For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9.
As we enter the kingdom of God, there to spend eternity, the trials and the difficulties and the perplexities that we have had here will sink into insignificance. Our life will measure with the life of God.
There, immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body.
All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God’s redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flight to worlds afar…. With unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon ages in contemplation of God’s handiwork…. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise….
One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.
The Faith I Live By p. 371
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Esther as she gives the sermon tomorrow. Rose
—-My dear elderly mother has taken a fall and hurt her left hip. She cannot bear weight on it so they are taking her to an Urgent Care for an X-ray to see if her hip is broken. Please pray for her because I don’t think she is in good enough condition to have anesthetic. And she still has her ear problem with an abscess. Please pray that it is not broken. And I seem to be going into a deep depression so please pray for me too. Connie
—-update on Jake age 2—Surgery went well… please keep the prayers going on Jake’s behalf. Prayers that the skin grafts will take and he will heal better than expected. Sabrina
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Dear Friends,
As a child, my school days were quite unhappy. I have had a life-long weight problem and my kindergarten teacher did all that she could to ridicule me in front of the other children. She would have me walk beside the tiniest girl in the class and make unkind comments about my size. Perhaps she thought that would make me want to lose weight, but all it did was teach the other children that it was alright to tease and torment people who are fat. My classmates learned their lesson well—as long as I went to that school they teased and tormented me.
There was only one person who did not tease me. A boy named Wade Timothy Huffstutter was always nice to me, and I appreciated his kindness more than he realized. He would play with me when the other children shunned me. He knew how it felt to be teased. Our classmates would sing a tormenting song to him. “Wade, wade, wade in the mud.” Oh, how he hated that. I would get upset and try to get them to stop. Now they were making two people miserable. What joy they felt! That kindergarten teacher’s lesson had become a way of life for them. They acted out her example many times over.
How important children are to our Heavenly Father. How He yearns for them to be close to Him. When Jesus was teaching one day, a group of mothers brought their babies and children to our Loving Redeemer “that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.” Mark 10:13-16 How it must have thrilled each mother’s heart as she saw her child especially blessed by the Creator of the Universe!
How careful we should be to teach children only good and never evil. Our actions, our words, the unconscious lessons we teach by our example become affect those little ones’ lives for right or for wrong. They are influenced by what they see and hear and model it. Indeed, our influence is strengthened from generation to generation. Jesus warns, “whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matt 18:6 What greater offence can there be than to teach evil habits by precept or example? How earnest we should be to lead them to the Saviour Who loves them so.
Solomon advises, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov 22:6 Our Great Creator commands us how we should train our children, “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deut 4:9;6:6, 7
Paul’s admonition should also be our guide not only in our own life but in training the little ones under our influence. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil 4:8
May we be careful in our dealings with the children we meet. May we carefully lead them to the Master’s feet. May we reflect the kindness and love of our wonderful Savior to these little ones, that they may, in turn, reflect the Light of the World to all around.
Rose