Author: BTP

The House of Mourning

“It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart” (Ecclesiastes 7:2).

Have you had to attend a funeral lately? Maybe a family member, good friend, neighbor, or a fellow student or coworker has passed away recently.

The above verse tells us that it is a good thing to go into the house of mourning in that it brings us face to face with the realities of life and death. In the hustle and bustle of daily life we tend to forget that our time is short, and that we are only here on planet earth for a shortf time. It is like the reminder of Scripture, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:14-15).

It is good for all of us to have this reality check from time to time. Like Ethan the Ezrahite, who penned the words, “Remember how short my time is” (Psalm 89:47).

Most of us don’t really like to attend a funeral, but it can be a time of profitable reflection, both for the unbeliever, and for those of us who are saved as well.

Really Life

“Lay hold of what is really life” (1 Timothy 6:19, JND Translation).

He is long with the Lord now, but an elderly saint of God used to remind those of us who were younger, “The Christian life is the only life worth living.”

If we were to interview elderly Christians who have lived their whole lives for the Lord and served Him in one way or another, do you think you would find any regrets that they had done so? I think not! The only regret you would find is that they were not more faithful, and that they had not done more for their Lord and Master. The Lord Himself said, “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life … . He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it” (Mark 10:29-30; Matthew 10:39).

In simple, everyday language the Lord was saying, The only life worth living is a life lived in view of eternity.

The Sun

“The SUN of righteousness … . I have loved you” (Malachi 4:2; 1:2).

I looked out of my window today,
And saw the sun with its golden ray,
And the trees and flowers in bright array,
And the birds were singing to herald the day.

It made me rejoice to know the One,
Who created the planets, stars, and sun;
Who keeps them going and smoothly run,
And yet my heart, He so gently won.

I looked out of my window once more,
As the sun was setting and the day was o’er;
And night around me began to pour,
And God’s love filled my heart, as it had before.

What a Savior I have, and He is mine,
He’s given me hope and life divine,
A joy that the world cannot define,
And a home where the SUN will always shine.

Dear Young Christian:

On a signboard near where I live someone had posted the following thought-provoking statement:

“If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy.”

I have no doubt that many of my readers have a very busy week planned. The days seem to fly by, and although the weekend seems so far away, before you know it Saturday will be upon us again. That is why it is so important to discipline yourself to have time set aside for prayer. In the midst of His busy service, the Lord, as the perfect man, always took time to pray. Here are just two of many examples: “And it came to pass, as He was alone praying …” (Luke 9:18). “And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place” (Luke 11:1). Follow this perfect example and you will find strength for every circumstance you face this week, and there will be joy and fruit in your Christian life.

Of course, we can also pray anytime, in any place, and in any position. “Praying always” (Ephesians 6:18), is a good motto to keep in mind.

Your Christian Friend,

 Jim Hyland

Lord of Glory

“Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8).

It is the first day of the week, and I woke up this morning to notice this text propped up on the dresser by the mirror in the home in which my wife and I are staying.

As I was getting ready to attend the remembrance meeting, I thought a lot about these words. It is an awesome statement, really beyond human comprehension, but here is what the commentator Hamilton Smith says on the subject:

“ ‘ The Lord of glory’ speaks of a wider scene than this earth; it speaks of a universal dominion embracing every created thing and being, over which the crucified One is made Lord.”

This is how the hymn-writer, Richard Holden, expressed it:

Lord of glory, we adore Thee!
Christ of God, ascended high!
Heart and soul we bow before Thee,
Glorious now beyond the sky:
Thee we worship, Thee we praise — 
Excellent in all Thy ways.

What a great and glorious Savior and Lord we have! May this thought fill us with worship today.

Starfish

During a Bible conference held at the Red Sea, on the Sinai Peninsula, the children would extract starfish from the water every afternoon. They would then leave the starfish lying around in the hot desert sun, and, after a while, the starfish would self-destruct. It was incredible to me to see the poor creatures looking like someone had taken a knife and sliced them into several pieces. It is one of the unexplained wonders of God’s creation.

These helpless starfish acting according to instincts given them by their Creator, are probably responding to their captor in self-defense. But what about intelligent human beings who are responsible and answerable to the living God who, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7)? We have a living soul, and when it leaves our body, as we now know it, it will continue on in one of two places … HEAVEN or HELL! The soul of man will never self-destruct. It will exist forever and ever! The Lord said, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Monthly Question Page

Q. Is there any spiritual significance to the fact that Golgotha means “a skull”?

A. In three of the four gospels we have the expression “place of a skull.” Matthew and Mark both mention the fact, and we will now quote from John: “And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha” (John 19:17).

The place may have gotten its name from the peculiar configuration of the rock, but I believe there is a deeper significance than just the geographical formation of the spot.

A skull would denote two things. First, it indicates death, and secondly an empty head. It speaks of the height of man’s wisdom and the humiliating end of all man’s power and glory. A skull is an empty, brainless head. Someone has said, “In some living man it may once have held as brilliant and powerful a brain as ever existed; and it has come to this! The Son of God accepted the judgment of death as from man’s hand at a place which set forth symbolically the end of all man’s glory.” Golgotha was the apex of man’s intelligence. There they took the Son of God and nailed Him to a cross. Thankfully, this has been the means by which God has come out in blessing to mankind.

He Knows Best

When I was a child, I often asked for things from my parents that I never got. Often when I asked, the answer went something like this: “Mother knows best.” Or, “Father knows what is good for you.” Looking back, I realize that sometimes they said it to disguise their inability to grant the request, and sometimes it was with real wisdom, knowing that what I wanted was not good for me.

However, with our all-knowing Lord, a denial is not because of any inability, but because “the Lord knows best.” The writer of Psalm 84 reminds us, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” (verse 11).

He sees what we need, He knows what is best,
So let Him decide, in His wisdom rest!
Our God is omniscient, this truth we can see,
We cannot presume to be wiser than He!

This is why it is good when we pray for something, to pray with the attitude of the Lord Jesus as the dependent man, “Nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Monthly Scripture Reading
James 3

2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

6 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.

7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Not Bound

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you” (2 Thessalonians 3:1).

I recently read a biography of John Williams, who was a pioneer missionary to the South Sea Islands. When John arrived by ship on the island of Manu’a, the most easterly of the islands of Samoa, he found many believers. He was surprised because, as far as he knew, no foreign missionary had ever been there. He soon learned that some native Christians from Raivavae, located among the Astral Islands, about three hundred miles away, had been driven off course in their canoes several years before. After three months of drifting aimlessly, twenty of them died, and a few reached Manu’a, bringing the gospel with them.

This account made me think of the verse, “The Word of God is not bound” (2 Timothy 2:9). The Apostle Paul was thankful that, even though he was in prison, the Word was still going out in various ways. Earlier, he had asked the believers in Thessalonica to pray for blessing on the gospel as it went out. We can do the same, knowing that God still works in what seem like strange and wonderful ways.