Wisdom Of Life

" If we walk in the light, as he is in the light."  1 John 1:7 As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is the model which is set before us, for the Saviour himself said, “ Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;”   (Matthew 5:48)  and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it.  The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to imp...

"My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. "   Isaiah 51:5 In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more ...

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters." (Psalm 18:16 NIV) There are times when we all think, “I’m going under for the last time! I’m about to sink!” No matter how deep we are, God’s love is there. He can pull us out of the deepest waters.  No matter what problem we have, God’s love is deeper than our problem. We may be in deep despair, deep trouble, or under deep stress. And we may have deep problems, emotional problems, physical problems, or financial problems.  Yet God’s love is deeper still.  “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper.”  In the last few months, we may have hit bottom. Perhaps we’re at the bottom financially and we think, “I’m going broke!” Or, we’ve hit bottom emotionally, or our marriage has hit bottom, or we’re having health problems. We’re frustrated, and we think, “I’m going ...

“Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.” (Psalm 147:7 NIV) You’ve probably noticed that music and love go together, because music comes from the heart. It’s not something you do intellectually. It’s something that comes out of your soul, your emotions.  There are many love songs in the world. In fact there are radio stations that are dedicated entirely to the love song format. But did you know that more songs have been written about Jesus Christ than any other topic in the world? Christianity is a singing faith. Why? Because it’s not about religion. It’s about a love affair. It’s about a relationship with God, who loves you so much that he sent his Son to die for you and who wants you to love him back.  Nothing will make you more aware of God’s love and presence in your life than singing and praise.  You may be thinking, “But you don’t understand. I can’t sing....

"And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he who became the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting agreement between God and you, signed with his blood, produce in you through the power of Christ all that is pleasing to him. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:21 TLB) This principle of “use it or lose it” is universal. If you don’t exercise, your muscles get smaller. If you don’t invest your money, you’re going to lose it. If you don’t learn to use your mind, it will get duller and duller as you get older. If you have a talent and you refuse to practice, you’ll lose that talent.  The opposite is also true. If you do use it, you get even more of it. So if you use your muscles, they get bigger. If you take a little bit of money and invest it, it gets bigger. It multiplies!  Hebrews 13:21 says,  “ May the God of p...

"They say they are wise, but they are fools;  instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles." (Romans 1:22-23 GNT) It would be a great folly and a great tragedy if a man loved his wedding band more than he loved his bride. But that is what this passage says has happened.  Human beings have fallen in love with the echo of God’s excellency in creation and lost the ability to hear  the incomparable, original shout of love.  There is a great God of glory and power and generosity behind all this awesome universe; we belong to him; he is patient with us in sustaining our rebellious life; turn and bank our hope on him and delight ourself in him, not his handiwork.  Day pours forth the “speech” of that message to all who will listen in the day, speaking with blindingly bright sun and blue sky and clouds and untold shapes and colors of all things visible. Night pours forth the ...

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.   I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.   Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:   Because of the Lord ’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.   They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.   I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  (Lamentations 3:19-24. NIV) When our world is falling apart , it’s so easy to focus on the pain, the problems, the pressure, and the difficulties. It’s the natural response. But the biblical response is to turn our focus to God’s love .  Even though we’re mad at God, we need to remind ourself how much he loves us. Focus on his unconditional love. Remember that we can’t make God stop loving us. We can complain, yell at him, and scream at him, but he will still love us forever.  We can see this biblical approach in Jeremia...