Guidelines For Living Devotional

Why are we always apprehensive about the future?  Because, we just don't know what's out there.  What lurking terrors await us?  What surprises are there?  We may whistle in the dark, or pretend we're unconcerned, but the reality is that our world will never go back to the days when things were normal--whatever that is.

Six days before the Jewish Passover, Jesus and His disciples came to Jerusalem.  At the Passover meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, giving them an example to follow, then opened His heart and talked with them.  So important was it that John recorded it explicitly.  You'll find it in the Gospel that bears his name, beginning with chapter thirteen. 

Google the phrase, "Peace Institutes in the world," and you will be amazed at the number that exist today.  Among them are The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Global Peace Institute, Peace Brigades International and a host of others, all dedicated to what they call "a scientific basis for permanent peace."  Described by some as "the science of human survival" these brain trusts are searching for a formula that will allow men to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks as Micah said would someday happen.

 Facing the New Year is always somewhat scary.  Who knows what the year may hold of bane or blessing?  Have you ever asked yourself, "Why fear the unknown?  When you were born, you had two basic fears: the fear of loud noises, and the fear of falling.  But soon after your birth you began to develop other fears.  The fears that you had at birth were necessary to survive.  But as you grew older, you became afraid of other things, and sometimes by the time we reach adulthood, our list of fears has grown quite long.

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around him.  He taught them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are the meek.  Blessed are they that mourn.  Blessed are the merciful.  Blessed are they that thirst for justice.  Blessed are you when you suffer.  Be glad and rejoice for your reward is in heaven."

"Look here, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there for a year.  We will do business there and make a profit.' How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?  Your life is like the morning fog—it's here a little while, then it's gone," reads a paraphrase of what James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote in the first century.

A lonely, dejected man sat in the office of Dr. James Hamilton, a British physician who practiced in Manchester, England.  The patient told of a sickness which he said was taking his very life.  "I am frightened of the terror of the world around me.  I am depressed by life. I can find no happiness anywhere.  Nothing amuses me, and I have nothing to live for."  He continued, saying, "If you can't help me, I shall kill myself."

Christmas is over, at least it is for most of you.  However, in some places such as in Russia, Christmas is observed in early January.  But no matter when you celebrate Christmas, there comes a time when it is over; and when it is over, it is over.

Over 365 names and inscriptions are found in the Bible referring to Jesus Christ, but none is more lovely than the one found in Isaiah where the prophet said, "His name shall be called WONDERFUL" (Isaiah 9:6, KJV).  As a light that sparkles on a tree, the wonder of Christ can hardly be reduced to a treatment of a few minutes, but in that length of time I can give you the ten wonders of Christmas.

When the Communists took over in China in 1949, two missionaries were left behind--Rudolph Bosshardt and Arnolis Hayman.  The two were arrested and thrown into prison.  Days turned into weeks and weeks into months.  China is a vast country, approximately the same size as the United States (about 4,000 miles from east to west and 2,000 miles from north to south), but what many do not realize is that in the northern part of China it gets very cold as the Siberian winds come whistling from the north.