Jewel # 31 (April 30, 2009)

"And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up MY JEWELS."  (Malachi 3:17)

Jimmy was a typical young teenager who loved to have fun and sometimes his fun included tricks he played on friends.  Usually his tricks didn't harm anybody or anything, but one time the trick could have had serious results.

Late one evening Jimmy and his friend Al were walking home along a dark village street near his home.  As they passed a house that was in the process of being repaired, the boys came up with an idea.  The neighbours who were having the work done were letting their family of boys sleep in the attic of the house.  Because the inside wasn't finished, the only way to get into the attic was from the outside by a ladder propped up against the house.  Jimmy and Al knew this and also knew that the  boys had planned to sleep in the attic that night.

The two friends decided to sneak quietly to the side of the house, remove the ladder and hide it in the ditch by the road.  Once they completed their secret plan, each boy headed to his own home and hurried off to bed.

Jimmy had difficulty falling asleep.  He tossed and turned.  Every time he closed his eyes, he imagined the broken bodies of young boys lying on the ground of the unfinished house.  He tried to erase the thought that the boys might fall from the attic to the ground,  but sleep did not come.

After some struggling with himself, Jimmy crept out of bed, slid into his jeans and quietly left his home and hurried back down the street in the darkness.  He located the ladder hidden in the ditch and quickly carried it to the house  where the boys were sleeping in the attic.  He carefully placed it back against the house where he and Al had found it.  Then he scurried down the street to his home and into bed.

Jimmy knew what he did was wrong and that the Lord had been speaking to him.  He whispered a prayer, telling the Lord Jesus that he was sorry for the trick he had played and thanked Him for helping him to make it right.  Jimmy's mind was at peace, and he immediately fell asleep.

In the eyes of God, sin is disobeying what we know is right in the ways of God.  Jimmy felt this because he belonged to the Lord Jesus.  He realized that what he had done in fun could have caused a tragedy.  He knew he needed to confess his sin and correct the deed and then he could thank the Lord for His forgiveness.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  (1 John 1:9) 

"A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished."  (Proverbs 22:3)

P.S.  This is a true story.  Jimmy was your grandpa Norm.  I used to be called "Jimmy."

Indispensable Tool

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)"

It may seem like an ancient relic today, but not too many years ago people in all kinds of trades and vocations found a slide rule to be indispensable. This ingenious instrument was used to make complex mathematic computations quickly."Dr Burt Nanus recalls that on his first day in engineering school in 1953, a professor advised the entering freshmen to buy the best slide rule they could afford. The professor told them, 'You will be dependent on it all your professional life.' Nanus dutifully bought a slide rule. Yet after he graduated and went on to MIT, he never used it. The calculator had taken its place." Things that today we consider indispensable may quickly become obsolete. Tomorrow they may be discarded as relics that cannot provide the help we need.

But at least one thing from the ancient past will always be needed and never become obsolete. It is the BIBLE, God's Holy Word. No matter how much technological change and progress takes place, that Book will remain the one sure means for getting the right answers to the complicated questions of our origin, our purpose, our behavior, and our ultimate destination." So keep a Bible handy. You'll always need it." (VCG)

The Bible is a treasure house, Where we will always find.
The things we need from day to day For heart and soul and mind. (Anon)

The Bible May be old, but its truths are always new.

Famine of the Word of God

"Behold the days come saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11,12)

Some believers may be ready to say about this, If we are deprived of all the Lord's "gifts," we still have the Bible. True, but there is another side to this, How many are there who read the Bible as a routine and get nothing for their souls? Why is this? Are we not told that Moses and the prophets were read in the Jewish synagogue every Sabbath day? so that with the Scriptures in their hands, and read at stated intervals, there was such a famine of the Word of God, that they knew not Him of whom the Scriptures which they read spake, but actually fulfilled the same in condemning Him. "If any man hear MY voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with ME." (Revelation 3:20) (H.H.S.)

Yet it Lives

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
(Matthew 24:35)

Generations follow generations - yet it lives.
Nations rise and fall - yet it lives.
Kings, dictators, presidents come and go - yet it lives.
Torn, condemned, burned - yet it lives.
Hated, despised, cursed - yet it lives.
Doubted, suspected, criticized - yet it lives.
Damned by atheists - yet it lives.
Exaggerated by fanatics - yet it lives.
Misconstrued and misstated - yet it lives.
Ranted and raved about - yet it lives.
Its inspiration denied - yet it lives.
Yet it lives - as a lamp to our feet.
Yet it lives - as a light to our paths.
Yet it lives - as a standard for childhood.
Yet it lives - as a guide for youth.
Yet it lives - as an inspiration for the matured.
Yet it lives - as a comfort for the aged.
Yet it lives - as food for the hungry.
Yet it lives - as water for the thirsty.
Yet it lives - as rest for the weary.
Yet it lives - as light for the heathen.
Yet it lives - as salvation for the sinner.
Yet it lives - as grace for the Christian.
To know it is to love it.
To love it is to accept it.
To accept it means Life eternal.
(Author Unknown)

Authority of the Word

"Thy Word is truth." (John 17:17)

The moment I require anything to establish the authority of the Word, I take the authority of the Word away; for the thing rested on is, of course, that which is supposed to establish the Word, and not the Word itself. If I take anything as proving the Word of God, and so believe it, that is not believing the Word. (J.N. Darby)

Mysteries of the Bible

". . . some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16)

A plain farmer said to a skeptic, "The mysteries of the Bible do not bother me. I read the Bible as I eat fish. In eating fish, when I come across a bone, I do not try to swallow it, but I lay it on one side. When, in reading the prophecies, I come across that which is inexplicable, I say, 'There is a bone,' and I lay it on one side. When I find something in a doctrine that staggers my reason, I say, "That is a bone," and I lay it on one side." Alas! that men should choke themselves to death with bones of mystery, when there is so much meat in this Bible on which the soul may get strong for eternity. (T. De Witt Talmage - Born in 1832)

Precious Treasure

"The Lord gave the WORD: great was the company of those that published it."
(Psalm 68:11)

Holy Bible, Book divine!
Precious treasure, thou art mine!
Mine, to tell me whence I came;
Mine, to teach me what I am.

Mine, to chide me when I rove;
Mine, to show a Saviour's love;
Mine thou art, to guide my feet;
Mine, to judge, condemn, acquit.

Mine, to comfort in distress,
If the Holy Spirit bless;
Mine, to show by living faith,
How to triumph over death.

Mine, to tell of joys to come;
Mine, to show the sinner's doom;
Holy Bible, Book divine!
Precious treasure, thou art mine!

(Author unknown)