A New Edition (1 Corinthians 15:52)

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Is death the absolute end of human existence? Not according to Ben Franklin. While scholars differ as to what he believed, there is no dispute that he believed firmly in the resurrection of the body. This epitaph he composed for himself:

The body of

Franklin, printer,

(like the cover of an old book,

its contents torn out and

stripped of its lettering and gilding)

lies here, food for worms.

But the work shall not be lost;

for it will (as he believed)

appear once more,

in a new and more elegant edition,

revised and corrected

by the Author.

Franklin’s epitaph is a picturesque restatement of Paul’s affirmation in Philippians 3:20-21 that the risen Lord will transform our corruptible bodies, making them like His own glorious body.

What a comfort this truth is when a fellow believer who we love dies! What a comfort it is for ourselves as we move on moment by moment toward death! But this comfort can be ours only if we believe the good news of the atoning death of Christ on the cross with its victorious sequel of the empty tomb. – Vernon C. Grounds

Soar we now where Christ has led,

Following our exalted Head;

Made like Him, like Him we rise –

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. – Wesley

The resurrection assures what Calvary secures.

• September 30, 1994, Our Daily Bread

The Cleansing Blood (Hebrews 9:26)

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A barrier of sin stands between man and God. Unless that obstacle is overcome to God’s satisfaction, sinners cannot be accepted by One in whose presence the angels cry, “Holy, holy, holy!” (Isaiah 6:3). How can we approach this One with confidence? What could guarantee our pardon and remove our guilt?

Once a year the Israelites gathered for a special celebration called the Day of Atonement. Let’s use our imagination and look in on that solemn day. The high priest in his white linen garments has just slain a goat. He enters into the temple’s holiest place. he sprinkles the blood before the mercy seat.

Outside stand hundreds of people, some weeping because of their sins. You sense an air of reverence and expectancy. Suddenly, the high priest appears. He’s alive. His very presence says that God has accepted the sacrifice. The people rejoice as the priest extends his hands with a benediction. Ask a smiling Hebrew, “What’s the meaning of this?” and he might reply, “Oh, our sins have been covered by sacrifice and the nation is at peace with God!”

Today, our sins are removed because Christ, with His own blood, has obtained eternal redemption for us. He has entered the Most Holy Place once for all. Let’s praise Him for His great sacrifice. – Paul R. Van Gorder

This is all my hope and peace –

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

This is all my righteousness –

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. – Lowry

The only valid passport to heaven is signed in Jesus’ blood.

• September 29, 1990, Our Daily Bread

The Bible and Society (Psalm 119:93)

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Bible reading and teaching of Christian values are no longer permitted in many school systems in the Western World. This is not the case in Eastern Europe, however.

Speaking at the American Christian education convention in November 1992, a Russian delegate said, “Several years ago we closed God out of our country, and it caused so many problems in our society that we cannot count them. We must put God back into our country, and we must begin with our children.”

The deputy of the Ministry

of Education said, ”Do we have the right to deprive our children of knowledge about God and Christian values? No, and once again, no!”

A plan was then drawn up to send 12,000 Christian teachers to the Commonwealth of Independence States. Today Bibles are being sent to Russia, and many will be used in the schools.

Getting the Bible back into our individual lives is the first step in getting it back into our classrooms and into society. We must read it regularly, believe what it says, and obey it faithfully. May the psalmist’s prayer become our prayer: “I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life” (119:93). – Herbert Vander Lugt

Give us, O Lord, a strong desire

To look within Your Word each day;

Help us to hide it in our heart,

Lest from its truth our feet would stray. – J. D. Branon

To ignore the Bible is to invite disaster.

• September 28, 1994, Our Daily Bread

Happy New Year! (Joel 2:13)

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Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is regarded as the anniversary of the day that God created the world. The celebration begins with a blast of the shofar (ram’s horn) to announce that the God who created the world is still the One ruling it. The blowing of the horn also begins a 10-day period of self-examination and repentance leading to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:23-32; Numbers 29:1-6).

The prophet Joel urged people not to just go through the motions of repentance, but to turn from their sins and obey God (Joel 2:13). In his day, tearing garments was a sign of sorrow for sin. It made a good show, but it didn’t impress God. He was more concerned with their hearts.

Especially interesting is the basis for Joel’s appeal. it wasn’t only to avoid God’s wrath, but also to enjoy God’s grace, compassion, and love. Sometimes we think of God as being heavy-handed with punishment and tight-fisted with mercy. The words of Joel remind us that the opposite is true. The Lord is slow to punish and eager to forgive.

There’s no better way to celebrate God’s creation than to let Him re-create your heart through faith in Jesus the Messiah and turn your desires toward Him. – Julie Ackerman Link

When I tried to cover my sin,

My guilt I could not shake;

But when I sought Your mercy, Lord,

My sin I did forsake. – Hess

Confession is the key that opens the door to forgiveness.

• September 27, Vol. 10, Our Daily Bread

Love Believes All Things (1 Corinthians 13:7)

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It was 40 years ago or more that I observed a friend of mine showing great affection for someone I considered unworthy of love. I thought my friend was being taken in, and I was afraid he would be disillusioned and saddened in the end.

When I expressed by concern, he replied, “When I stand before the Lord, I hope He’ll say of me that I’ve loved too many, rather than too few.” I’ve never forgotten his words.

Paul insists that “[love] believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Love “believes” in people. It can see the potential in them. It believes that God can take the most unattractive and unworthy individual and turn that person into a masterpiece of beauty and grace. If love errs, it must err in the way of trustfulness and hopefulness.

Certainly, we must be aware of danger when we see it coming, and become “as wise as serpents” (Matthew 10:16). Tough love may be the best response to irresponsible and foolish people, but we can be too guarded, too wary and distrustful.

It doesn’t do us any real harm to be hoodwinked and defrauded (Matthew 5:38-48). It’s better to believe in someone and have your heart broken than to have no heart at all. British poet Alfred Tennyson wrote, “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” –  David H. Roper

Lord, help us to believe in people

And all that in them You can do,

So we can say we’ve loved too many,

Rather than too few. – Sper

Love looks beyond what people are to what they can become.

• September 26, Vol. 16

Free to Obey (James 2:12)

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Imagine a chandelier hanging from a ceiling by a chain of 10 links. How many have to break for it to crash to the floor? Only one!

So it is with God’s Ten Commandments. If we break one, we become guilty of all. His laws reveal His holy nature. The one true God who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”

James used this type of argument to show that favoritism is a transgression of the “royal law” – loving our neighbor as ourselves (2:8). Christians are free from the law by which we will be judged (James 2:12).

Unlike the law of Moses, which gives no power to obey, and condemns when we transgress, the “law of liberty” removes the fear of eternal condemnation. It instructs us in righteousness through the Word of God, and the Spirit enables us to fulfill the underlying moral principles of the Ten Commandments.

So the law of liberty is a new kind of chain. Christ fulfilled the old law and paid the penalty we deserved. By trusting Him we are forgiven for all the links we have broken. And since we are free from the fear of condemnation, we are free to obey Him because we love Him. – Dennis J. De Haan

Though freed from the law with its stern commands,

No longer ruled by its harsh demands,

I’m bound by Christ’s love and am only free

To live and to act responsibly. – D. J. De Haan

True freedom is not choosing our way but yielding to God’s way.

• September 25, 1993, Our Daily Bread

Who Am I? (Ephesians 2:19)

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After World War I, hundreds of shell-shocked French soldiers could not remember who they were. The military’s records were so faulty that they were no help. How could those victims of amnesia recall their names and be reunited with their families? Someone suggested an Identification Rally to be held in Paris and announced throughout France.

On the day the rally took place, thousands of people gathered in a large plaza in Paris. One by one the bewildered soldiers mounted the high platform and anxiously asked, “Please, please, can somebody tell me who I am?”

The importance of personal identity cannot be exaggerated. But immeasurably more important is our spiritual identity. Do we know whether we are an accidental product of mindless process of evolution or whether we are God’s creation made in His image?

Can somebody tell us who we are? Yes, God can, and He does so in the Bible. He identifies us in His inspired Word as either unforgiven aliens, self-excluded from His household by our own sin and unbelief, or as children of God, belonging to His family by faith in Jesus Christ.

What’s your spiritual identify? – Vernon C. Grounds

I once was an outcast stranger on earth,

A sinner by choice and an alien by birth;

But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down –

And heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown. – Buell

To resolve our identity crisis, we must be identified with Christ.

• September 24, 1993, Our Daily Bread

What Are Our Options? (John 6:68)

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Newspaper columnist William Safire wrote a pre-election column that posed the question, “What do you do when the candidate you support takes a position you don’t like [or when] the candidate you oppose takes a stand that you admire?” Safire suggested three options: (1) Switch candidates. (2) Stay with your original choice and put on a button that says, “Nobody’s perfect.” (3) Be like the proverbial old woman who says, “I never vote. It only encourages them.”

Now think about the spiritual parallel. What are our choices when Christ, our Leader, takes a position we don’t like, or when the enemy we oppose takes a stand more to our liking? Some will switch and walk with Him no more (John 6:66). But that’s not an option for those who know Him (v. 68). Neither can we wear a button that says, “Nobody’s perfect.” Jesus is the Holy One of God. He is perfect. If we disagree with Him, it is because we are wrong. Furthermore, we can’t be like the woman who never votes. Our Teacher didn’t give us that option. We must choose whom we will follow.

Lord, help us today to be as wise as Peter and the other disciples. Enable us to follow You even when Your ways are contrary to ours. – Martin R. De Haan II

What think ye of Christ? is the test

To try both your state and your scheme;

You cannot be right in the rest

Unless you think rightly of Him. – Newton

In the dictionary of discipleship, you’ll never find the word retreat.

• September 23, 1989, Our Daily Bread

Do as I Say … and Do (Deuteronomy 11:8)

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Columnist William Safire’s grammar is flawless. So what is he doing making statements such as “Don’t use no double negatives” and “Verbs has to agree with their subjects”? these are what Safire calls fumblerules – mistakes that call attention to the rule. Fumblerules are humorous and effective because the writer knew he was making them and did so to instruct the reader.

There’s a kind of fumblerule parents use that is not so funny and not at all effective. It happens when we make a rule that we expect our children to adhere to but do not follow ourselves. One fumblerule we might come up with is “Obey the rules of the road – unless you’re running late and need to drive 75 miles per hour.” Or “Don’t cut each other down – unless one of the kids gets a bad grade. Then you can say whatever you want.”

In Deuteronomy 11, God told His people to “keep every commandment” (v. 8) if they wanted His blessing. A few verses later, they were instructed to convey those commands to their children (v. 19). The parents, who expected obedience from their children, were to obey the law themselves.

One rule we should never fumble is “Do as I say … and do.” – J. David Branon

Obedient then I ought to be,

For little children follow me;

I do not dare to go astray

Because they too may go that way. – Anon.

Train up a child in the way he should go – but be sure you go that way yourself!

• September 22, 1992, Our Daily Bread

Faster Than A Fax (Isaiah 65:24)

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The installation of the first telegraph lines in the Shetland islands off the coast of Scotland prompted unusual responses by some people. For example, as one man stood looking at the wires being mounted on the high poles, a business said to him, “What a wonderful thing this new invention is! When it is finished, we will be able to send a message 200 miles or more and an answer within an hour!”

The other seemed unimpressed. “There’s nothing very great about that,” he answered.

“There isn’t? Do you know of anything that is better or faster?” Asked the businessman.

The man, thinking of Isaiah 65, replied, “Did you ever hear of getting and answer before the message is sent?” The man looked dumbfounded, thinking it was just a strange, meaningless comment. Little did he realize the biblical truth behind that reply.

God reads our hearts and always knows our needs. Often, even while we are speaking, the desired blessing is on the way. Daniel was still praying when Gabriel flew swiftly from God’s throne with the answer (Daniel 9:20-23).

Yes, prayer is faster than any modern means of communication. Let’s use it often! – Henry G. Bosch

Even while we’re asking,

God’s power and love can bless;

To praying souls He often grants

More than they can express. – Anon.

Prayer is the Christian’s open line to heaven.

• September 21, 1993, Our Daily Bread