"Therefore we labour (make it our aim)... that we may be accepted (well pleasing to) of HIM." (2 Corinthians 5:9)

    A brilliant young concert pianist was performing for the first time in public.  The audience sat enthralled as beautiful music flowed from his disciplined fingers.  The people could hardly take their eyes off this young virtuoso.  As the final note faded, the audience burst into applause.  Everyone was standing - except one old man up front.  The pianist walked off the stage crestfallen.  The stage manager praised the performance, but the young man said, "I was no good, it was a failure."  The manager replied, "Look out there, everyone is on his feet except one old man!"  "Yes," said the youth dejectedly, "but that one old man is my teacher."

    Do we have the same desire for God's approval as that pianist had for his teacher's praise?  Our Lord's approving smile is what really matters.  But what is it that delights His heart?  First, there is faith (Hebrews 11:6).  Then, there are two special sacrifices: "the sacrifice of praise," and remembering "to do good and to communicate (share)" (Hebrews 13:15,16).  Such sacrifices please God.

    Let's make it our goal as we enter each day to please the heavenly Father as Jesus did (John 8:29).  Whether we work in the limelight or labor unnoticed behind the scenes, when we do our task with faith, diligence, thankfulness, and caring, God is pleased.  But more wonderful still, He helps us by "Working in you that which is well pleasing in HIS sight, through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:21).  (D.J.D.)

Just live your life before your Lord,

Rise to that higher, nobler plane -

With single eye His glory seek,

And you shall His approval gain.  (Rae)

When you do what you please, does what you do please God?  

[N.J. Hiebert # 1952]

"OUR DAILY BREAD, RBC MINISTRIES, COPYRIGHT (1988). GRAND RAPIDS, MI. REPRINTED PERMISSION

July 22

"The Lord hath need of him."  (Luke 19:31)

What an incredible gracious statement by the Creator God that He needed that young colt!  In Psalm 50, He declares, "I am God... if I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof." To think that so great a God would say He needed anything, much less a little donkey for active duty, is amazing.  It is also encouraging!  No matter what our ability or inability, the Lord chooses to "need" us in His active service.  Don't be ashamed of what little you might have.  The Lord has need of it, and that is enough.  What a privilege!  (D.Logan)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1953]

July 23

"Not by might, nor by power, but My Spirit, saith the Lord."  (Zechariah 4:6) 

Zerubbabel knew days of great discouragement.  The work of rebuilding the temple had come to a complete standstill.  Zechariah's words came with perfect timing.  The Lord's work is not done through human effort, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Like Zerubbabel, we can think that our efforts will bring things to pass.  Consequently, we become very frustrated when things do not happen as we supposed they might.  At such times we need to humble ourselves, wait on the Lord, and seek the power of His Spirit.  Then and only then will the work be done for His glory.  (W.H. Burnett)

Not to the strong is the battle, nor to the swift is the race,

But to the true and the faithful, victory is promised through grace.

[N.J. Hiebert # 1954]

July 24

"He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." (Isaiah 50:4)

"Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth."  (1 Samuel 3:9) 

Dave was reading his Bible while riding the rapid transit to work.  Someone must have noticed.  When the train reached Dave's stop, a group gathered to exit.  Just as the door opened, a stranger leaned over and asked, "Did He speak to you this morning?"  Receiving an affirmative reply, the stranger disappeared in the crowd.  Did He speak to you this morning?  He can't if you don't give Him a chance.  (William MacDonald)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1955]

July 25

"Look from the top."  (Song of Solomon 4:8)

This is a splendid word for a busy day with its crush of work of all sorts.  If we get caught in the crush and pushed down, so to speak, the next thing we know is that we are groveling in the dust.  Things are on the top of us, we are not on the top of anything.  So the word comes, "Look from the top".  Come with Me from all that, come up the mountain with Me, "look from the top".  In every-day life this simply means, look from everything up to the Lord Jesus, Who is our Peace, our Victory and our Joy, for we are where we look.  From below, things feel impossible, people seem impossible (some people at least), and we ourselves feel most impossible of all.  From the top we see as our Lord sees; He sees not what is only, but what shall be.  He is not discouraged, and as we look with Him, our discouragement vanishes, and we can sing a new song.  (Amy Carmichael - Edges of His Ways)  

But when from mountain top,

My Lord, I look with Thee,

My cares and burdens drop

Like pebbles in the sea.

The air is clear,

I fear no fear,

In this far view

All things are new.

[N.J. Hiebert # 1956]

July 26

"The high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.  Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall."  (Acts 23:2,3)

Brought before the Council, the apostle begins by declaring his innocence.  "And the high priest Ananias, commanded them that stood by to smite him on the mouth."  This undoubtedly was violence; yet produced not by testimony borne to Christ, but by self-justification.  Paul replies with an insult, calling the high priest a "whited wall."  He had merited this, it is true; but such an answer did not display the meekness of Christ.  Being reproved, Paul owns his fault; but his defense tells us of the absence of the power and of the knowledge of the Holy Spirit.  "I knew not," is not what the Holy Spirit would say.  All is true; but we do not find the energy of the Spirit of God.  Moreover, he is not now merely a Jew and a Roman, but also a Pharisee.  Such a title he counts no longer dross and dung, it has become once more a gain.  (JND - Meditations on the Acts of the Apostles)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1957]

July 27

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16) 

We are familiar with the poem about the High Road and the Low.  There is a third thoroughfare, the misty flats where the rest drift to and fro.  They know neither height not depth, they are neither cold not hot.  They are proud of their moderatism, which does not mean moderation; they know neither victory nor defeat.  Life's greatest experiences do not come on the misty flats but on the heights, where we mount up as eagles, or the depths of adversity, where we walk and faint not, where stone walls do not a prison make not iron bars a cage.  (Vance Havner - All the Days)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1958]

July 28

"A certain woman... had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment...and straightway... she was healed." (Mark 5:25-29) 

When the Holy Spirit takes a soul in hand, He teaches effectually.  He uncovers the filthy rags of self-righteousness, exposes the rotten patches of self-reformation, and gives us a true knowledge of our state before God.  He is the Spirit of Truth.  He convinces of sin.  He lays bare the heart by so applying the written word as to show its desperate wickedness in the light of God's holy presence.  He fastens upon the conscience the vile workings, unclean thoughts, desires, and intents of the heart. 

                                                  "He never leads a man to say,

Thank God, I'm made so good;

But turns his eye another way -

To Jesus and His blood." 

                                                     (H.H. Snell -Steams of Refreshing)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1959]

July 29

"That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." (Philippians 1:20)

False humility is pride in disguise.  True humility can take the low place or any place as long as Christ is glorified.  (Michel Payette - Le Lien Fraternal - Meditation 97)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1960]

July 30

"He that loveth not knoweth not God: for God is love." (1 John 4:8)

"God is love."  What does this mean?  God sent His only-begotten Son that we might have life in Him.  We still carry about the old nature; but, blessed be God, many a time as Satan has caught me, he has never destroyed me; there is the propitiation (mercy), - I am inside, sheltered by the blood, and forgiven."  (G.V.Wigram)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1961]

July 31

"I ... sat chief, and dwelt as a king ...  (Job 29:25)

"But now they that are younger than I have me in derision." (Job 30:1)

Thus it ever is in this poor, false, and deceitful world.  All must, sooner or later, find out the hollowness of the world, the fickleness of those who are ready to cry out " 

[N.J. Hiebert # 1962]

August 1

"What concord hath Christ with Belial?..."  (2 Corinthians 6:15)

God will be God, however His people may fail; and hence we see that when Israel had utterly failed to guard the ark of His testimony, and allowed it to pass into the hands of the Philistines, - when all was lost in man's hand, - then the glory of God shone out in power and splendour:  Dagon fell, and the whole land of the Philistines was made to tremble beneath the hand of Jehovah.  His presence was intolerable to them, and they sought to get rid of it as soon as possible.  It was proved beyond all question to be utterly impossible that Jehovah and the uncircumcised could go on together.  Thus it was, thus it is, and thus it ever must be.  (C.H. Mackintosh)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1963]

August 2

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (mark the mighty moral force of this appeal) "that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Corinthians 1:10)

Now the question is, How was this most blessed result to be reached?  Was it by each one exercising the right of private judgment?  Alas! it was this very thing that gave birth to all the division and contention in the assembly at Corinth, and drew forth the sharp rebuke of the Holy Spirit.  Those poor Corinthians thought they had a right to think and judge and choose for themselves, and what was the result?  "It hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.  Now I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:11-13)  (Christian Truth - Vol. 15 - March 1962)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1964]

August 3

"And it (Manna) was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey." ( Exodus 16:31)  "And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil." (Numbers 11:8)

    What was it that preceded this change in the taste of the manna in Numbers 11?  "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." (Numbers 11:5)  Was it not a dangerous retrospect?  We cannot be thus engaged, even for a moment, unless self-judgement is promptly exercised, without suffering from it.  It should be ever "forgetting those things which are behind." (Philippians 3:13)  If we allow our desires to go back to the domains of our old taskmaster, we too shall be led to imagine that the food we there sought after was eaten "freely," being blinded to the recollection of the vexation of spirit and cruel bondage that the prince of that land laid upon us, while we earned it.

    Let us not tarry at such an occupation, or we shall loathe the manna.  "The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,"  and "we are not ignorant of his devices."  Lot's wife only "looked back."  We are on slippery places, while our eyes look not right on, with our eyelids straight before us, unto Jesus, who is in the glory.  (Selected)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1965]

August 4

"That disciple whom Jesus loved." (John 13:26)

    If I look at a brother whose way savours much of that which I know Jesus must delight in, being meek, and self-renouncing, and unaffectedly humble, and withal devoted and unworldly, I may remember John, and see that disciple whom Jesus loved reflected in my brother.  But then how happy it is to remember that John himself was but one of a company whom the same Jesus had chosen and called, and bound to Himself forever!  Did John exclude Thomas or Bartholomew?  Thomas and Bartholomew, in the great evangelical sense, were as much to Christ as John.  The one was not a whit more accepted man than the other.

    This is sure and blessed, as well as plain and simple.  I may rejoice in it with all certainty.  And if I have any love to Him who has called me to such assured and eternal blessedness, will I not rejoice in this, that He has an object in which He can take more delight than I must well know I and my way can afford Him?  (J.G. Bellett)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1966]

August 5

"...On the absence of the multitude."  (Luke 22:6)

"Not on the feast day..." (Matthew 26:5)

Human plans and divine order seldom harmonize (Isaiah 55:7-9).  But it is always God's plan which triumphs.  Despite the intentions of both Judas and the rulers, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God did coincide with the Passover.  In His fulfillment of the prophecies and types established on that Passover night in Egypt, the eternal counsels of God were performed (Acts 2:23).  Are we sensitive to His guidance in our lives - and do we submit to it?  (Choice Gleanings)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1967]

August 6

"The merciful man doth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh."  (Proverbs 11:17)

    One night in 1935, Fiorello H. La Guardia, mayor of New York, showed up at a night court in the poorest ward of the city.  He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench.  One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren.  La Guardia said, "I've got to punish you.  Ten dollars or ten days in jail."

    As he spoke, he threw $10 into his hat.  He then fined everyone in the courtroom 50 cents for living in a city "where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat."  The hat was passed around and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50.

    That woman, like the servant in Jesus' parable, certainly had reason to show mercy to others.  Showing mercy because we have received it is what Christ was teaching in Matthew 18.  The servant whose enormous debt was cancelled showed no mercy to one who owed him a small amount.  When the master heard about it, he had the heartless man arrested and punished.

    Receiving God's mercy obliges us to show mercy to others.  If we refuse, we may be giving evidence that we don't understand what Christ has done for us.  People who have received mercy should become merciful people.  (H.V.L.) 

There's a wideness in God's mercy

Like the wideness of the sea;

There's a kindness in His justice,

Which is more than liberty.  - Faber

WE CAN STOP SHOWING MERCY TO OTHERS WHEN CHRIST STOPS SHOWING MERCY TO US.

"Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright 1991, Grand Rapids, MI.  Reprinted permission."

[N.J. Hiebert # 1968]

August 7

"He that watereth, shall be watered also himself" (Proverbs 2:25).  "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.  He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37,38).

    A little boy five years of age said to his teacher, as they went to walk one day.  "Tell me a story."  As this was his daily request, the teacher said to him, "How can you expect me to have so many stories to tell you?  You know, no matter how full a pitcher may be, if you are always drinking from it, it will be empty at last."

    The little boy understood her meaning very well, and quickly replied, "Oh, but you should put the pitcher under a spout." 

    May we not all take a lesson from the little boy, and remember that no human vessel can ever be a fountain in itself; the best filled vessel will become exhausted unless it is constantly refreshed from the Word of God.  If we cannot, in the first instance, teach the love of God in Christ, without having tasted ourselves, and seen that Christ is precious; no more can we be the means of instructing and refreshing others without daily drinking at the fountain of eternal love, and constant study of the Word of God. (TCN - Number 72)

[N.J. Hiebert #1969]

August 8

"As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10) 

"Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in our English Bible.  In the original Greek it has three words and 16 letters....  "Rejoice evermore"  has two words and 14 letters, so it is the shortest....  It is remarkable that these two shortest verses should give us the picture of the sympathy of the heart of Christ in fellowship with all our sorrows, and give us the key to a triumphant Christian life.  Rejoicing always and in all circumstances, even while sorrowing!  Though it is the shortest verse, it never ends.  (selected)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1970]

August 9

"And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive" Acts 27:15)

    Many have listened to the world that encourages them to do things their own way - do whatever pleases them.  Ever since the garden of Eden, man has rebelled against God, spending life's journey going his own way and doing his own thing.  That is the normal course and desire of fallen man.  But when a soul is saved and has made the Lord Jesus Master (Lord) of their life, then the safe and joyful path is truly saying each day, not my will but Thine be done.

    Yet, sad to say, how many dear young believers (and older ones too!) have traveled life's journey according to their own thoughts, desires, and will.  Unexpected storms - serious difficulties, trials, pressures - will always come (God will not continue to allow a dear child of His to live happily in self will and disobedience), and the ship is caught.  The so called freedom and liberty of will is suddenly, harshly swept away - and the sad realization comes - "I'm not in control of my life anymore!".  "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6).

    What a terrible price to pay - to realize that self will has brought storms of difficulties, which cannot be controlled.  Finding that they cannot face life's storms brought on by self-will and refusal to stay in Fair Havens, believers have to give up and let her drive.  It is no longer their will that is directing events, but the will of forces out of their control - how solemn.

    This is what comes of refusal to listed to God's loving warnings.  The freedom of will that may have seemed so pleasant, so desirable, only brings a storm in which life is out of control, and all of our efforts are found unable to regain what has been lost.  Do not leave the safe harbour, the restraining influences that Christianity has exerted in Fair Havens. Remain there and seek grace to submit to His perfect, loving will for your life.  (The Journey of life - Douglas Nicolet)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1971]

August 10

"When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him"  (Luke 15:20).

Slow are the steps of repentance, but swift are the feet of forgiveness.  God can run where we can scarcely limp, and if we are limping towards Him, He will run towards us.  These kisses were given in a hurry; the story is narrated so that there is a sense of haste in the very wording of it.  His father "ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him" - eagerly, he did not delay, for though he was out of breath he was not our of love.  Your Father's many kisses will make you forget your brother's frowns.  (C.H. Spurgeon)

Two things the prodigal would never understand:

Why he had fled love for the dark streets and the black wine,

Or why, when he quit the swinecote, Love ran to meet him on the road.

[N.J. Hiebert # 1972]

August 11

"My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

So many burdened lives along the way! 

My load seems lighter than the most I see,

And oft I wonder if I could be brave, 

Patient and sweet if they were laid on me.

But God has never said that He would give 

Another's grace without another's thorn;

What matter, since for every day of mine 

Sufficient grace for me comes with the morn?

And though the future brings some heavier cross 

I need not cloud the present with my fears;

I know the grace that is enough today 

Will be sufficient still through all the years. 

(Annie Johnson Flint)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1973]

August 12

"My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

* We need God's power to be little.

* Our very helplessness is our resource.  We find that God Himself must come in because we can do nothing.  (J.N.D.)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1974]

August 13

"He would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him."  (Luke 15:16)

We have lost, in a great degree, the power of measuring good and evil.  Would not the young man have known it was unseemly to be feeding on the husks the swine did ear, if he had been living happily in his father's house?  (Collected Writings - Vol. 25, Expository No 4 - suggested by Walter Porter)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1975]

August 14

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7)

What solemn words are these.  If a man sows rice, he reaps rice.  If a man sows turnips, he reaps turnips.  Day by day we are sowing - sowing what?  We are sowing thoughts, words, deeds!  What shall we reap?  What will the harvest be?

    What we sow:  "Whatever a man soweth, that very thing he shall reap."

    Where we sow:  "The one sowing unto (in the interests of) the flesh..."   "The one sowing unto (in the interests of) the Spirit..."

    How we sow:  "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully."  (2 Corinthians 9:6)  (G.C. Willis - Meditations on Galatians)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1976]

August 15

"And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah (Micah) the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him: for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.  And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so."   (1 Kings 22:8)

Ahab has but one thought: to show proof of Micah's malice toward himself (v.18).  Promptly he has him sent for.  The man of God naturally kept himself apart from the four hundred prophets - a good example for the king of Judah who had joined himself to the profane king.  The very sad but necessary result of this alliance is that he follows Ahab instead of following Micah.  Such is the effect of "evil communications" upon the believer.  Never does one see the opposite effect produced, that is to say, that the world follows the example of God's children.  One has well said: "There is no equality in an alliance between truth and error, for by the very alliance itself, truth ceases to be truth and error does not become truth." (H.I. Rossier - Meditations on 1 Kings)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1977]

August 16

"... in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6)

Are you so living to Christ that you take up all the duties that lie in your path and do what your hands find to do unto Christ?  Satan often blinds the eyes to the omnipotency of Christ, leading one to say, "I cannot expect Christ to come into such a little thing."  What!  does not Christ fill little things as well as great?  All the omnipotency and might of God is found in the heart of that risen Man.  If not, prayers could not be heard.  I get His whole attention when I speak to Him in prayer, as if there were not one more save me.  If I say that anything small cannot occupy Him, it is only pride denying His omnipotency."  (Selected)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1978]

August 17

"Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24)

To be justified is to be declared righteous.  It is the sentence of the judge in favour of the prisoner.  It is not a state or condition of soul.  We are not justified because we have become righteous in heart and life.  God justifies first, then He enables the justified one to walk in practical righteousness.  We are justified freely.  The word means "without price!"  It is the same as in John 15:25, "They hated Me without a cause."  There was nothing evil in the ways or life of Jesus, for which men should hate Him.  They hated Him freely.  So there is no good in man for which God should justify him.  He is justified freely, without a cause, when he believes in Jesus.  (H.A. Ironside)

[N.J. Hiebert # 1979]

August 18

"Make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5).

    The man of the people's choice - the man who personated their carnal tastes - now appears.  Remarkably, he first comes before us in connection with (donkeys), in striking contrast with the man of Jehovah's choice, who had the care of sheep and lambs (Psalm 78:70-72).  Even the (donkeys) Saul lost, and although they were ultimately recovered, it was not he who found them (1 Samuel 9:20).  David, on the other hand, at serious risk to himself, recovered a lamb from two ferocious enemies, a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:37).  How suggestive are the lessons here!  The (donkey) is the symbol of poor, turbulent flesh, "For vain man would be wise, though man be born a wild (donkey's) colt" (Job 12:12); and the offspring of man in Israel had to be redeemed with a lamb equally with the offspring of the donkey (Exodus 13:13).  Sheep and lambs, on the contrary, are the symbols throughout the Word of God of God's own true people.  For these, Saul had neither the heart not the fitness to care.  A captain he might be; a shepherd he was not.   

    He came too of Benjamin - a tribe notorious for its stubbornness in evil (Judges 19:21), and now the smallest of Israel's tribes in consequence (1 Samuel 9:21).  His name means "asked," for he was the answer to the people's carnal demand.  He thus represents the flesh in a remarkable way; but was such a one really fitted to curb the restless evil of a revolted people?  Flesh can never put down flesh; have we learned this in our Assembly difficulties?  But that which flesh can only aggravate, the power and grace of the Holy Spirit can entirely remove.  How often the Church of God has proved this?  (W.W. Feredy - Samuel God's Emergency Man) 

[N.J. Hiebert # 1980]

August 19

"Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe [not ask] are justified from all things."  (Acts 13:38,39)

    If I am continually asking a person for something that person is offering me, and I overlook the offer, is it any wonder if I miss getting what I want?  This is just what thousands of people are doing in regard to forgiveness of sins.  They think that forgiveness is to be had by asking,whereas it is to be obtained by TAKING; they think it is to be obtained by prayers and sighs and tears, or religious observances, whereas it is to be obtained by FAITH.  They plead with God about it, and do not see it is something God offers them.

    "Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in  His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem' (Luke 24:46,47).  The weary, sin-stricken soul needs to learn that God can never forgive on the ground of asking, but on the ground that Christ has once suffered for sins, and through faith in Him.  (Russell Elliott.)  

[N.J. Hiebert # 1981]

August 20

"Minister... to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10)

    Our major highways are crawling with huge trucks, vans, and trailers.  When we feel rushed, it's easy to see them as nothing more than a hindrance to those of us traveling in smaller vehicles.  We forget that the drivers of these mighty carriers are stewards, serving you and me.  Having collected all sorts of manufactured goods needed by people everywhere, they have only one aim:  Deliver the goods.  How impoverished we would be without their service!

    The apostle Peter wrote that believers are called to be good stewards of God's vast resources.  He called these resources "the manifold grace of God."  The vehicle for receiving and delivering "God's goods" is a yielded life.  And the uniqueness of that vehicle is determined by the particular ability God has given the individual.  Once we dedicate that ability for His use and for Christ's glory, our aim should be to deliver the goods.  If we fail to do so, others will not be blessed by our lives but will be starved instead. Peter emphasized that the use of our gifts is a two-way ministry as we serve one another.  As you journey life's road, don't look at other vehicles of God's grace as a hindrance.  You could end up starving yourself and them. (JEY)

How good to be an instrument

Of grace that He can use

At any time, in any place,

However He may choose!  (Guirey)

WE CAN NEVER DO TOO MUCH FOR THE ONE WHO DID SO MUCH FOR US. 

[N.J. Hiebert # 1982]

"Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright 1997, Grand Rapids, MI.  Reprinted permission  

August 21

"Even there shall Thy hand lead me."  (Psalm 139:10)

Thoughts of the Lord's omniscience were too wonderful for the Psalmist.  Every movement, every thought, every word, were all known to the Lord.  The Lord's omnipresence staggered him.  There was no place where the eyes of the Lord were not, whether in the glory or the grave, on the wings of the morning or the uttermost bounds of distance and depths.  "Even there" the child of God is assured that the power of His hand is for him and the preciousness of His thoughts are towards him.  (J. Boyd Nicholson) 

Though I forget Him and wander away,

Still He doth love me wherever I stray;

Back to His dear loving arms would I flee,

When I remember that Jesus loves me.  (P.P. Bliss) 

[N.J. Hiebert # 1983]

August 22

"All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad." (Psalm 45:8) 

Swaddling bands, a seamless robe, a slave's apron, a purple cloth, and linen grave clothes.  Whatever the Saviour wears, all is fragrant.  Whether garments of humility or mockery or purity, He makes all fragrant with the fragrance of His lovely Person.  (Jim Flanigan)