MINUTE MEDITATIONS
Robert Lloyd
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:28 AM
MINUTE MEDITATIONS
Robert Lloyd
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:30 AM
Absence
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder” is a familiar old saying with a lovely sentiment, but unfortunately it isn’t always true. Many lovers have returned to find their betrothed married to another.
But this saying is true when those separated are faithful and their love is strong. These will constantly think of the one that is away, they will correspond, they will reject the opportunity to go out with another, they do nothing that would meet with the disapproval of their betrothed. To these “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Those weak ones who rationalize, who excuse their unfaithfulness by saying that a little fun doesn’t hurt anyone, and besides who is to know about a few secret dates, will soon find that letter writing becomes more of a chore and soon the love that once burned so strongly will gradually grow cold and finally die.
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder” only when those involved have the courage of their conviction and the will power to make temporary sacrifices for the anticipation of future happiness with their true love.
True Christians are waiting for their bridegroom (Christ) who has promised to take to himself his bride (his church) when he returns from heaven to set up his kingdom. The question each of us must ask ourselves is, does Christ’s absence make our heart grow fonder? Are we becoming more and more anxious for his return? Or are we having what we hope are secret infatuations with the world which are causing us to momentarily forget? The more ties we have with the world, the less anxious we are for his return. Our homes, our jobs. our hobbies. and our recreation can all become figurative lovers that compete against Christ for our time and affection. We must be true to our first love.
Peter has warned us of those who would say “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation”.
Sometimes this question can come from an outside tempter, but it can also be detected as a small voice within us when we find that our interests and our duties fall in opposite directions. Of course, none want to admit that such a thought could occur to us, but then by our actions we often visibly display its result. Human nature is such a subtle thing that it is often possible to deceive even our own selves, but of course we are not deceiving Christ. When he returns he will know who are his own and who are not. In Christ’s parable of the virgins, some were wise and some were foolish. We need to remember that they were all virgins. It isn’t that the foolish were so wicked as much as they were foolish. They didn’t do anything very bad, but they just didn’t do anything. Absence made their hearts forget. They weren’t longing for his return although they were expecting it.
We are expecting Christ to return. Is his absence making our hearts grow fonder?
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:31 AM
Accountability
Daniel Webster, when asked what was the greatest thought that had ever entered his mind, replied: “My accountability to Almighty God.”
This thought evidently hasn’t occurred to many people, at least it wouldn’t appear to be so from the way most people are living. Their lives reflect more “of an eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” attitude, than any thought of being held accountable to God.
When we stop to reflect just how great God is, and then remember that Jesus told us that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without our Father’s knowing it, we can understand that everything we do is known to Him. In a general way, the whole world is accountable to God, for He knows when the sparrow falls, yet that is the end of the sparrow. So it is with most men. They live and die like a flower blossoming in the desert air. They are as though they had never been.
When we consider that by our knowledge of God, we place ourselves in an accountable position to Him and also become eligible to receive from Him that glorious prize of everlasting life that He has offered to those who do know Him and have kept His commandments, it truly becomes one of the greatest thoughts that has ever entered our minds.
In the hall which our ecclesia rents on Sunday, there is a plaque over the fireplace that says, “Knowledge is Power.” When we realize what power there is in the knowledge of God, it is truly staggering. It is knowledge that is able to make one wise unto salvation. This knowledge is so powerful it will bring dead bodies to life again in the resurrection at the last day. This knowledge is so powerful that it makes us accountable to Almighty God. James tells us that “him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Now the question is, when we know what we should do, when we realize that we are accountable to God, what do we do and how do we act? Paul warned the Romans that “Everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Does our life reflect the fact that we understand the point Jesus made when he told us that every idle word that we shall speak, we shall give account thereof in the day of judgment? For by our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned. Knowing this, Paul admonishes us saying, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
James warns us about the dangers of the tongue and all the trouble it can get us into. When we consider that God knows not only everything we say but even what we think, surely our accountability to Him is a thought we should never forget. Let’s hope we are not like the foolish servant who knew he was accountable to his lord yet took his talent and hid it in the earth. He knew his lord would return. He knew he would be held accountable for the talent. In spite of this, he did nothing. We need to be on guard that we are not foolish servants of the Lord hiding our talents in the earth. All we have to do is try. God gives the increase, but He won’t give it to us if we are sitting down.
Truly, knowledge is power. Paul’s desire was to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection. Knowledge, like faith, is useless if it’s all alone.
Actually Peter says it would be better not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after having known it, to turn from the holy commandment. Since we know, and we know we are accountable, let us, with God’s help, use our knowledge in works meet for repentance that at the coming of Jesus he will be pleased to say to us, “Well done.”
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:31 AM
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:32 AM
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:32 AM
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:33 AM
Are You Blocking The Way?
Will Rogers was a well-known, homespun-type philosopher and he once said, “Ever. if you are on the right path, you will still get run over if you just sit there.” This ties in with another saying, “If you are not on the way, you are in the way.”
We place a great deal of emphasis on being on that straight and narrow path that leads to life everlasting, but it is important that we are actually moving forward on that path.
We have all experienced the frustration of finding a car in the fast lane moving along at a slow pace. Many times these drivers cause accidents because they are in the way, and it is possible to be given a ticket for obstructing traffic by going too slow in the fast lane.
We are now trying to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father but by me.” David declared, “I will run the way of thy commandments.”
Since Jesus is the way, and he said for us to follow him and David tells us to “run the way of thy commandments,” it goes without saying that we are on the move. Jesus told us that “if ye love me, keep my commandments” and this involves moving and doing.
The world is certainly on the move but they are going in the wrong direction. As Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat.” The world is actually in the fast lane on the road to destruction. Hopefully, we have long ago taken the off ramp from the world and turned up that “narrow way that leads to life.” Jesus said that few are on the narrow way, so we are not concerned with the traffic snarls that embroil the world.
Just the same, we should not simply sit in the middle of the road and be in the way. How many have blocked the path of others who are endeavoring to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and made it difficult for them by being in the way on the way?
Paul speaks of those who put “a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”
Jeremiah tells us about those who inquired of him “that the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.” Unfortunately, they said the right words but did not mean what they said and did not walk and do the thing that the Lord commanded.
We take great comfort in the fact that we can say with David of old, “I have chosen the way of truth” but now it is time for us to “run the way of God’s commandments,” beseeching Him to “teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes: and I shall keep it unto the end.”
Jeremiah, speaking on the Lord’s behalf, tells us to “ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
If we ask, we shall find the “good way;” if we seek it we will find it. We seek it and find it by doing our Bible readings as God instructed Joshua when He said to him, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:34 AM
Avoiding Sin
“Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?”
Solomon asked these questions thousands of years ago and mankind is still trying to get just as close to sin as possible thinking they can escape the flames of the fire that has burned all their predecessors.
We are reminded of the story of the rich man who was interviewing prospective chauffer’s and asked each one how close they could drive to the edge of the precipice without going over. Each applicant tried to out-do the others by telling how close they could get except one man who said he wouldn’t go anywhere near the edge. This was the man that got the job.
We too, are steering a course through life and the narrow winding road has many steep precipices. Just how close to the edge do we want to get? At the start of our journey towards the kingdom sin is something that is very appealing to us, something we would love to do but mustn’t. As we grow closer to God and our love for Christ waxes hotter, sin becomes more and more abhorrent until finally to sin against God becomes something we would hate to do. Now we don’t get from one place to the other overnight but we shall never get there as long as we ride the edge of the road.
Just how do we get from the place where sin has strong appeal to the place where it does not? The answer lies in the way we think. If we think pure thoughts, it follows that our actions will be above reproach. If we allow our minds to wander over to the edge it’s only a matter of time until it falls over the precipice pulling us down with it.
The closer we stay to God the further we stay away from the edge and the hot coals. When we begin to rely upon our own strength and think we can go it alone without the help of our Lord we are beginning to get into dangerous territory. Certainly Solomon was a strong wise king who had been abundantly blessed by God and as long as he relied upon God he was able to make wise decisions. When he married outlandish women he soon began to think like they did, he got too close to the edge, and before he knew it he was worshipping the gods of his wives instead of the true and living God who had appeared to him. We have not had the advantage of God personally appearing to us but we do have the same advantages as all the faithful of all ages in that we can take all our affairs to God in prayer knowing He hears us. We also have in our hands God’s complete revelation (our Bibles) which many who lived earlier did not have. We have all the help we need to stay away from the edge and clear of the hot coals but we also have a free will and if we, like Solomon, insist on trying to take fire into our bosom or tread the hot coals we can expect the same burns that struck Solomon down.
Let none of us think we can succeed in reaching the Kingdom unscathed if we are flirting with the world in any way. Our love for God should make us abhor the evil that is in the world around us and if we still find it appealing at least let us have sense enough to turn our back upon it rather than snuggle up close and try to justify being on the edge.
Let us try a little game of mental gymnastics. Pick something in the world that truly attracts us but we would be better off without. Make it a matter of prayer, asking God’s help in overcoming our desire for it. Concentrate upon the things of God and stay clear away from it and soon we will be in for an experience which will seem like a personal miracle. Before we know it, the attraction will be gone! God’s hand is as ready to help us today as it ever was. Try it and see.
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:34 AM
Posted 10 January 2021 - 09:34 AM
Posted 11 January 2021 - 10:15 AM
Posted 12 January 2021 - 10:42 AM
Actions Speak ...
“Actions speak louder than words” is an old, old saying that most of us have heard since childhood. While no one questions its truth, we all continue to say one thing with words and quite another thing with our actions.
We often wonder who we think we are fooling? Certainly not God, usually our families and friends are on to us, so perhaps it is only ourselves that we are kidding.
We may say that the truth is the greatest thing in our lives and that we love the Lord with all our hearts, yet when the time comes to take our place at’ lecture or a Bible class we are too tired, too busy or too something to go.
Perhaps others have heard us say that we regard television as a wonderful invention but a terrible waste of time and consequently we rarely watch it, yet when someone mentions seeing a particular show, we chime in that we also saw it, and a few minutes later we catch ourselves describing something we saw on another program.
All too often, we have the real reason for doing or not doing something, and this we keep to ourselves while we have a whole string of excuses which we give as the reason we did or did not do it. We sometimes chuckle when we see a little child doing this because it is so easy to see through but aren’t we to grow up? Paul said, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
We need to be honest with ourselves. We need to realize that our actions are speaking much louder than what we say.
It isn’t necessary to tell others that we love the Lord with all our hearts, because if we really do, it will be abundantly clear by the way we act and the things we do. Conversely we can scream from the housetops how much we love the Lord and it won’t convince anyone if our actions show that God is completely crowded out of our lives.
This is the very point that James was making when he said “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”
We need to have a living faith, not a dead faith. Without works, or action, faith is dead. Jesus put it another way when he said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The fig tree that Jesus saw covered with leaves but having no fruit was like a man full of words but no action. We remember that Jesus condemned that tree and it withered away and died.
Jesus is the husbandman of the vineyard. We are the trees. Soon he is coming to see what kind of fruit we have. What will he find?
It’s not enough to be covered with leaves, there must be fruit. It’s not enough to talk a good fight. Paul said he had fought a good fight, and this denotes action. Remember, “actions speak louder than words.” What are our actions saying?
Posted 13 January 2021 - 03:26 AM
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Posted 18 January 2021 - 09:01 AM
Be Courteous
When H. L. Mencken was asked the secret of happiness in marriage, he answered with just one word, “courtesy.”
He was right. Why is it that we are sometimes more courteous to total strangers than we are to the most important person in our life? Courtesy is love in action. Peter exhorted us to “have compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:”
Good manners have been described as being like “the zero in arithmetic. They may not be much in themselves but they are capable of adding a great deal to the value of everything else.”
When we think of our marriage as being a type of Christ and his bride, can we imagine either Christ or his bride being rude and thoughtless to each other? Paul tells us, “husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it ... so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.”
True love is courteous. True love is kind. True love is not easily provoked. True love is good manners. In marriage, like in everything else in life, as we sow, so shall we reap. If we are kind, thoughtful, courteous, even when we don’t feel like it, we will reap blessings in our marriage. A beautiful garden reflects the tender loving care of its owner and a neglected garden tells us that its owner doesn’t care. So it is in marriage and in all other relationships we have with our families and our brethren and sisters in the Lord.
It requires effort to be courteous. It requires thinking in advance of the needs and wants of others. We need to think ahead in order to notice that their cup is almost empty or that they will need a clean shirt before they can go out. It requires thought to run ahead in order to open the door to assist someone in or out of the car or house.
Courtesy is love in little things. As the old saying goes, “Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle.” By making a conscious effort to be kind and thoughtful, to be courteous in the little things of life, we find that many of the big things take care of themselves.
Please do not think that this is directed only to those who are married. Courtesy and good manners are important to all of us, young or old, married or single, male or female, rich or poor. We can all be courteous. Perhaps we have all been guilty of not being kind or thoughtful or courteous to those we love the most. How would we treat Jesus Christ? “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,” said Jesus. Do we treat others as we would like to be treated?
We well remember hearing of the man leaving work after a hard day, saying to a fellow employee that he was going home, and if dinner was ready he was going to refuse to eat it, and if it wasn’t, he was going to create a scene. That poor wife couldn’t win. Can we picture that husband as being a type of the Lord Jesus Christ? What hove would we have if our heavenly bridegroom was to judge us this way? No wonder King David said, “let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.”
Let us remember that courtesy is the secret to true happiness, not only in marriage, but in life and let us truly do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We all like to be treated courteously so let us follow the advice of Peter when he said, “Have compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.”
Posted 19 January 2021 - 09:19 AM
Posted 20 January 2021 - 04:47 AM
Birds of a Feather
“It is difficult to soar with the eagles when you work with a bunch of turkeys.” This sign was recently seen on a desk in a large office.
It is true that we are affected by those around us. Even if we regard our fellow workers as a bunch of turkeys, it should not inhibit our ability to soar above them. It may be difficult but it is not impossible. While we are in the world, we are not to be a part of it.
We cannot fly in formation with those of the world for they are all going in the wrong direction. If we really are part of their flock, then we are in trouble. Another old saying of the world is “birds of a feather flock together.” So while we may be working with a bunch of turkeys, we really do need to take off and soar above them as the eagles do.
Isaiah speaks of a day when “we shall mount up with wings as eagles.” If we hope to do that in the future, we are required now to leave the other kinds of birds to their gobbling and strutting. We need to get on with our service to our Lord by soaring above the turkey talk of the flock at work or school.
We may not like to think of some of our worldly associates as spiritual turkeys but we need to read carefully what Paul says. “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.” It is a sad commentary on the human race that these sins are so common that we would have to leave the world in order to have no association with such people. If this was true in Paul’s day, it is also true today.
So what are we to do? We want to soar with the eagles and we are surrounded by turkeys. Well, by being an eagle, we can soar above them and not partake of their evil deeds.
Jesus prayed to his Heavenly Father on our behalf saying, “I have given them thy word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I request not that thou wouldst take them out of the world but that thou wouldst keep them out of the evil: of the world they are not, even as I am not of the world.”
So, we should not be discouraged that we have to work or go to school with a bunch of turkeys. The world is full of them but it is important that we continue to soar above them in the way we talk and act. Turkeys gobble and make a lot of noise but not much sense. That is a good parallel to empty and vain conversation. How often do we sound like turkeys?
It may be hard to soar with the eagles but its is not impossible, for if God is for us, who can be against us? With Paul we can say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
When our Lord comes, we had better not be strutting around the turkey pen with all the rest of the turkeys, sounding and acting like them. Jesus said, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”
Let us make sure that we are as different from the world as eagles are from turkeys. Again the Master said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.”
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