Young People’s Blog

His Life

“And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost” (Mark 15:37).

“When Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46).

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

He gave up His life of His own free will. This could not be said of anyone else. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was the only person who could, by an act of His own will, separate His spirit from His body. This He did in love and obedience to God His Father. Earlier in John’s gospel we read, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:17-18).

Now we can say, “He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). What a precious truth for us to consider today.

Decision

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14).

Decisions! Decisions! We make them every day. Some of the decisions we make have little or no long-term consequence. Still others may affect us for the rest of our lives. But there is one decision that will affect us, not just for this life, but for eternity. That all-important decision involves Christ and salvation.

Perhaps one of my readers has not yet made that decision to accept Christ as Savior. Consider this question raised by Elijah long ago: “How long halt ye between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21). If this describes your indecision, I beg of you not to put it off any longer. One of my favorite hymns to give out at the end of a gospel meeting is this:

Decide for Christ today,
And God’s salvation see;
Yield soul and body, heart and will
To Him, who died for thee!

Some of the last words of Moses were, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Make that momentous decision right now!

What Shall I Render?

“What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12).

This is a good question for every believer, young and old, to ask ourselves.

Here are some of the things that we can render to the Lord as we consider all His love, mercy, blessings, and benefits:

“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2).

“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name: bring an offering, and come into His courts” (Psalm 96:8).

“I will render praises unto Thee” (Psalm 56:12).

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).

“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 16:17).

How much of ourselves, our time, energy, and resources are we giving to the Lord to use for His glory and the blessing of others?

Thy Voice

“Let Me hear thy voice” (Song of Solomon 2:14).

The Lord Jesus wants to hear our voice. Here are just a few of the ways that we can speak and bring joy to His heart.

In praise: “I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth” (Psalm 109:30).

In prayer: “Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth” (Psalm 54:2).

In song: “Sing unto the Lord” (Jeremiah 20:13).

In testimony: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:8).

In confession: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Will the Lord have the joy of hearing your voice today?

Prayer — Part 2

I am always noticing billboards along the highway, and the other day while driving through Eldora, Iowa, I saw this thought-provoking sign:

PRAYER IS THE BEST

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION!

Communication is so prevalent and accessible in this age of technology that it is a rare day, or even a rare moment that we can’t make a cell-phone call, text a friend, iMessage someone, and find out information or directions on the internet. We all seem to have access to data and, at the push of a button or touch of an icon, we are connected to the world. I have called friends and family from as far away as the jungle of South America or the Sinai Peninsula.

However, it doesn’t always work, does it? I am sure, like me, you have often been frustrated to find you are in an area where there is no cell service or Internet. But there is always an open line to Heaven, and to the ear of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful line of wireless communication we have anytime and anywhere! We are invited, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Prayer — Part 1

I was flying from Seattle, Washington to Denver, Colorado, when I noticed a billboard on the way to the airport, whose message caught my attention. Here is what it said:

WORK HARD! PRAY HARDER!

For me it was a very good reminder. Certainly, we are to work hard at whatever the Lord has given us to do. Whether it is our schoolwork, our employment, or our service for Christ, we are to do it to the best of our ability. The Old Testament exhorts us, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). The New Testament adds, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

However, if we are going to have power and blessing in all that we do, we must pray even harder than we work. Remember, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). Our enemy Satan is always busy, and life is pressured. If we are going to have spiritual power in all we do, we must follow the instruction given to the believers at Ephesus: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18).

Dear Young Christian:

One piece of information … a phone call … a doctor’s diagnosis … or notice of the death of a loved one, can change our lives forever. Thankfully we don’t know what the future holds. We remember the past, we operate in the present, but God has mercifully blocked the future, even the next moment, from view. If we knew the future it would be a burden we couldn’t carry around.

However, it is a wonderful thing to realize that there is one who knows the future, and who has planned it all according to His wisdom and love. In this truth we can rest, and follow the instructions given by David, when he wrote: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).

Whatever news you receive this week, whatever changes the course of your life, or alters your plans, accept it from the good hand of the Lord who really does know what is best for us, even though we may not always think so.

He knows what’s best,
In this I rest!

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We Will Remember

“We will remember … the Lord” (Psalm 20:7).

On the war memorial in the town of Smiths Falls, Ontario where I live, is the following inscription to the brave men and women who gave their lives for the freedom of humanity:

They gave their today for our tomorrow,

We will remember them!

Once a year, on November 11th, we pause for a few moments to remember the great sacrifice of life that has been made at various times in our history. But how often do we stop and remember the One who made the greatest sacrifice of all time, the Lord Jesus and His death for us at Calvary?

He not only wants us to remember Him once a year, or from time to time, but He has instituted a way that we can remember Him in the breaking of break, and we are exhorted, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Today is the “first day of the week” (Acts 20:7), otherwise called the “Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10). Will you be with those who honor the Lord’s request to remember Him? Remember, He says, “As often … . ”

Nothing to Hold

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

It is related of an atheist who was dying that he appeared very uncomfortable, very unhappy and frightened. Another atheist who stood at his bedside said to him: “Don’t be afraid. Hold on, man, hold on to the last.”

The dying man said, “That is what I want to do, but tell me what to hold on to!”

What a sad commentary! To live without God is solemn and serious enough, but to die without God and Christ is eternally tragic. For the believer we have the Word of God and the promises contained therein to hold on to whether in life or death. We are told, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;)” (Hebrews 10:23).

More than this, we have the assurances that we are held on to by God the Father and the Lord Jesus, who said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). Do you have this assurance?

Monthly Question Page

Q. Could you explain why the Lord is referred to as the “Word” in John 1:14? Part 1

A. Words give expression to thoughts and ideas. A writer puts words on paper, and as they are read, they take shape in our minds, forming mental pictures of what the writer is seeking to convey to us. The better the writer is with words the more accurate and vivid the picture formed in our brain. This may be true in an oral sense as well. A speaker who is skilled in language and presentation causes his hearers to have an understanding of his thoughts through word pictures. We often say of someone, “He has a way with words.” He is able to clearly communicate through the medium of speech, that is, by the use of words.

So it is with God! He has clearly communicated to us who He is through the incarnation (Christ come in human form) of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ … The WORD! Our verse states, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

• Continued next month