—first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”–Matthew 5:24   Have you ever hurt someone? I’m talking about more than physical abuse. I’m talking about breaking their heart, crushing their spirit, leaving them in a pool of tears, grieving them beyond what they are able to bear?   So what did you do about it? Sadly, most people don’t do anything. They just go on their merry way, leaving their victim writhing in anquish and pain. They’re like a hit-and -run driver. They do the damage and take-off down the road, leaving others to deal with the harm they’ve done–no apology, no aid, no remorse (unless they get caught, and start feeling sorry for themselves). We see it all the time. But it’s where we see it that is most troubling.   You expect such cruelty from the world, but you don’t expect it from professing Christians. They’re suppose to be different. We don’t expect to get “blind-sided” by someone who says they “love Jesus”. Well, you better get ready for it–sooner or later it will happen. Nor everyone who sings,”O How I Love Jesus” cares about you. But, believe it or not, it’s better to be the victim than the perpetrator!   Don’t think for a minute that your sin will go unnoticed or unpunished. When you hurt God’s children you hurt God (Matthew 25:40) and you’re going to get hurt! You can’t hurt others without hurting yourself.   If you are guilty of this terrible sin you need to repent. Confess your sin to God and to all those you’ve affected, then do everything in your power to make restitution. Doing so will be painful, but not nearly so painful as not doing it. Remember–no one ever sinned successfully!

Knowing God’s Word and understanding what we believe are essential for growth in Christ and protection from deception. However, these alone aren’t the final goal. We are not left on earth merely to know for ourselves what God has said but rather to share His good news with others. In other words, we’re to be “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3:15). —

Believers are to be ready and able to give an account or explanation of their motives and reasons for holding onto their hope in Christ. Because of busy lifestyles, many Christians have never taken the time to really think through their views and beliefs. When someone challenges them, they feel a sense of panic because they’re totally unprepared.

Giving an account for our faith must be accompanied by a gentle and respectful delivery. Aggressively dumping a load of truth on a questioning person rarely leads him to the Lord, but a gentle answer opens hearts as well as ears.

And remember, all that we profess must be backed up with a life of integrity.———

These verses were not written to scholars; they were intended for ordinary people with jobs and families. The task isn’t impossible, yet it requires time spent reading and studying God’s Word. As you set Christ apart as the Lord of your heart, time with Him will become a joy and not a sacrifice. (From In Touch, Scripture changed to KJV)

“When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments…and they were smitten” (2 Chron. 20:22).

Oh, that we could reason less about our troubles, and sing and praise more! There are thousands of things that we wear as shackles which we might use as instruments with music in them, if we only knew how.

Those men that ponder, and meditate, and weigh the affairs of life, and study the mysterious developments of God’s providence, and wonder why they should be burdened and thwarted and hampered–how different and how much more joyful would be their lives, if, instead of forever indulging in self-revolving and inward thinking, they would take their experiences, day by day, and lift them up, and praise God for them.

We can sing our cares away easier than we can reason them away. Sing in the morning. The birds are the earliest to sing, and birds are more without care than anything else that I know of.

Sing at evening. Singing is the last thing that robins do. When they have done their daily work; when they have flown their last flight, and picked up their last morsel of food, then on a topmost twig, they sing one song of praise.

Oh, that we might sing morning and evening, and let song touch song all the way through. (From Streams In The Desert)

——- in the midst of the surrounding decadence, the only way for us to fill our place as Christians is to know who we are. It is vital that we associate ourselves, in our thinking and our living, with those things which form the foundations of the kingdom of God.

As the things which can be shaken are shaken in the coming times, it is essential that we not be participants of these things.

The nature of the kingdom of God is totally different from the nature of the society around us and it is necessary that we judge not by the ‘good intentions’ and smiling faces, but by that which is in the heart –
the purity,
the intensity,
the hatred of sin, of mixture, of falsehood.

On the ‘Richter scale’ of human emotions, how deep does it go when we pray ‘Thy Kingdom come?’
Is it mixed with a looking for a place for ourselves – a place of recognition, of comfort, of financial abundance? Is there a wanting to minister, write books, and sell tapes in order to make a name and a place for ourselves?

We would do well—- to examine our lives in the light of the Word of God.
We would do well to see how we align ourselves with those awesome and absolute words which speak of the cost of discipleship, and the great divide between what rules in man’s world and what rules in the Kingdom of God. (By Paul Ravenhill)

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ—.Galatians 6:14   Paul had what we all need–a burning desire to proclaim the glories of the cross to a lost and dying world. In spite of all the difficulties he faced, he never allowed anything to dim his vision of the cross. Neither should we. Keeping our focus on the cross will feed our faith, fuel our faithfulness, and fix our faults.   Turn your eyes away from the vanities of the world and set your sights on the cross. See the two arms stretched out in both directions, east and west, embracing all the peoples of the earth. See the foot of the cross descending below the grave, down to the very gates of hell, making a way for the lowest of men. Behold the cross ascending upward, beyond the sun, moon, and stars, until it reaches the very throne of God and sheds its light throughtout the heavenly city. Then, there you will hear the heavenly choir singing in perfect unison the “new song” about the old rugged cross.   If the cross is our theme for eternity it certainly should be at the center of our thoughts ever wakening moment here below. All else pales in comparison. Let us then glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have nothing else of which to boast.