Weekend Words

 From Beside the Still Waters...

Choosing the Right Path

Read: Proverbs 4

"The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." - Proverbs 4:18

We have a bouquet of flowering blackberries on the table right now.  The blossoms look lovely, but there are thorns on the stems.  This reminds me of the pathway of life.  As with a bouquet of roses, do we see the flowers in spite of the thorns, or do we focus so keenly on the thorns that we cannot see the flowers?  A path of righteousness will always have thorns to content with, but Christ does not expect us to deal with them on our own.  He wants to go with us each step of the way.

Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort to walk in the path of righteousness.  We must resolve to pursue it to the end.  We may have moments when we think we cannot go on.  Then it is time to consider the destiny of our path rather than the present struggles.  Our path may include trials to endure and temptations to resist, but let's remember this: "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13).  What a promise!

The Bible has many examples of those who stayed faithful until the end.  One of these is Moses, described as "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Hebrews 11:25).  Another example is Stephen: "and he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.  And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).  Christ gave a glorious promise to all who choose to follow the path of righteousness to the end.  "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).

Fred Beachy - Crofton, KY

The path we choose will determine our destiny.

From In Green Pastures...

How To Know Christ

To some Christ is a creed and a pattern of life, but not a personal friend.  There are many who know well the "historical Christ", but to whom he is only a person who lived nearly two thousand years ago.  They read his biography as they read that of St. Paul or St. John, admiring and wondering, and ofttimes saying, in the lines of the children's hymn, - 

I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,

That his arms had been thrown around me,

And that I might have seen his kind look when he said,

'Let the little ones come unto me.'

They think of his sweet life as but a vanishing dream; or, if they realize his resurrection, he is to them an absent friend, like a dear one journeying in another land - real, loving, true, trusted, but far away.  But all such miss the sweetest blessedness of knowing Christ.  He does not belong to the past nor to the far away, but is a friend who would come into the actual daily life of each of his believing ones.  No mother was ever so much to her child as Jesus would be to us if we would let him into our life.  How can we get this blessing of personal knowledge of Christ and conscious personal friendship with him?  Trust him and obey him, and you will learn to know him and love him.

From Behold The Lilies...

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." - Ephesians 5:19

When you feel weary or downcast, try singing a favorite hymn or two.  If you can't think of one from memory, take time off your work, get a hymnbook, and find a song of praise to the Lord.  Even when you feel so blue that you let out a big sigh and think, I can't sing; it just takes too much effort, take a deep breath and try it.  Before you know it, you'll be done with the first verse - and then you'll finish the song. I have found that I can change my thought patterns more effectively when I use a book than when I sing from memory.

When undesirable thoughts plague you, fill your mind with psalms and verses from Scripture.  When God seems far away, singing spiritual songs can help you feel nearer to Him.  He is not the one who moved away from us; we are the ones who drifted.  Praise can create a proper frame of mind, allowing God to fill you again.  "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8

Speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is a form of worship to the Lord.  Thus we can worship the Lord even when we are all by ourselves.  with a song in our heart, we will more easily reflect the state of mind in Ephesians 5:20: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."