Young People’s Blog

Great Love

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

“God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4).

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

“The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The greatest demonstration of love was at Calvary when the Lord Jesus hung between Heaven and earth and when He took the punishment for sin, died, and shed His blood. It wasn’t the nails that held the Lord on the cross but His great love for us. His love cannot be outperformed or even fully comprehended. No one has, or ever will show such love as Jesus did when He died at Calvary.

When was the last time that you thanked Him … truly thanked Him … for His great love and great sacrifice? Let’s do it today from a full and overflowing heart of gratitude. As Isaac Watts expressed it in the hymn so often sung …

Love that transcends our highest powers,
Demands our soul, our life, our all.

The Mirror

“For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23-24).

As Queen Elizabeth I grew old, her wrinkles were deep and many. It is reported that an unfortunate Master of the Mint incurred disgrace by casting a too-faithful likeness of her on the shilling. The die was broken, and only one mutilated specimen is now in existence. Her maids of honor took the hint and were thenceforward careful that no fragment of looking glass should come into Her Majesty’s hands. In fact, it is said that the Queen “had not the heart to look herself in the face for the last twenty years of her life!”

As a mirror exposes all the wrinkles and dirt on a face, so the Word of God exposes the heart. Reading the Bible shows us our sins. If we refuse to repent and change, we soon get tired of seeing our “dirty faces” in God’s Mirror and we stop looking into the mirror. How foolish! It is better to see the dirt, confess it and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. You can pray like David, who said, “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2).

God’s Perfect Plan

I saw the following on a very nice wall plaque recently:

God Has A Perfect Plan For Us.

He Never Does It All At Once,

Just Step By Step Because

He Wants To Teach Us

To Walk By

FAITH

Not By Sight.

It made me realize that we are always in training and always learning in the school of God. None of us can ever say “we have arrived … we’ve learned it all.” No, it is a slow, lifelong process, and often a painful one, with repeat lessons.

David was a man who had great problems and difficulties all through His life. But early on he learned to say, “As for God, His way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:31). The sooner we realize this in our Christian experience the better. It will give us real peace and submission to His will and His perfect plan. He wants to lead us by “the right way” (Psalm 107:7). Are we willing to follow, or do we think we are wiser than God and that we have a better plan?

The Tongue — Part 2

“The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:8-10).

The tongue is untamable by nature. Every kind of creature has been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly, uncontrollable evil, full of malicious and deadly poison. With the tongue things are said that poison the minds of others and even turn believers against one another. The tongue can be thoroughly inconsistent, for, while capable of blessing God, it can also curse man made in the likeness of God.

Christians are in speech and acts to be consistent with God’s ways. The tongue, when used by grace and restrained by the Spirit of God, can be used in great blessing and with great benefit. Nothing but the power of the Spirit filling the heart with the grace of Christ can restrain the tongue. When the heart is enjoying the grace and love of Christ, the tongue will speak in grace out of the abundance of the heart.

The Tongue — Part 1

Here is some good advice: “Extinguish burning thoughts before they become flaming words.”

It made me think of these verses from the book of James:

“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell” (James 3:5-6).

If not bridled, the tongue can become the means of condemning others and exalting ourselves, for it can boast “great things.” If not controlled, it becomes the source of great mischief, for though “a little member” it is like a little fire which may, if not extinguished, eventually destroy a whole forest. Furthermore, the tongue is described as a fire which not only kindles trouble, but keeps it going. It is capable of instigating every form of unrighteousness and fanning things so that they become completely out of control. By its evil suggestions the tongue can lead to every member of the body being defiled. The evil spirits of hell find in the tongue a ready instrument for their wicked work, which is why it can be said that “it is set on fire of hell.”

Our Speech

“Grace is poured into Thy lips” (Psalm 45:2).

“And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke 4:22).

“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6).

The Savior spoke with loving tones,
With kindness in His voice;
His graciousness personified,
Each word of perfect choice.

And so, we too should seek to speak
Those things that make for peace;
Let every word be healing balm,
We from our lips release.

Our speech commendable and right,
As glorifying God:
That others may our Savior see,
In us where here he trod.

Dear Young Christian:

As you start another week of activity in a world that hates Christ and a world where it is easy for the believer to become cold and indifferent to His claims, I want to give you some counsel.

The Lord desires, more than anything else, that you give Him your heart. He says to each of His children, “My son, give Me thine heart” (Proverbs 23:26). The Lord died to win your heart’s affection! The problem is that we often only give Him part of it. The rest we keep for ourselves or something else. Jesus wants our heart so that He can fill it with His love, with His peace, with His joy. A really happy Christian is one who has given his whole heart to the Lord Jesus. A heart that is given to Christ is a full and happy heart — and so is the person it belongs to.

There is much to dull our hearts and chill our affections, but we are exhorted, “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21). Live in the sunshine of the enjoyment of His love, and your heart cannot help but respond.

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

Seeing Jesus

“And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only” (Matthew 17:8).

“We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25).

To be occupied with the person and work of Christ is what produces true worship, genuine praise, and heartfelt thanksgiving in our hearts and on our lips.

Today we look back to remember the work of Calvary:

“Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger” (Lamentations 1:12).

We look up and see where the Lord is now:

“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9).

We look ahead and consider the future:

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6).

Seeing Jesus is indeed a precious and enduring focus!

The Ladder

“Then said Jesus unto them … I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved … . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 10:7, 9; 14:6).

This interesting and slightly amusing account told by the evangelist Mr. Moody, has a pungent and timely message:

“A man dreamed that he built a ladder from earth to Heaven, and when he did a good deed up went his ladder a few feet. When he did a very good deed his ladder went higher, and when he gave away large sums of money to the poor it went up further still. By and by it went out of sight, and as years rolled on, it went up, he thought, past the clouds, clear into Heaven. When he died he thought he would step off his ladder into Heaven, but he heard a voice roll out from paradise: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).Down he came, ladder and all, and he awoke. He said that if he wanted to get salvation, he must get it in another way than by good deeds, and he took the other way, which is by Jesus Christ.”

Monthly Question Page

Q. Can you give me some verses or thoughts from the Bible that would show that gambling is wrong? Some of my Christian friends tell me it is harmless and not to make a big deal out of it.

A.The first verse that comes to mind is King Solomon’s warning. “He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him” (Proverbs 28:22). I have known those who have won the lottery or large sums of money through gambling and have not been able to handle it. In the end, they become worse off than before, often through squandering or mismanagement.

Here is another verse: “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9). Gambling often brings us into association with that which is sinful and defiling, and that which can spoil our Christian testimony. This can happen too when a person suddenly comes into a great deal of money. The Bible teaches us that we are to earn a living by working and to “provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Romans 12:17). God never encourages laziness in any aspect of life.