Our Daily Bread

I love to fish. One summer a good friend invited me to go with him to Canada, where a guide would take us to a special place where there were supposed to be plenty of “big ones.”

As Mary of Bethany gave her best to Jesus (Mk. 14:1-9), so each of us must give in our own way the best we have to the Lord. Our efforts may not seem significant, but God can use them for His glory.

A sheep and a pig will react differently in a mudhole. A sheep that falls into the mud will not be happy there. He will struggle and cry until he gets out.

Jesus sometimes used humor to drive home a truth. Think of the serious point in His humorous description in our Bible reading today. He accused the religious leaders of being like a man with a great big beam in his eye offering to remove a tiny speck from his brother’s eye (Mt. 7:1-6). How ludicrous!

Many years ago a magazine published a story about a man who visited a small town on Cape Cod. He bought an old homestead that had fallen into disrepair and planned to improve the property by digging a new well. An elderly farmer, however, who had known the place in its original glory, said, “Why don’t you open up the old well? There used to be plenty of good sweet water in it.”

One summer as my wife and I sat on our porch, we were serenaded by a tree frog who had taken up residence in the dense vine climbing a nearby tree. We finally located him, but not until after a painstaking search, because his coloring blended in perfectly with the vine leaves. As we watched him, we remembered a little chameleon we had seen during a visit to Florida. Like the frog, it took on the color of its surroundings.

Death ushers the believer into the presence of the Savior (2 Cor. 5:8). Yet many dread that step from earth to heaven because God has told us so little of what will happen.

“Surprise! Jesus is alive!” The two travelers from Emmaus, who had just entertained the risen Savior in their home, were greeted by the disciples with the news that the Lord was no longer in the tomb (Lk. 24:29-34).

Do you like continued stories? Let’s say you’re reading a magazine article or watching a television program for half an hour, and you come to the place where the hero plunges into the water to rescue his drowning sweetheart. Then you’re left hanging in the air with the words: “To be continued.” How disappointing!

When you study the painting of the crucifixion by the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt, your attention is first drawn to the cross and to Jesus. Then, as you look at the crowd around the cross, you are drawn to the faces of the people involved in the awful crime of crucifying the Son of God. Finally, your eyes drift to the edge of the picture and catch sight of another figure—almost hidden in the shadows. This, we are told, was a self-portrait of Rembrandt, for he recognized that by his sins he helped nail Jesus there!