from the cross, and therefore "a strong delusion" will, before long, be sent from God upon them. This is deeply solemn for an age like this, in the which there is so much light and so much profession. (C.H. Mackintosh)
N.J. Hiebert # 3567
