Choosing Christ
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Matthew 6:24
Who is your master? We have to make a choice.
When sin gives an order and we follow it, sin becomes the master of our lives. We become its slave. The Bible says, “You are slaves of sin” (Romans 6:17). When we come to Christ the Scripture says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14). Sin is no longer the master. Christ is.
Right here on this earth there are two worlds: a world dominated by evil and a world dominated by Christ. We have to choose between them. We have to live in this world, but we are not to be part of it. We have to be willing to be different. We have to be willing to be laughed at, sneered at, made fun of. We have to be willing to go to the cross and take a stand for Christ where we live, where we work, where we study. Everyone must know that we are of Christ.
Those of us who know Christ march to a different drumbeat. You see, most of the world goes in one direction, but the followers of Christ go the other way, marching to the drumbeat of heaven against the flood of evil. That’s the reason it’s so important for a follower of Jesus Christ to pray daily, to study the Scripture daily.
God gives people the freedom to choose. If you sense a longing for God, a desire to change and be a new person, that’s God speaking to your heart. And when you respond to Him, God will change you.
When you make that choice for Christ, you pay a price. It means that your whole life must change. You must repent, and repentance means to turn around, to change your way of living. That is what’s involved in coming to Christ.
God demands an immediate decision from each one of us. He says, “How long will you halt between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21). Delay makes the right decision harder. Indecision itself is a choice. If you decide that you are going to wait until some other time, that is a choice away from God. The Bible says, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1). Nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Tomorrow.” The Bible says, “Now is the accepted time” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Make a choice for Christ now. Grow to maturity in Him, be His disciple.
Our Father and our God, You are Master of my life, and I am Your humble slave. I want to do what You would have me to do. Change my heart, O God, and cleanse my soul to reflect only Your glory. Take away my desire to be like the world, and make me in the image of Your precious Son. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010)..
How To Pray
Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Matthew 7:7 RSV
Even a child can understand these instructions. Prayer is for God’s children. Jesus said, “When ye pray, say, Our Father. . . .”
There were children in our neighborhood for whom we provided all clothing, food, and the necessities of life. They asked freely of us, and their requests were usually granted. Why did we do this, and why did they respond this way? They were our children! By virtue of their relationship to us, we had a particular responsibility to them.
God has a particular responsibility to His children; and unless we have been born into the family of God through the new birth, we have no right to ask favors of God. The Bible says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
I have had new Christians say to me,” I don’t know how to pray. I don’t have the right words.”
When our children were just learning to talk and had difficulty finding the right words, they still managed to make themselves understood to my wife and me, and the mistakes they made only endeared them to us. In fact, I am sure I treasure their early attempts at conversation more than the words of most adults speaking without hesitation and without error.
Oh, my anxious friend whose prayers have not been answered, God invites you to the intimacy of spiritual sonship. “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).
Our Father and our God, hear my prayer, even though my words get in the way. You know my heart, and You know my needs without my saying them, but here are the things that are troubling me right now. . . . Help me to hear Your answers, Lord, through Your Word and through Your Spirit. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
A Message For Mothers… And Others!
They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.
2 Corinthians 8:5 NIV
Living creatively for Christ in the home is the acid test for any Christian man or woman. It is far easier to live an excellent life among our friends when we are putting our best foot forward and are conscious of public opinion, than it is to live for Christ in our home. Our own family circle knows whether Christ lives in and through us.
If I am a true Christian, I will not give way at home to bad temper, impatience, faultfinding, sarcasm, unkindness, suspicion, selfishness, or laziness. Instead, I will reveal through my daily life the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, and all the other Christian virtues which round out a Christ-like personality.
Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children. The Bible relates the stories of some women who had an evil influence on their children. Some of the greatest criminals of history have had bad mothers.
On the other hand, most of the noble characters and fine leaders of history have had good, God-fearing mothers.
We are told that George Washington’s mother was pious, and that Sir Walter Scott’s mother was a lover of poetry and music. But Nero’s mother was a murderess, and the dissolute Lord Byron’s mother was a proud and violent woman.
Lord Shaftesbury was correct in his famous utterance, “Give me a generation of Christian mothers, and I will undertake to change the whole face of society in twelve months.”
If we had more Christian mothers, we would have less delinquency, less immorality, less ungodliness, and fewer broken homes. Every mother owes it to her children to accept Christ as her personal Savior, so that she may be the influence for good in the lives of those whom Christ has graciously given to her.
Our Father and our God, thank You for my own mother. I pray Your richest blessings on her. I pray that You will find her holy and righteous on the day Christ returns to take us home. Help me to be gentle and kind to her. And help me to be the kind of person she can respect and point to with pride. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God and History
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
I have become confirmed in my belief that the Bible is right in saying that God has fashioned the hearts of men alike. We are not together in today’s world linguistically, culturally, or racially. We are divided. We have become a neighborhood without being a brotherhood. Yet there is one area in which I am convinced we are all alike—the spiritual dimension. I believe the hearts of all of us are the same. Our deep needs are identical the world over, for they come from within. Our need is God.
Probably it sounds a bit intolerant and narrow to you for an evangelist to go around the planet preaching the cross—and you are right; for Jesus said that the gate to the Kingdom of heaven is narrow. But we are narrow also in mathematics and in chemistry. If we weren’t narrow in chemistry we would be blowing up the place. We have to be narrow. I am glad that pilots are not so broad-minded that they come into an airport any way that they want.
Why then should we not be narrow when it comes to moral laws and spiritual dimensions? I believe that Christ is different; that He is unique. I believe that He is the Son of the living God and that He did change my life.
Many intellectuals are asking where history is going; they are speculating on what the end will be. I believe that Christ’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”—the prayer that you and I often pray—is going to be answered. And when the human race stands at the edge of the abyss, ready to blow itself apart, I believe God will write the last chapter of history. I believe that the future Kingdom is to be the Kingdom of God, that there is a destiny for the human race far beyond anything we can dream. But it will be God’s Kingdom and will come in God’s way.
Our Father and our God, help me to be Your humble servant and by whatever means are necessary draw me closer to You. I want to dwell in Your Kingdom, both here on earth and in heaven for eternity. I bow in reverence to You, Lord, and I await Your command, for I know Your Son is the King of kings. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Where to Cast Your Care
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”
Matthew 6:31 RSV
Has God left us alone to cope with the trials, tribulations, and temptations of life? I’m glad He has not! Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, has told us in specific terms just what we are to do about worry. The Bible offers a workable formula for care and anxiety.
What are we to do about these past, present, and future worries? The Bible says that we are to cast them upon Him. Our guilty pasts, our anxious presents, and the unknown future are all to be cast upon Christ. All of man’s burdens and anxieties are wrapped up in these three words: past, present, and future. For the guilt of the past, God says: “I have redeemed thee” (Isaiah 44:2). “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:1). “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
For the present Christ says: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). If the Burden Bearer is with us, then why should we be crushed by our burdens? The French translation of this phrase, “Cast all your care upon Him” is “Unload your distresses upon God.” Have you ever seen a dump truck get rid of its load? It would be of no use if it carried its burden forever. The driver simply pushes a button or pulls on a lever and the heavy load is discharged at the prescribed spot.
We were never meant to be crushed under the weight of care. We push the button of faith or pull the lever of trust, and our burden is discharged upon the shoulder of Him who said He would gladly bear it. Cast the anxious present upon Him, for He cares for you—says the Bible. The worries of the future are obliterated by His promises. “Take therefore no thought for the morrow. . . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:34, 33). This promise, if we obey it, takes all the aimlessness out of life and puts purpose into it. It brings all life into balance, and earth’s hours become so joyous that they blend into the glory of eternity. Boredom, fretfulness, and anxiety are lost in the wonder of His wonderful grace.
Our Father and our God, I know You control my past, my present, and my future. I commit my past failures to You; I give You all my present worries and frustrations; and I dedicate my future to You, knowing that You alone can guide me safely home, through Your Son, Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Intolerant Christ
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
In loving, compassionate intolerance Jesus says, “Enter ye at the strait gate . . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matthew 7:13–14).
His was the intolerance of a pilot who maneuvers his plane through the storm, realizing that a single error, just one flash of broad-mindedness, might bring disaster to all the passengers on the plane.
Once when we were on a flight from Korea to Japan, we ran through a rough snowstorm; and when we arrived over the airport in Tokyo, visibility was almost zero. The pilot had to make an instrument landing. I sat up in the cockpit with the pilot and watched him sweat it out as he was brought in by ground control. A watchful man in the tower at the airport talked us in.
I did not want these men to be broad-minded. I knew that our lives depended on it. Just so, when we come in for the landing in the great airport of heaven, I don’t want any broad-minded advice.
I want to come in on the beam, and even though I may be considered narrow here, I want to be sure of a safe landing there.
Christ was so intolerant of man’s lost estate that He left His lofty throne in the heavenlies, took on Himself the form of man, suffered at the hands of evil men, and died a shameful death on a cruel cross to purchase our redemption. So serious was man’s plight that the Lord could not look upon it lightly. With the love that was His, He could not be broad-minded about a world held captive by its lusts, its appetites, and its sins.
Having paid such a price, He could not be intolerant about man’s indifference toward Him and the redemption He had wrought. He said, “He that is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30). He also said, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
We have the power to choose whom we will serve, but the alternative to choosing Christ brings certain destruction. Christ said that! The broad, wide, easy, popular way leads to death and destruction. Only the way of the cross leads home.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Best Investment
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6:19–20 RSV
What if I were to tell you that, contrary to popular belief, you can take “it” with you to heaven, depending, of course, on your definition of “it”? Now, of course, you cannot take your money or your house or your car or investments with you to heaven. You wouldn’t need them anyway. But you can send things on ahead so that they will be waiting for you when you arrive.
An old man, a great man of God, lay on his deathbed. He summoned his grandson to come to his side. Calling the boy’s name, he said, “I don’t know what type of work I will be doing in heaven, but if it’s allowed, I am going to ask the Lord Jesus to let me help build your mansion. You be sure you send up plenty of the right materials.”
Living a holy life, leading others to Christ as we share our faith, doing good works in Christ’s name, all of these things are materials that may be sent on ahead and can never be touched by the fluctuations in the earthly economy, by natural disaster, or by thievery.
What kind of materials are you sending up to heaven? What kind of mansion will you live in when the building process has been completed?
Our Father and our God, thank You for preparing a room for me in Your heaven. I know that life with You will be wonderful. Help me to live a holy life, to share my faith in You with others, and to be an example of love and joy to my world. I want them to see Jesus living in me. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Abundant Giving Equals Abundant Living
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them . . . But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
Matthew 6:1–3
Again and again in the Gospels, Christ mentioned money. Though His Gospel was spiritual, He had much to say about the material, because there is always a relationship between the two, paradoxical though it may seem.
He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). And yet He strongly hinted that God was entitled to some of Caesar’s money, and that Caesar stood in need of the mercy and grace of God.
So grace and gold are inseparably bound up together; and as long as God’s Kingdom is upon earth, the need of earthly mammon is indicated and is closely tied to our spiritual lives.
Our Lord’s command was, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). Yet it was more than a command. It was an invitation to glorious and abundant living. If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life.
The chief motive of the selfish, unregenerate person is “get.” The chief motive of the dedicated Christian should be “give.” The Prodigal Son set off a series of negative events marked for failure when he said to his father, “Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me” (Luke 15:12). But Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given.” It is a promise, and we know that Jesus never breaks His promises.
Our Father and our God, I know that Your grace and my gold go together. Help me to be open handed and generous to others, as You have always been to me. Remind me often that everything I have really belongs to You. And help me to give it away, Lord, as You would do Yourself. Through Jesus, who gave His all for me. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Make Room for God
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7
No room for Jesus? No room for the King of kings? No, but room for others and for other things. There was no room for Jesus in the world that He had made—imagine! It was true that first Christmas; and tragically, it’s true every day of the year.
Things have not really changed since that Bethlehem night two thousand years ago. God is still in the fringes of most of our lives. We fit Him in when it is convenient for us, but we become irritated when He makes demands on us. If God would only stay in His little box and come out when we pull the string.
Our lives are so full. There is so much to be done. Are we in danger in all of our busy activities of excluding from our hearts and lives the One who made us? Do we have time enough to begin each day by reading God’s Word and praying to the One who made us? Do we have time to make room for God in our prayers? Do we have time to ask God what He wants us to do?
“Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus; there is room in my heart for you.”
Our Father and our God, I always seem to have room for what I want. Forgive me for not always having room for You and Your Son. Please take up residence in my heart. Live in me, love through me, laugh with me. In the Savior’s name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Praying in Persecution
But I say to you [Jesus said], love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44 RSV
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, has some commandments for us with regard to our attitude toward persecution. We are to:
1. Rejoice and be exceeding glad (Matthew 5:12)
2. Love our enemies (5:44)
3. Bless them that curse us (5:44)
4. Do good to them that hate us (5:44)
5. Pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us (5:44)
I have a friend who lost his job, a fortune, his wife, and his home. But he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of stone.
“What are you going to do with that?” asked my friend.
The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this down here so it will fit up there.”
Tears filled my friend’s eyes as he walked away, for it seemed that God had spoken through the workman to explain the ordeal through which he was passing, “I’m shaping you down here so you’ll fit in up there.”
After you have “suffered a while, make you perfect . . . settle you,” echo the words from the Bible.
The persecuted for “righteousness’ sake” are happy because they are identified with Christ. The enmity of the world is tangible proof that we are on the right side, that we are identified with our blessed Lord. He said that our stand for Him would arouse the wrath of the world. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
Our Father and our God, You created me with Your own hands. And You know me better than I know myself. Shape me, Lord, so that I can fit into heaven some day. Knock off my rough edges. Chisel away my faults and failures. Refine me with fire to purify and make me valuable to You. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Faith and Works
Faith without works is dead.
James 2:17
Since biblical times, men and women have argued about the doctrines of faith and works. Which should come first? Which carries the most weight with God? Jesus Christ did not offer us a choice of faith or works. The Scripture teaches that works without faith have no meaning to God, because we cannot work our way to heaven. Those who seek to testify of what they think is their goodness often talk about paying their taxes on time, never defrauding anyone, being faithful to their spouse, and giving to charity. But God is clear that our righteousness is like a filthy rag. There is nothing we can do to measure up to God’s standard.
Once we are saved, however, God expects us—in fact He commands us—to not be hearers of the Word only, but doers as well. Works, when we are in Christ, are an extension of Christ’s ministry. In fact, works are not ends in themselves, but they demonstrate God’s love toward others so that they will know God loves them and so that they will desire to learn about God’s provision for their greatest needs.
The Bible says a man in a ditch is not helped if we pass by him, wish him well, and tell him of God’s love. No, God’s love is demonstrated by attending to the man’s physical needs and helping him out of the ditch. This is how people learn that the Father has sent the Son.
Works must never replace faith and the sharing of the Gospel, but they are a natural extension of faith. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Our Father and our God, I want my life to glorify You. Help me to be an extension of Christ—in ministry and in love to all people. Let my life glorify You in every way through my example, Jesus.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Persecution
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10
When we think of persecution, we rarely think of the kind of attack for sharing our faith that was commonplace when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. In those days, persecution meant beatings, arrest, imprisonment, even death. Yet the Bible and all of history are full of instances where bold men and women chose persecution over denial of our Lord.
Today, many of us think we are doing God a favor when we tell another about Christ, even though we were commanded to do so. And we think we are suffering real persecution when someone makes light of our faith.
There are places in the world where Christians can still be jailed for sharing their faith or face the death penalty for leading a lost soul to Christ. Most people in our society, however, don’t care what others believe in, or if they believe in anything.
The Christian faith has become a cheap faith because we too often live as if it has no value. We complain when the preacher runs over a few minutes on the Sunday sermon and consider it a great inconvenience to return to services once or twice more in the same week. No wonder so much of the world does not consider our faith relevant when we are not even willing to give of our time, much less our freedom or lives, for what we say we believe in.
Think about it. Have you ever been persecuted for sharing your faith in Christ? Has your faith cost you anything? If not, perhaps you had better reexamine your faith to see if it measures up to the One who said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11).
Our Father and our God, please forgive me for denying You so often with my words, my actions, and my thoughts. I know I have suffered so little for You and Your Son, who suffered so much for me. When persecution comes my way, help me to live as an image of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Peace Is Not Passive
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9
To have peace with God and to have the peace of God is not enough. This vertical relationship must have a horizontal outworking, or our faith is in vain. Jesus said that we were to love the Lord with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. This dual love for God and others is like the positive and negative poles of a battery—unless both connections are made, we have no power. A personal faith is normally useless unless it has a social application. (A notable exception would be the thief on the cross.)
I once saw a cartoon of a man rowing a boat toward a golden shore labeled “heaven.” All around him were men and women struggling in vain to reach the shore and safety, but he was heedless of their peril. He was singing, “I am bound for heaven, hallelujah!” That is not an adequate picture of the Christian life.
If we have peace with God and the peace of God, we will become peacemakers. We will not only be at peace with our neighbors, but we will be leading them to discover the source of true peace in Christ. Every person can experience the peace of God through Christ: “For he is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).
Our lives take on new dimensions when we find peace with God. To explain this in simpler terms, let us visualize a right-angle triangle sitting on its horizontal base. At the apex or highest point in this triangle write the letter G, representing God. At the point where the perpendicular line meets the base write the letter Y, representing you. Then, at the opposite end of the horizontal line write the letter O, which represents others. There, in geometric form, you have a visual diagram of our relationship with God and man. Our lives (which before we found the peace of God were represented by a single dot of self-centeredness) now take in an area in vital contact with two worlds. Peace flows down from God and out to our fellow men. We become merely the conduit through which it flows. But there is peace in being just a “channel.”
Our Father and our God, make me a channel of Your blessings today. Help me to reach out with Your hands of mercy, see with Your eyes of empathy, hear with Your ears of compassion, speak with Your words of peace. Let me be a lifeline through which You rescue the lost. Use me, Lord, in Your service. Because of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Possibility of Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
Pure hearts will be Christ-like. It is God’s desire that we be conformed to the image of His Son. If Christ lives within us, and our bodies become the abode of the Holy Spirit, is it any wonder that we should be like Him? And just what do we mean by “Christ-like”?
The Bible says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Jesus had a humble heart. If He abides in us, pride will never dominate our lives. Jesus had a loving heart. If He dwells within us, hatred and bitterness will never rule us. Jesus had a forgiving and understanding heart. If He lives within us, mercy will temper our relationships with our fellow men. Jesus had unselfish interests. But even more, Jesus’ one desire was to do His Father’s will. This is the essence of Christ-likeness—eager obedience to the Father’s will.
You say, “That’s a big order!” I admit that. It would be impossible if we had to measure up to Him in our own strength and with our own natural hearts.
Paul recognized that he could never attain this heart purity by his own striving. He said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Christ provided the possibility of purity by His death on the cross. The righteousness and the purity of God are imputed to men who confess their sins and receive Christ into their hearts.
The greatest happiness that comes to the pure heart is twofold: not only a proper relationship with others but a sublime relationship with God. “For they shall see God.” The gates of Eden swing open once more. God and man walk together once again.
Our Father and our God, I want to be obedient to Your will, but my pride and unforgiving spirit often keep me from it. Help me to give up hatred and bitterness in all their forms. Purify my heart, O Lord, and help me to be more like Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Meekness is Not Weakness
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5
In our culture, meekness has come to mean weakness. But that is not the biblical view. A wild horse which has been broken is no less strong, but he has been made useful to man.
Jesus was meek, but by no stretch of the imagination was He weak. Jesus was and is God.
What did He mean, then, when He said that the meek will inherit the earth? He was speaking of an attitude, a form of humility that is sorely lacking in our culture. A famous baseball coach once declared that “nice guys finish last.” One of the best-selling books a few years ago was Looking Out for Number One. A recent decade was described by some sociologists as the “me decade.”
No person is meek by nature. It is the work of the Spirit of God. Moses was meek, but he was not meek by nature. God worked meekness into him over a forty-year period. Peter was certainly not meek by nature. He was impetuous, saying and doing the first thing that came into his mind. The Holy Spirit of God transformed Peter after the resurrection of Jesus. Before his conversion, Paul was not meek. His job was to persecute Christians! Yet Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . gentleness, goodness . . . meekness.”
It is our human nature to be proud, not meek. Only the Spirit of God can transform our lives through the new birth experience and then make us over again into the image of Christ, our example of what pleases God in the way of meekness.
Our Father and our God, thank You for dealing gently with me in my life. Instead of the wrath I deserve, I receive Your love; instead of punishment, I receive grace; instead of destruction, I receive salvation. Help me to be meek and gentle, too, so that I reflect to my world the qualities of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Where is Your Treasure
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:21
The rich young ruler who came to Jesus was so filled with his piety, his riches, and his greed that he revolted when Jesus informed him that the price of eternal life was to “sell out” and come and follow Him. He went away sorrowfully, the Bible says, because he could not detach himself from himself. He found it impossible to become “poor in spirit” because he had such a lofty estimate of his own importance.
All around us are arrogance, pride, and selfishness: these are the results of sin. From the heavens comes a voice speaking to a tormented, bankrupt world: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. . . . Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:18, 20).
Heaven in this life and the life to come is not on a monetary standard. Nor can flesh and blood find the door to the Kingdom of heaven with its contentment, peace, joy, and happiness. Only those who are poor in spirit and rich toward God shall be accounted worthy to enter there, because they come not in their own merit but in the righteousness of the Redeemer.
Someone has said, “A man’s wealth consists not in the abundance of his possessions, but in the fewness of his wants.” “The first link between my soul and Christ,” said C. H. Spurgeon, “is not my goodness but my badness, not my merit but my misery, not my riches but my need.”
Where is your treasure? In the bank? In the driveway? In the mirror? Or are you storing up your treasure in heaven?
Our Father and our God, I come repenting of my materialism. You have blessed me beyond belief, yet so often I still want more. Forgive me, Lord, and help me to find contentment in whatever situation I find myself. Help me to know my wealth is in You and Your Son who saved me. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Death is Dead
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:54
Death is not natural, for man was created to live and not to die. It is the result of God’s judgment because of man’s sin and rebellion. Without God’s grace through Christ, it is a gruesome spectacle. I have stood at the bedsides of people dying without Christ; it was a terrible experience. I have stood at the bedsides of those who were dying in Christ; it was a glorious experience. Charles Spurgeon said of the glory that amends the death of the redeemed, “If I may die as I have seen some die, I court the grand occasion. I would not wish to escape death by some byroad if I may sing as they sang. If I may have such hosannas and alleluias beaming in my eyes as I have seen as well as heard from them, it were a blessed thing to die.”
Death is robbed of much of its terror for the true believer, but we still need God’s protection as we take that last journey. At the moment of death the spirit departs from the body and moves through the atmosphere. But the Scripture teaches us that the devil lurks then. He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). If the eyes of our understanding were opened, we would probably see the air filled with demons, the enemies of Christ. If Satan could hinder the angel of Daniel 10 for three weeks on his mission to earth, we can imagine the opposition a Christian may encounter at death.
But Christ on Calvary cleared a road through Satan’s kingdom. When Christ came to earth, He had to pass through the devil’s territory and open up a beachhead here. That is one reason He was accompanied by a host of angels when He came (Luke 2:8–14). And this is why holy angels will accompany Him when He comes again (Matthew 16:27). Till then, the moment of death is Satan’s final opportunity to attack the true believer; but God has sent His angels to guard us at that time. How thankful we should be for that promise.
Our Father and our God, I know You have mastery over death and dying. I thank You for the promise that, when my life on earth has ended, Your angels will be there to accompany me in that final moment. I will trust them to lead me safely through the gates of heaven and into Your holy presence. In the name of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Bright Clouds
Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Zechariah 10:1
I received a letter from a nineteen-year-old girl on the West Coast, whose fiancé had just broken off their engagement. Her heart was completely crushed, and life seemed no longer worth living. I wrote telling her that it is not always easy to trace God’s designs in our ill-planned hopes and dreams. But rest assured that if we are called according to His purpose, and if we love God, all things do work together for good. Who are we to dictate which way the winds will blow, or how God will maneuver our ship through life’s storms? The Psalmist said, “He . . . guided them by the skillfulness of his hands” (Psalm 78:72).
Yes, clouds will come. They are part of life. But by God’s grace we need not be depressed by their presence. Just as clouds can protect us from the brightness of the sun, life’s clouds can reveal the glory of God, and from their lofty height God speaks to us. Like the children of Israel, we are travelers to the Promised Land. As they traveled through the wilderness, the Bible says, “The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way” (Exodus 13:21).
If your life is dismal, depressed, and gloomy today, Christ can turn those dark clouds inside out. Many may be discouraged because of sins they can’t overcome. Sin can hang over us like a cloud. Sin deforms us. It causes turmoil and fighting down inside. We all need to be free from the failure and sin that binds and chains us. When faced with the clouds of defeat, we need to open our hearts and let Him in. Let Him take the clouds of sin out and transform you into a new creature.
Our Father and our God, You are my light and my hope in the middle of this dismal world. Please free me from the failures and sins of my life. Take away the turmoil and struggle that go on within my heart and soul, even if You do not take away the turmoil and struggle themselves. Open my heart to You and Your Son. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
He is Our Hope
The LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Joel 3:16
The late British historian, Arnold Toynbee, gave his slogan to the world when he said, “Cling, and hope.” In other words, he says the storm is raging; all the ideals that we held a few years ago are crumbling; but he advised the human race to cling and hope.
However, there are thousands of people who day by day find refuge from the storms of life by their living faith in a living God!
To turn to God in an hour such as this in the history of the world is much more than a form of escapism. Multiplied thousands of normal, intelligent people have tried and proved that a vital relationship with Christ is the most satisfying experience in all the world. They have found that faith in Christ is more than adequate for the pressures of this hour.
The governor of an Eastern state told eight thousand people at a conference how faith in Christ had given him peace, security, and happiness. What Christ had done for this governor, Christ can do for you, if you surrender your will to Him.
Yet some who read these lines are held in the viselike grip of sin’s confusion. The despair of loneliness has settled down upon your soul, and at this very moment you are asking the question, “Is life worth living?”
To scores of people who write every week to our office in Charlotte, North Carolina life has ceased to be worth living. For all of them I have good news. God did not create us to be defeated, discouraged, frustrated, wandering souls, seeking in vain for peace of heart and peace of mind. He has bigger plans for us. The answer to our problem, however great, is as near as the Bible, as simple as first-grade arithmetic, and as real as one’s heartbeat.
The Bible says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).
The Bible teaches that “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Upon the authority of God’s Word, I declare that Christ is the answer to every baffling perplexity that plagues mankind. In Him is found the cure for care, a balm for bereavement, a healing for our hurts, and a sufficiency for our insufficiency.
Our Father and our God, my loneliness sometimes overwhelms me. I grope around in the darkness, looking for the light. Then I remember You, and the light of Your Word chases away my night. I know Your grace is sufficient for me, Lord. Give me Your peace in the middle of my troubles. Give me Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Effects of Revival
And it shall come to pass . . . that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:28
What would happen if revival were to break into our lives and our churches today? I am sure of one thing. At the heart of that revival would be a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
To begin with, people would have a new vision of the majesty of God. We must understand that the Lord is not only tender and merciful and full of compassion, but He is also the God of justice, holiness, and wrath.
Many Christians have a caricature of God. They do not see God in all of His wholeness. We glibly quote John 3:16, but we forget to quote the following verses: “he who does not believe has been judged already” (v. 18 NASB). Compassion is not complete in itself, but must be accompanied by inflexible justice and wrath against sin and a desire for holiness.
What stirs God most is not physical suffering but sin. All too often we are more afraid of physical pain that of moral wrong. The cross is the standing evidence of the fact that holiness is a principle for which God would die. God cannot clear the guilty until atonement is made. Mercy is what we need, and that is what we receive at the foot of the cross.
In her book, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, Hannah Whitall Smith tells us, “What we need is to see that God’s presence is a certain fact always, and that every act of our soul is done right before Him, as if our eyes could see Him and our hands could touch Him. Then we shall cease to have such vague conceptions of our relations with Him, and shall feel the binding force of every word we say in His presence.”
Our Father and our God, I worship You in spirit and in truth. I recognize and need Your compassion and love, but I know Your purity also demands Your justice, holiness, and wrath. Forgive me of my every sin, Father, and cover me with Your undeserved mercy and grace through the blood of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).