Obedience and imitators of God

— Titus 1:16 —

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

__________________________

Many people claim to know God. How can we know if they really do? We will not know for certain in this life, but a glance at their life-styles will quickly tell us what they value and whether they have ordered their lives around kingdom priorities. Our conduct speaks volumes about what we believe. 1 John 2:4-6 — "The man who says 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his Word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." What do people know about God and about your faith by watching your life? 

http://www.barbaralehrman.com/ 

God's Timing is perfect, He works for the good of us

Habakkuk 2:3
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Isaiah 40:31
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Ecclesiastes 8:6
For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him.

Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Luke 18:27
But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Psalm 37:3-4
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

2 Peter 3:8
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Genesis 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 34 helpful votes
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Hebrews 6:12
So that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Proverbs 16:4
The LORD has made everything for his own purposes

Exo 9:16
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Ecc 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Job 5:9
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Psalm 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Faith and Belief

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
Mark 11:23

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Matt 17:20

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
1 Cor 13:2

One true God

Regarding Buddhism:
So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself
Romans 1:25

Regarding Islam:
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:24

Regarding Taoism, Hinduism and other religions:
For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
1 Cor 16:26, Psalm 96:5

Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods.
Psalm 97:7

All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.
Isa 44:9

But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
Psalm 115:4-8




See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. Col 2:8
If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don't invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. 2 John 1:10
But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. 1 John 2:27
He replied, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Matthew 13:11

Why do men prefer to hear the words of wise men, than the words of God?


In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Wealth, Power, Fame, Vanity, Lust and wanton Greed (Avarice)

People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. Wealth attracts many friends, but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possessed. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Don't put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they? Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety. Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. Blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD, making the LORD his trust.

人们判断通过外貌，耶和华是看心脏。财富吸引了很多朋友，但是可怜之人，即使是最亲密的朋友抛弃它们。

耶稣对他们说，你们要谨慎，并谨防贪婪的：一个人的生命不在于哪，他所拥有的东西丰富。这世界，和其上的情欲都要过去，惟独凡遵行神旨意的是永远常存。因他所尊崇的人之中是神看为可憎恶。他谁爱钱不会满足于金钱，也不是他谁爱财富与他的收入，这也是虚空。有什么好处的人若赚得全世界，赔上自己的灵魂？为什么，你甚至不知道明天会发生什么。什么是你的生活？你是出现了一小会儿，然后消失雾。


不要为明日自夸，因为你不知道什么是一天可能会带来。不要把你的信任单纯的人类。它们是身体虚弱的气息。有什么好处呢？由于担心人来说是一个危险的陷阱，但信靠耶和华意味着安全。这些谁相信自己是傻瓜，但那些走在智慧谁是保持安全。有福是谁托耶和华，使耶和华他的信任的人。

As far as the east is from the west, So far have I removed your transgressions from you. As a father has compassion on his children, so will I have compassion on those who fear me. I will not treat you as your sins deserve or repay you according to your iniquities. I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

I will show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments. I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. 

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might. I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. 

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name.

I will tell my people about your name. I will praise you within the congregation. 

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore, amen.

Psa 103:10-12, Isa 43:25. Lam 3:22-23, Psa 145:8, Psa 30:5, Exo 20:6, Deut 31:8, Hos 2:19, Isa 54:5, Eph 1:3, Deut 32:4, Psa 36:5, Jer 10:6, Psa 118:17, Psa 56:13, Psa 23:1, Psa 34:1, Luke 1:49, Psa 22:22, Psa 27:13, Jos 24:15, Psa 103:2, Psa 113:2

Christmas Tidings

Let Christmas not become a thing
Merely of merchant's trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for soul and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come
From a Dreamer's martyrdom.
~Madeline Morse

John 14:15

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Looking intently into the law

James 1:25But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work…

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"Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty." A law must in the first instance be known and understood. It is by means either of the eye or the ear; by examining it for ourselves, or by receiving an account of it from the testimony of others. Both of these are alluded to in our text. The man whom the apostle pronounces "blessed" is he who "looketh into the perfect law of liberty." He does not merely look at it; he looks into it. The word is expressive of fixed, earnest, and scrutinising inspection. Such is the disposition of the Christian inquirer, looking into the perfect law of liberty. He does not take matters on trust, or at second-hand. It is not enough that he has been instructed in the truths of the gospel in his youth by parents and others. He must look into it with his own eyes, and form a judgment of it from personal observation. Nor is he satisfied with a superficial inspection, or a general survey: He must look into it particularly — embracing in his inquiry every doctrine it reveals, every precept it recommends, and every ordinance it appoints; considering the nature and importance of each separately, estimating the evidence and excellence of the whole collectively. He gives it not a mere passing glance, but considers it with a steady, deliberate attention; reflecting on it calmly, dispassionately, with personal application and fervent prayer. It discloses to him the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ: it unfolds the plan of redeeming mercy; opens up the way of reconciliation; makes manifest the privileges of the people of God, both in a state of grace, and in the kingdom of glory. He looks into them not merely with the bodily eye, but with the eye of faith, realising their truth, persuaded of their necessity, continually discovering more and more of their grandeur, contemplating them with unfeigned growing delight; and by each new discovery animated to pursue his researches, until, in the light of eternity dissipating every shade of ignorance and error, he shall in God's light see light, and know even as he is known. "A hearer" of it, and attends to the preaching of the Word, as well as the reading of it. I might enumerate classes of hearers in great variety, all of them equally in error, but time does not permit, nor does the subject call for it. Our text contains a description that includes them all. They are all "forgetful" hearers. They all forget the very thing which they should be most concerned to remember; and that is, their own personal interest in what they hear. They forget that their design in hearing should be the same with God's design in speaking, and that is, that the heart may be made better. What they hear, however, makes no lasting or practical impression. But the man whom the apostle declares to be blessed, is "not a forgetful hearer." He listens with deep attention, having both the understanding, the conscience, and the heart in exercise. He mingles faith with what he hears. Above all, he endeavours to follow up the design, and to secure the profit of hearing, by a course of devoted obedience. For true religion is altogether a practical thing. In this view, the apostle here contemplates it. The man whom he pronounces "blessed," is, in opposition to the "forgetful hearer." "A doer of the work." It is observable that he says nothing of believing, and speaks only of doing. Nor was it necessary that he should. The "doer of the work" must, in the first instance, be a believer of the Word. The fountain must be cleansed that her streams may be pure. The tree must be made good that the fruit may be good. But as principle must precede, so it will produce practice. The believer, in obedience to the impulses of his renewed nature, will also become a doer. The man who from right principles yields obedience to any one precept of the law, will, under the impulse of the same principles, yield obedience to every other precept; will resist sin in all its forms, and pay a regard to duty in all its branches. What he ought to be at any time, he desires and endeavours to be at all times. To complete the description of the man whom he pronounces "blessed," the apostle includes this thought. It is added, that he "continueth therein." Of what use are momentary impulses and superficial impressions? There is a goodness which promises fair, but it soon vanishes, like the morning cloud and the early dew. The apostle has said of him, in most emphatic language, "This man shall be blessed in his deed." This blessedness, though principally future, is partly present. He is even now blessed with an assured confidence, he is blessed with an approving conscience, which bears testimony to the sincerity of his profession, or the genuineness of his character, and holding out to him the prospect of a gracious reception, and a triumphant acquittal, at the tribunal of his Judge. He is blessed with a good hope, which rests on the surest foundation, is warranted by the clearest evidence. He is blessed with a contented mind, satisfied with the dealings of his heavenly Father, thankful for His mercies, patient under His chastisements. The consummation of blessedness is reserved for the just made perfect, who Shall suffer neither the misery of desire ungratified, nor the sickness of hope deferred; who shall drink deep in the river of pleasures, and be replenished with that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand for evermore.
(James Barr, D. D.)

Predestined Salvation

Religion may be imposed or reasoned, but a person's salvation comes not from works or words of men, but by the work of the holy spirit.

2 God the Father chose you long ago, and the Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Jesus Christ and are cleansed by his blood.May you have more and more of God's special favor and wonderful peace. 3 All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. 4 For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. 7 These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold -- and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. 10 This salvation was something the prophets wanted to know more about. They prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you, even though they had many questions as to what it all could mean. 11 They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ's suffering and his great glory afterward. They wondered when and to whom all this would happen. 12 They were told that these things would not happen during their lifetime, but many years later, during yours. And now this Good News has been announced by those who preached to you in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

1 Peter 1:2-12

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

John 15:16

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5heb predestined us for adoption to sonshipc through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9hed made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 11In him we were also chosen,e having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Eph 1:3-14

²⁹ God planned that those he had chosen would become like his Son. In that way, Christ will be the first and most honored among many brothers. ³⁰ And those God has planned for, he has also appointed to be saved. Those he has appointed, he has made right with himself. To those he has made right with himself, he has given his glory.

Romans 8:29-30

4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:4-7 

9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Romans 10:9-13

Isaiah 45:22

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

Make the world a little kinder

A little kindness goes a long way.


Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.
Bob Kerrey (1943)
American Politician

Do not bear grudge

Leviticus 19:17-19

Good News Translation (GNT)

¹⁷ “Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them.^{[a] 18} Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Eccs 7:9


And "don't sin by letting anger control you." Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry 
Eph 4:26

Not just do anything you want

Repercussion

Cause and Effect

A man reaps what he sows

Consequence of words and actions
The whole forest is burnt down due to a small spark
Ripple Effect

Responsibility

Accountability

Think before you speak and act

See you a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him. Proverbs 29:20

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words,.... Swift to speak either before God or men; that takes upon him to speak upon a subject, or return an answer to a question, before he has thoroughly thought of it, and well considered it, and digested what he should say; see Ecclesiastes 5:2; or "hasty in matters" (x); in his business; runs rashly and precipitately into things, without duly considering within himself what is right and proper to be done, and without taking the advice of others;
there is more hope of a fool than of him; of one that has not the gift of elocution, or not so much sagacity in business, and yet takes time to think, and advises with others.

Verse 20. - Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? (comp. Proverbs 26:12); Vulgate, velocem ad loquendum; Septuagint, ταχὺν ἐν λόγοις. James 1:19," Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak." "A talkative (γλωσσώδης) man is dangerous in his city; and he that is rash (προπετὴς) in his words shall be hated" (Ecclus. 9:18). We might also translate, "hasty in his matters," "hasty in business," and the gnome would be equally true (see note on Proverbs 19:2). There is more hope era fool than of him. The dull, stupid man (kesil) may be instructed and guided and made to listen to reason; the hasty and ill-advised speaker consults no one, takes no thought before he speaks, nor reflects on the effect of his words; such a man it is almost impossible to reform (see James 3:5, etc.). "Every one that speaks," says St. Gregory, "while he waits for his hearer's sentence upon his words, is as it were subjected to the judgment of him by whom he is heard. Accordingly, he that fears to be condemned in respect of his words ought first to put to the test that which he delivers - that there may be a kind of impartial and sober umpire sitting between the hear and tongue, weighing with exactness whether the heart presents right words, which the tongue taking up with advantage may bring forward for the heater's judgment" ('Moral.,' 8:5, Oxford transl.). 

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/proverbs/29-20.htm



In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. James 3:5

1 John 4:21

And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Article: I hated my brother. When he died, all I felt was happiness

Troubled relationship: Liz Hodgkinson, pictured, found most contact with her brother would leave her enraged

The news came as a shock, yes, but it didn’t provoke tears, or even any sense of grief. I’d just heard from my niece that my brother Richard had died of a heart attack, aged 62, following an apparently minor operation. And all I felt was a surge of happiness and relief.
That day, five years ago, a long, dark shadow that had blighted my existence was lifted. You see, I hated my brother and he hated me to the point of pathology. So much so that we hadn’t even seen or spoken to each other for 20 years.
I imagine this sentiment will jar with many because it goes against everything we are supposed to feel for our siblings. After all, it is meant to be the strongest and longest bond we will experience in life.
To admit such animosity is to break one of our strongest social taboos — but the feeling is far from rare, with psychologists estimating that in as many as a third of all families there is bitter hatred and rivalry between siblings.
Writer Margaret Drabble’s long estrangement from her novelist sister, Booker Prize-winner A.S  Byatt, is a case in point.
Their feud, which started at birth, is, according to Drabble, completely unresolvable, and has provoked much interest.
Ever since Cain slew Abel, stories and myths abound of siblings turning against each other.
But what does it actually feel like to hate a sibling? Well, it’s something that is always there, lying dissonant and dormant in the background. You dread the slightest contact, whether by letter, email or phone call.
In my case, before my brother stopped speaking to me altogether, he would preface any communication by saying: ‘You’re supposed to be so clever.’
Harmless at first glance, perhaps, but words designed to fill me with rage. And they achieved their goal, unerringly.
When there is hatred at this level, you can’t even pretend that person doesn’t exist, as it burns a deep and lasting hole in your psyche.

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The animosity between my brother and me stems from childhood. Apparently my mother had only wanted one child, so when she became pregnant with my brother while she was still breastfeeding me, she was distraught.
He was born 18 months after me, following a very difficult birth which nearly killed our mother. Right from the start, I was the firm favourite of both parents and the question: ‘Why can’t you be more like your sister?’ was often asked.
Such favouritism, I believe, is the crux of it. American psychologist Jeanne Safer’s latest book, Cain’s Legacy, explores this very phenomenon.
Writing from her own experience of being estranged from her brother since birth, she believes it is favouritism that causes such bitter sibling rivalry. ‘When this happens, it sets you up for a lifetime of strife,’ she says.
‘The bond can never quite be severed, yet the bitter hatred gets ever worse. Because it happens before you can speak, it goes far deeper than anybody ever realises and can never be healed.’

Bitter rivalry: Liz and Richard in 1954, when their rift had already begun

Safer says that she took being the favoured child totally as her due, as I did myself, and she imagines all favoured siblings do the same.
Like me, Safer was bright and academic and her brother was, like mine, a ne’er-do-well dullard. While I glided through school, collecting good grades and accolades, Richard got into fights, was rude to the teachers, destructive and impossible to control at home.

From his earliest years, Richard nursed an implacable hatred of me, his only sister. This took the form, often, of tearing up my drawings and smashing my toys

From his earliest years, Richard nursed an implacable hatred of me, his only sister. This took the form, often, of tearing up my drawings and smashing my toys.
One particular incident sticks in my mind. From the age of eight, I took piano lessons, but for some reason Richard would never let me practise. He would shout and scream, bang the piano keys or his drums or tip me off the stool.
He shouted me down until the adults in the house gave in to him and begged me to stop singing or practising the piano ‘for the sake of peace’.
Hardly surprisingly, the music lessons were soon given up and from that day to this, I have never attempted to sing. By such means, he often got his own way. He would also sabotage my homework by playing loud music when I was trying to revise.
This kind of behaviour made me somewhat afraid of him and always nervous of provoking a fight, a shouting match or actual damage of furniture or household goods.
His behaviour became ever more extreme until I did everything I could to keep out of his way, vowing to leave home at 18 and never go back.
While I was at university, Richard — who had left school at 15 with no qualifications — was given a rather cushy job at Mum’s flower shop in St Neots, the small East Anglian town where we lived.
It’s hard and perhaps unfair to blame parents for everything that happens to children, but for all her good points, my mother never was even-handed in her treatment of me and Richard.
She would save me little treats that he was denied and while I was allowed packed lunches at school, he was made to eat school dinners.
Then something odd happened. After our father died of alcoholism aged around 60, our mother changed allegiance.
After a lifetime of preferring me, Richard became the favourite, indulged in adulthood in a way that he never was when he was a child.

Writer Margaret Drabble, left, became estranged from her novelist sister, Booker Prize-winner A.S  Byatt, right

I watched as Richard did no work at the shop — indeed, he boasted of getting this free ride — and often did not turn up at all.
He fiddled the books, took money out of the till and endless time off, knowing he would never get the sack. As the years passed, the gulf between us widened. He went on to marry twice, having two children.
He also went on to become partner of our mother’s business and it was soon after this that his campaign to turn her against me began. He accused me of never visiting her and then trying to interfere in her affairs.
Once, when I went to see her and Richard was there, he banged on a coffee table and announced: ‘I’m having this when Mum goes. No argument.’
My mother had, some years previously, given me some medals and gold sovereigns which had belonged to my grandparents.
She rang me one day saying that Richard wanted them, so could I bring them back?
I reminded her that she had given them to me and she said she would never hear the last of it if I didn’t give them back.
To tell the truth, I had forgotten about them, but Richard had nursed a sense of injustice about them for years.
When I returned them, Richard was there, in her house, as he often was. He took the mementos without saying a word and never spoke to me again.
Even if he did happen to be in the house on my increasingly rare visits, he wouldn’t utter a word to me. Instead, he would look daggers and address me in the third person, saying things like: ‘You’ve always preferred her.’
The atmosphere got so bad that, eventually, our mother would ring me when Richard was going to be away, so that I could visit.
As she grew older and frailer, she became pathetically dependent on Richard. He gained power of attorney, after which he started emptying her bank accounts.

Human characteristic: Ever since Cain slew Abel, stories and myths abound of siblings turning against each other

He even bullied her into changing her will to exclude me and my two sons, Tom and Will.
I only discovered this when, one day, my ex-husband Neville happened to call in on my mother, and she said to him: ‘Richard’s got all my money.’
Of course, he related this to me and I started to investigate. Whatever could it mean?
I learned from our mother that a solicitor had called round to the house with the papers for power of attorney and she, not really understanding what she was doing, signed them. I felt the need to instruct my own lawyers because I did not trust myself to write a rational letter to him.
I rang my mother to ask what it was all about and her last words ever to me were: ‘I want Richard to have everything. I don’t want any more to do with you. Richard is seeing to everything, thanks very much.’
I knew Richard was lurking in the room, feeding her lines.
Not long after this, she went into a nursing home, too frail to look after herself.
Meanwhile, Richard sold her four-bedroom detached house and pocketed all the money, without informing or consulting me. As her attorney, he could legally do this.
Mum died in 2003. I had a phone call from Richard informing me brusquely of the fact and breaking a decades-long silence by saying: ‘I don’t expect you will want to come to the funeral.’
‘I will make that decision, thanks,’ I spat, slamming the phone down.
The truth was the breakdown in communication was such that I didn’t even know which nursing home Mum had been in. Come to think of it, I still don’t. In the end, knowing how unwelcome Richard would make me feel, I decided not to go to the funeral. It was another four years before I received news of Richard’s death. Perhaps you will now understand why I reacted with such joy.
When I think of people I know who have close relationships with their brothers or sisters, it does sadden me that we could never patch up our differences.
One of my best friends, for instance, hated her sister, or said she did, when they were children. But now, as old ladies, they are the best of friends.

Yes, it is still hard to admit that I hated my brother. But I hope it will help me learn to forget, if not wholly to forgive.

For years, I had kept my shameful secret to myself. All I would say to others about Richard was: ‘We don’t get on’ and leave it at that.
But after his death, I could finally acknowledge the extent of the mutual hatred.
Of course, it drew gasps of surprise from family and friends, but I am satisfied there is nothing I could have done about it.
Even if I had been a nicer and kinder person, he would have reacted in the same way.
Now, years later, this is the first time I have committed these thoughts to paper.
Yes, it is still hard to admit that I hated my brother. But I hope it will help me learn to forget, if not wholly to forgive.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2181356/I-hated-brother-When-died-I-felt-happiness-Its-rarely-admitted-truth-siblings-loathe-Here-woman-brutal-candour-makes-confession.html#ixzz2jLijhg46
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I do not believe in denominations. I believe we are all one under Christ. Men take God's words into dispute, each going their seperate ways and formed denominations. Whoever acknowledges that Christ is Lord and does His will is my brother and sister. There is no division, there is unity. God makes all under Him and He is the head of the church. We all all members of His body, and in Him we are sanctified and saved through Him and Him alone.

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionary-of-bible-themes/2212-Jesus-Christ-head-church

Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.
Col 1:18

A Church Divided Over Leaders
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1 Cor 1:10-17


For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body.

Eph 5:23-30

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 12:46-50

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Christian, and I heard people ask me "so what denomination are you from?" As a young person I do not understand it, I thought Christians are Christians, why should there be different groups? And when I'm older I came to understand each groups distinctiveness and why they form them. As time pass by in history, christians begin to be divided, even waging war against their own brothers and sisters because of their disputes in the Truth. God called for peace and unity, not division and strife. Is that the price for the truth to be accepted, to do away with the false understanding that are imposed? With the cost of blood? Surely there should be better way. The price was paid at a terrible cost. Now, churches have evolved, with corporate structures and new technology, with their own guidelines and way of doing things. But that's another story for another day.

Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.

You can hurt others by words. Or you can protect them by guarding your speech. It is easy to harm another person by gossip or slander. By hurting his reputation or testimony, you may inflict great pain or disadvantage on him. Part of godliness and wisdom is to rule your mouth, so you do not injure another person through malice or indiscretion.

Legal situations occur where you might be called as a witness for an accident, crime, or a person’s character. Your duty before God and men is to not testify against anyone without cause – there must be a righteous reason to disclose anything about another person, especially something negative. And you should never lie about him, which is bearing false witness, the ninth commandment of God’s ten to Moses (Ex 20:1-17).

Who is your neighbor? Your neighbor intends many more than just the few who live near you. It includes anyone you meet during your life, even those you might dislike and consider enemies by culture or race (Luke 10:29-37). It includes fellow employees, church members, relatives, fellow students, citizens, your doctor’s staff, and all like them.

A call to court as a witness is rare, but supervisors or managers asking you about fellow employees is not. Are you ready for such an event? You should tell only the truth needed, if confronted. But you should never use the opportunity to damage another employee to advance yourself, either with true events or lies. Solomon condemned it (Pr 30:10).

Never tell negative things about another person, unless necessary for some authority to rightly exercise their office. Even if events are true, it is wrong to spread secrets to others, for you damage their reputation, which can be like murder (Pr 18:8,21; 26:22). What some call gossip – the Bible condemns as sins of backbiting, talebearing, and whispering.

If you know private information about a person, keep it to yourself. Private things you know about others are secrets. Talebearers go around revealing secrets, but faithful men conceal them (Pr 11:13; 20:19). Are you a talebearer or faithful? Talebearers are very destructive (Pr 18:8; 26:20,22). God hates them and their sin (Pr 6:16-19; Lev 19:16).

This sin of talebearing, or tattling (I Tim 5:13), which some call gossip, is backbiting in the Bible. It is backbiting, for you bite a person in the back when you tell secrets about them in their absence (Pr 25:23; Rom 1:30; II Cor 12:20). Faithful men protect those not present by avoiding critical or negative speech about them (Ps 15:3; Pr 25:23).

Talking about others is also called whispering in the Bible, for it is the private sharing of secrets with others through hushed conversation or insinuation (Rom 1:29; II Cor 12:20). Whispering is destructive, as it turns men’s minds against even their friends (Pr 16:28; 17:9). Faithful men are protective and kind – they hate whispering and choose praise instead. They love their neighbors, which is the second greatest commandment of all.

Thus far, the lesson forbids speaking against your neighbor without a good reason. Even true events should be kept secret unless you must reveal them for a righteous cause (Matt 5:22). Telling the truth that hurts a reputation is talebearing, backbiting, and whispering. Though such sins are ignored due to the moral decline everywhere, you can despise them.

But the proverb here also condemns deceiving speech. This is slander – telling lies to get another person in trouble or to damage their character. This is bearing false witness, for you deceive and lie to injure him. Fools slander others (Pr 10:18; 25:18). God will punish false witnesses (Pr 19:5,9; 21:28). Good men will not slander (Pr 14:5; I Tim 3:11).

As the next proverb indicates (Pr 24:29), revenge should never be part of conversation about others. You must not reveal secrets about them or slander them by lies, even if they have mistreated you in the past. God will repay them, if they have wronged you, and He commands you to leave the matter to Him (Lev 19:18; Rom 12:17-21). He will repay.

Though not included here directly, flattery is also sinful speech that harms others, for it feigns and pretends either affection or praise for deceitful purposes. Whores use it to seduce young men (Pr 2:16; 5:3; 6:24; 7:5). It also is destructive (Pr 20:19; 26:28; 29:5). It is another form of lying and bearing false witness, for the praise is not sincere at all.

Consider the proverb’s wisdom! Your tongue – your words – can cut and hurt others, or they can be health and joy (Pr 12:18; 10:20-21; 16:24). God hears or reads your every word, knowing all the intents of your heart, so beware (Ps 139:4; Pr 18:21). It has been well said, if you cannot say something nice about another person, then say nothing at all!

Since men sin so many ways with their mouths, what will you do to stop talkers from injuring others? You should get angry against backbiters and cut them off from their violent game (Pr 25:23). Since men often lie to either injure or seduce, do not be affected by everything you hear, whether against you (Eccl 7:21-22) or for you (Pr 26:24-25).

Words come from the heart, so think only kindly about others, and then only kind words will pass your lips (Luke 6:45). Keep your heart diligently toward this goal (Pr 4:23). Always tell the truth (Pr 12:19,22). Only be critical when necessary for those in authority or for the profit of the hearer or the named (Pr 21:28; 29:24; 9:8; II Tim 4:14-15).

There is one witness always faithful and true and named accordingly (Rev 1:5; 3:14; 19:11). In a day very soon, Jesus Christ will be the only advocate or mediator before God the Judge of all (I Tim 2:5; Rev 20:11-15). He will tell the truth – fully and honestly. He will condemn the wicked (Matt 7:21-23). He will justify the righteous (Heb 2:10-13). Do you know Him? Or much more importantly, does He know you (Gal 4:9; II Tim 2:19)?

http://www.letgodbetrue.com/proverbs/commentaries/24_28.php

Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Be brave, it will not make you burst! Having heard something, the fool suffers birth pangs like a woman in labor with a child. Like an arrow stuck in a person's thigh, so is gossip inside a fool. Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it; or if he did, so that he may not do it again. Question a neighbor; perhaps he did not say it; or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it. Question a friend, for often it is slander; so do not believe everything you hear. 16 A person may make a slip without intending it. Who has not sinned with his tongue? Question your neighbor before you threaten him; and let the law of the Most High take its course. The whole of wisdom is fear of the Lord, and in all wisdom there is the fulfillment of the law.

The Value of Wisdom

The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit. Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger resides in the bosom of fools. Do not say, "Why is it that the former days were better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.…

Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.

Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.

“There are three things that are too amazing for me,

four that I do not understand:

the way of an eagle in the sky,

the way of a snake on a rock,

the way of a ship on the high seas,

and the way of a man with a young woman.

Faith

All that's ought to be said, has been said and written down (recorded in the Bible). Now it's up to the person in the present life to believe or reject the truth.


For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:20


Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."John 20:29

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. John 19:35

Do not love the world and its lusts thereof, but whoever does the will of God lives forever

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Acts 17: 24-28

God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Psalm 53:2

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
James 4:4

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2

"If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison--your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26
"Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. " Matthew 10:37

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Matthew 16:26

Instead, be concerned about his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you as well.
Luke 12:31

For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Luke 12:30

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Matt 6:8

So don't be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
Luke 12:32

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
Matt 25:34

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
1 Cor 1:21

the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:17

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3:1-4

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
Jude 1:24

Eccs 2

Pleasures Are Meaningless

1I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

4I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem^a as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my labor,

and this was the reward for all my toil.

11Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

nothing was gained under the sun.

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

12Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,

and also madness and folly.

What more can the king’s successor do

than what has already been done?

13I saw that wisdom is better than folly,

just as light is better than darkness.

14The wise have eyes in their heads,

while the fool walks in the darkness;

but I came to realize

that the same fate overtakes them both.

15Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.

What then do I gain by being wise?”

I said to myself,

“This too is meaningless.”

16For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;

the days have already come when both have been forgotten.

Like the fool, the wise too must die!

Toil Is Meaningless

17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

24A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Judgement for every empty word and deed

But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. Mat 12:36

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Eccs 12:14

Eccs 5:18-20

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Proverbs 15:1, 17:14

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

As high as the heavens

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Eph 3:14-19 

For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Psalm 57:10

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Psalm 36:5 

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

Psalm 103:11

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Psalm 108:4

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.

The life of mortals is like grass,

they flourish like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting

the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children’s children—

with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalm 103:13-18

More on God's love

http://www.jollynotes.com/2013/03/26/bible-verses-about-gods-love-what-gods-love-is-100-inspirational-scripture-quotes-about-gods-love/

A Beautiful Exchange - Hillsong

You were near, Though I was distant
Disillusioned I was lost and insecure

Still mercy fought, For my attention
You were waiting at the door, Then I let You in

Trading Your life, For my offenses
For my redemption, You carried all the blame

Breaking the curse, Of our condition
Perfection took our place

When only love
Could make a way
You gave Your life
In a beautiful exchange

My burden erase, my life forgiven
There is nothing, that could take this love away

My only desire, and sole ambition
Is to love You just the same

When only love
Could make a way
You gave Your life
In a beautiful exchange

When only love
Could break these chains
You gave Your life
In a beautiful exchange

Holy are You God
Holy is Your name
With everything I've got
My heart will sing how I love You

For the way to destruction is broad, and the way to salvation is narrow

Sermon on the Mount: 7. Enter Ye in At the Strait Gate

Marcus Dods

Matthew 7:13, 14Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction… That is to say, life is difficult, not easy. To be saved is an exceptional thing. It is an unwelcome, saddening intimation; yet it is uttered by lips that spoke more comfortingly and more hopefully to men than any others dared. It is the Saviour of the world who admits that, in spite of all he does, many are destroyed. Our nature makes a strong resistance to such ideas. There is that in us which always says - Do not put yourself about; you may surely run the chance other men are running. These warning voices are but the moanings of fear or the ravings of fanaticism. It is manifestly absurd to suppose we are placed in a world in which our first duty is to begin to correct everything; that a life is granted to us which is but a veiled death, and of which the first strength must he given to altering the entire course and character it would naturally take. But notwithstanding the antecedent unlikelihood of our being born at such a disadvantage, the conclusion that it is so is forced on every one who has observed what men make of life. The terms on which the lower animals maintain life affords corroborative evidence. It is only with a struggle they keep their place in life at all. And, in fact, the truth is recognized by teachers beyond the Christian pale. "Badness," says Hesiod, "you may have easily, and abundance of it; for the path is plain, and she dwells close at hand. But before excellence God has placed toil and labour; long and steep is the road that leads to her, and very rough it is at first." The broad road and the narrow is an image that suggests itself to the serious observer of life - the broad, easy meadow-path in danger at last of being swallowed up by the stream which runs by it; and the narrow, upward path difficult and sometimes dangerous, but leading to prospects unconceived before. What do they say who have entered the narrow way and pursued it? Ask Paul; ask the most eminent of saints if they found the following of Christ easy? Best of all, ask the Leader himself whether the path was not easier than his words imply. What, then, mean those nights spent in prayer, the wrestling with temptation in the wilderness, and the strong crying and tears that escaped him? If his strength was taxed to the uttermost, will life be easy, safe, and victorious for us? We may say - Christians take life much as other people, and anything like cross-bearing and resolved self-mastery are quite exceptional. But our own experience can scarcely fail to have shown us this difficult, arduous life in actual example. Have we not seen righteousness preferred to advancement in life, the narrow way to the broad, inflexible self-discipline maintained that the power of sin might be broken? It was not that the persons who did so had more or deeper corruptions than others, but simply that they were in earnest, and recognized what the case required. It is vain to tell them to relax their vigilance; they know that there is no easier way. What constitutes the straitness of the gate, the narrowness of the way? Radically, just what the figure implies - that sin is easy and natural, holiness difficult because contrary to our propensity. Or, as our Lord says elsewhere, "He that will be my disciple must deny himself - must be prepared to accept another guide and law than his natural inclination." It is long before we get the idea thoroughly wrought into our lives that lawless life is simply destruction. Self-denial, therefore, is an absolute requisite of entrance into the kingdom.  I. IT IS FOR WANT OF SELF-DENIAL THAT SOME FAIL EVEN TO MAKE GOOD THEIR ENTRANCE TO THE KINGDOM. They acknowledge that outside there is no life; they see that there is something out of joint between God and their soul, and that it is largely due to their own shortcomings; and they think much and perhaps do what they can to bring about a change. But they lack the one essential thing - a true and clear submission of themselves to Christ; a deliberate and pronounced renunciation of self, in every form, self-government especially.  II. SUPPOSING THE GATE TO HAVE BEEN PASSED, NO PROGRESS IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT SELF-DENIAL. There is an old and true comparison, likening the soul to a chariot and the passions to horses. Only lay the reins on the necks of the horses, and the chariot is destroyed: only neglect self-denial, and the evil is done. For between indulgence and self-denial there is no middle place. And so it is that a man may seem not to be doing anything very sinful; he may even be denying himself much, and yet day by day tenderness of feeling departs, and a wall of separation seems to grow up between his soul and Christ. He has gone so far, but he has not been willing to go all lengths with Christ; and manifestly anything short of the self-denial which enables him to keep pace with Christ and hold fellowship with him is unavailing. This it is which constitutes the straitness of the gate, the narrowness of the way. And we may determine whether we are on the way or not by the self-denial and sacrifice it costs us to go forward. We can all recall the struggles we made, the hardships we endured, in gaming some position we sought. If we have no similar remembrances connected with our following of Christ, it is to be feared we have evaded the difficulties or diverged wholly from the path. If you have had no difficulties, no crosses, no struggles, where has been your self-denial? How have you found the way narrow? When we see clearly the unworldly, self-denying life to which Christ leads, we are tempted to think that in order to follow him we must change the whole frame and conditions of our life; we long to convince ourselves by some great sacrifice that we are truly his followers. And no doubt some are called to this; but for most of us there is enough in the small occasions of daily life to try our fidelity and test our self-denial. We shall find room enough for the exercise of these in  striving to maintain habits of devotion, and to form our life throughout after the example of Christ.  III. FINALLY, OUR LORD WARNS US OF THE DIFFICULTY OF THE WAY, - not to discourage, but to stimulate; that we may not be dismayed when we find it hard to follow. We are in the same cause as he, and have all the help and encouragement and hope that are available in him. He means also that a thankful, watchful spirit should possess those who have found the way and are in it. If you are in the way, you have passed the grand difficulty in human life - a difficulty which few pass. You may have much to contend with in life, but if this grace has come to you that you are brought into the way your Saviour trod, and that leads ever closer to him, no evil can permanently assail or oppress you.