From: Suzianty Herawati
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus." --Matthew 1:21
When a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes dear for his
sake. Thus, so precious is the person of the Lord Jesus in the estimation of
all true believers, that everything about Him they consider to be inestimable
beyond all price.
"All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David, as if
the very vestments of the Saviour were so sweetened by His person that he could
not but love them. Certain it is, that there is not a spot where that hallowed
foot hath trodden--there
is not a word which those blessed lips have uttered--nor a thought which His
loving Word has revealed--which is not to us precious beyond all price. And
this is true of the names of
Christ--they are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether He be called the
Husband of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend; whether He be styled the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world--the King, the Prophet, or the
Priest--every title of our Master--Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty
Counsellor-- every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and luscious
are the drops that distil from it. But if there be one
name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name of _Jesus_.
Jesus! it is the name which moves the harps of heaven to melody. Jesus! the
life of all our joys. If there be
one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this name. It is
woven into the very warp and woof of our psalmody.
Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any, that are good for anything,
end without it. It is the sum total of all delights. It is the music with which
the bells of heaven ring; a song in a word; an ocean for comprehension,
although a drop for brevity; a matchless oratorio in two syllables; a gathering
up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters.
"Jesus, I love Thy charming name,
'Tis music to mine ear."
CH Spurgeon
=====================================================
From: Suzianty Herawati
"They shall sing in the ways of the Lord." --Psalm 138:5
The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they
first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the
angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost
soul of the forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He
says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps,
and went on his way singing--
"Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!"
Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off?
Do you remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have loved thee with
an everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a
thick cloud thy sins; they shall not be mentioned against thee any more for
ever." Oh! what a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin.
When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce
refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been
set at liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story of my
deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake
that was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had blotted out
the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is not only at the commencement
of the Christian life that believers have reason for song; as long as they live
they discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of
His constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I will bless the Lord at all
times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it, brother, that
thou magnifiest the Lord this day.
"Long as we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand."
CH Spurgeon
====================================================
From: Bayo Afolaranmi
Dearly Beloved,
"ME I NO GO SUFFER..."
"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him,
but also to suffer for him" (Philippians 1:29, NIV).
There is a popular chorus in pidgin English in my part of the world that goes
thus: "Me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread. God of miracle, na my Papa o.
God of miracle, na my papa o." The literal meaning in the conventional English
is, "I will not suffer; I will not beg for bread. God of miracle is my Father.
God of miracle is my Father." The song is a positive confession of who a
Christian is in the Lord and what would happen to him. However, the song is
partly one of such false hopes that make many Christians to lose the essence of
being a Christian.
The Bible in many places teaches about the Christian suffering.
Consider these verses:
"I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The
world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!" (John
16:33, TEV).
"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12, NIV).
"For even when we were with you, [you know] we warned you plainly beforehand
that we were to be pressed with difficulties and made to suffer affliction,
just as to your own knowledge it has [since] happened" (1 Thessalonians 3:4,
AMP).
"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of
sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10,
NIV).
"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as
though something strange were happening to you" (1 Peter 4:12, NIV).
Nevertheless, this suffering is not suffering for wrongdoing but suffering for
being a Christian (see 1 Peter 4:12-16; Philippians 1:29), and it is certain
that the Lord will see the Christian through the suffering and make him/her
come out of it like a purified gold
(see Psalm 23:4; 66:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3; 1 Peter 4:12-13).
The implication of this is that the Christian should be prepared for suffering
all the time. However, he should "not lose heart. [Because] outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all. So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV).
It is indeed good to positively confess that we will not suffer.
However, we should always remember that Christian life involves suffering in
this world. The good news is that God has given Christian victory over the
suffering, and He will be with the Christian to go through the suffering
successfully.
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
