Gems worth reading
December 29
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his conception of rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among the far-off mountains.
The second threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch tree bending over the foam; and at the fork of the branch, almost wet with the cataract's spray, sat a robin on its nest.
The first was only stagnation; the last was rest. Christ's life outwardly was one of the most troubled lives that ever lived: tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, the waves breaking over it all the time until the worn body was laid in the grave. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there.
At any moment you might have gone to Him and found rest. And even when the human bloodhounds were dogging Him in the streets of Jerusalem, He turned to His disciples and offered them, as a last legacy, "My peace."
Rest is . . . the repose of a heart set deep in God. (Drummond)
N.J. Hiebert # 3568
December 30
"The angel Gabriel was sent from God . . . to a virgin." (Luke 1:26,27)
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
It is wonderful to see how God selected a respected doctor to record the intimate details surrounding our Saviour's birth. Having examined the facts in a comprehensive and clinical way, he concluded these are "things which are most surely believed among us" (Luke 1:1). At this time of year when we are often confronted with mere sentiment - the emotional aspects of the Lord's birth - it is good to know that it is not a fable. (Brian Russell)
N.J. Hiebert # 3569
