DISCIPLE

 by William MacDonald,  from his book ONE DAY AT A TIME,  the daily reading for October 1st “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” ( James 4:14 ) The insistent voice of the Holy Spirit reminds mortal man frequently in the Scriptures of the brevity of his life. By the repeated use of similes, the Spirit of the Lord impresses on us that our days are limited and passing swiftly. For instance, He likens life to a weaver’s shuttle ( Job 7:6 ), the device that darts back and forth in the loom almost faster than the eye can follow. Job speaks of life as wind ( Job 7:7 ), here one minute and gone the next, never to return. The psalmist echoes the sentiment, speaking of “a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again” ( Psa. 78:39 ). Bildad unnecessarily reminds Job that “our days on earth are a shadow” ( Job 8:9 ), a picture that is repeated in Psalm 102:11 , “My days are like a shadow that declineth.” ...

Thousands Forget There Were Two     “Oh, of course, I intend to be saved sometime, but there is no use being in a hurry about it. There is always a chance, even at the eleventh hour. Remember the dying thief,” a young man said carelessly when spoken to about his soul at the close of a gospel meeting.     “Which thief?” he was asked.     “Why, I had really forgotten there were two. I mean the saved one,” was the reply, as an anxious expression came over his face.        “Yes, one was saved, and is in heaven now. The other, who had an equal opportunity for salvation, is wailing in hell. What guarantee do you have that you will not spend eternity as he will, rather than as the other?”     It was a word fitly spoken, an arrow that pierced his conscience. The young man was led to see the folly of further procrastination, and that night he was saved for eternity, through repenting of his sins and tr...