Young People’s Blog

“Wealth gotten by vanity [emptiness, something that is not real] shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase” (Proverbs 13:11).

Many people dream of “getting rich quick,” and they try many ways to do this. Some resort to gambling, some buy lottery tickets (which is a form of gambling), while others look for “hot tips” on buying stocks. Still others look for a job that requires little work but pays well. It is true that some people get rich this way, but they rarely keep their money very long. As our verse says, it usually diminishes, and they lose it again. As we all know, the vast majority of those who gamble end up losing their money rather than winning.

As Christians it is never right to want to be rich, but it is a fact of life that those who make their money by honest work usually end up keeping it, and using it well. We value what we have worked for, and we tend to take better care of it.

“Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee” (Proverbs 9:8).

We live in a world where it is increasingly difficult to point out to people that they are wrong. It is sad that most of the time, even if people realize that they are incorrect or at fault, they will defend themselves. This was brought out in an article I read recently, in which the author asked, “When was the last time someone thanked you for showing them that they were wrong?” Yet according to this scripture, only a scorner would get angry under these circumstances. If a wise man has made a mistake, he wants to be corrected, and will be thankful for it. Then, if others have been involved, he will be willing to apologize.

During my lifetime, many godly people have had an influence on me, but those whom I admired and respected the most were those who readily admitted a mistake, and were willing to apologize for it. This did not diminish my respect for them; rather, it made me respect them all the more.

“Remembering Mine affliction and My misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in Me” (Lamentations 3:19-20).

The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross nearly 2000 years ago, yet this verse tells us that He still remembers all that happened there. It is as fresh in His memory as if it happened yesterday. During my lifetime I have known many people who suffered greatly at some time in their life, and who remember it very well. Perhaps they were involved in a bad car accident, or were in a war where they were badly hurt. But no one has ever suffered as much as the Lord Jesus.

He remembers all that happened there at Calvary’s cross, and He wants us to remember Him. We were not there, of course, so we did not see what happened, but the Lord Jesus appreciates it when we remember, with Him, all that He suffered there.

“Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee” (Proverbs 3:27-28).

When I was a boy, I had what they called a “paper route,” and delivered the daily paper to a number of homes. Every Saturday I collected the money people owed me for bringing the paper. Sometimes people were busy outside, or perhaps watching a football game on television, and would say, “I’ll pay you next week.” I did not like this, for later that day a representative from the newspaper company came to our house, and I had to pay him for the papers. What was left over was my pay, and if too many people did not pay me, I did not get very much that week.

As our verse tells us, it is good to look after our obligations instead of being selfish and forgetting that the other person may really need what we are supposed to give him. My paper customers were not poor; they could well afford to pay me for their paper (it was only 30 cents a week in those days!). Sometimes they just could not be bothered to go and get it. Let us not act like that, as Christians.

“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again” (Proverbs 19:17).

Sometimes when we lend money to someone, we may have doubts as to whether they will ever pay it back again. They may ask for a loan, but they never pay it back. But could we ever have a question about the Lord’s paying us back? Of course not! It might not be in cash, but He always repays in some way. Here in our verse we read that taking pity on the poor is the same as lending to the Lord, and we are assured that He will pay us back. Of course, we need wisdom in doing this, for we can be careless and give money to those who do not need it, or are too lazy to work and earn their own money.

However, the Lord Jesus said, “The poor always ye have with you” (John 12:8), and this is still true today. It is a privilege to help those who really need it, and the Lord takes notice of it. He will not let us down if we give to those who are poor; He will make it up to us.

“But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing” (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

We live in a world with many needs. At the time I am writing this, the world has many problems that man does not know what to do with. Climate changes are causing droughts in some places and floods in others. Migrants are flooding into Europe and the United States, all wanting something better than the desperate conditions under which they are now living. The Covid pandemic continues to bring chaos into many lives, while governments are spending money they do not have in order to combat it.

Within our own individual lives, we too may see many needs around us. Sometimes it is tempting to throw up our hands, and to stop helping other people. But as the Lord gives us strength, we are not to become weary in well doing. The verb “to become weary” in the Greek language means not to faint, or to lose heart. If we ask Him, the Lord will give us strength to continue to help those who need it. We cannot help everyone, but the Lord will give us wisdom to know what to do for Him.

“Brethren, pray for us…that we may be delivered from bad and evil men, for faith is not the portion of all” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 JND).

Quite a few years ago I was handing out gospel tracts on a busy corner in downtown Toronto, Ontario. A man came along who resented my doing this, and kept coming at me with abusive language. Finally, he told me that I would do the world a great favor if I would go out and hang myself. He did not want a gospel tract, nor would he listen to me in any way. I needed to be delivered from him, so I went and stood on another corner, some distance away, and he did not bother me anymore.

We should be ready to speak to anyone about the Lord, but sometimes we encounter people who fit into our verse today — those who are “bad and evil.” Then we need to ask the Lord to deliver us from them. We can continue to pray for them, but it is a waste of our time to try and speak to them. They will only occupy our minds with wrong things, for they do not have faith, nor are they interested in having it.

“We exhort you, brethren…to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your own hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:10-11 JND).

“For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies” (2 Thessalonians 3:11).

Evidently there was a real problem in Thessalonica with this kind of people, for the Apostle Paul mentions it in both of the epistles he wrote to them. It is easy for us to wish to be involved in other people’s affairs, and to be so busy in this that we do not look after our own affairs properly. It is nice to inquire about others when we wish to be a help to them, and especially when they are in trouble, but idle curiosity that wants to know everything about everyone else is really nothing but gossip. This almost always leads to trouble, for things get repeated and often exaggerated, so that what is said is not even true. This causes hard feelings and eventually may destroy our Christian fellowship with others.

It is important to mind our own business, unless the Lord leads us to seek out someone else who really needs help. Then let us keep to ourselves anything that we may know about them.

“Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us” (1 Thessalonians 2:18).

In our Christian life we will find that when we feel led to do something for the Lord, Satan may well be there to throw up roadblocks in front of us. We must remember, of course, that the Lord is over all things, and that Satan cannot do anything to us unless He allows it. But all the same, we must recognize that Satan is always trying and stop the work of the Lord.

Some years ago I had invited a young man to a gospel meeting, and he promised to come. When he did not show up, I called him the next day. He said that suddenly his sister had come home from a distant city, and that his parents had hosted a family dinner at his home that evening. I am sure Satan arranged all that, so that my friend would not hear the gospel.

Satan has some power but the Lord’s power is greater. If we have a sense in our souls that we are doing what the Lord would have us do, we can recognize Satan’s hindrances, and ask the Lord to help us overcome them.

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

The Jewish nation surely had had plenty of evidence as to who the Lord Jesus was. He had fulfilled every prophecy about Himself in the Old Testament scriptures. The Romans too had observed Him throughout His earthly ministry; they certainly knew what He had been doing, and all the miracles He had performed. But when they crucified the Lord Jesus, He gave them “the benefit of the doubt,” as we might say, and asked that they be forgiven. He said that they did not know what they were doing.

In some ways this was true, for they did not realize the purposes of God in it all. All they knew was that they hated the Lord Jesus for exposing their sin, and they wanted to get rid of Him. But how gracious the Lord was to say those words, as they drove nails into his hands and feet! This is the first of seven things that the Lord Jesus said when He was on the cross.