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CONTENTSHugs
'N Tugs The Best
of Lifeline If There Had Been No Christmas
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CONTENTSHugs
'N Tugs The Best
of Lifeline If There Had Been No Christmas
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By Wendy
Greiner Lefko
This
has been a year of change in the Lefko household, from the birth of our
son Daniel to sending our first born, Bobby, off to college. We went from
changing diapers to filling out college forms!
There were more than a few tears shed after dropping Bobby off that
day in late August. Emotions
have ranged from sadness at seeing our oldest leave the nest to humble
gratitude and extreme pride in our son’s decision to attend Bible
college and venture out on his own, taking responsibility for his future
while seeking the Lord’s will for his life. As hard as it was to say
good-bye, leaving Bobby in a cramped dorm room surrounded by strangers,
knowing he’d be completely on his own without his parents checking in on
him, yet nothing ever felt so right. Through
my tears I kept reminding myself, “This is good.
This is right. This is
what we’ve been raising him for. This
is what parents are for— to train their children to leave the nest and
fly on their own.” It is
part of God’s wonderful plan. So
though I missed him terribly, I knew this was the story of life—the way
it was supposed to be. Not
easy but wonderful!
I have been touched in a new way
by the thought of what God the Father must have gone through in sending
His Son to earth. He wasn’t
sending His Son to a comfy Christian college with all the amenities and
comforts of home, surrounded by fellow followers of God.
God the Father willingly sent His perfect Son to a wicked world
where He would be surrounded by enemies, rejected, ridiculed and scorned
and eventually crucified in a ruthless fashion with no mercy.
He did all this for a sinful world, because of His unmerited love
for us all. It is difficult to
fathom such love! As hard as it was to let our son go into circumstances
that were nothing short of advantageous, how did God the Father feel when
He sent His Son knowing the tormented future laid out for Him?
How can we ever return such supernatural love?
A larger question is how can we ever reject
it? This
Christmas season may we be reminded of why He came, why the Father went
through the agony of sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on May your Christmas be filled with great joy and humble gratitude for this most precious Gift. “For God so loved the world….” (John 3:16). |
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By Rev. Larry W. GreinerOne
severe winter, in the days of old The
cart rolled away, taking with it the gift that had been intended for the
man in need of heat. The
next day the cart pulled up to a home in another part of town, with the
same results. The person
refused the coals, believing they were for someone else or that it might
be a trick. One
more house remained on the list. An elderly woman answered the knock and
heard the same story. “For
me?” she asked. “Oh, it can’t be true!
They must be for someone else.”
“No Mum, here’s your number, plain enough— No. 8, a quarter
ton of coals.” “So it is!
Well then I suppose God has sent them to me, for no one else knows that
the last bit of coal is on the fire now.
Bring them in. It must be God who has sent them and I must thank
Him.” “Perhaps you’d better,” the coalman answered, but to himself
he added, “She’s the only sensible one of the lot." The rest are
fools. Today,
there are similar fools who reject God’s free gift of salvation.
They act like the poor cottagers and say, “It’s not for me,
it’s for someone else.” They
don’t believe that God, whom they do not know, would love them enough to
send them a free gift through His Son, Jesus Christ.
If
you have never received God’s gift, do so now, even though you don’t
understand how it could be. Just
as the old woman, who had come to the end of her coals, received the new
coals with thanksgiving, would you accept God’s gift of life eternal as
you turn from your sin and receive His forgiveness. The coals were paid
for by the donor; so our salvation has been bought with a price, even with
the precious blood of the Son of God on the cross.
Your name is on the gift. Would you humbly receive it this
Christmas? |
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One evening on a hike along a country road, someone noticed a tiny speck of light in an adjoining meadow. It was smaller than the reflection of the tiniest star on a surface of water. The light disappeared in a moment, but others appeared intermittently. An amateur naturalist explained that the light came from the glowworm. He picked up one for inspection. It was a tiny insect, emitting a light so feeble that it would be noticed only on a dark night. In the great meadow of life there are people of whose presence we are not conscious until in some hour of darkness we see from those insignificant lives an unexpected glow of courage, faith, neighborliness, friendliness, devotion, or love. A lowly private in a losing battle performs an heroic act which turns the tide; a young man makes a home for his orphaned brothers and sisters. A tiny glow from one life in darkness is worth a thousand of those who can sparkle only in the sunshine of prosperity and well-being. —Selected |
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While
Thanksgiving has its foundation on Plymouth Rock, Christmas rests upon the
Rock of Ages. —Charles
D. Warner
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I do not fear death. Often I wake in the night and think of it. I look forward to it with a thrill of joyful expectation and anticipation, which would become impatience were it not that Jesus is my Master, as well as my Savior. I feel I have work to do for Him that I would not shirk, and also that His time to call me home will be the best and right time, and therefore I am content to wait. I could not do without Jesus. I cannot and I do not live without Him. It is a new and different life, and this life which takes away all fear of death is what I want others to have and enjoy. —Frances
Ridley Havergal |
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Jonathan
Goforth was to speak at a prayer meeting where attendance was pitiful.
The pastor apologized and asked, “Dr. Goforth, why do people not
come to pray?” The old
veteran replied, “Because they don’t believe God.
If they really believed the Lord meets with us when we gather in
His name, and if they loved Him, nothing could keep them away.”
—Selected
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“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). G
stand for Gift, the principle
of grace. —Vance Havner |
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At His coming Christ brought . . . Light in the Midst of Darkness. “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). Joy
in the Midst of Sorrow. “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people” (Luke Peace
in the Midst of Enmity. “On earth peace,
good will toward men” (Luke Life
in the Midst of Death. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John Salvation
in the Midst of Sin. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save
His people from their sins” (Matthew May
you be illuminated by His guiding light, know His abounding joy,
experience His perfect peace, live by His abundant life, and see His
indescribable glory because you have received His finished salvation.
—J. Dwight Pentecost |
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