DAY 279 Read Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:4-18.
Today's reading: Much of Jesus' teaching was in the form of parables--stories about familiar objects or experiences to dramatize spiritual truths. Today we read several of these.
Memory gem: "He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty" (Matthew 13:23).
Thought for today:
" 'The sower soweth the word.' Christ came to sow the world with truth....He who had stood in the councils of God, who had dwelt in the innermost sanctuary of the Eternal, could bring to men the pure principles of truth....It is to His personal ministry among men, and to the work which He thus established, that the parable of the sower especially applies.
"The word of God is the seed. Every seed has in itself a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God's word. Christ says, 'The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.' John 6:63. 'He that heareth My word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.' John 5:24. In every command and in every promise of the word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized. He who by faith receives the word is receiving the very life and character of God.
"Every seed brings forth fruit after its kind. Sow the seed under right conditions, and it will develop its own life in the plant. Receive into the soul by faith the incorruptible seed of the word, and it will bring forth a character and a life after the similitude of the character and the life of God."--Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 37, 38.
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Difficult or obscure worlds:
Matthew 13:21. "By and by"--literally: immediately, or at once. Old English usage was the exact opposite of our modern meaning.
Today's reading: Much of Jesus' teaching was in the form of parables--stories about familiar objects or experiences to dramatize spiritual truths. Today we read several of these.
Memory gem: "He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty" (Matthew 13:23).
Thought for today:
" 'The sower soweth the word.' Christ came to sow the world with truth....He who had stood in the councils of God, who had dwelt in the innermost sanctuary of the Eternal, could bring to men the pure principles of truth....It is to His personal ministry among men, and to the work which He thus established, that the parable of the sower especially applies.
"The word of God is the seed. Every seed has in itself a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God's word. Christ says, 'The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.' John 6:63. 'He that heareth My word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.' John 5:24. In every command and in every promise of the word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized. He who by faith receives the word is receiving the very life and character of God.
"Every seed brings forth fruit after its kind. Sow the seed under right conditions, and it will develop its own life in the plant. Receive into the soul by faith the incorruptible seed of the word, and it will bring forth a character and a life after the similitude of the character and the life of God."--Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 37, 38.
----------------
Difficult or obscure worlds:
Matthew 13:21. "By and by"--literally: immediately, or at once. Old English usage was the exact opposite of our modern meaning.
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