CHRIST our INSTRUCTOR: “You call Me Teacher and Lord,” He said as He resumed His place among them at the table; “and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher…” (Jn 13:13-14). We notice at once the change in the order of the words. In thinking and speaking of […]
“A broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps 51:17). Sometimes tears are liquid prayers, heard in heaven. Publius Statius, 1st Century Roman poet, wrote of an “Altar of Pity” in the Athenian Agora. He says: “There was in the midst of the city an altar belonging to no god of […]
John Townsend had been visiting a prisoner on death row. One day he said to his daughter Abbie, “This man will be executed tomorrow. He always welcomes me, but shows no interest in his soul. Would you have the courage to visit him?” Arriving at his cell, Abbie held out her hand, but he did […]
CHRIST the HEART’S OCCUPANT: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph 3:17). John Tauler, preaching priest in the Roman Catholic Church in Strasbourg, Germany, was converted under the ministry of Nicolas of Basel in 1340. He was filled with the Holy Spirit just in time—the Black Death struck Strasbourg and Basel within […]
“Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your judgments are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness” (Ps 119:39-40). In the wonderful economy of words that the Spirit uses, the psalmist pleads for God’s undeserved righteousness rather than the dreaded reproach of others, the consequence of his own past […]
“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake” (1 Thess 1:5). What kind of men largely influenced what kind of results came from their gospel […]
CHRIST the INTROSPECTOR: “Jesus…knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (Jn 2:24-25). Says C.H. Spurgeon, “A healthy man hardly knows whether he has a stomach or a liver; it’s your sickly man who grows more sickly by the study of his inward […]
“Grace be with you all. Amen” (Titus 3:15). This lovely benediction, in one form or another, concludes each of Paul’s epistles. The most common form is, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Rom; 1 Cor; Php; 1 & 2 Thes). The most expansive is, “The grace of the Lord […]
I noticed her in the crowd; she looked to me like royalty. When I asked her to tell me her story, she said her father was a drunk and her mother slept to escape. No one cooked or cleaned or cared for the little girl. “One day, a beautiful lady met me on the street […]