“Worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” –Psalm 29:2b (NKJV).
“I
am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”-John 14:1 (NKJV). “You
shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” –John
8:32 (NKJV). “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy;
love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave
rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does
not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love
never fails.” a-1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NKJV).
“For
every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.
For
every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it.
For
every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”
These
are words from the pen of Ivan Panin who lived from 1855-1942. Dr.
Panin was a Bible scholar born in Russia who did much study in the
Hebrew and Greek languages and applied what he learned to an
intensive study and interpretation of the Scriptures.
“Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder,” wrote
Margaret Hungerford (1855?-1897). How we view people, places,
objects and events makes the difference in whether we consider them
ugly or comely, of little value or priceless. How does your eye
view an object, person or situation to determine beauty? According
to Ms. Hungerford, the beholder either sees beauty or does not. If
we train ourselves to look for beauty, it is likely that we will be
searching for it wherever we are. And this being the Lord’s Day,
Sunday, we have the opportunity for beauty when we gather together in
bonds of Christian love to “worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
“Truth
will out,” wrote
John Lydgate
(1370?-1450?). Sometimes
we cannot hear truth because we are deafened by deep-set prejudices,
preconceived notions and irrelevant ideas. Is your ear attuned to
Truth? Jesus invited us to seek and follow Him and He will lead us
to Truth which is freeing and satisfying. Today many voices vie for
hearings and we need to weigh and seek to sift the false from the
true. Back to another truthful saying by Dr. Ivan Panin who believed
that “For
every truth there is an ear to hear it,” also
held that we can learn truth. “Experience,
if we only learn by it, is cheap at any price,” he
wrote. Such experience we can apply to learning truth.
“Love
either finds equality or makes it,” wrote
John Dryden (1631-1700). Love is more than a fleeting feeling and a
romantic attachment. Love is a deep commitment. Have we a heart to
receive—and give—love in the places where it is needed most?
Paul wrote that he would show the Christians at Corinth “a
more excellent way.” Then
followed the great treatise on love found in 1 Corinthians 13. The
qualities of love are identified. We can use the characteristics in
the chapter as a check-list to see if our manner of giving and
receiving love is according to
God’s
will and way.
-Ethelene
Dyer Jones November 8, 2015
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