September 20
“Neither were thankful” (Rom 1:21). Leonard Lindsted tells of an incident at a bus stop during the days of WWII. Rationing involved the use of “mills,” red plastic coins worth a fraction of a cent. A man dropped one, and it rolled through the crowd to Leonard’s feet. He picked it up and handed it back. “Thanks for a tenth of a cent!” the man said. “You’re welcome; you don’t meet many who would thank you for something like that.” “Whatever my faults, ingratitude isn’t one of them.” Lindsted saw the bus approaching. “I’m wondering, if you would express thanks for a mill, undoubtedly you would...
Read MoreSeptember 19
My beloved first-born son and his precious wife have such a challenge with two special needs sons. As I grieved for them recently on a family holiday, the question gripped me, “Are you more compassionate than their heavenly Father?” Would I be like the one who snipped the restrictive opening of the chrysalis of an Emperor moth, only to watch the ease of the creature’s exit turn to tragedy? The struggles were needed to force the expansion of the wings, without which the moth could never fly. It has been well said that God had one Son without sin, but none without suffering. Those who question...
Read MoreSeptember 18
“What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mt 16:26). While this is almost always applied to the lost, it was spoken by the Lord to His own. To turn it around, since your soul has been rescued by God’s Champion, what will you give Him in gratitude for such heavenly heroism? Here’s what David said “in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies,…And he said, I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength” (Ps 18:1). “Now what will you give this gentleman for saving your life?” the grateful mother asked her little daughter as she stood before strong John Ellerthorpe,...
Read MoreSeptember 17
Leonard Sheldrake reminds us that “No work is more noble or fraught with more blessed possibilities than sowing the seeds of the gospel.” What to sow? “The sower sows the word” (Mk 4:14). When should we sow? “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good” (Eccl 11:6). Where do we sow? “Blessed are you who sow beside all waters” (Isa 32:20). How should we sow? “He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6). And the result? Great rejoicing! “He who...
Read MoreSeptember 16
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die…“A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (Jn 12:32-36). Return the Cross to Golgotha. I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace, whether or not men place it on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was...
Read MoreSeptember 15
William Hoste lays out 5 important facts about new birth: 1. God is its Author. It cannot be worked up; it must come down. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…Of His own will He brought us forth [birthed us] by the word of truth” (Jas 1:17-18). 2. The Holy Spirit is its Agent. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’” (Jn 3:5-6). 3. The Word is its Instrument. “Having been born again, not of corruptible...
Read MoreCalendar Archive
