“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
We accept reality to be the physical world around us. Reality is that which we know through our five senses: touch, taste, smelling, hearing, and seeing. Webster says truth is “the quality of being in accordance with experience, facts, or reality; conformity with fact,” also “a particular belief or teaching regarded by the speaker as the true one.” This adds the dimension of a spiritual reality.
Long ago the writer of the Bible Book of Judges made this observation about his generation: “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). The Book of Judges goes on to illustrate this observation. The writer was speaking about the professed people of God, not the “heathen” around them. Furthermore, the people did what was right in their own eyes, not so much because they did not have a king to tell them what to do, but because they had abandoned their God and the teachings of His Word, the Bible.
Salvation from sin is a GIFT from God. You accept it on condition that you will let Christ deliver you from your sin and control your life.
Jesus is standing in Pilate’s hall—
Friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all:
Hearken! what meaneth the sudden call!
“What will you do with Jesus?”
Worry is something we all face at one time or another in life. When I was a child, people were troubled about nuclear war and about the worldwide spread of communism. In late 2001, and since, many worried about terrorists and the possibility of death at their hands. A few years ago, the world feared a pandemic of deadly influenza. Now, people are worrying about a worldwide recession or depression. One is even tempted to worry about what will be the next traumatic event that we will have to worry about.
“The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Daniel 4:17).
BEYOND BELIEF! This was the bold headline of our newspaper the day after 9/11. Shortly thereafter, from Ground Zero, we were assured that the terrorists who brought down the Twin Towers can never destroy the foundation of America. But what is the foundation of America?
Over 60 years ago, C. S. Lewis wrote a book entitled The Great Divorce. The contents of this book are in the form of a dream somewhat on the order of Pilgrim’s Progress. Lewis dreams and imagines that he is accompanying a busload of people traveling from Hell to the outskirts of Heaven. Each “ghost” from Hell gets the opportunity to enter Heaven if he or she will just let go of his most cherished sins.
God, give us Christian homes!
Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
Homes where the Master’s will is sought,
Homes crowned with beauty Thy love hath wrought;
God give us Christian homes.