Young People’s Blog

Dear Young Christian:

Do you ever feel like your life is like a jigsaw puzzle? And do you ever feel like there is a piece or two missing — that you just can’t seem to get it together? Yes, I suppose we all have felt that way from time to time. Why? Well, perhaps there are a number of reasons, but, above all, it is because we are leaving Christ out of our daily routine in some aspect or another. Maybe we are not spending time in prayer, or reading our Bibles like we should. Maybe we are not walking in obedience to the will of the Lord, or living like a Christian should live. Whatever it may be, it is well to get before the Lord and confess it.

God has a plan and pattern for your life, but just as a jigsaw puzzle needs all the pieces to be complete, so your life will be incomplete without Christ. We enjoy the beauty of a puzzle when all the pieces are in place. But when there are pieces missing or pieces forced in the wrong place, the whole picture is spoiled. Remember this short phrase this week: “Christ is all (everything)” (Colossians 3:11).

 Your Christian Friend,

 Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you.

Send your comments and questions to jhyland1959@gmail.com

Worshippers

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 2:24).

We were made to worship God. The Father seeks worshippers who will pay homage to Him in spirit and truth. Preaching is not worship. It may inspire worship in the hearts of listeners, but preaching is the conveying of a message to an audience. Giving a testimony is not worship, although, once again, it may stir up worship. Worship is addressing God directly. Worship is directed to the Father and the Son in the Bible, but it is never addressed to the Holy Spirit — we worship in the Spirit.

Once we grasp the truth of what our God has done for us, of the sacrifice He made to save us, we will be spontaneous and compulsive worshippers. Our tongues will be the pen of a ready writer. Our lives will be one unending psalm of praise to Him. In the words of Charles Wesley, we will “dissolve our hearts in thankfulness and melt our eyes in tear … . lost in wonder, love, and praise,” and like the psalmist (Psalm 148), we will call on all creation to join us in singing the excellencies of Him who called us “out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Jesus Is Enough

“Jesus only” (Matthew 17:8).

In a large hospital lay a young person of fifteen. His body was emaciated and undersized. His face was white and sad, and he immediately excited the sympathy of a lady missionary visiting the ward! Winning his confidence, she soon found him willing, even eager, to hear the story of the sinner’s Savior. When he was awakened to some sense of his own lost condition, he began seriously to consider how he might be saved. He spoke of penance and the confessional, of sacraments and church — yet never wholly leaving out Christ and His atoning work. Calling again one day, the lady found his face aglow with new-found joy. When she inquired the reason, he replied with assurance, “I always knew that Jesus was necessary; but I never knew till yesterday that He was enough.”

Yes, Jesus is enough! It is believed by many that Jesus is necessary; the whole fabric of Christendom is built upon that. But how few realize that He is enough!It is not Christ and good works, not Christ and the Church that save.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

Solid Happiness

“Joy in the Lord” (Isaiah 29:19).
“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11).

Our joy, to be solid, must rest on something firm and immovable. Just as soon as we hang our happiness on circumstances, events, or surroundings, we go up or we go down with the tide. The thermometer of our joy is at the mercy of outside circumstances. That’s why the believers at Philippi were told, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). He never changes! “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6).

No matter how deep the sorrow, or how severe the trial, we can always find our joy in Him. The Lord said to the disciples on an occasion when sorrow filled their hearts, “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you” (John 16:22). The Apostle Paul had a lot of sorrow in His life too, but he could confirm, “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Are you finding your lasting joy in HIMSELF?

Constant Communion

“Truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).

What God the Father really desires from each of His children is a life of constant communion with Himself. In this complex world we live in, we sometimes lose sight of what is really important. We live in a cluttered society of social media and constant entertainment. There is much to distract and frustrate.

As we go about the everyday tasks or our required curriculum, He wants us to talk to Him about everything. A successful day is not necessarily measured by how well we did in class or how much money we made, but by how much we stayed in touch with our Heavenly Father — even if many things we had planned remained undone by nightfall. Do not let your “to-do list” become such a focus that it hinders you from fellowship with heaven. You need to maintain frank and open dialogue with the Father, and with His Son the Lord Jesus. This will be a great comfort and help to you in the day-to-day decisions and dilemmas as they present themselves. Make sure you keep an open line between yourself and heaven.

Taxi Driver Saved

A London newspaper told how a piece of paper left in his cab made a startling change in the life of a taxi driver named Albert Jones of Montreal. The piece of paper was a copy of the Gospel of John.

“I began to read it while hanging around stands waiting for a fare,” recalled Jones. “I became interested, got hold of a Bible and spent the next six months reading it.”

That was several years ago, and it launched him on a new career. From then on, he spent his time spreading the Word of God among the seamen on the Montreal waterfront.

“You can imagine I was very hesitant at first,” said Jones. “This was all new to me. And those sailors let me know where I stood in their eyes. They were pretty scornful to say the least. I always asked permission of the captain or mate before going aboard. Most were courteous, but some looked at me as if I had rocks in my head, but I’m perfectly content to make this my life’s work.”

 Here are two good verses to consider as we think of this life-changing story: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

A Way Through the Storm

 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee”
(Isaiah 26:3).

A foreign missionary, Amy Carmichael, gives a beautiful illustration from nature of this kind of trust.

“One of the tiniest song birds of India builds a pendant nest hanging it from four frail threads. It is a delicate work of art, with its roof and tiny porch, which a splash of water or a child’s touch might destroy. One day I saw the bird building a nest just before monsoon season, and felt that for once it had failed in its wisdom. How could such a delicate structure, in such an exposed situation, weather the winds and torrential rains? The monsoon broke, and from my window I watched the nest swaying with the branches in the wind. Then I realized that it had been so placed that the leaves immediately above formed gutters which carried the water away from the abode. There sat the bird, with its tiny head resting on her little porch, and whenever a drop of water fell on her long, curved beak, she sucked it in as if it were nectar.”

We have a more secure rest for our heart than the song bird’s porch. We have the promises of God, and they are sufficient to carry us through the worst of life’s storms.

Dear Young Christian:

“Let us consider one another” (Hebrews 10:24).

What will your influence on other Christians be this coming week? If there is ever a time when believers need each other, it is now. This is a time when the enemy, Satan, seems extra busy trying to discourage us. Ask yourself, “When did you last encourage a believer?” I can assure you that a word of support and encouragement can really lift a brother or a sister spiritually to heights you would never imagine. It is so easy to knock down and discourage, but so hard to build up. We affect one another more than we think. “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself” (Romans 14:7). As you step out into the activities of another week your life will have an impact … for good … or for bad. Encourage someone today. And remember, if you are an encourager, you will be encouraged yourself. That’s what it means when it says, “He that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs 11:25).

 Your Christian Friend,

 Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you.

Send your comments and questions to jhyland1959@gmail.com

At His Feet — Part 2

“Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of My burying hath she kept this” (John 12:7).

Moved by love for Christ, Mary of Bethany does the right thing at the right moment. She might have left the ointment in the alabaster box and presented it to Christ as a gift, but this would not have put the same honor upon Him. Instead, she pours it out upon His feet, and the Lord defends her against those who dare to criticize her act of worship.

Christ was everything to Mary. Christ was her life, her all, and she bows at His feet as a worshipper because of all that He is. She forgets herself, and her blessings, and thinks only of Him. How blessed if, when we come to worship, we could each lose sight of ourselves and see nothing except Jesus and His glory.

How blessed, too, was the effect of her act of devotion to Christ, for we read, “the house was filled with the odor of the ointment” (John 12:3). Mary’s act of worship was precious to the heart of Christ, and also a sweet fragrance to all who were in the house. That which gives honor to Christ will also bring blessing to others.

The Point of No Return

The scene of this awful tragedy was Stone Mountain, in the state of Georgia, USA. There they boast the largest boulder in the world.

One day, atop the mountain, a young man walked unsuspectingly along, seemingly oblivious to the gradual downward curvature of the dome-like mountain. Suddenly, he became aware of the fact that he was powerless to retrace his steps to safety. He had gone to the point ofno return. Frantically, he cried, “Help! Help!” His piteous plea was to no avail. Horrified spectators saw him hurtle to his death below.

We shake our heads and say, “How careless of the young man not to pay attention to where he was going.” But there are many who are traveling the road of life just as indifferent to their eternal fate. They pay no attention to the fact that twice the book of Proverbs warns, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). They continue on to their eternal death and ruin in hell, instead of taking “the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matthew 7:14).