Young People’s Blog

Hope

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively [living] hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

There is an old song that was popular when I was a teenager, and one of the lines went like this: “And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”

What a sad hope that is! It makes me think of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

But thankfully the Bible gives us hope beyond this life or just dying in our sleep. Peter refers to it as a “living” hope, because it is not only based on the death of Christ but His resurrection.

Do you have this hope in Christ? If you are not saved, then you might well say that the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep. But don’t forget, physical death is not the end. There is eternity to consider, and it will be spent in one of two places … . Heaven or Hell! There is indeed “hope in Christ,” not just for this life but for eternity.

Fields and Pastures

“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming” (Genesis 24:63).

Fields and pastures when mentioned in the Bible often speak of personal meditation and enjoyment of the Lord. David could say, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:2). The Lord said, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).

Isaac went out to the field with an express purpose, and that was to meditate. Out alone after the toils of another workday, he drew the daylight to a close in fellowship with the Lord.

As a result he “lifted up his eyes.” Meditation on divine things will cause our eyes to be lifted up, and it is amazing what we will see. Isaac saw the camels coming, bringing with them his bride. We look up and see our Heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we look, the light of His countenance falls on us, bringing us hope, joy, and strength.

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).