DAY 313 Read Acts 10 and 11.
Today's reading: A series of providential events and a peculiar vision convinced Peter that God loves Gentiles. Believers in Antioch of Syria first acquired the title of Christians.
Memory gem: "The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2"19).
Thought for today:
Living a Christian life is more than merely becoming a Christian, joining the church, making a profession of faith. It is the daily surrendering of our life to Christ and allowing Him to help us meet the daily grind--the problems, joys, sorrows, and sufferings of life.
My good friend, Pastor Jesse C. Stevens, now asleep in Christ, once preached a sermon on this subject of "How to Live a Christian Life," and it impressed me deeply. He said that first of all we must decide what a Christian is. There would be little use discussing how to live a Christian life, if we did not know what a Christian is. It is not merely church membership that makes a Christian, though that is important. One might join every church in the world, if that were possible, but that would not make him a Christian.
To be a Christian is to live the life of Christ, to obey Him as far as we know His will, to follow His example and teaching as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures. It means to follow Him--in other words, to be a disciple, for that is what a disciple is, a follower. We read in Acts 11:26: "The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
The followers of Christ were called Christians because Christ was the main theme of their preaching, their teaching, their conversation, and their living.
We can live this Christian life only as there is a vital spiritual connection between us and Christ; and this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our part of the Christian life is to read, study, digest, assimilate the Word of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Where is the best place to live the Christian life? Right where we are. When? Today, now. This is not only for our own good and blessing, but that we may help reveal Christ's love and saving power to all the world.
Today's reading: A series of providential events and a peculiar vision convinced Peter that God loves Gentiles. Believers in Antioch of Syria first acquired the title of Christians.
Memory gem: "The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2"19).
Thought for today:
Living a Christian life is more than merely becoming a Christian, joining the church, making a profession of faith. It is the daily surrendering of our life to Christ and allowing Him to help us meet the daily grind--the problems, joys, sorrows, and sufferings of life.
My good friend, Pastor Jesse C. Stevens, now asleep in Christ, once preached a sermon on this subject of "How to Live a Christian Life," and it impressed me deeply. He said that first of all we must decide what a Christian is. There would be little use discussing how to live a Christian life, if we did not know what a Christian is. It is not merely church membership that makes a Christian, though that is important. One might join every church in the world, if that were possible, but that would not make him a Christian.
To be a Christian is to live the life of Christ, to obey Him as far as we know His will, to follow His example and teaching as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures. It means to follow Him--in other words, to be a disciple, for that is what a disciple is, a follower. We read in Acts 11:26: "The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
The followers of Christ were called Christians because Christ was the main theme of their preaching, their teaching, their conversation, and their living.
We can live this Christian life only as there is a vital spiritual connection between us and Christ; and this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our part of the Christian life is to read, study, digest, assimilate the Word of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Where is the best place to live the Christian life? Right where we are. When? Today, now. This is not only for our own good and blessing, but that we may help reveal Christ's love and saving power to all the world.
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