Young People’s Blog

Dear Young Christian:

Every phase of life and every area of the world has its unique problems and difficulties. When I was a young person, I thought if I could only be further along in life things would be so much easier. But I have found out that life doesn’t get easier as we get older. In fact in some respects it only gets more difficult and complicated.

I also used to think, if I only lived somewhere else I wouldn’t have all these circumstances to deal with. But having traveled and visited Christians in different parts of the world I realize there are problems and trials no matter where we live. That’s why it is important to be satisfied and content with whatever our lot is. No matter where we are in life, or where the Lord has placed us, He has a purpose and plan, and if we submit to His will, He will preserve us and use us in blessing to others. The Apostle Paul said, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11), and also, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

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

Think on Me

“But think on me when it shall be well with thee” (Genesis 40:14).

Often we turn to the Lord when the going gets tough and we have requests and needs. However, it is quite another thing to think about Him when everything is going well.

In the above verse, Joseph, who was in prison, asked the chief butler to remember him when he was back in his old job and doing well. But the butler forgot. This is just a little lesson to us that we too would forget all about the Lord unless we had something to remember Him by. That is why the Lord Jesus took a loaf and a cup, and said to His disciples, “This do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19).

The loaf and the cup remind us of Him in His death. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Lord knew that we would need a reminder and that we would need it often. Remember Him today by eating of the bread and drinking of the cup, and remember Him in your heart all this coming week.

 

Rescue from the Sea

“He is able also to save them to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25).

The flight from Nassau to Miami usually took Walter Wyatt 65 minutes. But on December 5, 1986, he attempted it with only a compass and a hand-held radio. When his compass began to gyrate, he flew below the clouds hoping to spot something, but knew he was lost. He radioed a Mayday call, which brought a Coast Guard search plane. But then his right engine died, and the plane crashed in the water. Wyatt survived, but his plane sank, leaving him with a leaky life vest. With blood on his forehead, he floated on his back. Suddenly he felt a hard bump. A shark had found him. Wyatt kicked the intruder, and stayed afloat for ten hours. In the morning, he saw a dorsal fin was headed for him. In a moment, two more sharks sliced through the water. He kicked the sharks, and they veered away, but he was nearing exhaustion. Then he heard the sound of an aircraft and waved his orange vest. The pilot radioed a nearby boat. As the boat pulled alongside him Wyatt climbed wearily onto the ship. Nothing less than outside intervention could have rescued him from sure death. How much we are like Walter Wyatt!

 

The Lord’s Care Through Angels

When I was a young person, my friend John and I used to like to body surf on the roof of his car on a roller coaster road on a dark night near our hometown of Smiths Falls. It is a very dangerous sport, and I do not recommend it, nor will I give any details as to how it is done. When I think of it now it makes me shudder to consider what the consequences could have been.

Now that I am older, I am thankful for the Lord’s care, and for the Scripture that tells us of one of the functions of angels. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)? Yes, I am sure that the Lord was using more than one angel to keep me from harm as a teenager. David said, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7). David had many dangers in his life, but he was thankful for the Lord’s care through those angelic beings.

As you start another month, go forth with a sense of the Lord’s preserving care…and please, don’t do anything foolish, like body surf on car roofs!!!!

 

Technology

“They that use this world, as not abusing it”
(1 Corinthians 7:31).

Technology can be a good servant, but also a hard master!

I am thankful for the technology that God has allowed man to develop, and it can be used to spread the gospel and the truth of Scripture in wonderful ways. In that context it can be a very good servant. Through technology the Bible is getting into dark corners of the world where it has never been before. Missionaries and servants of God are able to travel distances and to places that were unheard of a few years ago. So we use it, but we don’t abuse it.

However, the great danger with technology is that we become a slave to it, and that it becomes a hard master. It is good to stop and assess the situation from time to time, and ask ourselves, Am I using it for the Lord’s glory, and to simply get me through this world in the everyday circumstances of life, or am I letting it control my time and drain my spiritual energy? To a certain extent we need to keep up with technology for school and work, but don’t let it rob you of the enjoyment of your relationship with the Lord.

 

Eating

“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

The more we eat, the more we want!

With our natural appetite, the more we eat, the less we want. It is quite different with our spiritual appetite — the less we eat, the less we want; and the more we eat, the more we want.

The less you read of Scripture, the less appetite you have for it. Habitual reading of the Word of God will give you a greater appetite, and will cause you to “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9). The Lord’s desire for us is that we would have a craving for the Word. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). The Bible is the only spiritual food that satisfies the spiritual appetite while we are here in this world. Let’s be like Job who said, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

 

Alone

“I watch and am…alone” (Psalm 102:7).

I am writing this page while on the train from Menen, Belgium to the airport in Brussels. There are three of us traveling together, including my wife and another friend. We have had a happy time in western Europe, and have visited some isolated Christians whom we have come to know and love in the Lord over many years. Many have very little Christian fellowship as they live in areas where the light of Christianity is almost non-existent. In a real sense they go on alone with, and for, the Lord.

I have often wondered what it would be like to have to go on alone for the Lord, or with very little encouragement, even from close family. The Lord knew what it was to be alone. Many Christians are put to that test every day, and we need to pray for them. It is possible to live for the Lord even under those kinds of conditions, and just being with a large number of other Christians is no guarantee that we will continue on in the path or be kept pure. Solomon said, “I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.” (Proverbs 5:14).

 

Dear Young Christian:

Yesterday we considered the question “What think ye of Christ?” raised by the Lord Jesus as He addressed the Pharisees. But there is another very important part to that same question. The second part of the question is, “Whose son is He” (Matthew 22:42)? The answer that the Pharisees gave was, “The Son of David.” But the Lord went on to show them that He was far more than just the Son of David. He was the eternal Son of God.

Earlier in Matthew Peter declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). It is not only important, but imperative that we hold on to the truth that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. When the Lord was on earth there were many who saw Him as simply being a good man, a prophet, and a great teacher. But, while it is true the Lord was all of those things, yet, He was more. John said, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

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

Christ

“What think ye of Christ?” (Matthew 22:42).

The Psalmist said:

“Thou art fairer than the children of men” (Psalm 45:2).

The Bride said:

“He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend” (Song of Solomon 5:16).

Peter said:

“Lord…Thou knowest that I love Thee” (John 21:17).

Paul said:

“Christ is all (everything)” (Colossians 3:11).

What is your estimation of the Person of Christ? How much does He mean to you, and how deeply do you love Him? As you are occupied with His qualities and attributes, and as you remember and consider the work of Calvary today, your appreciation of the Lord Jesus will deepen. Then, as you go forth this week, the answer to the question, “What think ye of Christ?” will be found and seen in your everyday life and testimony.

 

The Entrance of the Word

“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).

A poor man who had been deprived of a Bible all his life, because of the cost, was at last given the opportunity to secure one.

He read it daily with growing interest until one evening he said to his wife, “Let us read a chapter or so together, aloud every night.”

This they did. In about a week, during the reading session, the man suddenly stopped, and said, “Wife, if this Book is true, then we are wrong.”

A couple of evenings passed by when again the man stopped reading and said, “My dear, if this Book is true, then we’re lost.”

Now deeply anxious, he continued reading. By and by he stopped again, but this time his face lit up with joy and he exclaimed, “My good wife, if this Book is true, then we are saved.” He had experienced the truth of the verse, “The entrance of Thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:130).