February 19
Stirred by Bunyan’s “Visions of Heaven and Hell,” drunkard miner Billy Bray sought the Lord. For days in soul trouble, finally, he writes: “I said to the Lord, ‘Thou hast said, They that ask shall receive…and I have faith to believe it.’ In an instant the Lord made me so happy that I cannot express what I felt.…I could say with Isaiah, ‘O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.’ I told all I met what the Lord had done for my soul. I have heard some say that they have had hard work to get away from their companions, but I...
Read MoreFebruary 18
William MacDonald writes: We teach our children to accumulate; Christ calls them to forsake all (Lk 14:33). We teach them that it is not respectable to be poor: Jesus said, “Blessed be ye poor” (Lk 6:20). We tell them to stay home and make good; the Lord tells them to “go…into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mk 16:15). We tell them to provide for their security on earth; the Savior tells them to lay up treasure in heaven (Mt 6:20). We suggest they should live for two worlds; Jesus says it can’t be done (Lk 16:13). We tell them to walk by sight; the Word tells them to walk by faith (2...
Read MoreFebruary 17
“Reach your finger here, and behold My hands” (Jn 20:27). H.A. Ironside recounts the story of a Roman Catholic woman who was lying very ill in hospital and in great distress because of the weight of her sins. A nun was called to the bedside, and promised to call the priest. In the meantime, a visiting Christian lady came to the woman’s bed and found her ready to hear the gospel. Eagerly she came to Christ, confessing her sins, and was soon rejoicing in forgiveness. When the priest arrived, he prepared to hear her confession, that he might absolve her of all her sins. “Show me your hand,” she...
Read MoreFebruary 16
John Polkinghorne, theologian and Professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge University, comments on the difference between the biblical account of creation and Mesopotamian texts on the same subject: “…Though the accounts are clearly influenced to a degree by neighboring Near Eastern cosmogonies, they differ in a most marked and important way from those other creation stories. It is deeply impressive that tales of conflict among the gods, with Marduk fighting Tiamath and slicing her dead body in half from which to form the earth and sky, are replaced by a sober account in which the one...
Read MoreFebruary 15
“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into a furnace of fire; there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 13:41-42). Count the frail and fragrant blossoms spring has scattered through the trees; Count the endless crashing billows sparkling on the planet’s seas; Count the lightly flickering shadows in each autumn forest glade; Count the falling feathery snowflakes, icy gems by winter made; Count the myriad blades that glitter early in the morning dew; Count the...
Read MoreFebruary 14
“As having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor 6:10). Sometimes we excuse our evangelistic inactivity because of a shortage of funds. But the poverty of the early Christians was an asset, not a liability. As J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) points out: “A religion which turned the world upside down, while its first preachers were all poor men must needs have been from heaven. If the Apostles had possessed money to give their hearers, or been followed by armies to frighten them, an infidel might well deny that there was anything wonderful in their success. But the poverty of our Lord’s...
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