DON’T GET DIZZY
Luke 21:29-36
To be drunk means you’ve taken so much of something that you’ve lost control. You may get drink-drunk, food-drunk, pleasure- drunk, or anxiety-drunk. The word rendered “surfeiting” really means to get dizzy. The only safe rule on liquor is total abstinence; and on other things this: don’t get dizzy; never lose control of heart, or head, or tongue, or hand. Live each day so you’ll be glad to see Jesus whenever he comes back.
WHO’S IN THE LEAD?
Galatians 5:16-24
There are two leaders. Everyone is walking behind one or the other. The evil leader covers up so we shan’t suspect whom we’re walking behind. But the things he leads you to do are a sure telltale mark—selfish, passionate, sinful things. The other leader is as open as the things he leads you to do are good. An unselfish love welling up inside controls heart, and tongue, and head. Today’s life tells whom you are walking behind.
LIVE IT!
Mark 4:1-6; Mar_4:14-20
Jesus taught. But he lived what he taught. And he lived it first before he taught it. And he lived it most, more than even he ever could teach it. On the human side here was the great power of his teaching. He will teach us. We need it. We need it daily. But we must live it as we learn it; then we can teach it to others. This is the first rule in Jesus’ school.
JESUS IS PRAYING MOST NOW
John 17:9-21
Jesus is still praying. He ever lives to pray us through. Thirty years of living, three years of serving, one tremendous act of dying, nineteen hundred years of praying! What an emphasis on prayer! Yet all through, praying had its roots deep down in the living, and serving, and dying. And the prayer at heart is this: that love, real love, might flood our lives, purifying, unifying, and perfecting. Let us pray and—love.
FOOTING THE BILLS
Luke 14:25-35
Everything worthwhile costs. And you can tell its worth by how much it cost—somebody. It cost God much to give his only Son! It cost Jesus both reputation and life to save us. He saved others, but he couldn’t save himself from the awful cost of saving us. It costs to sin. Selfishness is awfully costly. And it costs to follow Jesus, really, truly, fully. But it’s worth all it costs, and immensely more.
