Our Daily Bread

They meet every year, a group of ordinary and unassuming veterans who have one thing in common—their nation’s highest military award for bravery.

According to Genesis 6, Noah lived in a time of terrible wickedness, yet he kept himself from all the evil around him. He must have known the Lord in a close, personal way, for he was described as a man who “walked with God” (v.9).

Margaret watched as her mother prayed for the help her poor family desperately needed. Despite those prayers, the family’s poverty remained. Margaret concluded that prayer does no good.

Years ago, one of the largest gold dealers in the United States was caught in the act of claiming something that wasn’t true. A court-appointed attorney obtained an order to open the company’s vault to confirm a disputed claim that it contained $2 million worth of the precious metal. When the vault was opened, it appeared to hold a stack of gold bars. But a closer inspection revealed that it contained nothing more than 45 blocks of gold-painted wood. Many innocent investors lost a lot of money.

Have you ever noticed the pock-marks, or dimples, covering the surface of a golf ball? They make the ball look imperfect. So what’s their purpose?

Tom Vreman of the Dorcas Society Mission was speaking to our church about the patience required to work on a mission field. He told about a friend and his family who had traveled to the Inner Mongolia region of China to proclaim the gospel.

The letters stop me cold every time. Each month we receive another poignant prayer letter from missionary friends who serve in an African country where disease, especially AIDS, is killing people by the thousands. When these friends tell us about the ongoing tragedy, they are talking about people they know and love.

It was front-page news in the local paper. The article told of two wealthy businessmen who had given $149 million to charitable causes over a period of 8 years. That’s a sum worthy of headlines.

There’s an old gospel song that says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through.” Because God has promised us a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13), it’s correct for Christians to say that we are passing through this present world on our way to our final home.

When the great Princeton scholar James Alexander was on his deathbed, his wife incorrectly quoted 2 Timothy 1:12, “I know in whom I have believed.” Gently he corrected her for adding the word in. He wanted to make it clear that in addition to possessing an accurate understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, he knew Him in a deeply personal way. He saw his impending death as the door through which he would be ushered immediately into the presence of the One he had come to love and know so well.