Bible Gems

January 4

"He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He."   (Deuteronomy 32:4)

When I was coaching high school freshman girls basketball in the fall of 2005, I was surprised at how many times I heard, "That's not fair!"  The girls' motivation seemed to depend on whether or not they thought what I asked then to do was fair.  If I asked some girls to do a defensive drill while others shot free throws, I heard, "Not fair!"  If I allowed one group to play offense longer than another group, I heard, "Not fair."

So many situations in life shout, "Not fair!"  I observe Christian couples who struggle to have babies while others are blessed with children and then abuse them.  I look at families whose children are all alive and well, while I go through life without one of mine.  I see friends who long to serve God but can't because of health issues.

It's then that I must go back to a basic truth.  We are not the arbiters of fairness.  God is, and He knows far more than we do about His plans and purposes.  The question isn't about fairness.  In the end, it's about trust in a faithful God who knows what He is doing.  "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice" (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Life will never look fair.  But when we trust God, we always know that He is faithful.  (Dave Brandon)

If you feel that blessings pass you by,
And for you life seems a bit unfair,
Just remember, Christ was born to die,
And in His great salvation you can share.
(Hess)

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Life is not always fair, but God is always faithful.
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Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright (2006), Grand Rapids, MI.  Reprinted permission.
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N.J. Hiebert # 3576

January 5

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."  (John 13:35)

Sometimes an earnest Christian will, after some remarkable encounter, withdraw himself from his fellow believers and develop a spirit of faultfinding.

This is a dangerous state of mind, and the more dangerous because it can justify itself by the facts - it may easily be true that the professed Christians with whom he is acquainted are worldly and dull and without spiritual enthusiasm.  It is not that he is mistaken in his facts that proves him to be in error, but that his reaction to the facts is of the flesh!  His new spirituality has made him less charitable, and we must be cautioned that any religious experience that fails to deepen our love for our fellow Christians may be safely written off as spurious.
The Apostle John makes love for our fellow Christians to be a test of true faith, insisting that as we grow in grace we grow in love toward all of God's people: "Every one that loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that is begotten of Him" (1 John 5:1).  This means simply that if we love God we will love His children.   All true Christian experience will deepen our love for other Christians!

Therefore we conclude that whatever tends to separate us in heart from our fellow Christians is not of God, but is of the flesh or of the devil.  Conversely, whatever causes us to love the children of God is likely to be of God!  (A.W. Tozer - Renewed Day by Day)

N.J. Hiebert # 3577