An elderly woman in Scotland lived in abject poverty. Many years
earlier, her son had left to live in America and had not returned to visit. One
day a friend inquired, “Does your son ever help you?” Reluctantly she admitted,
“No, but he writes me long nice letters and sends me interesting pictures.”
The friend wanted to speak harshly of
the man, but he held back, and simply asked, “May I see the pictures?” The
woman took them out of a drawer and to his friend’s amazement they were all
sizable banks notes. Through the years she had been needlessly living in
poverty.
Many Christians are like that. They
exist as spiritual paupers while possessing unlimited wealth. By failing to
read and study the Scriptures, they neglect to cash in on their treasures. Many
people put their Bible on the shelf instead of in their hearts (Our Daily
Bread, July 28, 1992).
THOSE WHO DREAD CHANGE
A poet expressed it like this: Our
fathers have been churchmen for a hundred years or so, And to every new
proposal, their answer is always, “No,” Their motto is, “Nothing ventured
nothing lose.”
DEAD WORSHIP
Remember that the Lord approves of
neither idol worship not idle worship. Leaving some worship services I feel
like the little boy who went to “big church” for the first time. On the
sanctuary wall hung a plaque in memory of young men of the congregation who
died in the armed services. The plaque captured the boy’s attention. In the
middle of the service, he whispered to his mother, “What is that for?” Hoping
to quiet him with the answer, she replied, “It has been placed there in memory
of the young men who died in the service.”
The little boy responded, “Which
service did they die in, the morning service or the evening?” (Anonymous)
CELEBRATIVE WORSHIP
Methodist Bishop Arthur Moore told the
story about a young minister who asked his bishop to hold a “quiet hour” in the
young minister’s church. The bishop responded, “What your church needs is not a
quiet hour but an earthquake! I don’t want to be as quiet as some of your
people until I am dead (Paul W. Powell, Building an Evangelistic Church).
LIFE’S BASIC PRINCIPLES PART 2
Most people think:
Happy are the pushers: for they get on
in the world.
Happy are the hard-boiled: for they
never let life hurt them.
Happy are they who complain: for they
get their own way in the end.
Happy are the blasé: for they never worry
of their sins.
Happy are the slave-drivers: for they
get results.
Happy are the knowledgeable men of the
world: for they know their way round.
Happy are the trouble-makers: for
people have to take notice of them.
MONEY
A person’s attitude towards money and material things can determine
his/her relationship to God. A grandfather who had a weak heart won $100,000
(dollars) in the sweepstakes. Due to his weak heart, his children did not know
how to tell him this news. They went to their pastor and told him the story.
The pastor said, I know how to tell him. One day the pastor was with this
grandfather and asked him, Francis, If you have 100,000 dollars`1 today, what
will you do with it? He said, “I will give it all to the Lord’s work. The
Pastor fell down dead” (Dr. Adrian Rogers).
GOD UNDERSTANDS (PSALM 139:1-12)
The One who made you is the One who
can mend you.
