OUR DAILY BREAD : THE OTHERS

[cimi]

September 20
Sunday


THE OTHERS

READ:
Hebrews 11:32-40
_______________________________________________

Blessed are you
when they revile and
persecute you, and
say all kinds of evil
against you falsely for
My sake....Great is
your reward in haven.
__Matthew 5:11-12
______________________________________________

When I was growing up, I often spent a week each summer with my grandparents. Many afternoons I would lie in the backyard hammock and read books I found in Grandpa's bookcase. One was Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It was heavy reading for a young girl, but I was absorbed by the detailed accounts of Christian martyrs, believers who were told to deny their faith in Christ but refused--thus suffering horrific deaths.

Hebrews 11 tells similar stories. After listing the familiar names of those who demonstrated immense faith in God, the chapter tells of the torture and death of people referred to simply as "others" (vv.35-36). While their names are not mentioned, verse 38 pays them this tribute: "The world was not worthy" of them. they died boldly for their faith in Jesus.

Today, we hear of persecuted Christians around the world, yet many of us have not been tested to that extent. When I examine my own faith, I wonder how I would respond to the prospect of martyrdom. I hope I would have the attitude of Paul, who said that although "chains and tribulations" awaited him (Acts 20:23), he looked forward to finishing life's race "with joy" (v.24). Are we facing life with that kind of trusting attitude? __Cindy Hess Kasper
_____________________________________________________________

`````````````````When pressures mount because we walk``````````
```````````````````````The path of truth and right,```````````````
`````````````````````We can rejoice to know that we``````````````
`````````````````Are pleasing in God's sight. __D. DE Haan`````````
_____________________________________________________________

The way to have joy in persecution
is to find your joy in Jesus.

*************Today's Bible Reading __ Hebrews 11:32-40**********

32 And what more shall I
say? For the time would fail
me to tell of Gideon and
Barak and Samson and
Jephthah, also of David and
Samuel and the prophets:

33 who through faith
subdued kingdoms, worked
righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the
mouths of lions,

34 quenched the violence of
fire, escaped the edge of the
sword, out of weakness
were made strong, became
valiant in battle turned to
fight the armies of the
aliens. 35 Women received
their dead raised to life
again.

Others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance, that
they might obtain a better
resurrection. 36 Still others
had trial of mockings and
scourgings, yes, and of
chains and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned, they
were sawn in two, were
tempted, were slain with the
sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and
goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented__ 38 of
whom the world was not
worthy. They wandered in
deserts and mountains, in
dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, having
obtained a good testimony
through faith, did not
receive the promise, 40 God
having provided something
better for us, that they
should not be made perfect
apart from us.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Sometimes we may think our pain is pointless. But this is not true.
Hebrews 11:40 tells us, "God having provided something better
for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." When
believers suffer, often there are others who can benefit from
observing our perseverance. __DENNIS FISHER