Young People’s Blog

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

This verse was written more than 2,500 years ago, yet it is just as true today. Naturally we tend to think that we can find our own way, but this verse clearly tells us that we do not have the wisdom to do this. We will be like someone in an unfamiliar place; without a guide we will get lost. Man cannot do without his Creator, and as Christians we cannot walk before the Lord without His help. This again drives us back to God’s Word, and to prayer. Prayer expresses our dependence on the Lord, and looks to Him to show us the right way. It may not always be the easiest way, for God has not promised us an easy road. However, in the pathway He chooses, we will have His company. Walking a difficult pathway is worth it, if He is with us! It is better to go on a difficult path in good company, than to have an easier path without Him!

“And He (Jesus) said unto them, Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25).

When I first learned to drive, cars were never equipped with backup cameras. Now they are becoming common in many new cars, but some of us who are older find it hard to get used to them. When we back a car up, we are used to turning half around, placing our right arm across the back of the front seat, and looking out the back window of the vehicle. We find it hard to trust the backup camera!

However, when I backed up the old way, I often did not back up in a straight line; I had to correct my steering frequently. But when I began to trust the backup camera, I found I could back up perfectly every time! With its wide-angle lens, the backup camera could see better than my eyes, especially at night!

Sometimes in our lives we like to try and do things in our own way, and are unwilling to trust the Lord. But He knows everything, sees everything, and is all-powerful too. We can safely trust Him to lead and guide us in a perfect way. “As for God, His way is perfect” (Psa. 18:30).

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

This verse tells us that the Word of God is both a lamp and a light. As a lamp it shows us the next step, while as a light it shows us where the path ends. But we do not know what is between the next step and the end of the path. Just as the headlights on a car do not light up the road all the way to our destination, so God’s Word does not show us the whole pathway. But we have enough light to take the next step, and we know where the path ends.

In these difficult days, we need to be more and more familiar with the Bible, for this world is going further and further away from the truth and principles of it. When I was growing up, much of what was considered normal behavior in the world was based on the Bible, and people generally respected what the Word of God said, even if they were not true Christians. But all that has changed today, as more and more the world does not want to listen to God’s Word. You and I as Christians must remember that God’s Word is our only sure guide, and we must read and obey it even more as the days grow darker. It is the only real light for our pathway!

“He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6).

Before He went to the cross, the Lord Jesus had told His disciples that He would rise from the dead. They could not seem to understand this, but in our verses, the angels at the tomb remind the women who came to embalm Him that He had said it. Now, on the first day of the week, which the Bible later calls the Lord’s day, He had indeed risen from the dead. Later many people saw Him, for He did not ascend back to heaven for forty days.

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is most important, for it showed that God was completely satisfied with the work He had done on Calvary’s cross. Now the gospel could be preached to the whole world, for God had also been glorified in that work on the cross. How glad the disciples were to see the Lord again! How happy we should be too, for His resurrection shows us that our salvation is absolutely sure.

“A certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead” (Acts 20:9).

Please read this whole story in a few verses in Acts 20:8-12. The Apostle Paul evidently was preaching late in the evening, and although “there were many lights in the upper chamber” (v. 8), poor Eutychus went to sleep. Eventually he fell down and seemed to be dead. He is a picture of a true Christian who has some desire to please the Lord, but who also wants to look out on the world. The lights in the upper chamber (speaking of God’s presence) did not have their proper effect on him, and when he fell asleep, he fell down. But he did not fall into the room; he fell out of the window. A fall for a worldly Christian is always in the wrong direction.

However, there is always a way of recovery, even if we have fallen down to the level of the world. The Apostle Paul said, “His life is in him” (v. 10), and the young man was able to come back to the upper room with the other believers. I doubt if he ever sat in the window again!

This story shows us how necessary it is to appreciate the light of God’s presence, and the ministry of the Word of God. If Eutychus had not been sitting in a window, he would not have fallen asleep and fallen down!

“In Him (the Lord Jesus) was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:4-5).

What we read in this verse is impossible in natural things. If we walk into a dark room and turn the light on, the darkness immediately vanishes, and we can see clearly. In our verses today, we see that when the Lord Jesus came into the world, His life was the light of this world. Morally and spiritually, the perfect life of the Lord Jesus showed how wicked man was, and how sin had spoiled this whole world. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin has been in this world, and all the sorrow and misery here has been the result of sin.

But man’s will was set against God, and he loved living in his sins. When the Lord Jesus came into this world as the light of the world, man rejected that light. Yes, they were glad to be rid of the consequences of their sin, and many people came to the Lord Jesus to be healed of their diseases. They were also very glad when He raised people from the dead. But they did not want to admit that they were helpless sinners in the sight of God, and for this reason they rejected the Lord Jesus. But the Lord Jesus went on to the cross in spite of all this, and now He offers salvation to all who will believe on Him. He is still the light of the world.

“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130).

In most countries of the world today, we are used to having electric lights. When we come into a dark room, we simply flick on the light switch. Immediately the room is filled with light, and we can see. Sometimes even brighter lights are necessary, as, for example, when doctors are doing surgery. Then they have very strong lights with reflectors that concentrate the beam into one place, so that they can see very clearly.

God’s Word is like a light to this world, not in a physical way, but in a moral way. It tells us who God is, tells us right from wrong, and most important, shows us clearly that in our natural condition, we are all sinners. The Word of God tells us that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Without the light from God’s Word, we would not realize that we are all sinners, and that we cannot approach God in our sins.

But the Bible also tells us that God loves us and sent His Son to die for us. This too is like a light to us, for we would not know of the love of God if we did not have His Word to tell us. How wonderful it is that God wrote His Word for us, and that we have it available in our own language!

“Pilate saith unto Him (Jesus), What is truth?” (John 18:38).

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Jesus did not actually answer Pilate in this way; He gave this answer earlier to His disciple Thomas, but it tells us the answer to Pilate’s question.

Today we hear so many things in the news media that it is sometimes hard to know what is true and what is “fake news.” Also, some people today try to tell us that there is no actual truth; it just depends on the circumstances. A few years ago a minister of a so-called church in England told people that if you needed food and could not afford it, it was all right to steal from big supermarkets, but not from small stores.

But God’s Word gives us absolute truth — things that never change. Once a university student was arguing about this with a gospel preacher. When the preacher stood up to leave the student’s room, he casually picked up his stereo set and began to walk away with it. When the student became upset, the preacher replied, “Who are you to tell me that it is wrong to steal?” As a result the student’s eyes were opened, and he realized that when his own possessions were involved, he did believe in absolute truth. He eventually accepted the Lord Jesus as His Savior.

“The soul of the sluggard [lazy person] desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Proverbs 13:4).

When we are young, often we have to do things we do not want to do. We may have certain jobs around the house, and most children today have homework to do. This is called discipline; it teaches us good work habits, and how to manage our time well.

But then, as we get older, we are expected to be able to discipline ourselves. By the time we go to high school, we should be learning how to manage our own time. Sad to say, some children today are not taught good discipline, and then they do not learn how to make themselves do something that they do not want to do.

It is much the same in our Christian life. Just as in natural things, so we must discipline ourselves in spiritual things. It takes discipline, for example, to get up early enough to read our Bible in the morning, and to take time to pray. Satan whispers to us, “You are too busy; do it later!” But then, when the evening comes, perhaps we are too tired to read the Bible. It is important to learn to discipline ourselves as Christians, for it is the diligent Christian who learns more of Christ.

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

We looked at this verse back in January, but let us focus on another phrase in it this time. Most of you have run a race, and you know that you do not want to carry any weight when you are running. In this verse a weight is not our daily work or our normal responsibilities in our personal and family life. It is an unnecessary activity that we add to our lives — something that slows us down in our Christian pathway. It may not be wrong in itself, but it robs us of time that could better be spent for the Lord. For example, spending hours playing video games, or going on Facebook, could be weights for children and young people.

Also, the devil is always there to tempt us with sin, and sin also robs us of our joy in the Lord. We are to lay aside both of these things, so that we can concentrate on the race that we are running. Notice too that it is a long race, to be run with patience. For this we need the Lord’s strength, and we must be “looking unto Jesus” — the One who always acted in faith, and showed us perfectly how to run that race.