Grace Gems

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Three inscriptions!

(J.C. Pittman, "Bible Truths Illustrated" 1917)

Over the triple doorways of a European Cathedral, there are three inscriptions spanning the splendid arches.

Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath is the lettering:
"All which pleases us--is but for a moment."

Over the other arch is sculptured a cross, and there are the words:
"All which troubles us--is but for a moment."

But on the great central entrance to the main aisle, is the inscription:
"That alone is important, which is eternal."

If we always realize these three truths, we would not let trifles trouble us;
nor would we be so much interested in the passing pageants of the hour.
We would live, as we do not now--for the permanent and the eternal.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
 For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!" 2 Corinthians 4:18

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"Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!" Ephesians 5:20

   ~  ~  ~  ~

One day, Johann Tauler of Strosbourg met a peasant and greeted him, "God give you a good day, my friend!"

The peasant answered briskly, "I thank God that I never have a bad day!"

Tauler, astonished, kept silent for a moment. Tauler then added, "God give you a happy life, my friend."

The peasant replied composedly, "I thank God that I am never unhappy!"

"Never unhappy!" cried Tauler bewildered, "What do you mean?"

"Well," came the reply, "When it is sunshine--I thank God; and when it rains--I thank God. When I have plenty--I thank God; and when I am hungry--I thank God. Since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases God pleases me--I am never unhappy."

Tauler looked upon him with awe. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am a king!" said the peasant.

"A king?" Tauler asked, "Where is your kingdom?"

The peasant smiled and whispered softly, "In my heart!"


   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Thank you consists of just eight letters that form two of the most meaningful words in the English vocabulary."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Counting up our mercies and our every-day reasons for gratitude, looking at the hundred little things and large things--we do not know where to end the list. The only thing to do, is to live always in an atmosphere sweet and vital with thanksgiving!"

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Be thankful for the small things--the trivial things and the mundane things!"

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to happiness--he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Have an attitude of gratitude. Don't wait till Thanksgiving."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Everything short of Hell is mercy!"

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"God is glorified, not by our complainings, but by our thanksgivings."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"We can always find something to be thankful for. There are reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"A cheerful heart has a continual feast!" Proverbs 15:15

"Be thankful to Him, and bless His name!" Psalm 100:4

   ~  ~  ~  ~

For further reading: William Nicholson's article, "Thanksgiving".

http://gracegems.org/Nicholson/thanksgiving.htm

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"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

   ~  ~  ~  ~

In all circumstances! This comes as a surprise when one considers the vicissitudes of human life. Sickness and health, poverty and wealth, joy and sorrow--are all ingredients of the cup placed to human lips--so all must come within the scope of thanksgiving. Why be thankful for everything? Because God causes everything to work together for good to those who love Him.

   ~  ~  ~  ~

A godly farmer was asked to dine with a well-known gentleman. While there, he asked a blessing at the table as he was accustomed to do at home. His host said jeeringly, "That is old fashioned; it is not customary nowadays for well-educated people to pray before they eat."

The farmer answered that with him it was customary--but that some of those on his farm never thanked God their food.

"Ah, then," said the gentleman, "they are sensible and enlightened! Who are they?"

"My pigs!" the farmer answered.

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Charles Dickens said that we are somewhat mixed up here in America. He told an audience that instead of having one Thanksgiving Day each year, we should have 364. "Use that one day just for complaining and griping," he said. "Use the other 364 days to thank God each day for the many blessings He has showered upon you!"

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Some years ago an old black woman was put up at auction at a slave-market. She was distressed lest she might be sold to a cruel master. A godly man bought her and set her free at once. But she would not leave him who had set her free--and insisted upon going into his household and working for him. Now when she could do what she pleased--she would not go anywhere but to him. She would say: "He saved me! He saved me!"
This is how we ought to feel toward Him who died for us and set us free.

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted, all that God has given us."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"When we have an attitude of being thankful--we never take anything we have for granted. We are blessed in so many ways."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Do you not teach your children to say "Thank you" for what they receive? Even the baby, before it can speak, is made to utter a "ta"--an expression of gratitude for what it is given. Well, we are the children of God, and He demands of us that we shall not take anything He gives us as a matter of course, but in a spirit of thankfulness.

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

For Christ who came from Heaven above,
For the cross and His redeeming love,
For His mighty power to seek and save,
For His glorious triumph o'er the grave.
For the lovely mansions in the sky,
For His blessed coming bye and bye--
I give Thee humble thanks.

   ~  ~  ~  ~

"Let us be thankful!" Hebrews 12:28

"Overflowing with thankfulness!" Colossians 2:7

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"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

    And did the Holy and the Just,
    The Sovereign of the skies,
    Stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
    That guilty worms might rise?

    Yes, the Redeemer left His throne,
    His radiant throne on high,
    (Surprising mercy! love unknown!)
    To suffer, bleed, and die!

    He took the dying traitor's place,
    And suffered in his stead;
    For man (O miracle of grace!)
    For man the Savior bled!

    Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell
    In Your atoning blood!
    By this are sinners snatched from Hell,
    And rebels brought to God!

    What glad return can I impart
    For favors so divine?
    O take my all, this worthless heart,
    And make it wholly Thine!
       Anne Steele, 1859

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There is a higher end in life than to be amused!

(J.C. Pittman, "Bible Truths Illustrated" 1917)

"A man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses." Luke 12:15

"Implanted within us is a desire for amusement--the entire suppression of which is as injurious, as it is unauthorized. The Christian religion is antagonistic only to that which is hurtful to spiritual life. It is not opposed to wholesome amusements. It does not rob us of any pleasures which are consistent with our eternal welfare."

"Healthy recreation should be encouraged, with one proviso--that it never be forgotten that there is a higher end in life than to be amused. Care should be taken, not to suppress the desire for amusement--but to moderate and rightly direct it. The limitation which devotion to Christ imposes, must ever be observed, lest pleasure be made the business of life, instead of life's relaxation."

"The selection of fitting sources of amusement should not be difficult. There are many such, without tampering with questionable ones, which may prove detrimental and even destructive to spiritual life. The question requiring settlement is: "Am I, by the amusement in which I indulge, being spiritually helped or hindered? Is my soul being lifted up--or more heavily weighted down?"

"The Christian should find pleasure not only in the world's confectionery--but chiefly in the strong meat of the Word."

"All things are yours. Take them and use them; but never let them interfere with the higher life which you are called on to lead."

"A ship is all right in the sea--so long as the sea is not in the ship. In the same way, a Christian is all right in the world--so long as the world is not in the Christian."

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He may be your emperor--but he is my father!

(J.C. Pittman, "Bible Truths Illustrated" 1917)

A Roman emperor, after a successful military campaign, was returning in triumph to Rome. Great throngs filled the city to welcome the mighty hero. While passing through one of the crowded thoroughfares, a little girl, wild with joy, dashed toward his chariot.

The officer stopped her and said: "That is the chariot of the emperor, and you must not attempt to reach him."

The little one replied: "He may be your emperor--but he is my father!" In a moment she was not only in the chariot, but also in the arms of her father.

It is even so with true believers. While God is the Emperor of all men--He is that, and infinitely more, to us--He is our Father!

"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in Heaven . . ." Matthew 6:9

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Me last!

(J.C. Pittman, "Bible Truths Illustrated" 1917)

Among the truly popular girls I have known, one stands out preeminently. I never knew one person who did not find her just lovable.

Once during her Sophomore year in high school, a group of her chums were discussing mottoes and naming their favorites. "Hitch your wagon to a star!" and "To the stars through difficulties!" were favored.

Turning to Jessie, someone said, "Haven't you a motto?"

"Yes," she said; "it is this: 'Me last!'"

"What do you mean by that?" the others asked.

"That's my motto, and I think it is a good one."

"But what does it mean?"

Then Jessie explained: "It means just what it says--'me last.' That is, I am to think of myself last. I am to put everyone else ahead of me, and then can look after myself when everybody else is taken care of."

The girls saw, and they knew that right there lay the secret of her popularity.

"Jesus called the Twelve and said: If anyone wants to be first--he must be the very last, and the servant of all." Mark 9:35

"Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him."
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet--you also should wash one another's feet. I have given you an example that you should do as I have done for you." John 13:4-5, 14-15

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We shall only sink into the everlasting arms!

(Author unknown)

"The eternal God is your refuge--and underneath are the everlasting arms!" Deuteronomy 33:27

If we are held in the clasp of the everlasting arms--we need not fear that we shall ever be separated from the enfolding. "Underneath." They are always underneath us. No matter how low we sink in weakness, in fainting, in pain, in sorrow--we never can sink below these everlasting arms. We can never drop out of their clasp!

God's love is deeper than human sorrow. Sorrow is very deep, but still and forever, in the greatest grief--these arms of Divine love are underneath the believing sufferer.

God's love is deeper than death. When every earthly support is gone from beneath us, when every human arm unclasps and every face fades from before our eyes, and we sink away into what seems darkness and the shadow of death--we shall only sink into the everlasting arms!

Drop your plummet into the deepest sea of sorrow, and at the end of your soundings: "Underneath are the everlasting arms!"

What abiding consolation! What all-embracing, never-failing strength!

  ~  ~  ~  ~

For further contemplation:

    The Valley of Weeping

    I have been through the valley of weeping,
    The valley of sorrow and pain;
    But the 'God of all comfort' was with me,
    At hand to uphold and sustain.

    As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine,
    Our souls need both sorrow and joy;
    So He places us oft in the furnace,
    The dross from the gold to destroy.

    When He leads through some valley of trouble,
    His omnipotent hand we trace;
    For the trials and sorrows He sends us,
    Are part of His lessons in grace.

    Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning,
    Forgetting the Husbandman knows
    That the deeper the cutting and paring,
    The richer the cluster that grows.

    Well He knows that affliction is needed;
    He has a wise gracious purpose in view,
    And in the dark valley He whispers,
    "Hereafter you will know what I do."

    As we travel through life's shadowed valley,
    Fresh springs of His love ever rise;
    And we learn that our sorrows and losses,
    Are blessings just sent in disguise.

    So we'll follow wherever He leadeth,
    Let the path be dreary or bright;
    For we've proved that our God can give comfort,
    Our God can give songs in the night!
    Author unknown

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Short pithy gems from J.R. Miller

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.

Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken--in building their kingdoms. But God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow--and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure--up to Heaven's glory!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

It is impossible to estimate full influence of the reading of the Word in a home day after day and year after year. It filters into the hearts of the young. It is absorbed into their souls. It colors all their thoughts. It is wrought into the very fiber of their minds. It imbues them with its own spirit. It's holy teachings become the principles of their lives, which rule their conduct and shape all their actions.

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Such likeness between men and swine!

(Sword and Trowel)

Rowland Hill illustrated the folly of sinners, by the story of a butcher who was followed by the swine right into the slaughterhouse. As pigs are not usually in the mind to go where they are wanted, it seemed a mystery how these animals were so eager to follow their executioner; but when it was seen that he wisely carried a bag of beans with which he enticed the creatures onward--the riddle was solved at once. Unsuspicious of impending death--the hogs cared only for the passing gratification of their appetites, and hastened to the slaughter!

Just in the same manner, ungodly men follow the great enemy of souls down into the jaws of Hell--merely because their depraved passions are pleased with the lusts of the flesh and the pleasures of sin which the devil gives them by handfuls along the way. Alas, that there should be such likeness between men and swine!

The joys of sin are so short and so unsatisfactory, that they can never be thought of for a moment--as a fitting inducement for a rational being to lose his immortal soul. Will a few hours' foolery, gambling, drinking, or immorality--compensate for eternal fire? Is the momentary indulgence of a base passion, worth . . .
  enduring of flames which never can be quenched,
  eternally moaning in vain for a drop of water,
  being tormented by the never-dying worm,
  being shut out from Heaven forever,
  being eternally cursed by God!

Is any sin worth all this? Can any gain make up for this?

O you who delight in the poisonous sweets of sin--remember that though pleasant in the mouth for the moment--sin will be as wormwood and gall in your belly forever!

Why will you swallow the bait--when you know that the hook is there?

Why will you be lured by the Satanic fowler? Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird. But you are more foolish than the birds--and fly into the snare when you know it to be there! O that you were wise, and would consider your latter end. Let that one word "Eternity!" ring in your ears--and drive out the giddy laughter of worldlings, who prefer fleeting sensual joys--to the eternal pleasures at God's right hand.

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This is the knife that cut the throat of your child!

(J.C. Pittman, "Bible Truths Illustrated" 1917)

Through one sin, angels left their proper habitation. Jude 6

Through one sin, man was banished from paradise--and the eternal curse and its punishment rested upon him and his descendants.

Sin is a clenched fist--and a blow in the face of God! Sin is the only thing which God abhors! All sins, great or small, are objects of intense aversion to God.

Nothing speaks louder concerning God's hatred of sin--than Calvary! Surely, he who asserts that sin is a trivial thing, a mere "ripple on the ocean of God's love"--has never looked upon the cross! In view of what it cost Jesus to atone for it--sin is heinous, hellish, and damnable! It required nothing less than the suffering and death of of the Son of God on the cross!

Suppose a man should come to the dinner table and it should be told to him: "This is the knife that cut the throat of your child!" If he could now use that knife as any other knife, would not we say, "Surely there was but little love to the child!"

Oh, with what detestation would a man fling away such a knife!

In the same way, when there is a temptation to any sin--this is the knife . . .
  which was the cause of Christ's sufferings,
  which cut the throat of Christ,
  which pierced His side,
  which made Christ to be a curse!

Now, will you not look on that as a cursed thing--which made Christ to be a curse? With what detestation should a Christian renounce sin--for that, and that alone, was the cause of the death of Christ!

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Reading the Bible is like eating fish!

(Charles Spurgeon)

An old man once said, "For a long period I puzzled myself about the difficulties of Scripture, until at last I came to the resolution that reading the Bible is like eating fish. When I find a difficulty--I lay it aside, and call it a bone. Why should I choke on the bone--when there is so much nutritious meat for me? Some day, perhaps, I may find that even the bone may afford me nourishment!"

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Let us use worldly things

(George Downame, 1560-1634)

Let us use worldly things--as wise pilgrims do their staves and other necessities for their journey. So long as they help us forward in our way--let us make use of them, and accordingly esteem them. But if they become troublesome hindrances and cumbersome burdens--let us leave them behind us, or cast them away!

The temptations of prosperity, like unseen bullets--wound and kill us before they are discerned.

Riches are . . .
  long in getting--with much pains,
  hard in keeping--with much care,
  quick in losing--with more sorrow.
(Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661)

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The best course to prevent falling into the pit!

(Thomas Brooks)

"Avoid every kind of evil!" 1 Thessalonians 5:22

It is our wisest and our safest course to stand at the farthest distance from sin; not to go near the house of the harlot, but to fly from all appearance of evil. "Keep to a path far from her--do not go near the door of her house!" Proverbs 5:8

The best course to prevent falling into the pit--is to keep at the greatest distance from the pit. He who will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit--may find by woeful experience, that it is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit!

Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

If any occupation or amusement or association is found to hinder our communion with God or our enjoyment of spiritual things--then it must be abandoned. Whatever I cannot do for God's glory--must be avoided! (Arthur Pink)

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Short pithy gems from John Flavel

~ ~ ~ ~

The soul is of more value than ten thousand worlds!

~ ~ ~ ~

Whatever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon--God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it. So that we find the readiest course to be rid of our comforts--is to set our hearts inordinately upon them!

~ ~ ~ ~

Brethren, it is easier to declaim against a thousand sins of others--than to mortify one sin in ourselves!

~ ~ ~ ~

Those who know God, will be humble.
Those who know themselves, cannot be proud.

~ ~ ~ ~

Affliction is a bitter pill, which, being enrapt up in patience and quiet submission, may be easily swallowed. But discontent chews the pill, and so embitters the soul.

~ ~ ~ ~

When God gives you comforts--it is your great evil not to observe His hand in them.

~ ~ ~ ~

Jesus Christ is in every way sufficient to the vast desires of the soul.