Good Words for Today
Many of us approach the holidays burdened with care. There are career questions, health issues, family problems, financial difficulties, and a host of unfulfilled dreams. We worry because we don't feel equal to the challenges we face. Christmas reminds us that God is God and we’re not. He can arrange for a virgin to become pregnant. He can cause a Roman ruler to order a census at precisely the right moment in history. He can ensure that the baby will be born at exactly the place prophesied 700 years earlier. He can bring together angels, shepherds and Wise Men to celebrate that miraculous birth. And he can take a tiny baby born in a stable and make him the Savior of the world. Now if God can do all that, what are you so worried about?
"He has brought down the mighty from their throne and exalted those of humble estate" (Luke 1:52). There are many right ways to celebrate Christmas, and only one completely wrong way. We miss Christmas completely when we think it is about us. Christmas is about what God has done for us that we could never do for ourselves. Grace always comes down. Pride always goes up. The lower you go, the closer you come to Bethlehem. When we finally go low enough to kneel before the manger, then the "dear Christ enters in."
Holy Lord, thank you that your shoulders are strong enough to carry all my burdens today. Amen.
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2). Christmas is not about self-improvement. It's about walking out of the darkness into the light. That's why the angel said, "I bring you good news of great joy." "Try harder" is good advice. "I am the light of the world" is good news. The world doesn't need more good advice. It desperately needs the good news that a Savior has been born.
"Prince of Peace, control my will; Bid this struggling heart be still; Bid my fears and doubtings cease, Hush my spirit into peace." Mary Barber
No question plagues the mind more than this: "If God loves me, how can he allow this to happen?" In moments of great anguish we are prone to think that God has forgotten us. But it is not so. Does God still love you when your marriage breaks up? Does God still love you when your career takes a wrong turn? Does God still love you when you end up in jail? Does God still love you when your wife has an affair? Does God still love you when the doctor says, "I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do"? If you are a parent, you already know the answer. Do you still love your children when they get into trouble? Do you love your daughter when she lies in bed writhing in pain? Do you love your son when he loses his job? Every Mom and Dad knows the answer. Of course you do. If possible, you love your children even more when they are in trouble. Let Paul ask and answer this question: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:35,37). When we struggle, we may doubt many things, but let us rest on this great truth: The God who loved us enough to send us his Son will not forsake us now.
Love God. Love people. Serve God. Serve people. Everything else is details.
What difference does being a Christian make? Jesus Christ has died; he has risen from the dead. In his death he defeated sin; in his resurrection he defeated death. Our two greatest enemies lie at his feet: Sin Death He utterly defeated them both. And the Lord Jesus has purchased us with his blood and brought us into God's family, guaranteeing our salvation. No wonder the Bible says, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)
Christmas brings good news and bad news. The bad news is that we were so messed up Christ had to come and save us. The good news is that he saves anyone willing to admit the bad news is true.
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:33-34). Will my enemies condemn me? No, God justified me. Will my friends condemn me? No, God justified me. Will the demons condemn me? No, God justified me. Will Satan himself condemn me? No, God justified me. Will Jesus turn against me? No, he died for me. Will my sins rise up to condemn me? What sins? My sins are gone forever. My slate is wiped clean. Will my conscience condemn me and guilt overwhelm me? Maybe on earth but not in heaven. Up there the record is clear forever. I'm justified. I am declared righteous in the eyes of God. I am acceptable to him because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wholly apart from my works. Only through faith in Jesus Christ. Best of all . . . God is not confused by my confusion. He does not doubt because I doubt. He is fully satisfied with Jesus. Because I have put my faith in Jesus, God is satisfied with me. I'm justified.
A minister once visited a famous china factory in Derby, England. While there he saw artisans applying various colored paints to the china—yellowish-brown, bluish-black and dirty-looking red. They circled the edge of the china with black paint. The end result of the painting was an unattractive mixture of dark colors. But when the china was placed in the furnace, the fire worked an amazing transformation. To the minister’s surprise, when the pieces were removed, they were exquisitely beautiful. The black had become bright gold. The blue and red had become lustrous and gleaming. In the unerring wisdom of God, some of his choicest saints are subjected to the fiery trials of life. What seems on this side to be all dark colors will one day come forth as the brightest colors of the rainbow. And those who amid suffering seem to be common earthenware will eventually be transformed into the very image of Jesus Christ.
Too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing at Christmastime. If we think, "I've heard all this before," we risk becoming like the scribes who knew just enough to miss the birth of Jesus altogether. The lowly shepherds ran to Bethlehem, and the Wise Men brought gifts. But the people who knew the Word the best, or thought they did, missed the birth of the Author of the texts they studied. How ironic, how sad, and what a warning to us. Lord God, we pray for hearts warm to the truth of Christmas. May our knowledge lead us to worship and our worship lead us to joy. Amen.
Christmas teaches us the truth about human nature. We were in so much trouble that we needed a rescue mission from heaven. If there had been some other way to save us, Christ would not have come. Christmas proves the depth of our sin and the determination of God to do something about it.
Lord Jesus, we pray today for those who are struggling to know you. Pull back the curtains of unbelief so that they might be filled with faith to believe in you. Amen.
God uses suffering to teach us many lessons we couldn't learn any other way. Three positive things happen when we go through hardship and difficulty—no matter what the cause: We slow down . . . and begin to think. We calm down . . . and begin to listen. We look up . . . and begin to learn. Why doesn’t that happen every day? Because we go so fast that we don’t have time to think about what we are doing. God has to slow us down, and often the only tool he has is suffering. It’s not that God isn’t willing to speak to us in the midst of life; we’re usually too busy to pay attention. Slow me down, Lord, so I can hear your voice speaking to me. Amen.
"It was good that I had to suffer in order to learn your laws" (Psalm 119:71). This is a verse you learn about the hard way, or you never learn it at all. We learn very little from success, but failure is a wonderful teacher. Ask anyone who's ever gone bankrupt . . . or anyone who has gone through the agony of divorce . . . or watched their children struggle . . . or experienced the pain of losing a job . . . or watched a loved one die slowly. In the dark moments of life, when time slows down to a crawl, when we sit in the waiting room while the minutes become hours, it is then that we begin to learn what life is all about. When the psalmist declares "it is good," he means pain taught him something he couldn't learn any other way. C. S. Lewis remarked that God whispers to us in our pleasure but shouts to us in our pain. Many of God's children can testify to that truth. It is a great advance in the spiritual life to thank God for your hard times. Suffering purifies the heart, clears the mind, and refines our affections. God uses everything and wastes nothing, and that includes our tears. Lord Jesus, teach me to trust you even when I don't understand. Amen.
"Being a Christian isn't for sissies. It takes a real man to live for God — a lot more man than to live for the devil. If you really want to live right these days, you gotta be tough." Johnny Cash
"For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). Here is a shocking truth: Some things are wrong for you that are right for others. And some things are right for you that are wrong for others. That statement means that you can't always know in advance what will be "right" or "wrong" for another Christian brother. Sometimes your conscience will tell you, "Don't do that. Don't touch that. Don't join that club. Don't take that job. Don't go to that movie. Don't date that girl (or guy)." In those cases, the Bible says you should follow your conscience. In short, don't do something you believe to be wrong even if others are doing it. I confess that in my rule-keeping days, I regarded this as a weak principle. But I now see that it is just the opposite. Only the strong can say "no" when everyone else is saying "yes." It's the weak who give in to pressure.
The power of the church lies not in money, plans, buildings, preachers, programs, or anything else that comes from the hand of man. Our only true power is the power of prayer. When we pray, God moves from heaven. When we pray, things happen that would not otherwise happen. By prayer all things are possible. If we want to see the church move forward and the kingdom of darkness vanquished, we must pray and pray and pray. We have no other secret. If prayer won’t do it, there is no Plan B.
"Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold" (Romans 12:2 Phillips). G. K. Chesterton remarked that a dead thing goes with the flow, but only a living thing can go against it. The world constantly pushes us to "go with the flow." These days too many Christians seem eager to oblige. But it is a mark of living faith that you actively "swim upstream" by going against the current because you refuse to give in to the call of the world. This world is passing away. Don't be swept away with it. Keep swimming upstream with Jesus.
In the morning, when I rise In the morning, when I rise In the morning, when I rise Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world Just give me Jesus
Sometimes the best therapy is simply rising from your seat of despair and disappointment and tackling the job in front of you. So many people live in defeat because they can’t climb the steep mountain before them. Just remember this: You don’t have to climb the mountain. You just have to take the next step with God. He’ll take care of the rest.
Our Father, we thank you that the gospel is truly the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Give us the desire to share the message with those we meet. Make us bold in the face of opposition. Grant us an eternal perspective so that we will not be discouraged when the results seem to be small. Help us to see that even one life saved is a miracle that will last forever. Help us to find common ground with unbelievers, so that through our witness many people will come to faith in Jesus Christ. We pray to do our part, knowing that if we do what you have asked us to do, you cannot fail to do what you have promised. So let the gospel go forth with life-changing power to the ends of the earth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
"All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"
"All these toys were never intended to possess my heart. My true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is Christ." C . S. Lewis
“Go from here and turn eastward and hide by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there" (1 Kings 17:3-4). One writer commented that we would have been less surprised if God had used a robin redbreast or a meadowlark or a turtle dove to bring the food. But that is not how God works. He routinely chooses the despised things of the world in order to confound the mighty, and he uses the foolish to bring the strong down to nothing. As you look at the course of life, you may think that God is going to use some rich uncle or a wealthy friend to help you out. But experience shows how unlikely that is. He is much more likely to meet your needs through the ravens of the earth that fly to your need when you least expect them. The Lord has plenty of ravens to supply the needs of his children.
https://youtu.be/w4hOYf6Mn5g?list=RDw4hOYf6Mn5g Since this is Thanksgiving week, let's do a hymn story fitting for the season. Today's song was written by Johnson Oatman Jr. and first published in 1897 in Songs for Young People. During his lifetime, Oatman wrote over 5000 songs, for which he was paid, on average, $1 per song. Most of his work is long forgotten, but "Count Your Blessings" endures because it is a song that everyone can understand. The great evangelist Gypsy Smith explained its popularity this way: "In South London the men sing it, the boys whistle it, and the women rock their babies to sleep on this hymn.” One writer said, "Like a beam of light, it has brightened up the dark places of the earth." Some songs are so deep that it's hard to grasp the message. Not so with "Count Your Blessings." If you need a little pick-me-up for your soul on this Monday, check out these lyrics: When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Refrain: Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done! Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings, see what God hath done! Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days go by. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold; count your many blessings money cannot buy your reward in heaven nor your home on high. So amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged. God is over all; count your many blessings angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your journey’s end. You can find many fine arrangements of "Count Your Blessings" on YouTube, but my favorite is this arrangement by the Salvation Army Songsters. It’s upbeat, uptempo, uplifting, and I love that little ragtime interlude between verses.
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). When lost people come to church, it’s like being a person who speaks only Portuguese and going to a church where the sermon is in Bengali. The message just doesn’t get through. Without the “translator” of the Spirit, the lost person will never understand the gospel. With this background, we can now understand those four key words of verse 14. The natural man cannot discern the truth of the gospel. Therefore, he does not understand the message and regards it as foolishness. And that’s why he does not accept it. The gospel will always be a mystery to the lost, and Christians will be a riddle to them. We should pray for God to open the eyes of those around us so that they might see what we have seen. Think of the work of evangelism as having two parts: We have the message and the Holy Spirit has the “translator.” Your words won’t work without a “translator” and the “translator” doesn’t do any good unless there are words that need translation. As you share Christ, pray for God to give your friends “the translator” that will help them understand what you are saying. Here is a simple prayer for effective evangelism. It balances our part, God’s part, and the greatest need of those who don’t know Jesus: Lord, give me the right words to say to those who don’t know you. And give them ears to hear the words you give me. Amen.”
"You shall not covet" (Exodus 20: 17). Note how specific this is. You shall not covet . . . Your neighbor's house. Your neighbor's wife. His male servant. His female servant. His ox. His donkey. Anything your neighbor owns. Evidently there were problems in the neighborhood way back when. Nothing has really changed. Coveting is tricky because it is invisible, and it usually involves things more valuable than donkeys. Some things matter more than other things. Donkeys are good, but if I am not happy with the donkey I have, I am unlikely to be happier with my neighbor's donkey. Ditto for his wife and everything else he has. If having more would make us happy, we would never need the Tenth Commandment. It is written for unhappy people. That's why C.S. Lewis said, “Our problem is not that we want too much, it's that we're satisfied with too little.” O Lord, reveal to us our coveting spirit and replace it with a holy love for you. Amen
"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you" (Psalm 56:3). Pioneer missionary J. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission to reach the multitudes of Chinese people who had never heard the gospel. During the terrible days of the Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901), when missionaries were being captured and killed, he went through such an agony of soul that he could not pray. Writing in his journal, he summarized his spiritual condition this way: “I can’t read. I can’t think. I can’t pray. But I can trust.” There will be times when we can’t read the Bible. Sometimes we won’t be able to focus our thoughts on God at all. Often we will not even be able to pray. But in those moments when we can’t do anything else, we can still trust in the loving purposes of our heavenly Father.
"Jesus Christ . . . the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Revelation 1:5). We all know that the world is in a mess. That’s why it’s hard to believe that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth. All the evidence seems to move in the opposite direction. The pornographers go free, the baby-killers are untouched, the politicians break the laws they write, the drug dealers make their millions, and the nations arm themselves for total destruction. Without trying very hard, you could make a good case that Satan is the ruler of the kings of the earth. But it only seems that way. Satan has no power except that granted to him by God. In due time and at the proper moment, Jesus will step back on the stage of world history. Think of it. The hands that were nailed to the cross will someday rule the world. Though we do not see it today, it is certain and sure of fulfillment. That’s what the book of Revelation is all about. Read it for yourself and see how the story ends.
“I am trying to be a super hero. Thank God He already sent us a Savior so I can retire my cape." That comes from a friend who is learning about forgiveness and the need to let go and let God do what only God can do. It seems like good advice for all of us. You're not a super hero. Put down your cape. Jesus is not a super hero, but he is our Savior. Relax. Put down your cape. Jesus is all you need for everything you will face today.
“If God used only perfect people, nothing would ever get done.” Rick Warren
God is in charge, but he's not in a hurry.
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Don’t ever confuse arguing with answering. If we don’t show respect for them, how will they ever show respect for us or for our message? People know when we are talking down to them or making fun of them or taking them lightly. Treat people with gentleness and respect, and they are likely to listen to what we have to say.
Only Christ matters. In light of eternity, could anything in this world matter more than Jesus Christ? Since this world is passing way, nothing we do or say, nothing we achieve, nothing we own, no fortune we may amass, no empire we may build, no glittering list of friends, none of it matters at all compared to our Lord. Only Christ matters. We need to hear this, to repeat it to each other, and to preach it and teach it to our children.
"Your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:8). We do not pray to inform God of anything. He already knows what we need. We pray because we need to remind ourselves that God is God and we are not. This means that we don't need loud prayers or fancy words or a particular posture. We don't even have to close our eyes. We don't have to repeat ourselves (though it alright if we do). We don't have to pray a long prayer in order to get God's attention. Just tell him what you need. Unburden your heart. Come with your cares and fears and worries. He already knows, and he invites you to come anyway. So go ahead and pray to our Heavenly Father. He's waiting to hear from you.
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). But if the salt stays in the saltshaker, what good does it do? There are always reasons for the salt to stay in the shaker. But that’s not where salt belongs. Salt was made for the soup. As long as the salt stays in the shaker, it can’t do any good. But when the salt goes into the soup, two things happen: the salt dissolves and the character of the soup is changed forever. The same thing will happen if you ever decide to get out of the saltshaker and into the soup. You may disappear from our view but you will change the character of the world around you forever. Never fear. Never give in to despair. We were made for times like these. Who knows? A handful of salty Christians can change a classroom, a neighborhood, an office, a company, and even a nation. Get ready, salty saints. Out we go, into the world, for the glory of God.
Just checked. God is still on the throne.
Just in case you were wondering . . . He's got the whole world in his hands He's got the whole wide world in his hands He's got the whole wide world in his hands He's got the whole world in his hands