DAY 316 Read Acts 16 and 17.
Today's reading: Paul, on his second missionary journey, first revisited some of the cities he had evangelized before. Then, by divine direction, he entered the European continent.
Memory gem: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).
Thought for today:
While it may be interesting to know what position a minister holds, it is more important to know what he preaches. Is it the truth? Is it in harmony with the Word of God? These are the questions we need to settle, as did the ancient Bereans who, according to Acts 17:11, "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
That is what many need today--the appeal to the Scriptures rather than to denominational prejudice. It would be as unreasonable for a judge, before he heard the evidence, to pass sentence in a court case on the grounds that he did not like the defendant's name, as it is to condemn a preacher, a sermon, or a radio broadcast which we have not heard, merely on the ground that he or it is not within our own denominational circle.
It is good to remember that millions are where they are, as to religious denomination, through the accident of birth or association rather than through study or conviction. We need to recognize that others are as honest as we--and as anxious for the light. But opportunities differ, and environments are often not the same. Let us not attempt to judge human hearts. God alone can do this.
While one says, "This is the way!" and another says, "No, this is the way!" Jesus holds out His nail-pierced hands to us and says, "I am the Way!" The world has drifted a long, long journey from that Way and needs to turn back. The church needs to turn back. We all need to turn back to the Way revealed in God's Word. The religious thinkers of today need to forget their divergent philosophies and come back to 1 John 1:7 and obey it in simple faith. It reads: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Chirst his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
Today's reading: Paul, on his second missionary journey, first revisited some of the cities he had evangelized before. Then, by divine direction, he entered the European continent.
Memory gem: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).
Thought for today:
While it may be interesting to know what position a minister holds, it is more important to know what he preaches. Is it the truth? Is it in harmony with the Word of God? These are the questions we need to settle, as did the ancient Bereans who, according to Acts 17:11, "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
That is what many need today--the appeal to the Scriptures rather than to denominational prejudice. It would be as unreasonable for a judge, before he heard the evidence, to pass sentence in a court case on the grounds that he did not like the defendant's name, as it is to condemn a preacher, a sermon, or a radio broadcast which we have not heard, merely on the ground that he or it is not within our own denominational circle.
It is good to remember that millions are where they are, as to religious denomination, through the accident of birth or association rather than through study or conviction. We need to recognize that others are as honest as we--and as anxious for the light. But opportunities differ, and environments are often not the same. Let us not attempt to judge human hearts. God alone can do this.
While one says, "This is the way!" and another says, "No, this is the way!" Jesus holds out His nail-pierced hands to us and says, "I am the Way!" The world has drifted a long, long journey from that Way and needs to turn back. The church needs to turn back. We all need to turn back to the Way revealed in God's Word. The religious thinkers of today need to forget their divergent philosophies and come back to 1 John 1:7 and obey it in simple faith. It reads: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Chirst his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
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