The Brook Running Dry

Tags

Christian life

The dean of the chapel at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, Pastor Ben Patterson, reflects about changes in his life. He says, “Once the temptation was to push through with bluster and determination. Now it is to hold back, hold on, and play it safe. I don’t like that. I want to live the rest of my days as Karl Barth urged. He said life is like a river approaching the falls. Can the river hold back? Of course not! The time now in my life is not for small measures, but for abandon. Forgive me, Father, for thinking otherwise.”

So why the struggle? Pastor Patterson admits his real fear isn’t about himself, but about his Father in heaven. “Will he provide what I need for a whole new challenge — now, at this time in my life? Whether I fight against age, or sin or weakness. I’m not worried about the waterfall, but the brook running dry.”
— John Huizinga, at http://www.crcna.org/resources/church-resources/reading-sermons/have-faith-depend-god

Do you have a loose cannon?

Tags

Christian life

Victor Hugo’s story, “Ninety-Three,” includes an incident where a ship is caught in a storm. The frightened crew hears a terrible crashing sound below. Immediately the men know what it is: a cannon has broken loose and is crashing into the ship’s side with every smashing blow of the sea! Two men, at the risk of their own lives, manage to fasten it down again, for they know that the unfastened cannon is more dangerous than the raging storm.

Perhaps you have a cannon loose. Yours won’t look at all like the one in Hugo’s story, but it is something which could cause a lot of harm and danger if left unchecked. Is it anger, or lust, or a loose tongue? Is it an inappropriate relationship?

It’s time—no, past time—to “go below” and take care of it. Spend some time with the Lord and with His Word and humble yourself before Him. Seek His forgiveness and His strength. Your life, your relationships and your ministry are all at stake.
–Rocky Henriques, http://www.timothyreport.com

Loving God is the most important thing

Tags

Christian life, Preaching

In “Facts and Trends,” Mark Dance recently gave six practical ideas which have helped him stay fresh with God between Sundays:

1. Make Jesus the first appointment of your day.
2. Regularly change your routine.
3. Read Scripture you’re not teaching.
4. Read books you’re not teaching.
5. Join a small group you are not leading.
6. Write down your thoughts and prayers.

Dance writes, “There will never be a more important thing for us to do than to love God.”
–“Facts and Trends,” March/April 2015, p. 17. http://www.factsandtrends.net

Learning vs. Doing

Tags

Christian life, Service

I read about a man in New York City who died at the age of 63 without ever having had a job. He spent his entire adult life in college. He had acquired so many academic degrees that they looked like the alphabet behind his name.

Why did this man spend his entire life in college? When he was a child, a wealthy relative died who had named him as a beneficiary in his will. It stated that he was to be given enough money to support him every year as long as he stayed in school. And it was to be discontinued when he had completed his education.

The man met the terms of the will, but by staying in school indefinitely he turned a technicality into a steady income for life–something his benefactor never intended. Unfortunately, he spent thousands of hours listening to professors and reading books but never “doing.” He acquired more and more knowledge but didn’t put it into practice.

This reminds me of what James said: “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). If we read the Bible or listen as it is taught but fail to put to work what we have learned, we are as bad as that man with his string of degrees. His education was of no practical benefit to anyone.
–Richard De Haan

Would you like to go for a walk with Me today?

Tags

Christian life, Enoch

There was a little girl who came home from Sunday School one day and her mother asked her what she had learned about. The little girl said, “We talked about Enoch.”

“Oh, you did?,” her mother asked. “What did you learn about him?”

“Well, apparently”, the little girl began, “Enoch was a man who used to walk with God. God would come by Enoch’s house every morning and say to him, ‘Enoch, would you like to go for a walk with me today?’ and Enoch would go with Him.

“Well, I guess this went on and on for a really long time, and every day they would walk a little farther. One day, they walked so far and it got so late in the day that God told Enoch, ‘Enoch, we really walked a long way today, and it’s getting really late. We are a lot closer to my house than we are yours. Why don’t you come home with me?’ So, Enoch went home with God to His house.”

The Gospel Can Make Bad Men Good

Tags

Christian life, Holy Spirit

We may not understand how the Spirit works; but the effect of the Spirit on the lives of men is there for all to see; and the only unanswerable argument for Christianity is a Christian life.  No man can disregard a religion and a faith and a power which is able to make bad men good.
–William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of John (Vol.1)

Being A Christian Businessperson

Tags

Business, Christian life, Christian Testimony

The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.
–Martin Luther

Why The Christian Life Is The Only Happy One

Tags

Christian life, Happiness

The Christian life is the only happy one. Something is always lacking, otherwise. When we are young, we have grand enterprises, but we soon spoil them by being too rash. We lack experience. When we get old, we have the experience, but then all the power to carry out our schemes is gone. “Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15). The only way to be happy is to be good. The man who steals out of necessity sins because he is afraid of being unhappy—but for the moment he forgets all about how unhappy the sin is going to make him.

Man is the best and noblest thing on earth, as bad as he is, and it is easy to understand how he fails to find true happiness is anything lower than himself. The only object better than ourselves is God, and He is all we can ever be satisfied with.
–D. L. Moody

I Can Be The Biggest Hypocrite Ever. However…

Tags

Christian life, Hypocrisy

Yes, I’m a Christian. Yes, I can be the biggest hypocrite ever. I backslide. I stumble. I fall. I stray onto the wrong path. But God is working in me. I may be a mess, but I’m His mess. And He is slowly straightening me out. And the day will come when I will be by His side, His work in me completed. And until that day I will take His hand, and let Him do in me whatever needs to be done, no matter how painful it will be for me. When He is finished, it will all be worth it.
–Unknown, but absolutely correct!