DON’T DROP YOUR FLAG
1Kings 18:30-39
The test must come. And it does. Every day brings it anew. A man must line up and show his colors. Satan is aggressive. Sin forces the issue. Selfishness knocks loud at the door daily. They push in, and demand space and recognition, and get it, too. Jesus earnestly asks that we be true to him. We should let the colors fly in home, and shop, and school, tactfully, graciously, but unmistakably.
CAN YOU HEAR?
Mark 8:14-26
What a thoughtful, wise Friend Jesus is! He gladly hears our prayer for bread and bed, shelter of roof, and strength of body. But he’s always reaching through these things to the higher, deeper, better things, teaching our minds, and wooing our hearts. There’s a voice speaking to us in the common things we receive today. He’s the wise man who hears and opens up his heart and life for the better things.
JESUS’LL NEVER FAIL YOU
Mark 8:1-13
Jesus gives before he asks. He gives more than he asks. He thinks into our need, of body, and life, and purse. He puts all his power at our command. He promises to fill full every lack of ours. He’ll do an act of creation before he’ll let his word fail any needing, trusting follower. Then he asks that we shall be as loyal to him under every circumstance as he is to us.
BE TRUE WHEN IT’S HARD
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus was true to us when he was down here. Yet it wasn’t easy. Being true was never harder. It drove him clear to Calvary’s shame. But he went. He never flinched. And he never fails us now. No matter how we have been untrue, or neglectful, or ashamed, or have ignored him, when we come, sorry, for help, he always gives it. Surely we’ll be true to him in speech and life, no matter how hard!
THE ZEST OF BEING FREE
1Thessalonians 5:14-24
When your lungs are full of fresh air, how stale a shut-up room smells! When a man’s free of actual slavery, how irksome its bonds seem to him! The sheer delight of freedom can’t be told. So when once a man is free of other kinds of slavery—bad habits, lack of self-control, worrying, and that whole brood, what a sweet sense of freedom! Do you know about this? You may, today, if Jesus may have his way.
