Taken From “Morning and Evening” by C.H. Spurgeon-Nov. 9

     How often we forget that our life is our walk before others.  So often it’s not what we say, but what we do.    I’m often reminded of Roman’s chapter 7, and I readily admit that I’ve often felt what Paul describes.  The good I want to do, I don’t do, and the bad I don’t want to do is that which I do.  Is there some hypocrisy in my life?  Yes.  Do I always walk straight, and never fall down?    I fall quite often.  Am I a sinner?  You bet.  Am I christian?  Yes.  
     There was a time when I lived in fear of how God would view me.  How could He love someone like me who was so imperfect, who constantly failed to uphold His standard, who had done so many awful things?  I have to say that there was a time when I got very discouraged in my Christian walk.  It’s easy to get discouraged when you walk among those who act “holier than thou,” and pretend to be in front of others what they can’t be alone.  
     It has taken a while for me to realize and to learn that there is no such thing as the “perfect” christian in this world, and I’ve often thought that maybe the reason Christianity hasn’t gotten further is because too many of us are trying too hard to be  perfect rather than to be loving and forgiving.  We judge ourselves and others when none of us are in any position to judge anyone.  For so many of us, I think it’s easier to stand before the throne, than to kneel at the cross.   
    Lest we forget, the Bible, the word of God, is the love of God revealed to man through His son, Jesus Christ, and through Him to us.  Just like His disciples, I find myself dealing with issues of greed, selfishness, anger, arrogance, immaturity, and just a general failure all around to get it, but like them, as I spend time with the Lord, as I walk with Him, I’m learning, growing and becoming more like Him.  It is my hope and prayer that I’m becoming more like Jesus, not in His perfection, but in the way He walked in this world expressing His love, forgiveness, and service to others.

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him”

Col_2:6

If we have received Christ himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with him by a walk of faith in him. Walking implies action. Our religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, “He is like his Master; he lives like Jesus Christ.” Walking signifies progress. “So walk ye in him”; proceed from grace to grace, run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge that a man can attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies continuance. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ. How many Christians think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we should always be with him, treading in his steps and doing his will. Walking also implies habit. When we speak of a man’s walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenor of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget him; sometimes call him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is not a habit; we do not walk in him. We must keep to him, cling to him, never let him go, but live and have our being in him. “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him”; persevere in the same way in which ye have begun, and, as at the first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let him be the same till life’s end; the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God. O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

 

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Taken From the Writings of Dwight L. Moody

 

     I found this while reading, and it touched me.  I thought it might touch you as well.  Love isn’t only about giving; it’s about receiving as well.  Tracey taught me this as well.

True Love.

 

One day when I was in Brooklyn, I saw a young man going along the street without any arms. A friend who was with me, pointed him out, and told me his story. When the war broke out he felt it to be his duty to enlist and go to the front. He was engaged to be married, and while in the army letters passed frequently between him and his intended wife. After the battle of the Wilderness the young lady looked anxiously for the accustomed letter. For a little while no letter was received. At last one came in a strange hand. She opened it with trembling fingers, and read these words: “We have fought a terrible battle. I have been wounded so awfully that I shall never be able to support you. A friend writes this for me. I love you more tenderly than ever, but I release you from your promise. I will not ask you to join your life with the maimed life of mine:” That letter was never answered. The next train that left, the young lady was on it. She went to the hospital. She found out the number of his cot, and she went down the aisle, between the long rows of the wounded men. At last she saw the number, and, hurrying to his side, she threw her arms around his neck and said: “I’ll not desert you. I’ll take care of you.” He did not resist her love. They were married, and there is no happier couple than this one. We are dependent on one another. Christ says, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll take you to this bosom of mine.” That young man could have spurned her love; he could, but he didn’t. Surely you can be saved if you will accept the Saviour’s love. If God loves us, my friends, He loves us unto the end. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

From the Writings of James Ryle

    Our beliefs are important, but the attitude we have in our expression of them is just as important.   How many people have we turned away because of our attitude?  People won’t care how much we know until they see how much we care.    

Be Winsome, and You Just Might Win Some

“You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth.” (2 Timothy 2:25, The Message).

Tit for Tat — that seems to be the standard operating procedure for today’s divided world. We live in the midst of an embattled and embittered population, polarized by strongly held opinions and cauterized by spiteful arguments and endless shouting matches as each side tries to prove to the other why one is right and the other wrong.

Today’s verse is inviting us to raise the bar in our own life and be done with pointless arguments and strife. By taking the high road in moral debates, and listening respectfully to what others truly think, feel and believe; and by keeping a cool head when expressing your own thoughts and ideas — you just never know what God might do.

So refuse to get involved in inane discussions that always end up in fights. Instead, become a servant — God’s servant — and steer clear from becoming argumentative.

Even though there are plenty of models for the argumentative style displayed on the various television networks, and even though this worldly spirit has found a place in many of today’s pulpits, passing itself off in the guise of “apologetics” — this is not what the Lord wants us to be: combative, belligerent, self-exalting know-it-alls.

Rather, He tells us that by being winsome, we just might win some.

“Be a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.” (2Ti 2:23-26).

Be winsome, and you just might win some.