From: "Bayo Afolaranmi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dearly Beloved,
IT IS KEPT FOR YOU "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:3-4, NIV). There is a tradition that some Christian parents do when they give birth to a baby – buying a new Bible as the first gift for the baby. This gift may be presented publicly during the naming ceremony or during the dedication of the baby. I observed this tradition for my two children and kept the copies of the Bible on my bookshelves in my study. My intention was to present the copies of the Bible to the children when they are fully grown up. Recently, a mild drama took place in my study as I was looking for some books on my bookshelves. My eight-year-old son was with me looking at the books on the shelves. He called my attention to a particular book. When I looked at the book, it turned out to be the particular Bible I had bought for him eight years ago. I asked him if he likes it, he said yes. Then I asked him to open the title page and read the autograph there. He was surprised to discover that that Bible is a present to him right from the day of his naming ceremony. He just prostrated in appreciation of the hidden treasure. Do you know that God has some hidden treasures for you also? Some of these hidden treasures will be revealed unto us on earth, some of them will be revealed in heaven. Peter talked about "an inheritance" that has been stored for the regenerated ones in heaven. This inheritance "can never perish, spoil or fade." It is apart from the living hope that we have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what happens on earth, a true Christian has that hope of legacy stored for him/her in heaven. Nevertheless, it not only in heaven that he/she would enjoy such legacy. Even here on earth, he/she has many things that a non-Christian cannot boast of. He/she has the grace, mercy, peace and love of God in abundance. These qualities surpass all human understanding. In fact, the Christian is richly blessed in the Lord! What is your heart desire? What are you aspiring to be? The Lord has in store for you both on earth and in heaven more than what you can imagine. It is kept for you for the appointed time. Surrender your total life to Him. Trust in Him. He will soon surprise you! In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). ==================================================== From: Suzianty Herawati "Remove far from me vanity and lies." --Proverbs 30:8 "O my God, be not far from me." Psalm 38:21. Here we have two great lessons--what to deprecate and what to supplicate. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity--he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it." Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls. We have heard of a philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a pit; but how deeply do they fall who look down. Their fall is fatal. No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with our God! CH Spurgeon ===================================================== From: Suzianty Herawati "The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot." --Genesis 8:9 Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then be assured that your religion is vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe unto you. If you profess to be a Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or perception of His preciousness. But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, yet it would be a punishment of itself; and that if you could have the whole world, and abide in it for ever, it would be quite enough misery not to be parted from it; for your God--your God--is what your soul craves after; then be of good courage, thou art a child of God. With all thy sins and imperfections, take this to thy comfort: if thy soul has no rest in sin, thou are not as the sinner is! If thou art still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten thee, for thou hast not quite forgotten Him. The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of Him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness, we want the manna which drops from on high; our skin bottles of creature confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock which follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on Him your soul can sing, "He hath satisfied my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's," but if you have Him not, your bursting wine vat and well-filled barn can give you no sort of satisfaction: rather lament over them in the words of wisdom, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" CH Spurgeon
