Spirituality

By the Ties of Human Sympathy

Posted by The Bible In Your Hand on June 29, 2019
Posted in: Christian, Christianity, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , .

jesus-and-woman-at-the-wellBy the Ties of Human Sympathy


There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. John 4:7.

He [Christ] passed by no human being as worthless, but sought to apply the healing remedy to every soul. In whatever company He found Himself He presented a lesson appropriate to the time and the circumstances. Every neglect or insult shown by men to their fellowmen only made Him more conscious of their need of His divine-human sympathy. He sought to inspire with hope the roughest and most unpromising, setting before them the assurance that they might become blameless and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them manifest as the children of God.

Though He was a Jew, Jesus mingled freely with the Samaritans, setting aside the Pharisaic customs of His nation. In face of their prejudices He accepted the hospitality of this despised people. He slept with them under their roofs, ate with them at their tables—partaking of the food prepared and served by their hands—taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. And while He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected.

Christ neglected no opportunity of proclaiming the gospel of salvation. Listen to His wonderful words to that one woman of Samaria. He was sitting by Jacob’s well, as the woman came to draw water. To her surprise He asked a favor of her. “Give me to drink,” He said. He wanted a cool draft, and He wished also to open the way whereby He might give to her the water of life. “How is it,” said the woman, “that thou, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Jesus answered, “If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4:7-10).

How much interest Christ manifested in this one woman! How earnest and eloquent were His words! When the woman heard them, she left her waterpot, and went into the city, saying to her friends, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” We read that “many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him” (verses 29, 39). And who can estimate the influence which these words have exerted for the saving of souls in the years that have passed since then?

Wherever hearts are open to receive the truth, Christ is ready to instruct them. He reveals to them the Father, and the service acceptable to Him who reads the heart. For such He uses no parables. To them, as to the woman at the well, He says, “I that speak unto thee am he.”

Teaching Children

Posted by The Bible In Your Hand on June 28, 2019
Posted in: Christianity, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , .

tenderness_by_mechtaniya-d3isogaTeaching Children


Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Mark 10:14.

Jesus knows the burdens of every mother’s heart. He who had a mother that struggled with poverty and privation sympathizes with every mother in her labors. He who made a long journey in order to relieve the anxious heart of a Canaanite woman will do as much for the mothers of today. He who gave back to the widow of Nain her only son, and in His agony upon the cross remembered His own mother, is touched today by the mother’s sorrow. In every grief and every need, He will comfort and help.

In the children who were brought in contact with Him, Jesus saw the men and women who should be heirs of His grace and subjects of His kingdom, and some of whom would become martyrs for His sake. He knew that these children would listen to Him and accept Him as their Redeemer far more readily than would grown-up people, many of whom were the worldly-wise and hard-hearted. In teaching, He came down to their level. He, the Majesty of heaven, answered their questions and simplified His important lessons to meet their childish understanding. He planted in their minds the seeds of truth, which in after years would spring up and bear fruit unto eternal life.

When Jesus told the disciples not to forbid the children to come to Him, He was speaking to His followers in all ages—to officers of the church, ministers, helpers, and all Christians. Jesus is drawing the children, and He bids us, “Suffer them to come”; as if He would say, They will come, if you do not hinder them.

As the Holy Spirit moves upon the hearts of the children, cooperate with His work. Teach them that the Saviour is calling them, that nothing can afford Him greater joy than for them to give themselves to Him in the bloom and freshness of their years.

The Saviour regards with infinite tenderness the souls whom He has purchased with His blood. They are the claim of His love. He looks upon them with unutterable longing. His heart is drawn out, not only to the best-trained and most attractive children, but to those who by inheritance and through neglect have objectionable traits of character. Many parents do not understand how much they are responsible for these traits in their children. Jesus looks upon these children with pity. He traces from cause to effect.

The Christian worker may be Christ’s agent in drawing these faulty and erring ones to the Saviour. By wisdom and tact he may bind them to his heart, he may give courage and hope, and through the grace of Christ may see them transformed in character, so that of them it may be said, “Of such is the kingdom of God”

The Humble Searcher May Learn

Posted by The Bible In Your Hand on June 27, 2019
Posted in: Christian, Christianity, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , .

getty_461555409_970668970450045_46977The Humble Searcher May Learn


Show me thy way, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Psalm 25:4.

Revelation is not the creation or invention of something new, but the manifestation of that which, until revealed, was unknown to human beings. The great and eternal truths contained in the gospel are revealed through diligent searching and humbling of ourselves before God. We have a divine Teacher who leads the mind of the humble searcher for truth; and by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the truths of the Word are revealed to him. And there can be no more certain and efficient knowledge of the truth than to be thus guided into all truth. Through the impartation of the Holy Spirit, we are to understand God’s Word. We are admonished to seek the truth as if searching for hidden treasure.

The Lord opens the understanding of the true seeker. The Holy Spirit enables the human mind to grasp the facts of revelation, and divine light communicates with the soul. This is the opening of the eyes to behold the genuine treasure, and the mind lays hold upon the glories of a better world. The soul pants after the excellence of Christ Jesus.

Jesus was the greatest teacher the world ever knew. He presented truth in clear, forcible statements, and the illustrations He used were of the purest and highest order. He never mingled cheap symbols and figures with His divine instruction, or sought to pander to curiosity or to gratify the class that will listen simply to be amused. He did not bring sacred truth down to the level of the common…. His words were of the purest and most elevated…. He did not humble the truth to meet man in his fallen condition, and lower the standard of righteousness to suit his degradation; but He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, in order that He might save the race that had been degraded by transgression. It was not His purpose to abolish by His death the law of God, but rather to show the immutability of its sacred claims. It was His purpose to “magnify the law, and make it honorable,” so that every one who should look upon the cross of Calvary with its uplifted Victim should see the unanswerable argument of the perfect truth of the law.

He rescued truth, eternal truth, from the base companionship of error, and commanded it to shine forth in all its brightness and heavenly luster. He set the truth on high, in order that like a light it might illuminate the moral darkness of the world…. Jesus restored truth that had been cast out, to its royal order, and invested it with its true importance and dignity. Christ Himself was the truth and the life.