Daily
By Mark McWhorter
Every
person must live one day at a time. It is true
that it is wise to plan for the future. It is true that it is not wise
to
ignore the past and not learn from it. However, one cannot keep
thinking about
the past nor keep planning for the future and forget to act and learn
each day.
It is what one does each day that demonstrates whether one is learning
from the
past and planning for the future.
“Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I cry unto thee daily” (Psalm 86:3). A person should pray to God daily. It is necessary to ask for forgiveness of sins. It is proper to lean upon God for the strength to overcome temptations. It is proper to look to God for wisdom.
“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). There are three possibilities for what this verse means. It may refer to the actual daily food that we eat. Or, it may refer to the daily spiritual food that we get from Bible study. Or, it could encompass both of these. It is proper to thank God for both. It is proper to realize that our physical food and our spiritual food are gifts from God.
“Blessed be the Lord who daily loaded us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19). God blesses all people richly every day. The very air we breath was created by God. Every day we should remember that all that we have and use was created by God.
“But exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). It is our responsibility to encourage each other to live for Christ. Each person needs to be reminded and urged to stay away from evil and stay close to God. This will be easier if each person studies the Bible daily.
Read your Bible daily.
Learn all you can each day. If
any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
Many Religions Lead to
Eternal Life?
By Tim Childs
Is
it possible
there is a wide range of diverse religions that may equally have the
joyous
result of bringing their adherents to the heavenly city and eternal
life?
Apparently there are a lot of Americans [and other people throughout
the world]
who think so.
The Pew Forum on
Religion & Public Life conducted a U.S. Religious survey in
which more than
35,000 Americans participated in 2007. After crunching the numbers, the
results
were published in June 2008. The organization found that
“Most Americans agree
with the statement that many religions—not just their
own—can lead to eternal
life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition,
seven-in-ten
say many religions can lead to eternal life.” (Quotation taken from summary of
results at
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports#).
If there is just
one world religion in addition to Christianity
that can effectively lead men, women and young people to
eternal life,
then Jesus died for our sins needlessly. If God uses other means to
save, there
was no need for the blood of Christ to be shed. He then could have
saved us
like He intended to save others apart from Christ and the cleansing His
blood
provides.
If there is just
one world religion in addition to Christianity that can effectively
lead men,
women and young people to eternal life, then God wasted the time and
effort He
invested in providing us with the Holy Bible. Jesus is the centerpiece
of all
the Scripture. If God uses other means, there never should have been a
Bible
because its message is irrelevant, because there would be another
message out
there that can supplant the Bible.
If there is just
one world religion in addition to Christianity that can effectively
lead men,
women and young people to eternal life, then there is actually a
plurality of
gods men may worship. Most of the world religions set themselves apart
from the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It then follows there are other true
gods who
are equally able to deliver their subjects and give them eternal life. We can’t have it
both ways; we can’t say we
believe the Bible is truly the Word of God and at the same time say
that other
world religions provide eternal life.
“For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to
salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the
Greek” (Romans
1:16-17 N