In step

[RiverOL]

"I Didn't"

For reading & meditation - Hebrews 12

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus ... who for the joy set before him endured the cross ..." (v. 2)

Another principle in coping with failure is this: If the thing in which you failed is clearly the right thing for you to do, then dedicate your energies to God, try again, and don't give up.

A father, trying to encourage his teenage son after he had failed an examination, said, "Don?t give up, try again." "What's the use?" said the son. "It's easier to quit." His father remonstrated with him, saying, "The people who are remembered in life are the people who, when they failed, didn't give up, but tried again." He went on, "Remember Churchill?

Remember Thomas Edison? They didn't give up!" The boy nodded. His father went on, "Remember John McCringle?" "Who is John McCringle?" the boy asked. "You see," said the father, "you don't remember him - he gave up."

A poster showed a picture of a man sitting on a park bench looking depressed and disconsolate. His arms were folded across his chest, and there was a look of resignation on his face. The caption read, "I give up." When I first saw this poster, I looked at it for a few moments and turned away, but then my eye was attracted to something in the right-hand corner of the poster.

It was a picture of a black hill and on it a very tiny cross. These words, barely perceptible, were printed beneath it: "I didn't." Feel like giving up at this moment? Then lift your eyes to the cross. The one who triumphed over all obstacles holds out His hands toward you. Take His hand, and in His strength and power - try again.

Prayer:
O God, help me to link my littleness to Your greatness, my faintheartedness to Your boldness, my fear to Your faith. Then nothing can stop me. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Grace - Greater than Failure

For reading & meditation - 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

"... God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times ... you will abound in every good work." (v. 8)

Another principle we must develop in our lives if we are to cope with failure is this: However disappointing and discouraging our failures, grace covers them all. No fears need creep in today from yesterday's failures, for grace has wiped them out and works to turn them to good effect.

This does not mean that we evade the consequences of our failures, but providing we respond correctly and with honesty, grace flows in to take over and transform. Emerson says: "Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders, some failures, some absurdities will have crept in. But forget them. Tomorrow is a new day." This is good advice, but not quite good enough. We cannot just "forget them," especially if our failures have brought distress to others also.

However, when we face things honestly and determine to learn from our failures, then God transforms those failures by His grace. He wipes away the burning memories of shame and self-disgust so that our failures, seen through grace, do not paralyze us but propel us forward. The Old Testament ends with a curse (Mal. 4:6), but the New Testament ends with grace (Rev. 22:21). What does this suggest?

It suggests that grace does not simply look back at past deeds; it looks forward to hold that future steady. You are under grace today, and you will be under grace tomorrow. What a prospect! The past can't hurt you, and both today and tomorrow are secure. Our failures, therefore, make us sing - sing at the redemption that grace draws from them.

Prayer:
O Father, I am so thankful that grace holds the keys of yesterday and tomorrow. You lock the one - and open the other. And there is grace for today too! I am eternally grateful. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Hallelujah - the Pressure's Off

For reading & meditation - 2 Corinthians 1:12-22

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ ." (v. 21)

A further principle is this: Strive not so much to succeed but to do the right thing. I remember addressing a group of ministers in Atlanta, Georgia, on "Pitfalls in the Ministry."

I told them the story of my own failures, which at that time amounted to a great many, and I said, "The lesson I have learned from my failures is that I don't have to succeed. I have to do the right thing under God's guidance, and leave success or failure in His hands." One of the ministers came to me afterwards and said, "I am a pastor of one of the largest churches in this area, and regarded by my peers as one of the most successful ministers in my denomination.

But today you have helped me overcome the greatest pressure in my life - the pressure to succeed." In the early years of my ministry, I was extremely success-oriented; when I succeeded, I felt good, and when I failed, I felt devastated.

Then God said to me quite bluntly one day, "Are you willing to be a failure?"

The question shook me rigid. It was a whole week later before I found sufficient grace to answer that question with a "Yes," and when I did, I was instantly released from the two things that had crippled my life and ministry - the pressure to succeed and the fear of failure. Now, what matters is not succeeding or failing, but being true to Him.

Success and failure are in His hands. I am not on the way to success, I am on the Way. What a difference!

Prayer:
O Father, set me free today from these two crippling disabilities - the pressure to succeed and the fear of failure. Help me to do the right thing, and to leave success or failure in Your hands. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Men Cry Out Against the Heavens

For reading & meditation - Psalms 9

"he [God] ... cares for the helpless. He does not ignore those who cry t o him for help" (v. 12, NLT)

Having learned something about how to cope with failure, we turn now to face the issue of what to do when life breaks us with unmerited suffering and affliction. I get more letters on this subject than on almost any other. People write and say, "My suffering is so great that I sometimes doubt the existence of a God of love.

Can you say something that will help me regain my faith in this tragic hour?" One of the most poignant elements in suffering is that there often seems to be no meaning in it. One great writer said that anyone who was undisturbed by the problem of unmerited suffering was a victim of either a hardened heart or a softened brain. He was right. Everyone who is mentally alive, especially if he believes in a God of love, finds this problem difficult to solve.

No wonder the poet cried out: My son, the world is dark with griefs and graves So dark that men cry out against the heavens. I suppose there is nothing that makes people cry out against the heavens so much as the anguish which comes unbidden and unmerited.

Some of our sufferings are the result of our own crassness and stupidity. But what about when life breaks us with sufferings that are not directly related to us?

Does God remember us then? Our text today says that He does. This in itself should be enough to keep us brave, if not blithe; in peace, if not in happiness. Write it on your heart. God remembers you in your suffering. He really does!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You who experienced suffering in a way I will never know, hold me close to Your heart so that my sufferings will not demolish me, but develop me. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Suffering is Inevitable

For reading & meditation - Job 5:1-18

"Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." (v. 7)

How do we, as Christians, cope with the problem of unmerited suffering? The first thing we must do is to recognize that in a universe whose balance has been greatly upset by sin, undeserved suffering is bound to come. Face this, and you are halfway to turning the problem into a possibility. In an Indian palace, many years ago, a child was born whose parents decided to keep all signs of decay and death from him.

When he was taken into the garden, maids were sent before him to remove all the decaying flowers and fallen leaves, so that he would be protected from all signs of suffering and death. One day, however, he left his home and, while wandering through the streets, came across a corpse.

His reaction was so strong that he set about establishing the teaching that, as life is fundamentally suffering, the only thing to do is to escape into Nirvana, the state of extinction of self. The young man was Guatama Buddha, whose beliefs are shared by millions of his followers, not only in India but around the world. His philosophy is a dramatic and tragic result of trying to protect oneself from the realities of life, one of which is suffering.

The Christian faith is the opposite of that: it exposes us to the very heart of suffering - the cross. Then it takes that suffering, and turns it into salvation. This is why Christians should not be afraid to face the worst that can happen - because with God it can be turned into the best.

Prayer: Father, I am so thankful for the cross - what is my suffering compared to that? And even if I have to bear similar suffering, I know that out of it will come to me what came to You - a resurrection. Blessed be Your Name forever. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The Best Out of the Worst

For reading & meditation - 1 Peter 2:11-25"Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God ..." (v. 12)

Yesterday we said that the first attitude we should adopt toward unmerited suffering is to accept that it is bound to come. Sin has unbalanced the universe, and suffering is one of the inevitable results.

To deny this is to deny reality, and the denial of reality is the denial of life. Arising out of this comes our second principle: God is able to turn all suffering to good and glorious ends. J. B. Phillips translates today's verse: "... although they may in the usual way slander you as evildoers, yet when disasters come they may glorify God when they see how well you conduct yourselves." Note the phrase, "when disasters come."

They are bound to come to everyone - it's foolish to think that, just because we are Christians, we are exempt. We are part of a universe that has been unbalanced by sin, part of a mortal, decaying world. However, though we may fall victims to life's disasters, we are able, through the redemptive purposes of God, to turn them into doors of opportunity and step through them into richer, more abundant living.

A woman who was converted from one of the cults said in a testimony meeting in her church: "They taught me that the first thing I should concern myself about is my happiness. You have taught me that the first thing is to 'belong.' That makes me feel safe." Since she was safe, her happiness was safe too. Others are baffled by life's tragedies. Only the cross has an answer. Out of the worst, Christ brings the best, and makes life's victims victorious.

Prayer: Father, the more I think about this, the more excited I get. You have given me such security. I can stand anything because I can use everything. Oh glory! Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Not Comfort - But Character

For reading & meditation

Job 2:1-10 "... Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (v. 10)

We come today to one of the most difficult principles to understand in relation to suffering - but it must be grasped nevertheless. It is this - accept suffering as a gift from God. This principle flows out of today's verse - a verse which one commentator describes as "the most profound verse in the Bible."

It is obvious from reading this passage that Job's God is not a celestial Being who sits on the parapets of heaven, dropping nice little gifts into the laps of His children, at the same time saying, "There, that will make you happy; that will surely please you."

There is much more to God than that. The God of the Bible dispenses the things that bring most glory to His Name. If, in achieving glory, He sees that suffering is the best means to that end, then that is what He will give.

So mark this well - God is not under an obligation to make you comfortable. Can you see the truth that is contained in the words of our text today? "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (NASB). You are ready to accept good, but are you just as ready to accept adversity?

You see, God's goal is not our comfort, but our character. That is why it is wrong to tell a non- Christian, "Trust God, and your troubles will all be over." It's unfair, dishonest, and downright unbiblical. In fact, becoming a Christian may mean that you will have more troubles than before.

And why? Because character is formed in the furnace of affliction - no suffering, no character.
Prayer: Father, if ever I needed Your help I need it now. It's easy for me to accept good from Your hand; help me also to accept adversity. Etch these words, not merely into my mind, but into my spirit. In Jesus' Name I ask it.

Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The Agony of God

For reading & meditation - Isaiah 53

"... he ... carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted." (v. 4)

Dr. E. Stanley Jones said: "Christianity is the only religion that dares ask its followers to accept suffering as a gift from God, because it is the only religion that dares say God too has suffered." Surely it must mean something to us, as Christians, to know that though living in this world is costing us pain, it is costing God more.

But how much has God suffered? Some Christians think that the full extent of God's sufferings were the hours in which He watched His Son die upon the cross, but it means much more than that. The Bible tells us that Christ was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8, KJV). That means that there was a cross set up in the heart of God long before there was a cross set up on the hill of Calvary.

God's sufferings began at the moment He planned the universe, and tugged at His heartstrings from the moment that He laid the foundations of the world. The pain of the cross must have pierced right through Him as He waited for that awful moment when His Son would die on Calvary.

How long did He wait? Centuries? Millennia! Then finally it came - the awful screaming agony of crucifixion. Was this the end? No. Now His sufferings continue in the world's rejection of His Son, and in the indifference of His children. So doesn?t it mean something, even everything, to know that, though living in this world is costing us pain, it is costing God more? I find this thought deeply comforting. I pray that you will too.


Prayer: Father, I realize that now I am looking into the heart of the deepest mystery of the universe - Your sacrificial love. Help me to understand this fully, for when I see this I see everything. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

God Is in Control

For reading & meditation - Isaiah 46:3-13

"... I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning ... My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." (vv. 9-10)

Recognize that because you are finite you will never be able to fully understand the ways of God.

It was a wonderful moment in my life when I was delivered from the torment of trying to figure out the reasons why God behaves the way He does. I was reading the Scripture at the top of this page when these thoughts hit me like a bolt from the blue: God is in control of the world. Don't try to grasp all the ramifications of this truth; just accept it. I have never spent a single moment since in trying to figure out why God does what He does.

I accept His sovereignty without question - and I am all the better for it. "One of the marks of maturity," says Charles Swindoll, "is the quiet confidence that God is in control ... without the need to understand why He does what He does." "He does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What doest thou?' " (Dan. 4:35, RSV).

There are, of course, many more Scriptures that make the same point - the Almighty is in charge. If you are in a turmoil of fear trying to figure out the reasons why God does what He does, then stop. You can't anyway. Feverishly trying to unravel all the knots can bring you to the edge of a nervous breakdown. The finite can never plumb the infinite. Face the fact that God's ways are unsearchable and unfathomable. Then you will start to live - really live.


Prayer: My gracious Father, set me free today from the tyranny of trying to fathom the unfathomable. Quietly I breathe the calm and peace of Your sovereignty into my being. No longer will I struggle to understand: I shall just stand. Thank You, Father. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

God Tests before He Entrusts

For reading & meditation - 1 Peter 4:12-19

"... those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." (v. 19)

God seldom uses anyone unless He puts that person through the test of suffering and adversity. Jesus, you remember, began His ministry in the wilderness of temptation, but it culminated in a garden in Jerusalem on Easter morning. Our lesser ministries, too, need the test of suffering.

An ancient proverb says: "He who is born in the fire will not fade in the sun." If God lets us suffer in the fire of adversity, depend on it - He is only making sure that we will not fade in the sun of smaller difficulties. Has life broken you by suffering and affliction?

Are you feeling weakened and drained by the things that have happened to you? Take hold of the principles we have been examining this week, and I promise you that never again will life break you at the point of suffering. This does not mean that you will never again experience suffering, but it does mean that you will respond to the suffering with a new and positive faith.

Let me draw your attention once more to the text we looked at the other day: "Although they may in the usual way slander you as evildoers, yet when disasters come they may glorify God when they see how well you conduct yourselves" (1 Pet. 2:12, Phillips).

Make no mistake about it - the world is watching how we Christians react to suffering. What do they see? People who struggle on in continual weakness, or people who have been made "strong at the broken places"?

Prayer: O Father, I am one of Your followers, but so often I am afraid to follow You all the way. Yet I see that Your way is right - nothing else is right. I know You will stand by me; help me to stand by You. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

When Riches Take Wings

For reading & meditation - Proverbs 23

"Do not wear yourself out to get rich.... Cast but a glance at riches ... for they will surely sprout wings and fly off ..." (vv. 4-5)

We move on now to consider yet another way in which life can break us - through financial disaster or material loss. Some Christians speak scornfully against money. I have heard them quote Scripture in this way: "Money is the root of all evil." They forget that the text actually reads: "The love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. 6:10, KJV). Money in itself is not evil.

It feeds the hungry, clothes the naked and succors the destitute, and through it many errands of mercy are performed. Some years ago the recorder at the Old Bailey made a statement which was reported in almost every newspaper. He said, "A couple of pounds very often saves a life - and sometimes a soul." It may be true that money cannot bring happiness but, as somebody said, "It can certainly put our creditors in a better frame of mind."

Perhaps nothing hurts more than when life breaks us through a financial crisis, and we experience something of what the writer of the Proverbs describes - "riches taking wings." Can we be made strong at the broken place of financial failure? We can.

I think now as I write of a man I knew some years ago who lost all his assets. Such was his financial crisis that he lost everything - literally everything. Life broke him.

He came out of it, however, with a new philosophy that changed his whole attitude toward money. I am sure of this: life will never break him there again. He was made strong at the broken place. And so, my friend, can you be.

Prayer: O Father, help me to settle once and for all my attitude toward this complex problem of money. If it is a weakness, then help me make it a strength. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Transferring the Ownership

For reading & meditation - Genesis 22:1-19

"... because you ... have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you ..." (vv. 16-17)

We referred yesterday to the man who was broken by a financial disaster, but came out of it enabled to say, "Never again will I be broken by material loss." And why? Because he built for himself a biblical framework which enabled him to see the whole issue of finances from God's point of view. Here are the steps my friend took in moving from financial bondage to financial freedom.

(1) In a definite act of commitment, transfer the ownership of all your possessions to God. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we do not in reality own our possessions. We are stewards, not proprietors, of the assets which God puts into our hands. After reading the story of Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son, my friend got alone with God and offered every single one of his possessions to the Lord.

He said, "I continued in prayer until every single item I had was laid on God's altar, and when it was over I was a transformed man. That act of dedication became the transformation point in my finances." If, in reality, we do not own our possessions, then the obvious thing to do is to have the sense to say to God: "Lord, I'm not the owner, but the ower.

Teach me how to work out that relationship for as long as I live." When you let go of your possessions and let God have full control, the whole issue of stewardship becomes meaningful. You are handling something on behalf of Another. Money is no longer your master - it becomes instead your messenger.

Prayer: Father, I'm conscious that, once again, You have Your finger on another sensitive spot. I wince, but I know I can never be a true disciple until I make this commitment. I do it today - gladly. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen

 

[RiverOL]

Hitched to a Plough

For reading & meditation - Colossians 3

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (v. 2)

We continue to consider the steps that can move us from financial freedom: (2) Streamline your life toward the purposes of God's kingdom. Livingstone said, "I will place no value on anything that I have or possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ.

If anything I have will advance that kingdom it shall be given or kept, whichever will best promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes, both for time and eternity " Another missionary said, "That first sentence of Livingstone's should become the life motto of every Christian.

Each Christian should repeat this slowly to himself every day: I will place no value on anything I have or possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ." If it advances the kingdom it has value - it can stay. If it is useless to the kingdom it is valueless - it must be made useful, or go.

John Wanamaker, a fine Christian businessman, visited China many years ago to see if the donations he had made to missionary work were being used to their best advantage.

One day he came to a village where there was a beautiful church, and in a nearby field, he caught sight of a young man yoked together with an ox, ploughing a field. He went over and asked what was the purpose of this strange yoking.

An old man who was driving the plough said, "When we were trying to build the church, my son and I had no money to give, and my son said, 'Let us sell one of our two oxen and I will take its yoke.' We did so and gave the money to the chapel." Wanamaker wept!

Prayer: Father, I feel like weeping too when I consider how little of my life is streamlined for kingdom purposes. Help me to be willing to be hitched to a plough and know the joy of sacrifice. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Riches or Poverty - So What?

For reading & meditation - Philippians 4:4-13

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any ... situation ..." (v. 12)

Here is another step that can move us from financial bondage to financial freedom. Recognize that you are only free when you are free to use either poverty or plenty.

There are two ways in which men and women try to defend themselves against financial disaster. One is by saving as much as possible in an attempt to avert it. The other is by renouncing money or material things entirely in order to be free from their clutches.

Both methods have disadvantages. The first, because it can cause miserliness and anxiety, and tends to make a person as metallic as the coins they seek to amass. The second, because it seeks to get rid of the difficulty by washing one's hands of it entirely.

In each case, there is a bondage - one is a bondage to material things, the other a bondage to poverty. The man who is free to use plenty only is bound by that, while the man who is free to use poverty only is also bound. They are both bound.

But the person who, like Paul in the text before us today, has "learned the secret of being content ... whether living in plenty or in want" is free, really free. While waiting for a train in India, a missionary got into a conversation with a high-caste Indian. "Are you traveling on the next train?" the missionary asked. "No," he replied, "that train has only third-class carriages.

It's all right for you, because you are a Christian. Third class doesn't degrade you and first class doesn't exalt you. You are above these distinctions, but I have to observe them." Lifted above all distinctions!

Prayer: O Father, what a way to live - lifted above all distinctions. Plenty doesn't entangle my spirit, and poverty doesn't break it. No matter how I have lived in the past - this is how I want to live in the future. Help me, dear Lord. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

A Need or a Want?

For reading & meditation - Philippians 4:14-23

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (v. 19)

Today we look at yet another step that will help us overcome financial disaster: (4) Learn to differentiate between a need and a want. Your needs are important, but not your wants.

God has promised to supply all your needs, but not all your wants. What are our needs? Someone defined it like this: "We need as much as will make us physically, mentally, and spiritually fit for the purposes of the kingdom of God. Anything beyond that belongs to other people's needs."

If this is true, then how do we decide what belongs to our needs? No one can decide that for you; it must be worked out between you and God. Go over your life in God's presence and see what belongs to your needs, and what belongs to your wants.

Let the Holy Spirit sensitize your conscience so that you can distinguish the difference. A fisherman tells this story: "Yesterday on the lake I let my boat drift. As I looked at the water, I could see no drift at all. Only as I looked at the fixed point of the shoreline could I see how far I was drifting."

It is a parable! It is only as you fix your eyes on Christ, and watch for His approval, that you will know whether you are staying on God's course - or drifting away from it. One more thing: keep your needs strictly to needs, not luxuries disguised as needs. If you eat more than you need, you clog up your system. It is the same with other things. Needs contribute; luxuries choke.

Prayer: Gracious Father, bring me under the sway of Your creative Spirit. Sensitize my inner being so that I might hear Your voice when I am about to go off course. This I ask for Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Promises! Promises!



For reading & meditation - Proverbs 20

"...'it's no good!? says the buyer; then off he goes and boasts about his purchase." (v. 14)
We continue following the steps that help us become strong at the broken place of financial disaster: (5) Ask God to help you resist the powerful pressures of this modern-day consumer society. I once listened to a sermon in which the preacher likened Satan's conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden to the subtle tactics of modern advertising.

The main point he made was that if Eve could become discontent with all she had in that lush garden called Paradise, there is little hope for us unless we identify and reject modern methods of alluring advertising.

What exactly is alluring advertising? One definition puts it like this: "Alluring advertising is a carefully planned appeal to our human weakness, which is designed to make us discontented with what we have so that we can rationalize buying things we know we do not need and should not have."

Not all advertising, of course, falls into this category, but much of it does. Charles Swindoll, an American author, claims that some advertising is not just alluring, but definitely demonic. I agree. He says that he and his family have developed a simple technique to overrule television commercials that attempt to convince us that we need a certain product in order to be happy.

He describes it like this: "Everytime we feel a persuasive tug from a television commercial, we simply shout at the top of our voices: 'Who do you think you're kidding!'"

He claims it really works. God expects us to discipline ourselves in relation to many things, and not the least is the discipline of spiritual "sales resistance."

Prayer:
Father, help me, I pray, to see right through the alluring advertising of today's world, and develop within me the wisdom and strength to build up a strong spiritual "sales resistance." For Your honor and glory I ask it. Amen

 

[RiverOL]

Be a Generous Person

For reading & meditation - 1 Timothy 6:6-19

"Command them ... to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves ..." (vv. 18-19)

We have been discussing the steps we need to take to become strong at the place where life breaks us through a financial disaster. The sixth and final principle the friend I previously referred to used, and which we need to practice too, is this: (6) Become a generous person. Look again at the text at the top of this page. It is so clear that it hardly needs any explanation.

Woven through the fabric of these verses, as well as in many others in the New Testament, is the thought: give, give, give, give, give. When you have money, don't hoard it, release it. Let generosity become your trademark.

This is not to say that you have to give all your money away, but give as much as you can, and as much as you believe God would have you give. Jesus once said, "If your eye is generous, the whole of your body will be illumined" (Matt. 6:22, Moffatt). What does this mean? If your eye - your outlook on life, your whole way of looking at things and people - is generous, then your whole personality is illumined, lit up.

Jesus had little to give in terms of finances, but He was generous toward all - the sick, the needy, the maimed, the sinful, and the unlovely. His whole personality was full of light. So be like Jesus - begin to see everybody and everything with a generous eye. Don't be a mean person. One of the greatest definitions of Christianity I have ever heard is simply this: "Give, give, give, give give...."

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me this day and every day of my life from now on, to make generosity the basis of all my dealings with people. Make me the channel and not the dead end of all Your generosity to me. For Your dear Name's sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

When Evil Thoughts Oppress

For reading & meditation - Matthew 15

"For out of the heart come evil thoughts ..." (v. 19)

We turn now to focus on yet another place where life can break us - through the affliction of evil thoughts. I am thinking not simply of an occasional wrong thought popping into one's mind, but of those situations where people become oppressed by thoughts which are obsessive and repetitive.

A letter I received some time ago said, "My private discussions with Christians of all denominations has led me to believe that more are afflicted and oppressed by evil thoughts than we might imagine." When the late Dr. Sangster, the great Methodist preacher, once visited Bexhill-on-Sea, he found a lovely avenue of trees.

A nature lover to the core, he walked admiringly up and down the avenue, and then noticed a strange thing. Two of the trees were dead, and not only dead, but dismally and evilly offensive. Frost could not account for it; their neighbors were all healthy.

He made inquiries, and found out that the gas main which ran underneath them had been leaking! Everything on the surface had been in their favor - the sea breezes, sunshine, rain ... but they had been poisoned from beneath. There are many Christians like that.

Perhaps you are one. The circumstances of their lives all seem in their favor - a good job, a happy family, a pleasant environment, a fine church, yet their lives are mysteriously blighted by evil thoughts. Who can help us when our lives are spoiled by continual and oppressive evil thoughts? Jesus can! Christ can not only heal the brokenness but also make you strong at the broken place.

Prayer: O Father, I am so grateful that You are showing me Your indomitable way. You can do more than sustain me in my weakness; You can turn my weakness into strength. Make me strong in this area. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

"Be Careful, Little Eyes"

For reading & meditation - Mark 9:42-50

"And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." (v. 47)

What are the principles we must follow if we are to move from weakness to strength in relation to this matter of evil thoughts?

The first is: Take steps to ensure that you are not contributing to the problem by the literature you read or the things you watch. One great philosopher said that if you want to evaluate the moral tone of a society, just examine its literature. These days it is hardly possible to pick up a newspaper that does not contain a picture oran article that is calculated to inflame our passions.

We live in an age which is preoccupied with sensuality and hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure). Any discussion on this subject must inevitably be linked with sex, as this is one of the main ingredients in the problem of evil thoughts. Although sex is not evil in itself, few topics can so engross the mind or kindle our curiosity. People with a passionate nature, however high their ideals, often fight a battle in their mind and imagination with sexual fantasies.

These, in turn, make them the kind of people of whom Montaigne speaks with much contempt: "Men and women whose heads are a merry- go-round of lustful images." Fix it firmly in your mind that the first step to victory over evil thoughts is to cut off the supply at the source.

Burn any books or magazines in your possession that others might describe as "really hot." Turn off the TV when it violates biblical standards. Avoid newspapers that go in for nudity. Saying "no" to sensuality is the same as saying "yes" to God.

Prayer: Father, help me to realize that although Christianity is a privilege and not a prohibition - it does have prohibition in it. Today I am going to make up my mind to say a firm "no" to the things that are not of You. Strengthen me in this resolve. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The Pathway to Sin Is Short

For reading & meditation - Romans 8

"To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (v. 6, RSV)

Although it may be impossible to prevent evil thoughts from entering your mind, make a conscious decision not to entertain them. A well-worn phrase puts the same thought in this way: you can't stop the birds from flying into your hair, but you can prevent them from building nests.

Burns, the famous poet, said that when he wished to compose a love song, his recipe was to put himself on "a regimen of admiring a beautiful woman." He deliberately filled his mind with pictures that were extremely dangerous to his passionate nature. Shairp, his biographer, said of him, "When the images came to be oft repeated, it cannot have tended to his peace of heart or his purity of life." Augustine, one of the great early Christians, also trod this dangerous path.

He came to Carthage with its tinseled vice and began at once to coax his own carnal appetites. He said: "I loved not as yet, yet I loved to love; and with an hidden want I abhorred myself that I wanted not. I befouled, therefore, the spring of friendship with the filth of concupiscence, and I dimmed its lustre with the hell of lustfullness; and yet, foul and dishonorableas I was, I craved, through an excess of vanity to be thought elegant and vain.

I fell; precipitately then." Augustine's experience, like that of many others, goes to show the folly of entertaining evil thoughts and desires. Make up your mind, then, that although you may not be able to stop evil thoughts crowding into your mind, you will not play host to them.

Prayer: Father, although I know what I should do, it is often hard - though not impossible - to do it. I give my will to You again today. Take it and strengthen it, so that it will do Your bidding. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.