Our Daily Bread

There are some people who would be greatly disappointed if they didn’t have something to gripe about. They are so occupied with their little troubles that they lose sight of all their big blessings.

Caiaphas the high priest unknowingly spoke prophetically about Jesus when he said it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish (Jn. 11:50-52). This reminds me of an all-but-forgotten truth: When on the cross Jesus took the penalty we deserved, He put the welfare of others ahead of His own.

Henry Moorhouse, the 19th-century English evangelist, was feeling loaded down with the burdens of his ministry. Then the Lord gave him a tender reminder of His care.

Early one dreary, rainy morning I sat in my study and looked out the window. I watched a fat robin pull three worms from the grass, swallow them, and then fly up to the telephone wire. There, just 10 feet from me, he began to sing. For a half-hour I sat and enjoyed the robin’s rendition of “Praise the Lord!”

An infant requires at least four things: food, fresh air, exercise, and the help of others. This is also true in the spiritual realm. We need food (Bible study), fresh air (praying), exercise (service and witnessing), and help from others (fellowship in a good church). A follower of Christ who neglects any of these four practices cannot expect to be well-rounded and growing in his spiritual life.

I wonder what the apostle Paul would say if he were to visit our churches today. What a beehive of activity! Committees, programs, entertainment without end. But worship is often downplayed, services are cut back, prayer meetings are eliminated. Some call these improvements, but are they really changes for the better?

I have been married to six different wives and I am now living with my seventh. They all look very much alike except that my seventh wife looks older than my first and has some gray hairs. Strange to say, all seven wives had the same disposition, and I have loved them all intensely.

For most of his adult life, German composer Ludwig van Beethoven lived in fear of deafness. You can imagine how he felt when his fear became a reality. His hearing gradually faded to the point where he could communicate only by means of writing.

I remember the day I arose early to work in my garden but found dense fog over the entire landscape, limiting my vision to only a few feet. It was so wet that work was out of the question. But my early rising was not in vain. As I sat on a potato crate in the doorway of the barn facing east, I was to behold one of the grandest of all heavenly spectacles, the sunrise.

A frog was wondering how he could get away from the cold winter climate. Some wild geese suggested that he migrate with them. The problem, though, was that the frog couldn’t fly.