Inspiration

I’m reading Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture, and am sharing this passage (abridged), in particular points (f) and (h), because it very much spoke to and inspired me.

A godly man shows his love to the Word written:

(a) By diligently reading it. The noble Bereans “searched the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11). Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures (Acts 18:12). The Word is our Magna Carta for heaven; we should be daily reading over this charter. The Word shows what is truth and what is error. It is the field where the pearl of price is hidden. How we should dig for this pearl! A godly man’s heart is the library to hold the Word of God; it dwells richly in him (Col. 3:16). It is reported of Melanchthon that when he was young, he always carried the Bible with him and read it greedily. The Word has a double work: to teach us and to judge us. Those who will not be taught by the Word shall be judged by the Word. Oh, let us make ourselves familiar with the Scripture! What if it should be as in the times of Diocletian, who commanded by proclamation that the Bible be burned? Or as in Queen Mary’s days, when it spelled death to have a Bible in English? By diligent conversing with Scripture, we may carry a Bible in our heads.

(b) By frequently meditating on it: “It is my meditation all the day” (Psa. 119:97). A pious soul meditates on the truth and holiness of the Word. He not only has a few transient thoughts, but leaves his mind steeping in the Scripture. By meditation, he sucks from this sweet flower and ruminates on holy truths in his mind.

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“Man,” said a thoughtless, ungodly English traveller, to a North American Indian convert, “Man, what is the reason that you make so much of Christ, and talk so much about Him? What has this Christ done for you that you should make so much ado about Him?”

The converted Indian did not answer him in words. He gathered together some dry leaves and moss and made a ring with them on the ground. He picked up a live worm and put it in the middle of the ring. He struck a light and set the moss and leaves on fire. The flame soon rose, and the heat scorched the worm. It writhed in agony, and after trying in vain to escape on every side, curled itself up in the middle, as if about to die in despair. At that moment the Indian reached forth his hand, took up the worm gently and placed it on his bosom. “Stranger,” he said to the Englishman, “do you see that worm? I was that perishing creature. I was dying in my sins, hopeless, helpless and on the brink of eternal fire. It was Jesus Christ who put forth the arm of His power. It was Jesus Christ who delivered me with the hand of His grace, and plucked me from everlasting burnings. It was Jesus Christ who placed me, a poor sinful worm, near the heart of His love. Stranger, that is the reason why I talk of Jesus Christ, and make much of Him. I am not ashamed of it, because I love Him.”

If we know anything of love to Christ, may we have the mind of this North American Indian! May we never think that we can love Christ too well, live to Him too thoroughly, confess Him too boldly, lay ourselves out for Him too heartily! Of all the things that will surprise us in the resurrection morning, this I believe will surprise us most, that we did not love Christ more before we died.

Ryle, J.C. Holiness. Evangelical P, 1979. 245.

HT: Tony Miano.

Has the Church forgotten about doing good in the name of the Lord that He might be glorified? Reading Matthew 25, it occurred to me that we have become self-serving, cocooned in our own Christian bubbles and forgetting about the need to feed the poor and care for widows.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:34-40

The following story reminded me that there is much more we can do as Christians, aye, even for our own brethren. No, I am not preaching the social gospel, but it seems to me that we have lost much of our saltiness if we have faith but are without works.

Works will not save us, but works demonstrate our faith in Christ (James 2:14-26).

A Beautiful Flower In A Broken Pot

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. “Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.

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May this be an encouragement to us all to reflect and examine ourselves how we obey Christ Jesus’ teachings as recorded in Luke 6:29.

This might offend some, but if we are perfectly honest with ourselves, it won’t be too far from the truth that some of us would be more busy making sure that we remember the characteristics of the perpetrator so as to make a detailed police report after the ordeal, rather than make this overture of love.

To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.

Luke 6:29

Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

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Once in a while, an inspirational story comes along and really tears you up inside and starts your tears rolling because reading it leaves you awed, inspired, touched, and in great joy all at the same time.

I got this story from a great sister-in-Christ of mine — Channel of Healing — and just had to pass it on. I will also recommend that you should visit her blog often. She is such a great encourager!

May it touch you as it did me.

God Works In Mysterious Ways

It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived and everything was alive with color.

But a cold front from the North had brought winter’s chill back to Indiana. I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying a well-worn sign that read, “I will work for food.”

My heart sank. I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways.

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I had intended to post my take on some other issue initially, but decided to pass on this video instead after watching it in the hopes that it shall also encourage and inspire you as it did me.

Matthew 28:19-20

Shalom Aleichem.

HT: Chris at The Christian Journey.

Dan King at Bibledude.net tagged me for this rather interesting meme to list seven of my favorite blogs in various categories.

I must first apologize to Dan for being tardy with my response though, as I had initially planned to do this on 31 December like some kind of “Look Back…” program. Then again, I have already chosen a blog for each category, so there’s no point in delaying the post till the “appropriate” time.

As with most memes, let’s first state the rules up front:

1. Link back to Dan at management by God and BibleDude.net as the originator of this meme, and to the person that tagged you with it.
2. Pick one blog for each of the seven categories listed below. It is okay if others have selected the same blog for the same or different reasons. Just pick what your personal favorites are for each of the categories, link to their site, and briefly explain why you selected them.
3. Pick three other bloggers to pass this on to. I can be people that you’ve selected or not, but they are three people that you would like to see which sites they select.

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I love reading testimonies from other Christians.

Because nothing is more real and inspirational than reading about how God has worked miracles in someone’s life, turned it around, made it better or how they themselves overcame trials and tribulations in their lives.

Some think that their testimonies are nothing to shout about, but my belief is that no matter how mundane you think it is, your testimony shows just how God can work in anyone’s life.

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Just this Sunday I found out that Nick Vijucic spoke at City Harvest Church the previous weekend, and decided to check if there was a video of the service.

Now, I don’t bother with checking out City Harvest Church normally, since I don’t buy into their mega-church prosperity gospel, or their rock concert-grade performances, or seeing pastors with dyed hair, but I just had to give a listen to what Nick Vijucic had to say.

In case you know not who Nick is, he is an Australian who was born without limbs — no arms nor legs — save for a foot that he calls his “chicken drumstick”. Instead of giving up on life, he surmounted all of life’s difficulties with faith in Yahweh and is today sharing the Good News and being an immense inspiration to millions around the world.

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It’s really wonderful and amazing how sometimes God reinforces a message that He wants me to remember and keep in my heart.

Just a couple of days ago, I was telling Michelle about how I came to write the piece on being the salt of the earth as our Lord Jesus Christ said those who follow Him are to be.

And today, while doing some belated reading of the many Christian blogs I love, I came across this poem that Hummie shared.

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