Be Thankful Unto Him — Welcome Detweiler

Giving Thanks and Seeking God's Guidance

From one of the verses in the psalms. Psalm 100 and verse 4. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. It pleases God when we cherish a thankful spirit and when we express our gratitude on bended knee before him.

How much we have to thank him for. There are the benefits which he daily loads us. There are all the spiritual blessings that he has made ours in Christ and above all there is the fact that those of us who are saved can say he is our God and Father and that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Problems have to be faced and decisions made. We have perhaps too readily depended upon our own wisdom. It pleases the Lord that we should consult him about these things and seek definite guidance from him.

Communion With God and the Stewardship of Time

The outer life is not of much account unless it is the reflex of an inner life that is lived with God in secret. Service is of little value in his sight unless it be the outcome of communion with him behind the scenes.

God grant that the future may witness a larger measure of intensity in regards to all of these things. We shall never pass this way again, nor if we lose the months of this year can we ever regain them.

Every day spent in communion with God doing his will means reward at the judgment seat of Christ. Every day spent in spiritual distance from God doing our own pleasures means loss. Tremendous issues hang on the question of how we spend our time.

Let us thank God then for fresh opportunities and seek grace to use them for his honor and for his glory.

The Quaker's Challenge About Satisfaction

A story is told of an old Quaker who advertised that he would give 40 acres of rich farmland.

To anyone who was perfectly satisfied with that which he had. One man came and tried to put in his claim. Are thou perfectly satisfied with what thee hast? Yes, replied the hopeful guest. Then why dost thou want this land, was the old Quaker's reply.

The dictionary defines satisfaction as filling up the measure of a want, to gratify fully the desire of, to make content, to supply to the full, or so far as to give contentment with what is sought or wished for.

How many persons in these days do you think are living truly satisfied lives? Take a moment to look at the faces of men and women as they walk the streets of the city. How very few reflect true satisfaction.

Satisfaction Found in the Lord Jesus Christ

Why is this? Because most people mistakenly look for satisfaction in things, and things can produce nothing but misery. A perfect description of one who is truly satisfied is found in the Bible, a well-known verse, Psalm 23, verse 1.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. True and complete satisfaction can be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The satisfied life finds its source only in Him, not merely in the many, many blessed things that He gives, but in Himself.

One of the great Christian leaders of long ago said, O God, thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts shall never find rest until they rest in thee. God the Father felt perfect satisfaction in Christ.

Did He not say, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased? And Christ is satisfied with His own finished work as the Savior. Multitudes have received Christ as Lord and Savior, and He realizes that His sacrifice was not in vain.

Yes, there is a life that satisfies. It is not in things, not in pleasure or wealth or education or business, but only in the Lord Jesus. And the one who finds the Lord Jesus as Savior finds not only the satisfied life here below, but finds the glorious promise of eternal life.

For those blessed words that fell from the lips of the Savior Himself are, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. The truly satisfied heart, the heart which has found its fountain of true contentment in the person of Christ, will overflow in a life of obedience to the word of God, and in loving and humble and fruitful service in His name to those who need the Savior round about them.

Christ Makes Life Worth Living

In 1952 there were 16 ,999 recorded suicides in the United States. Nearly 17 ,000 people.

Came to the conclusion that life wasn't worth living. Some took poison, others jumped from bridges or apartment houses, while others resorted to firearms. Were these people right? Is life worth living after all?

Listen to a few testimonies. Jay Gould, the multimillionaire, said, I am the most miserable man on this earth. Ivor Kruger, wealthy head of the world's largest monopoly, committed suicide. Here's another one.

I walk up and down thinking I am happy, and knowing I am not, said the famous essayist Charles Lamb. Stephen Foster, composer of the old Black Joe, Swanee River, and other plantation songs, died a drunkard's death at the age of 38.

Edgar Allan Poe, famous poet, drank himself to death. Napoleon died a lonely, horrible death on the isle where he was exiled. Hannibal took poison. Julius Caesar was assassinated. Mussolini was executed.

After years of pleasure, Robert Burns wrote, pleasures are like as poppies spread. You seize the flower, the bloom is shed. Lord Byron, who lived a life of sinful pleasure, lived and died an unhappy man.

In contrast to all of these, listen to the educated Apostle Paul, who says, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Yes, all folks who go through life without having Christ as the main objective find that there is nothing in life for which to live.

But Christ makes life worth living. First of all, he forgives all your sinful past. As long as you have past sins bothering you, a joyous life is impossible. Second, he gives hope and help for the present.

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's Philippians 4. And third, Christ promises everlasting life and an eternal home for you. As many as received him, that's Christ, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.

Surrendering to Christ in Simple Faith

Long ago in the school of Socrates, it was customary at the beginning of the term for each student to bring him a present. After all, the others had given their gifts, a very poor lad flung himself at the feet of the great teacher and said, O Socrates, I give thee myself.

What that one did, you can do now as a poor, lost, and needy sinner. Throw yourself at Christ's feet and say, God be merciful to me, O sinner. O Christ, I give myself to thee. If you will do this in simple faith and in sincerity, Christ will make your life worth living.