Young People’s Blog

Harps

I heard an orchestra play a few evenings ago and it was absolutely beautiful. What I especially enjoyed was the harp. It got me thinking about the music of heaven and what it will be like, and of course it brought to mind the verse that says, “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” (Revelation 5:8).

Then I thought about the hymn written by William Cowper over 200 years ago, and the verses that say:

Lord, we believe Thou hast prepared
(Unworthy though we be)
For us a blood-bought, free reward,
And harps of minstrelsy.

Harps strung and tuned for endless years
And formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears,
No other name but Thine.

What a wonderful music that will be!

 

Thanks

I was staying in the home of some good Christian friends of mine. One morning I got up feeling rather sorry for myself and kind of grumpy. No one else was up, and so I went down to the kitchen to get myself a cup of coffee, which I was told the night before would be ready for me. As I stood at the kitchen sink sipping the hot brew, I noticed a card on the bulletin board beside the sink. This is what it said:

GREET EACH DAY WITH THANKS!

Wow! What a rebuke! I immediately thought of the verse that says, “Be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:15). So many times the Bible exhorts us and reminds us to be thankful.

We are to be thankful when we have prayer requests: “With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6).

We are to be thankful at all times and in every situation and circumstance of life: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

How thankful will you be today?

 

Dear Young Christian:

“And the Lord called Samuel” (1 Samuel 3:4).

Everyone seems to be carrying them today! Cell phones, smartphones, etc. You are in a dark room and suddenly a screen lights up as someone reads an incoming text and perhaps takes time to reply. Statistics show that the sense that there might be a message out there for us is increasingly difficult to resist. Samuel was a young boy when he heard a voice call his name and thought it was Eli the priest. When Eli finally realized that God was calling, he told him how to respond. When God called the fourth time Samuel answered, “Speak; for thy servant heareth” (1 Samuel 3:10). This attentiveness to the voice of God became the pattern of Samuel’s life, and as a result he was used in a mighty way for the blessing of God’s people.

Will you listen to the voice of God as He speaks to you this week, through His Living Word by His Spirit, or are you more drawn to the vibration or beep of a smartphone?

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you. Send your comments or questions to [email protected]

Worship

“Jesus…said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him” (John 9:35-38).

The blind man who was so miraculously healed in this chapter went from knowing about Jesus as a “man” to believing in Him as his “Lord.” And when he found Jesus as Lord he worshipped Him. The same will be true of you. When you know Jesus as Lord of your life you will want to spend time in worship. In fact, it will be the spontaneous reaction of your heart.

He is the only one who is worthy of worship. In the Old Testament David said, “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2). In the New Testament the Lord Himself reminded Peter, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10). Will He receive that worship He so desires from you today?

 

Fly Away

“We spend our years as a tale that is told…for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:9-10).

Here we are (my wife and I), on a plane from Frankfurt Germany to Ottawa Canada. We know where we are going, we are being taken care of on the way, and the monitor at our seat tells us our altitude, ground speed, and estimated time of arrival. Everyone on this Boeing 777 is going to the same place and will arrive at the same time.

But what about our travel to eternity? Not everyone is going to the same place, and no one knows how long their journey of life will be. For some it is short, for others it is longer, but one thing is for sure, it will end, and there is a destiny.

My wife and I made sure we had a ticket and a boarding pass, and that our seat was secure long before the plane took off. For both of us, our ticket is also secured for that day when we will “fly away” to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus our precious Saviour. Before this flight ends, our heavenly flight may take place. We are prepared, for that flight of all flights through the work of Calvary…ARE YOU?

 

Words

I remember staying in a home one time and seeing this motto hanging on the bedroom wall:

O Lord, help me to keep my words tender and sweet today!

Because tomorrow I may have to eat them!

It made me think of two verses of Scripture, one written by David in the Old Testament, and the other by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament:

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord” (Psalm19:14).

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:6).

Yes, often we have to “eat our words” and sometimes it is a big, bitter mouthful to swallow.

 

True Happiness — Part 2

“Believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable”
(1 Peter 1:8).

To always appear sad and forlorn is not commending the gospel to the unsaved around us. It is the gospel, or the glad tidings, of God concerning His Son, that we are called upon to make known, both by word and action. It is good news to the weary sinner. As we are feeding, in our own souls, upon the love of God, the beauties and glories of Christ, and the wonderful blessings we have, our faces will not look sad, but a deep peace, and calm joy will possess us, and our countenance will show that which will be to His glory.

Then too, we will not be self-occupied but think of the good and needs of others — visiting the sick and poor; inquiring into their needs and serving them; seeking out the lonely and depressed, and telling them of the comfort of Christ, and show true sympathy for others, which the Lord so delights in and so deeply proved when He was here upon earth.

Those who are most like Christ in these things do more to commend the gospel than all who speak of it while acting as if there was no happiness connected with knowing Christ.

 

True Happiness — Part 1

“Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he”
(Proverbs 16:20).

True happiness is to be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, feeding upon Him through the Word. Really, a Christian is the only one who has a right to be happy. Yes, and certainly we should be happy! We should be the happiest people on earth.

What is the reason we find so many Christians who go around with sad faces? It shows us that Christ is not the object of their hearts, and that they are not casting all their care upon Him, relying on the assurance that He cares for them every hour of every day.

There are some people who think that believers need to be very somber and serious — that what they call religion is to be always associated with gloom — so they go about looking so sad, as if they hadn’t a friend in the world, when Jesus is their friend and He has shown such wonderful love in giving His life for them, and is concerned about the smallest trials, and will carry all their cares for them if they will let Him.

 

Known and Read

“Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).

Known and read of all men,
At school, at work, each day;
Watched by those around me…
I wonder what they say?
Do they know I am a Christian,
Can they tell it for a fact?
Is what I say confirmed,
By the way I look and act?

Known and read of all men,
Like an open book;
By my friends and neighbors,
As on my life they look:
Do they daily see my Saviour,
Owned as Lord in all I do,
Glorified in every action,
As my life and ways they view?

 

Dear Young Christian:

“It is time to seek the Lord” (Hosea 10:12).

Well here we are into the first week of August, and summer is half over. As we look back over holidays, summer jobs, and perhaps just relaxing a bit, what can we say as to how wisely we have used our time? And what about the rest of the summer, what will we do with that? Peter says, about the Christian, “that he…should live the rest of his time…to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:2). Maybe you feel you have wasted valuable time over the past few weeks, but that is no excuse for wasting time in the weeks to come. None of us know how much more time we have, so let’s use it wisely and for the Lord’s glory. We will be held responsible for how we utilized the time that was entrusted to us in this life, and what excuses will we be able to give the Lord at that time? None!

So, as Hosea reminds us, the time to seek the Lord and live for Him is NOW! All we have left is the present, and whatever little time He gives us, be it minutes, hours, or days.

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you. Send your comments or questions to [email protected]