The appearance that things have to us depends, to a great extent, upon the way that we look at them.. Often two or more persons look at the same thing, and each one sees something quite different from what the others see. Persons who see the same thing will often have very different stories to tell about it afterwards and will be very differently affected by what they see. This is not because their eyes differ so much, but because their mental attitude affects the interpretation of what they see.
A notable example of this is seen in the twelve spies sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan. The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. Their enemies had been destroyed behind them. They had come, at God’s command, almost to the borders of the Promised Land. Here the people camped while the spies went to see the country. They passed through it and viewed the land and the people and presently came back with their report. It was a wonderful land, they agreed, a land flowing with milk and honey. The samples of the fruit they brought back were large and fine specimens. Of course the people were at once very eager to possess such a land, but the question came up, Are we able to do so? What kind of people are they over there? Are they good fighters? Are they courageous? Do they have strongly fortified cities?
As soon as this question was broached, there was a difference of opinion. Caleb said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” Numbers 13:30. The others, however, did not agree with him, except Joshua. They said, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.… And all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” (Verses 31-33.)
Now what made the difference in their views? They all saw the same things; they all saw the same people, but when it came to telling of them, they told very different stories. The difference must have lain in the men themselves.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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The cure for self-love and the sensitiveness that comes from it is to turn your eyes away from self to Jesus Christ and look upon Him until you see how little and insignificant you and your interests really are. Look upon Him until you see how high above all such narrow pettishness He was, until you see that His great heart was so overrunning with love for others that He had no time to think of Himself. Then ask Him to revolutionize you and fill your heart with that same love, till your eyes and your thoughts and your interests are no longer centered upon yourself and self no longer fills your horizon, but your heart goes out to others, till it quite draws you away from yourself. You will find this the cure for your sensitiveness, and when you are thus cured, you will no longer be an eggshell Christian, and people will no longer have to be afraid of wounding or offending you.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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If we are looking for slights, we shall see plenty of them—even where none exist. If we are expecting wounds, we shall receive them even when no one intends to wound us. Self-love has a great imagination. It can see a great many evils where none exist. It is like a petulant and spoiled child. I remember one child, of whom it was said, “If you just crook your finger at him, he will cry.” Thinking that this was an exaggeration, I tried it, and the boy cried. There are some people six feet tall who are hurt just that easily. They are truly “lovers of their own selves.” Paul said, “When I became a man, I put away childish things.” It is high time others were doing the same thing. Suppose Christ had been as sensitive as you are, would He have saved the world? If Paul had been like you, would he have endured the persecution and dangers and tribulations and misrepresentations that he bore to carry the gospel to the world? He was not so sensitive. He was not looking for slights. He was a real, full-sized man for God. The secret is that he loved Christ and others more than he loved himself; therefore he could endure all things for his brethren’s sake that they might be saved.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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You have sometimes heard it said of people that “they have to be handled like eggs.” Eggs must be handled carefully, or you are likely to break them. Some people are super-sensitive; you have to be very careful what you do or say, or they will be hurt or offended; you can never be sure how they are going to take anything. Such people are much of the time suffering from wounded feelings, are displeased and offended.
Sometimes people can bear to hear others ridiculed or talked about in a gossiping way, or see them slighted, and think nothing of it or even be amused. But when they themselves become the target for such things it almost kills them, or at least they feel almost killed. What makes this great difference in their feelings? Why do they feel for themselves so much more than they do for others? Trace the feeling back to its origin, and you will find that their self-love is the thing that has been hurt. If they loved others as they love themselves, they would feel just as much hurt by that which was directed against the other as away these excuses and dig down to the root of the trouble, we shall find that God has it labeled “selflove.”
If we are looking for and expecting slights, ridicule and like things, it means we take it for granted that others are holding a wrong attitude toward us. This is a sure way to destroy fellowship and to take the sweetness out of the association with God’s people. It is unjust to our brethren. It is the foe of unity and spirituality. Were it not for self-love, we would not think of attributing to others an attitude different from that which we feel we ourselves hold toward them.
Heart Talks by C.W. Naylor
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Do not run or shrink. If you seem to have no adequate weapon to use against them, trust in God and meet them boldly anyway. That is the way Samson did, and do you remember what happened? Why, after awhile he got honey out of the carcass. Do you want honey out of your trials? You would rather have that then bitterness. Well, you may have the honey if you will face the trial and overcome it. Conquer in the name of Christ. Do not whimper or whine; do not lament or murmur; do not fear or tremble. Face your trials boldly, and the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you as it did upon Samson, and you will conquer. And then, ah, it is then that the sweetness will come; after you have mastered the trial, in the days that follow, sweetness will come, and you will bless God that He ever permitted you to be so severely tried.
Conflict must always precede victory. The lion must be killed before the bees can build the honeycomb in the carcass. So face your trials boldly and kill them. Then you may taste the sweets of victory. This is the only way, and you are not too weak to take this way. God has promised that He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear. If you will believe it and do your part God will do His, and you will triumph.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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In the thirteenth chapter of I Kings we find another lion story. Here a prophet, sent of God, went to Samaria and prophesied as God had commanded him, and according to the commandment he started back on his way to Judea. God had told him not to eat or drink there but to go back immediately by a different way from that by which he came. He started to obey but sat down to rest by the wayside. While he was here another prophet came and persuaded him to go back and dine with him. Then, as he went upon his way, a lion met him and slew him.
If the prophet in Samaria had gone in the way that God commanded him, he would not have met the lion that slew him. It was his disobedience that caused the trouble. Sometimes when we are in trials, we realize that it is our own fault that we are tried. Sometimes we may be disobedient; sometimes we may be careless; sometimes it may be this or that, but whatever it is we realize that it is our own fault. That makes the trial harder to bear. But however trials come, whatever is their cause, we must meet them. We have no choice in the matter. The important thing is to meet them right. Daniel knew that he had done right and pleased God and, furthermore, he met his trial with a calm peace and full assurance that God would take care of him, And God did take care of him, and he came through the trial. He was peaceful through the trial and triumphant after it because God was his helper.
Someone has said that our trials make or mar us. This is true. Either we come out of them stronger than we went in, or we come out of them weaker. We have either joy or sorrow from them. We should meet our trials as Samson met the lion. Face them boldly.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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We all remember the story of Daniel—how he was cast into the den of lions and how during the long watches of the night he sat there in their den unharmed. What was expected to be the tragedy of his life proved to be his most glorious victory. The expected triumph of his enemies was turned into their utter defeat, and Daniel, stronger and more courageous than ever, came forth to continue his service to God.
Daniel was not thrown into the lions’ den because he had not lived right or because he had been unfaithful in something. No, it was his faithfulness that resulted in his meeting the lions. It will be that way in our lives. If we are true and loyal to God, that very loyalty is sure to bring us trials sometimes. Daniel had his choice in the matter. He could have been disloyal and escaped the lions, but he chose rather to be loyal and take the full consequences, whatever they might be. God wants you and me to dare to be Daniels too. He does not want us to swerve an inch from the truth in order to evade any sort of trial. If we are true and, as a result of that trueness, a great trial like being thrown into a den of lions comes upon us and every earthly hope seems shut off and there is no help from anywhere, what shall we do? Despair? Ah no. God will send His angel and shut the lion’s mouth for us just as He did for Daniel. Dare to be true. God will stand by you even in the most trying and desperate hour.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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The Bible recounts some interesting stories of lions. They are interesting not simply because they are stories of animals but because there are things in connection with them from which we may draw some very striking lessons. The lions of these stories may be likened to our trials. We meet trials every now and then in life and some of them seem very much like lions. They seem very threatening and very dangerous. Sometimes we try to run away from a trial but, as surely as we do, we meet another in the pathway in which we go.
Samson had an experience with a lion. As he was going along the road one day he met a lion, and it attacked him. He had no weapons, yet he met it courageously. We are told that “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid.” Sometime later he was passing that way and found that a swarm of bees had entered the dried carcass of the lion and made their abode there, and he took of the honey and went on his way.
It was not a test of his standing true that brought Samson face to face with the lion. He met the beast just by accident. He got into the trouble unwittingly. He had no expectation of it whatever, but the first thing he knew he was face to face with it. That is just the way it happens with us sometimes: we get into a trial without any seeming reason for it; we are not expecting anything of any kind. We are certain to have trials. The important thing is that we meet them properly. Some people imagine that if they live as they should, they ought not to have trials. BUT TRIALS OFTEN COME WHEN IT IS NO FAULT OF OURS.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
#devotionals #devotional #daily devotional #dailydevotions #scriptureoftheday #christiandevotional #morningdevotional #inspiration #bible #freebooks #christian #motivationalquote #inspirationalquote #churchofgod
