Gods Own The Future
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ . . . to give you who are troubled rest.
2 Thessalonians 1:2, 7 NKJV
In recent years we have been witnessing an increase of violence in the Western world. It has been said that our era will be known as “the age of violence.” I don’t know what it’s going to be called, but I do know that the future belongs to God. To you who are troubled by the events you read about in your newspapers, to you who are disturbed about the things you see on your television screens, the apostle Paul says, “Rest with us.” What he is saying is, “Relax.”
There are three problems we have never been able to solve. The first is that of human iniquity. The city of Pittsburgh is the headquarters of over a hundred major corporations. The city has solved some great human problems through technology. It was in Pittsburgh that Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine. Here is a city that could teach the world a few lessons. But there’s one problem none of our great cities has solved—the problem of human iniquity: lying, hate, lust, greed. When Christ comes back He’s going to solve that problem.
There is another problem that has not been solved: the problem of human suffering. Modern civilized man is developing a high suicide rate. He may live in the finest home in town, and yet suffer from a broken heart, loneliness, boredom, physical or mental suffering. Christ at His return will take away suffering; He says He will wipe away all tears. There will be no more backaches or headaches; cancer and heart disease will be eliminated; mental illness will be no more. All the diseases of mankind will be cured when Christ comes back.
The greatest unsolved problem of all is the crisis of death, which each of us has to face. “It is appointed unto men once to die,” says the Bible. But when Christ returns for His church, those redeemed ones who are alive will not die but will be caught up to meet Him in the air. For them, death will be ended.
When Christ comes, peace will come. Our greatest statesmen and scholars are seeking a way for peace, but they are attempting to do it without the Prince of Peace. Man cannot bring enduring peace. Enduring peace will be brought only when the Prince of Peace comes and sets up His great and mighty Kingdom.
Our Father and our God, You are the only source of real peace in this world of stress and frustration. Iniquity will remain, suffering will remain, death will remain. But with You in my heart, I can find peace. I can rest and sleep in calmness of spirit. I worship You, Lord, and I thank You, all in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Wholly Holy
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
God is first of all concerned with what you are. What you do is the result of what you are. Quality of character is the purpose and intent of what the theologians call sanctification, or the process of becoming more like Christ.
“Ye are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).
The Law required conformity to a set of rules, but the Law was a shadow of things to come. The Bible says, “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
The New Testament, in contrast to the Law, says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). There is no way that we, by ourselves, can generate sanctification. Our sanctification is Christ. There is no way we can be holy. Our holiness is Christ.
This caused Paul to write, “Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). It caused the hymn writer to say this:
When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
D. L. Moody said, “Next to the might of God, the serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence for good in the world.”
Our Father and our God, only through Christ can I presume to be holy, righteous, pure, and sanctified. I praise Your name for Him and for His majesty shown on the cross and in His resurrection. I am clothed with Christ, washed clean in His blood, justified through Him. And through Jesus I come in prayer and praise. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Pray Without Ceasing
Pray without ceasing . . . and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
1 Thessalonians 5:17, 23
Remember that you can pray anytime, anywhere. Washing dishes, digging ditches, working in the office, in the shop, on the athletic field, even in prison—you can pray and know God hears! We have a friend on death row who prays for us every morning between four and six. How often this fact has encouraged and cheered us on.
Try to have a systematic method of prayer. Prayer combined with Bible study makes for a healthy Christian life. The Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” If you have special prayer periods that you set aside during the day, your unconscious life will be saturated with prayer between the prayer periods. It is not enough for you to get out of bed in the morning and just bow your knee and repeat a few sentences. There should be stated periods in which you slip apart with God. For the overworked mother or one living under extremely busy circumstances, this may be impossible. But here is where “prayer without ceasing” comes in. We pray as we work. As we have said, we pray everywhere, anytime.
The devil will fight you every step of the way. He will cause the baby to cry, the telephone to ring, someone to knock at the door—there will be many interruptions, but keep at it! Don’t be discouraged. Soon you will find that these periods of prayer are the greatest delight in your life. You will look forward to them with more anticipation than to anything else. Without constant, daily, systematic prayer, your life will seem barren, discouraging, and fruitless. Without constant prayer you never can know the inner peace that God wants to give you.
Our Father and our God, what a blessing it is to talk to You! It refreshes my soul, delights my heart, and gives me great joy. Please hear my heart through Christ Jesus, my Mediator, not just my own halting words. And help me learn to hear Your responses more clearly, Lord. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Ready-Or Sorry!
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:2
When the late President Eisenhower was vacationing in Denver many years ago, his attention was called to an open letter in a local newspaper, which told how six-year-old Paul Haley, dying of incurable cancer, had expressed a wish to see the president of the United States. Spontaneously, in one of those gracious gestures remembered long after a man’s most carefully prepared speeches are forgotten, the president decided to grant the boy’s request.
So one Sunday morning in August, a big limousine pulled up outside the Haley home, and out stepped the president. He walked up to the door and knocked.
Mr. Donald Haley opened the door, wearing blue jeans, an old shirt, and a day’s growth of beard. Behind him was his little son, Paul. Their amazement at finding President Eisenhower on their doorstep can be imagined.
“Paul,” said the president to the little boy, “I understand you want to see me. Glad to see you.” Then he shook hands with the six-year-old, took him out to see the presidential limousine, shook hands again, and left.
The Haleys and their neighbors, and a lot of other people, probably talked about this kind and thoughtful deed of a busy president for a long time. Only one person was not entirely happy about it—that was Mr. Haley. He can never forget how he was dressed when he opened the door. “Those jeans, the old shirt, the unshaven face—what a way to meet the president of the United States!” he said.
Of course, the visit was unannounced, and under the circumstances it wasn’t to be expected that he would be all dressed up in his best clothes. But all his life he wished he had gotten up a bit earlier that day, shaved a little sooner, and at least put on a clean shirt before the president arrived. Readiness and watchfulness are all urged upon Christians, lest Christ’s coming, taking us by surprise, should find us unprepared.
Our Father and our God, I want to be prepared when Christ comes again to claim His own. I want to be spiritually pure and holy. I want to be dressed in Your righteousness and forgiveness and to be watching and ready so I can meet Him when the time has come. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Centrality Of The Cross
For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:19–20 RSV
My friend and associate Cliff Barrows told me this story about bearing punishment. He recalled the time when he took the punishment for his children when they had disobeyed. “They had done something I had forbidden them to do. I told them if they did the same thing again I would have to discipline them. When I returned from work and found that they hadn’t minded me, the heart went out of me. I just couldn’t discipline them.”
Any loving father can understand Cliff ’s dilemma. Most of us have been in the same position. He continued with the story: “Bobby and Bettie Ruth were very small. I called them into my room, took off my belt and my shirt, and with a bare back, knelt down at the bed. I made them both strap me with the belt ten times each. You should have heard the crying! From them, I mean! They didn’t want to do it. But I told them the penalty had to be paid and so through their sobs and tears they did what I told them.”
Cliff smiled when he remembered the incident. “I must admit I wasn’t much of a hero. It hurt. I haven’t offered to do that again, but I never had to spank them again, either, because they got the point. We kissed each other when it was over and prayed together.”
In an infinite way that staggers our hearts and minds, we know that Christ paid the penalty for our sins, past, present, and future.
That is why He died on the cross.
Our Father and our God, I love You so. You have treated me with great kindness, gentleness, and mercy. Your Son has taken the beatings, punishment, and death that I deserved for my horrible sins. You have given me grace instead. How can I ever thank You? In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
A Glorious Hope
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27 NIV
One of the bonuses of being a Christian is the glorious hope that extends out beyond the grave into the glory of God’s tomorrow.
The Bible opens with a tragedy and ends in a triumph.
In Genesis we see the devastation of sin and death, but in Revelation we glimpse God’s glorious victory over sin and death. Revelation 14:14 says, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them’” (NIV).
But what is the basis of the Christian’s hope of eternal life? Is our hope of life after death merely wishful thinking or blind optimism? Can we have any certainty that there is life after death and that someday those who know Christ will go to be with Him throughout eternity?
Yes! There is one great fact which gives the Christian assurance in the face of death: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the physical, bodily resurrection of Christ that gives us confidence and hope. Because Christ rose from the dead, we know beyond doubt that death is not the end, but is merely the transition to eternal life.
Never forget that the resurrection of Christ is in many ways the central event of all history. Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:17–20 NIV). The resurrection of Christ makes all the difference! Because He rose from the dead, we know that He was in fact the Son of God who came to save us through His death on the cross, as He claimed.
Our Father and our God, I celebrate Christ’s triumph over death! For I know that, as a Christian, His resurrection gives me victory over death too. Like Him, I will be raised from physical death to life eternal. Praise Your holy name! Praise the name of Jesus! In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Great Plus Sign
For it pleased the Father that in him [Jesus] should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.
Colossians 1:19–20
Thousands of people suffer from guilt complexes. Almost everyone senses that somehow they are wrong, like the little boy who said, “I guess I was just born wrong.” God said from the cross, “I love you.”
He was also saying, “I can forgive you.” The most glorious and thrilling word in any language is forgiveness. God in Christ had a basis for forgiveness. Because Christ died, God can justify the sinner and still be just.
Christ’s dying on the cross was more than the death of a martyr. It was more than His setting a good example by offering His life for His fellow man. His was the sacrifice that God had appointed and ordained to be the one and only sacrifice for sin. The Scripture says, “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:6, 10). Because God Himself has set forth Christ to be the covering for human guilt, then God cannot possibly reject the sinner who accepts Jesus Christ as Savior. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25).
This is what the communion table in the church is all about. Every time we eat the bread we are remembering the body of Christ nailed to the cross for us, and every time we drink the wine we are remembering the blood that was shed on the cross as a covering for our sins. A little girl, seeing a cross on the communion table, asked, “Mama, what is that plus sign doing on the table?” The cross is God’s great plus sign of history.
Our Father and our God, please accept my humble gratitude for Jesus, my Savior and Lord. His cruel death has given me hope and life. His sacrifice has given me salvation. You burdened Him with sin so that I can be free from that sin. Thank You, God, for Jesus and for life eternal. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Will Supply All Our Needs
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 NIV
What a promise this is for the Christian! The source is God—“my God,” the apostle calls Him. The supply is inexhaustible—“according to his glorious riches.” And the Savior is the channel through whom these riches come to us. The equation is totally in my favor. My needs are balanced over against His riches. There is no way I could improve upon that arrangement. No matter what my need, He is more than able to meet it. We are not to treat God as the anonymous writer puts it: “Some people treat God like they do a lawyer; they go to Him only when they are in trouble.”
I find that I need Christ just as much, and sometimes more, in my more exalted hours as I do in the times of difficulties, troubles, and adversity. Many times we make the mistake of thinking that Christ’s help is needed only for sickrooms or in times of overwhelming sorrow and suffering. This is not true. Jesus wishes to enter into every mood and every moment of our lives. He went to the wedding at Cana as well as to the home of Mary and Martha when Lazarus died. He wept with those who wept and rejoiced with those who rejoiced. Someone has said, “There are just as many stars in the sky at noon as at midnight, although we cannot see them in the sun’s glare.”
I seriously doubt if we will ever understand our trials and adversities until we are safely in heaven. Then when we look back we are going to be absolutely amazed at how God took care of us and blessed us even in the storms of life. We face dangers every day of which we are not even aware. Often God intervenes in our behalf through the use of His marvelous angels. I do not believe that anything happens to an obedient Christian by accident. It is all in God’s purpose. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
Our Father and our God, I praise You for the delights of my life—the joys, the laughter, the celebrations, the blessings. I want my life to make You smile, Father. Help me to share my love and joy with others so they can know You too. Remind me to depend on You most when everything seems to be going well. With thanksgiving through Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Paul’s Thorn In the Flesh
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13
The apostle Paul, by firsthand experience, knew what it meant to suffer. As he was telling the people of Corinth about some of his personal experiences with the risen Lord, he confessed that he had a serious potential problem: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (2 Corinthians 12:7).
We don’t know exactly what that “thorn in the flesh” was, but it must have been a physical ailment. It may have been some type of eye disease or epilepsy; or, as Sir William Ramsay thought most likely, malarial fever. However, we do know how he handled his problem and what his subsequent attitude toward it was:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:8–10 NIV)
Certainly Paul did not like that thorn in the flesh. But when he knew that it was not possible to get rid of it, he stopped groaning and began glorifying. He knew it was God’s will and that the affliction was an opportunity for him to prove the power of Christ in his life.
Would you be able to live above your circumstances as Paul did? To withstand suffering as severe as his in our own power would be impossible. Yet with the apostle we can say, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13 NIV).
Our Father and our God, I, too, have a thorn in the flesh which is. . . . I have often prayed, as Paul did, that it be taken away, but it is still with me. Teach me to delight in my weakness so that Your strength can be evident in my life. Teach me to depend on Your grace and Your Son. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Path To Peace
I will listen to what the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints.
Psalm 85:8
There are no troubles that distress the mind and wear upon the nerves as do borrowed troubles. The Psalmist said, “Fret not thyself . . .” (Psalm 37:1). The implication is that fretting, complaining, and distress of mind are often self-manufactured and can be best coped with by a change of attitude and transformation of thought. As someone has said, “Worry is an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks is lead.”
The Psalmist also said, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8). Job asks, “When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” (Job 34:29).
Many of our troubles are caused by self-centeredness. The human mind is not meant to be limited to such a narrow scope. It is to be free to soar, to dream, to hope, and to trust. When our eyes are turned inward instead of upward, we suffer from spiritual nearsightedness.
Anticipation of trouble makes trifles appear unduly large, and the troubles that never come make up an imagined burden that will crush the spirit. They are haunting specters, as insubstantial as a bad dream, and we spend the strength that should be expended in constructive work and services in fighting problems that do not even exist.
Instead of “borrowing trouble” we should listen to the Lord when he says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Our Father and our God, forgive my fretting about life’s little problems. Tune me in to Your grace and peace. Don’t let Satan steal my joy by loading me down with worry and discontentment. Help me keep my eyes on You and the promises of Your Word. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Anxious In Nothing
Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6–7 RSV
Happy is the person who has learned the secret of coming to God daily in prayer. Fifteen minutes alone with God every morning before one starts the day can change our outlooks and recharge our batteries.
But all of this happiness and all of these unlimited benefits which flow from the storehouse of heaven are contingent upon our relationship to God. Absolute dependency and absolute yieldedness are the conditions of being His child. Only His children are entitled to receive those things that lend themselves to happiness; and in order to be His child, there must be the surrender of the will to Him.
We must admit we are poor before we can be made rich. We must admit we are destitute before we can become children by adoption.
When we realize that all our own goodness is as filthy rags in God’s sight and become aware of the destructive power of our stubborn wills, when we realize our absolute dependence upon the grace of God through faith and nothing more, then we have started on the road to happiness.
We do not come to know God through works—we come to know Him by faith through grace. We cannot work our way toward happiness in heaven; we cannot moralize our way, we cannot reform our way, we cannot buy our way. Salvation comes as a gift of God through Christ.
Our Father and our God, I am spiritually poor and destitute before You. Without You I am alone, weak, and useless. I am completely dependent on Your grace and mercy, Lord. Forgive me; save me; empower me. Increase my faith in Your grace and in Jesus Christ my Savior, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Anxious In Nothing
Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6–7 RSV
Happy is the person who has learned the secret of coming to God daily in prayer. Fifteen minutes alone with God every morning before one starts the day can change our outlooks and recharge our batteries.
But all of this happiness and all of these unlimited benefits which flow from the storehouse of heaven are contingent upon our relationship to God. Absolute dependency and absolute yieldedness are the conditions of being His child. Only His children are entitled to receive those things that lend themselves to happiness; and in order to be His child, there must be the surrender of the will to Him.
We must admit we are poor before we can be made rich. We must admit we are destitute before we can become children by adoption.
When we realize that all our own goodness is as filthy rags in God’s sight and become aware of the destructive power of our stubborn wills, when we realize our absolute dependence upon the grace of God through faith and nothing more, then we have started on the road to happiness.
We do not come to know God through works—we come to know Him by faith through grace. We cannot work our way toward happiness in heaven; we cannot moralize our way, we cannot reform our way, we cannot buy our way. Salvation comes as a gift of God through Christ.
Our Father and our God, I am spiritually poor and destitute before You. Without You I am alone, weak, and useless. I am completely dependent on Your grace and mercy, Lord. Forgive me; save me; empower me. Increase my faith in Your grace and in Jesus Christ my Savior, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Inner Joy And Outward Victory
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4 NIV
When our hearts are surrendered totally to the will of God, then we delight in seeing Him use us in any way He desires. Our plans and desires begin to agree with His, and we accept His direction in our lives. Our sense of joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment in life increases, no matter what the circumstances, if we are in the center of God’s will.
Resentment or resignation is not the answer to the problem of suffering. And there is a step beyond mere acceptance. It is accepting with joy. We need to listen to the words of James: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:2–4 NIV).
The Christian life is a joyful life. Christianity was never meant to be something to make people miserable. The ministry of Jesus Christ was one of joy. The Bible teaches that a life of inward rest and outward victory is a Christian’s birthright.
“What a witness to the world Christians would be,” wrote Amy Carmichael, “if only they were more evidently very happy people.” Joy is one of the marks of a true believer. Miss Carmichael quoted Prebendary Webb-Peploe as having said, “Joy is not gush; Joy is not jolliness. Joy is simply perfect acquiescence in God’s will, because the soul delights itself in God Himself.”
The ability to rejoice in any situation is a sign of spiritual maturity.
Our Father and our God, I surrender my heart and will to You. Please use me in any way You desire. Center me in Your will and Your Way, Father, and fill me with Your joy and celebration of life. Help me to live as You created me to live—with contentment, joy, and satisfaction through Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Fellowship Of His Sufferings
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
Philippians 3:8–10
Christiana Tsai, the Christian daughter of a former governor of Kiangsu Province in China, wrote, “Throughout my many years of illness, I have never dared to ask God why He allowed me to suffer so long. I only ask what He wants me to do.” Saint Augustine wrote, “Better is he that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doeth evil.”
The eagle is the only bird that can lock its wings and wait for the right wind. He waits for the updraft and never has to flap his wings, just soar. So as we wait on God He will help us use the adversities and strong winds to benefit us! The Bible says, “They that wait upon the LORD . . . shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:31).
Christians can rejoice in the midst of persecution because they have eternity’s values in view. When the pressures are on, they look beyond their present predicament to the glories of heaven. The thought of the future life with its prerogatives and joys helps to make the trials of the present seem light and transient. “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Our Father and our God, help me to wait patiently for Your timing. I am impatient and stubborn, I know. Bless me with Jesus’ calmness and quiet acceptance of Your will. Give me pleasure in just serving You in the way You have planned for me and in Your own good time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Summary Of Salvation
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:8
The heart of the Christian Gospel with its incarnation and atonement is in the cross and the resurrection. Jesus was born to die. Jesus did for man what man cannot do for himself. He did it through the cross and the resurrection.
Today we look for man-made philosophical panaceas. Discussions and debates go on in every center of learning in a search for ultimate wisdom and its resultant happiness. No solution has been found. We still wrestle with the same philosophical problems that concerned Plato and Aristotle.
We are searching for a way out of our dilemma, and the universal sign we see is “no exit.” But the cross presents itself in the midst of our dilemma as our only hope. Here we find the justice of God in perfect satisfaction—the mercy of God extended to the sinner—the love of God covering every need—the power of God for every emergency—the glory of God for every occasion. Here is power enough to transform human nature. Here is power enough to change the world.
Samuel Rutherford, the great Scottish theologian and pastor who died in 1661, put it well when he wrote, “The cross of Christ, on which He was extended, points, in the length of it, to heaven and earth, reconciling them together; and in the breadth of it, to former and following ages, as being equally salvation to both.” The apostle Paul indeed gave us the summary of salvation when he wrote, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Our Father and our God, I lean on the cross for support and salvation. Nowhere else can I find hope for rescue from this life. Nowhere else can I find forgiveness and mercy. The cross of Christ is my only power for living and my only hope in dying. Thank You for Jesus, who gave the cross significance and in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Christian’s Mind-Set
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5
We Christians are not to be conformed to this world mentally. The world by its advertisements, its conversation, and its philosophy is engaged in a gigantic brainwashing task. Not always consciously but sometimes unconsciously, the Christian is beset by secular and worldly propaganda.
Ads which proclaim that “the man of distinction” prefers a certain brand of whiskey imply that abstainers are not people of distinction.
Tobacco ads loudly proclaiming that “thinking men” prefer a certain filter imply that only fools would reject their brand.
Much entertainment, even on Sunday, is slanted to those who feed on violence, sex, and lawlessness. It would seem that some diabolic mastermind is running the affairs of this world and that his chief objective is to brainwash Christians and get them to conform to this world.
The world’s sewage system threatens to contaminate the stream of Christian thought. Satan will contest every hour you spend in Bible reading or prayer.
However, above the din we can hear the voice of Scripture: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5), and “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
We Christians are not even to be conformed to the world’s anxieties.
Many Christians are wringing their hands and saying, “What’s the world coming to?”
The Bible has already told us that “the world and the lust thereof ” are going to pass away. We have already been told in Scripture that the world is coming to a cataclysmic judgment. We Christians are to be lights in the midst of darkness, and our lives should exemplify relaxation, peace, and joy in the midst of frustration, confusion, and despair.
Time yourself the next time you read the Bible and pray. Compare this amount of time to that you spend, say, watching television. Is God getting His share of your time and attention?
Our Father and our God, forgive me for getting caught up in the world’s allure. I know it’s really Satan pulling me away from You. Build a fortress around me, Lord, and hold me close to You through Your powerful love. Help me to be a light in the dark world, because of Christ. Through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Success Without Suffering?
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
Philippians 1:29
We can find comfort in the midst of mourning because God can use our sufferings to teach us and make us better people. Sometimes it takes suffering to make us realize the brevity of life, and the importance of living for Christ. Often God uses suffering to accomplish things in our lives that would otherwise never be achieved.
The Bible puts it succinctly: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4 RSV). Some of the godliest people I have ever known were men and women who had been called upon to endure great suffering and yet, because they knew Christ and walked in the joy of His presence every day, God blessed them and turned them into people who reflected Christ. Often I have gone into a sickroom or hospital room to encourage someone and have left feeling I was the one who had been encouraged and helped, because God had used their trials to make them more like Christ.
Before the power of the atom was discovered, science had to devise a way to “smash” the atom. The secret of the atom’s immeasurable and limitless power was in its being crushed.
Dr. Edward Judson, at the dedication of the Judson Memorial Church in New York City, said, “Suffering and success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering, it is because others before you have suffered; if you are suffering without succeeding, it is that others after you may succeed.”
Our Father and our God, Your suffering is often difficult for me to understand at the time, but I know it will eventually make me into a better person. Help me to bear up during the trials, patiently knowing I will gain spiritual health and wisdom as You work through it all. In the name of the Savior. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Victorious Suffering
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.
Philippians 1:29 RSV
One person whose name is synonymous with “victorious suffering” is the courageous, gifted quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada. As the result of a diving accident, she is confined to a wheelchair, unable to care for her simplest needs. And yet she is one of the most vibrant, beautiful human beings I have known.
She has shared the platform with us many times in our crusades, and her testimony to what the Lord has done for her in and through her testing never ceases to amaze and humble me. Joni has emerged from the fire of her testing with an unbelievably broad and perceptive insight into not only the meaning of suffering, but also into all the great theological truths that bear on this subject. Joni has had her own small Armageddon.
Her ability to grasp the deepest truths and phrase them in simple terms awes and inspires me. I know of very few people, including some of our greatest theologians, who have such a practical and wide-ranging grasp of who God is and what He is doing in His world. Her service for God is many times greater than if she had never had that accident while diving into the Chesapeake Bay.
Most of us will never experience the kind of handicap Joni has faced. But we complain just the same.
If you are physically well, praise God and learn not to complain about comparably minor irritations. If you do suffer from a physical infirmity, remember that the Lord is your strength and that He will not only see you through this life, but He will give you a brand-new body in the next life.
Our Father and our God, You have given Jesus to me as an example of how to live through suffering with grace and patience. I pray that I will be able to emulate His attitude when suffering comes to me. Bless me, Father, with heavenly understanding for my earthly life through Jesus and Your Word. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Suffering
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. . . . Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.
Ephesians 5:2, 25
At the heart of our universe is a God who suffers in redemptive love. Because of this, we experience more of His love when we suffer within an evil world.
High up in the foothills of the Himalayas is a beautiful city called Kohima. It is in Nagaland, one of the states of India. We were there to help them celebrate a hundred years of Christianity. It was there that the Japanese were stopped in their thrust toward India during World War II. Buried in a cemetery are the bodies of hundreds of Indians, British, Americans, and those of other nationalities who made up the Allied force that halted the Japanese advance. At the entrance to the cemetery there is an engraved memorial which says, “They gave their tomorrow that you might have today.”
After sixteen difficult years as a missionary on the continent of Africa, David Livingstone returned to his native Scotland to address the students at Glasgow University. His body was emaciated by the ravages of some twenty-seven fevers which had coursed through his veins during the years of his service. One arm hung useless at his side, the result of being mangled by a lion. The core of his message to those young people was, “Shall I tell you what sustained me amidst the toil, the hardship, and loneliness of my exile? It was Christ’s promise, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end.’”
We, like David Livingstone, may claim the same promise from our Savior and Lord. He does go with us through our sufferings, and He awaits us as we emerge on the other side of the tunnel of testing—into the light of His glorious presence to live with Him forever!
Our Father and our God, how can I thank You for the incredible love You have shown me by allowing Your Son to die on the cross in my place? I will live the life You gave me so that it glorifies You both in trial and triumph. I wear Your Son’s name humbly, yet boldly. And it’s in His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Renewed, Not Just Religious
Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:23–24 RSV
We Christians are not to be conformed to the world spiritually. We are not to be conformed to the world’s definition of what it means to be religious, but are to make sure that we have met God’s requirements for discipleship.
No nation was ever more religious than Israel in Isaiah’s day. The Temple was filled. The altar ran red with the blood of sacrifice. The religious festivals were strictly observed, and the voice of prayer was heard in the house of God. But there was a lack of depth and true devotion in Israel’s worship. The nation was deteriorating morally, even though record crowds were attending the Temple. Speaking as God commanded, Isaiah said, “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot [endure]; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting” (Isaiah 1:13).
Then Isaiah told them how to regain the favor of God. These people who were members of the church—these people who had been reared according to the formalities of their religious laws, but during the week were not living a righteous life Isaiah warned of the judgment of God.
Then he told them how they could be cleansed from their sin. He said, “Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil . . . Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:16, 18).
There are thousands of people who do not give themselves to Jesus Christ, because they have conformed to the world. They are afraid of being called fanatic, pious, puritanical, or religious. A true Christian is a nonconformist. He does not conform himself to the worldly concepts of religion. Instead, he is to become a true disciple, a “follower” of the Lord.
Our Father and our God, cleanse me from all my impurity and unholiness. Wash me in the blood of Christ so that my sins are removed and I am as white as snow in Your eyes. Make me a true disciple in word and in deed. Give me the mind of Christ so that my eyes may stay fixed on You. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).