A TRUE SERVANT DOES NOT ATTRACT ATTENTION TO HIMSELF
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14
Daniel could have used the crisis in the palace of Babylon as an opportunity to glorify himself, he studiously avoids doing so. Daniel told the king, "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh know to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the later days. ...But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living. Daniel 2:28.30 Daniel made it his business to ensure that he was given no credit for the revelation, and that glory was ascribed to God alone.
We are living in days when men vie with each other for a place in the lime light. Whether it be in the political arena, the sports field, or wherever, man is always striving for self-glorification. Sadly this spirit is also at work among the people of God. Remember when the Lord was nearing the cross and the disciples were striving among themselves as to "who should be the greatest" (Mark 9:34).
As the servants of God we cannot allow ourselves to be caught up in the frenzied attempt to get the glory. We have to remind ourselves constantly that, at best, we are only servants. The Apostle Paul grasped this when he tells us that everything that man would count as a credit towards self, he counted but dung.
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ...and do count them but dung that I may win Christ...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:7,8) - (2:5), and he went on to describe the downward path taken by the Lord Jesus, which culminated in the cross.
May God grant us the same spirit of self-effacement that we see in Daniel, refusing to take any glory to ourselves. We are but bond-slaves. The glory belongs to Him whom we serve, and to Him alone. W Burnett - Daniel
N.J. Hiebert - 20305
May 11
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Hear ye Him.
Matthew 17:5
God's beloved Son, the Author of life, entered a scene of disease and death but remained untainted, unspotted, flawless and faultless. He took on Himself human flesh, partook of our humanity and unresistingly went to Gethsemane, Gabbatha (John 19:13) and Golgotha.
There He would make reconciliation between a righteous God and the fallen man He had created in His image!
Drew Craig
Lamb of God! when we behold Thee
Lowly in the manger laid;
Wandering as a homeless stranger
In the world Thy hands had made;
When we see Thee in the garden
In Thine agony of blood,
At Thy grace we are confounded,
Holy, spotless Lamb of God!
When we see Thee as the Victim
Nailed to the accursèd tree,
For our guilt and folly stricken,
All our judgment borne by Thee,
Lord, we own, with hearts adoring,
Thou hast washed us in Thy blood:
Glory, glory everlasting,
Be to Thee, Thou Lamb of God!
J. G. Deck
N.J. Hiebert - 20306
May 12
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Not only has my Saviour paid my mighty debt, but He has bought me. I am His, altogether His, and His only. What love! What grace! How can I doubt Him? Yet this is what the Galatians were doing.
God is satisfied with that price, but the senseless Galatians had forgotten. And they wanted to add their own works, circumcision, and the law, to the price that Christ had paid.
If I owe a mighty debt, and my friend pays every cent of it for me, and hands me the receipt, how can I add a further payment? This is what the Galatians were doing. If a man pays a great price to set a slave free, why should the freed slave add to the price that is already completed? But this is what the Galatians were doing.
They could not, or they would not, trust to Christ alone. They wish to add their own wretched works. "O foolish (senseless) Galatians!" (Galatians 3:1) .
This salvation was all "according to the will of our God and Father." On the one hand "Christ gave Himself," (Galatians 2:20) on the other hand "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16)
They have one mind in rescuing poor lost sinners. Well may the Apostle exclaim, "To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen!" (Galatians 1:5) Gladly do we who believe also say "Amen"
Meditations on Galatians - G.C. Willis
N.J. Hiebert - 20307
May 13
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16.
ORIGINAL TITANIC BOARDING PASS: "Designed by the elite in engineering, built by the best in the business, and crewed by the cream of the White Star line, this new ship incorporates the very latest advances in science and technology and features every modern convenience to ensure you the ultimate in SAFETY and comfort. Enjoy your voyage - Edward J. Smith, Captain"
In April 1912 the passengers and crew of the famous and ill-fated Titanic, set out from Southhampton, England--bound for New York, USA--with very high expectations. For a few days, all went well. Then, disaster! On April 15, the ship struck an iceberg in the dead of night and sank in less than three hours--and more than two-thirds of the 2,224 people who had been aboard went down with the ship.
They made elaborate plans. They set out with great expectation--only to meet with disappointment, or worse. How many of the Titanic passengers would have abandoned the ship before it sailed had they known that the ship was doomed. They believed what they had read and heard. And, had they heard otherwise, would they have believed it? This world is a doomed ship--just as certainly as the Titanic
Men have tried their best and done their worst. Many today are desperately occupied with trying to improve a world which they recognize is in very bad shape and getting worse. Scientists, politicians abound with suggestions, and many around us are making frantic efforts to plug the holes and to paint the ship. Others are just as desperately pursuing passing pleasures--apparently indifferent to current conditions and to coming catastrophe. All are doomed--by sin.
"There is is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that seeketh after God....There is none that doeth good, no, not one. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10-12, 23).
Because of sin, this world, and everybody in it, faces judgment: "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by the that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He raised Him from the dead" Acts 17:30-31 The Titanic did not have adequate lifeboats and there was no help at hand when the ship went down. But because Jesus died and rose again, there is hope and immediate help. He is worthy of your trust. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31) BTP, Adapted
N.J. Hiebert - 20308
May 14
Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. Mark 6:31
It should be recognized once for all that the laws of nature are the will of God for the body; and that if we violate these laws knowingly or unknowingly we will suffer. Soul and body are so strangely and so strongly interlinked that undue strain on any one of them vitally affects the other.
Now, since manual work builds up the muscles, and mental work wears out the nerves, it is found that those who suffer most from dejection are the people who have excessive sedentary and brain work. The monotony and strain of their daily tasks have the effect of lowering the vitality of the body, and of damping the ardour of their sprits; and these in turn blur the outlook and darken the sky, depress the mind and sadden the heart.
But despondency is not limited to such. The courageous Elijah faced over eight hundred of the enemies of God (1 Kings 18:19) and did so unflinchingly (verse 27). And yet, when the ordeal was over, the inevitable reaction came even to him. "He went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, 'It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.' " (19:4).
But see how tenderly God dealt with him, providing just what he needed--rest and food (verses 5-8). Ah! our Maker remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14; Genesis 2:7); it is we who forget it and act as if we, were made of iron. After a season of strenuous activity, the Master said to his disciples:"Come ye...rest awhile (Mark 6:31). And possibly all that is needed to lift from the life of any one of us the gloom and heaviness that have fallen upon it, is a little change and holiday in the country.
If the reader is indoors all day, exercise in the fresh air, if possible is indispensable to the maintenance of health. Of the various forms of recreation none can exceed in utility work in the garden. Contact with the soil--digging, pruning, planting, watering--gives the body just the exercise which it needs, and reacts most helpfully on mind and heart and nerves. Heaven's Cure for Earth's Care - George Henderson
N.J. Hiebert - 20309
May 15
David went on going and growing, and the Lord . . . was with him.
2 Samuel 5:10
When a believer stops going he ceases growing also. There must be obedience to the truth of God, a "going" on in the ways that be in Christ, as they are learned from His Word. No shirking of the cross that obedience often brings with it, but steady "going and growing" steadily and constantly.
They are the happy saints who thus go on growing, and they are fruitful ones too. They are not toppled over with every wind, for they grow like the cedar in Lebanon, striking down their roots deeper every year, and flourish like the palm tree, evergreen, amid burning deserts. J. Ritchie
The cedar boughs once touched the grass;
But every year they grew
A little farther from the ground
And nearer to the blue.
So live that that you may each year be,
While time glides swiftly by,
A little farther from the earth,
And nearer to the sky.
N.J. Hiebert - 20310
May 16
May 17
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