DAY 354 Read Hebrews 12 and 13.
Today's reading: The epistle closes with earnest appeals for the believing Christian to live a life that demonstrates true Christianity.
Memory gem: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1, 2).
Thought for today:
We live in an eye-minded age. The art of reading--at least, of reading anything very instructive or heavy--is unknown to millions and is being lost by other millions. This is the age of the picture book, the picture magazine, the moving picture, and television.
What are we looking at? What do we see? Much that we cannot escape seeing is not good. But what do we look upon with pleasure? What do we study? By beholding, we become changed (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Friends traveling through Italy were one day examining Guido's famous fresco, the Aurora, in a great palace of that country. Many artists were there busily copying the great painting, and the tourists noticed that each artist differed from the others in his portrayal of this immortal work. After a while the attention of the guide was called to the fact that one artist had painted the horses a different color and that another had differed in some other detail, and so on. With an expressive gesture, the guide replied, "Don't look at them; look only at the original."
Let us look at Christ for guidance and consecrate our eyes to the holy and the true and the beautiful and the right.
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Difficult or obscure words:
Hebrews 12:2. "Author"--literally: leader, originator, founder. The word is translated as "Prince" in Acts 3:15 and 5:31 and as "captain" in Hebrews 2:10. In classical Greek the word is used for the progenitor of a clan or in speaking of the mythical heroes. Here the meaning obviously should cast Jesus as the heroic Leader or Prince.
Today's reading: The epistle closes with earnest appeals for the believing Christian to live a life that demonstrates true Christianity.
Memory gem: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1, 2).
Thought for today:
We live in an eye-minded age. The art of reading--at least, of reading anything very instructive or heavy--is unknown to millions and is being lost by other millions. This is the age of the picture book, the picture magazine, the moving picture, and television.
What are we looking at? What do we see? Much that we cannot escape seeing is not good. But what do we look upon with pleasure? What do we study? By beholding, we become changed (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Friends traveling through Italy were one day examining Guido's famous fresco, the Aurora, in a great palace of that country. Many artists were there busily copying the great painting, and the tourists noticed that each artist differed from the others in his portrayal of this immortal work. After a while the attention of the guide was called to the fact that one artist had painted the horses a different color and that another had differed in some other detail, and so on. With an expressive gesture, the guide replied, "Don't look at them; look only at the original."
Let us look at Christ for guidance and consecrate our eyes to the holy and the true and the beautiful and the right.
----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Hebrews 12:2. "Author"--literally: leader, originator, founder. The word is translated as "Prince" in Acts 3:15 and 5:31 and as "captain" in Hebrews 2:10. In classical Greek the word is used for the progenitor of a clan or in speaking of the mythical heroes. Here the meaning obviously should cast Jesus as the heroic Leader or Prince.
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