Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Matthew 22:37, 38.
The youth need to realize that they need a deep experience in the things of God. A mere surface work will be of no benefit to them. You need to bring the light of God’s Word into your heart, that you may search it as with a lighted candle.
Many profess to be on the Lord’s side, but they are not; the weight of all their actions is on Satan’s side. By what means shall we determine whose side we are on? Who has the heart? With whom are our thoughts? Upon whom do we love to converse? Who has our warmest affections and our best energies? If we are on the Lord’s side, our thoughts are with Him, and our sweetest thoughts are of Him. We have no friendship with the world; we have consecrated all that we have and are to Him. We long to bear His image, breathe His spirit, do His will, and please Him in all things.
Bible religion is not one influence among many others, but its influence is supreme, pervading and controlling every other influence. Bible religion is to exercise control over life and conduct. It is not to be like a dash of color, brushed here and there upon the canvas, but its influence is to pervade the whole life, as though the canvas were dipped into color until every thread of the fabric was dyed in a deep, fast, unfading hue.
The religion of Christ is a firm fabric, composed of innumerable threads, woven together with tact and skill. Only by the wisdom that God gives can we weave this fabric. Trusting to ourselves, we draw into it threads of selfishness, and the pattern is spoiled.
Let everyone inquire seriously, “Am I a genuine Christian? Am I bearing the true marks of a Christian? Am I doing my best to perfect a character after the divine model?”
Pure religion is an imitation of Christ.
The Faith I Live By p. 221
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for a transgender student of mine who is on suicide watch. Mary
—-please pray for Christopher. He is sin sick. Rosemary
—-Update on my son: Surgery went well and he should get to come home this evening. Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers. Kathy
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Dear Friends,
When I was nine, my mother took me with her on a vacation to Wisconsin. Our destination was really the Wisconsin Dells, but we stopped at Madison (Wisconsin’s capitol) and the Cave of the Mounds.” This was my first experience on a cave tour and I was awed by the many, sparkly stalactites and stalagmites.
After the cave tour, we looked through the gift shop at all of the items for sale. Most of the items were the typical gift shop fare, but as my eyes wandered from one item to another, they spied a quart jar filled with pretty rocks. These rocks were basically worthless—mostly various types of quartz, calcite, and agate, but they looked beautiful to me. I knew instantly that that was what I wanted.
Without thinking it through very well, my mother bought it for me. Now she had the problem of how to get those rocks home. She knew that if I took them with me on the train, I would take them out and play with them during the long hours back home. Even if I was very careful, some would get scattered and lost. Despite my protests and promises, she decided to put them in my suitcase.
On our way home, she was sorry that she had bought that large jar of rocks as it made my suitcase very heavy. After struggling with the luggage for awhile, she decided to hire a porter to carry our things. Even he had a struggle. As the man put our suitcases on the train, he exclaimed, “What have you got in your suitcase, Lady? Rocks?” Imagine his surprise when she answered in the affirmative!
How often we are allured by the beautiful but worthless “rocks” of sin in the devil’s “giftshop.” Soon, we “buy” his temptation and place it in our “suitcase.” We carry those worthless burdens around with us for years, struggling at every step. Solomon warns, “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.” Prov 5:22.23 We cry as did David, “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” Ps 38:4
Our Great Burden Bearer longs to free us from our burden of sin. Those “rocks” of sin could be gone in an instant, if we would only ask Jesus to take them away. Yet, we don’t want to give them up. They are beautiful to our eyes even though they are worthless and cause us so much difficulty. With great yearning, He desires “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,” that we are carrying. Isa 58:6 He will bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to those held captive by sin, and open the prison house in which the evil one has us bound if we will only let Him. He will cleanse us from the sins that have burdened us for so long if we allow it. (61:1) We can trust Him! He gave His life to save us! We can cast all of our cares upon Him for He loves us with an everlasting love. (1 Peter 5:7; Jer 31:3) He is even now pleading, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 1:18 “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Eze 33:11 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30
May we ask our Dear Saviour for His great gift of salvation while the door of mercy is still open. May we cast our burden upon the LORD, allowing Him to rid us of all those “beautiful rocks,” those “heavy rocks,” of sin while there is still time. (Ps 55:22) May we “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb 4:16
Rose
Religion to be Supreme