December 15, 2004
PostPosted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:49 am
Without A Doubt
"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11
When Henry Ward Beecher was a young boy in school, he learned a lesson in self-confidence, which he never forgot. He was called upon to recite in front of the class. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, "No!" He started over and again the teacher thundered, "No!" Humiliated, Henry sat down.
The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, "No!" This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher responded, "Very good!"
Henry was irritated. "I recited just as he did," he complained to the teacher.
But the instructor replied, "It is not enough to know your lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If all the world says, 'No!' it is your business to say, 'Yes!' and prove it."
Christ came into this world and told of God's love for all mankind. Many in His day, and today, shout at the top of their voice, "No!" Yet He continued with certainty to proclaim that, "God so loved the world..." We must also proclaim this message without a hint of uncertainly. It is the message of Christmas.
Prayer: Ask God to give you the certainty of the heavenly host to proclaims His Son's birth.
"Without God's explanatory word, God's redemptive action could not be recognized for what it was. The clearest revelation of God (the incarnation) is nevertheless the most opaque to man."
~J. I. Packer
"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11
When Henry Ward Beecher was a young boy in school, he learned a lesson in self-confidence, which he never forgot. He was called upon to recite in front of the class. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, "No!" He started over and again the teacher thundered, "No!" Humiliated, Henry sat down.
The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, "No!" This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher responded, "Very good!"
Henry was irritated. "I recited just as he did," he complained to the teacher.
But the instructor replied, "It is not enough to know your lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If all the world says, 'No!' it is your business to say, 'Yes!' and prove it."
Christ came into this world and told of God's love for all mankind. Many in His day, and today, shout at the top of their voice, "No!" Yet He continued with certainty to proclaim that, "God so loved the world..." We must also proclaim this message without a hint of uncertainly. It is the message of Christmas.
Prayer: Ask God to give you the certainty of the heavenly host to proclaims His Son's birth.
"Without God's explanatory word, God's redemptive action could not be recognized for what it was. The clearest revelation of God (the incarnation) is nevertheless the most opaque to man."
~J. I. Packer