Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
MORNING
“He shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory.”
Zechariah 6:13Christ himself is the builder of his spiritual temple, and he has built it on the mountains of his unchangeable affection, his omnipotent grace, and his infallible truthfulness. But as it was in Solomon’s temple, so in this; the materials need making ready. There are the “Cedars of Lebanon,” but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down, and shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord’s house in Paradise. There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must be hewn thence, and squared. All this is Christ’s own work. Each individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ’s own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, excepting as they are used by him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright.
As in the building of Solomon’s temple, “there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house,” because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy–so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here–all that Christ will do beforehand; and when he has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.
“Beneath his eye and care,
The edifice shall rise,
Majestic, strong, and fair,
And shine above the skies.”
EVENING
“That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
Hebrews 12:27We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things. Yet, we have certain “things which cannot be shaken,” and I invite you this evening to think of them, that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain. Whatever your losses have been, or may be, you enjoy present salvation. You are standing at the foot of his cross, trusting alone in the merit of Jesus’ precious blood, and no rise or fall of the markets can interfere with your salvation in him; no breaking of banks, no failures and bankruptcies can touch that. Then you are a child of God this evening. God is your Father. No change of circumstances can ever rob you of that. Although by losses brought to poverty, and stripped bare, you can say, “He is my Father still. In my Father’s house are many mansions; therefore will I not be troubled.” You have another permanent blessing, namely, the love of Jesus Christ. He who is God and Man loves you with all the strength of his affectionate nature–nothing can affect that. The fig tree may not blossom, and the flocks may cease from the field, it matters not to the man who can sing, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” Our best portion and richest heritage we cannot lose. Whatever troubles come, let us play the man; let us show that we are not such little children as to be cast down by what may happen in this poor fleeting state of time. Our country is Immanuel’s land, our hope is above the sky, and therefore, calm as the summer’s ocean; we will see the wreck of everything earthborn, and yet rejoice in the God of our salvation.
Updated June 20, 2012, 2:28 pm
On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers disappeared in Philadelphia, Miss. Their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. Eight members of the Ku Klux Klan went to prison on federal conspiracy charges; none served more than six years.
Go to article »On June 21, 1905, Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existientialist philosopher and writer, was born. Following his death on April 15, 1980, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1834 Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine. 1905 Philosopher, author and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris. 1963 Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Paul VI. 1964 Three civil rights workers disappeared in Philadelphia, Miss. Their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. 1964 Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game in a 6-0 victory over the New York Mets. 1973 The Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards. 1977 Menachem Begin became Israel’s sixth prime minister. 1982 John Hinckley Jr. was found innocent by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three others. 1985 Scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. 1989 The Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment. 1997 The Women’s National Basketball Association made its debut. 2005 Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss., 41 years to the day earlier. 2010 Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to charges of plotting a failed car bombing in New York’s Times Square. (He was later sentenced to life in prison.) Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, turns 30 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Jackson
Actress Juliette Lewis turns 39 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
1933 Bernie Kopell, Actor (“The Love Boat”), turns 79 1940 Mariette Hartley, Actress, turns 72 1941 Joe Flaherty, Comedian (“SCTV”), turns 71 1944 Ray Davies, Rock singer, musician (The Kinks), turns 68 1947 Meredith Baxter, Actress (“Family Ties”), turns 65 1947 Michael Gross, Actor (“Family Ties”), turns 65 1950 Joey Kramer, Rock musician (Aerosmith), turns 62 1951 Nils Lofgren, Rock musician (The E Street Band), turns 61 1957 Berke Breathed, Cartoonist (“Bloom County”), turns 55 1959 Kathy Mattea, Country singer, turns 53 1964 Doug Savant, Actor (“Desperate Housewives”), turns 48 1965 Larry Wachowski, Writer, director (“Matrix” movies), turns 47 1972 Allison Moorer, Country singer, turns 40 1985 Kris Allen, Singer (“American Idol”), turns 27 1997 Rebecca Black, Singer, turns 15
Historic Birthdays
Jean-Paul Sartre 6/21/1905 – 4/15/1980 French novelist and playwright.Go to obituary »
84 Increase Mather 6/21/1639 – 8/23/1723
American minister, author and educator62 Moses Hess 6/21/1812 – 4/6/1875
German journalist; espoused socialism and Zionism72 Sir Richard Wallace 6/21/1818 – 7/20/1890
English art collector and philanthropist55 Joseph Hayne Rainey 6/21/1832 – 8/2/1887
American politician; first African-American in the U.S. House of Representatives (1870-9)62 Jose Graca Aranha 6/21/1868 – 1/26/1931
Brazilian novelist and diplomat88 Rockwell Kent 6/21/1882 – 3/13/1971
American painter and illustrator87 Pier Luigi Nervi 6/21/1891 – 1/9/1979
Italian engineer and architect78 Reinhold Niebuhr 6/21/1892 – 6/1/1971
American pastor and theologian77 Mary McCarthy 6/21/1912 – 10/25/1989
American novelist and critic43 Judy Holliday 6/21/1921 – 6/7/1965
American stage and screen comedian
As found in my backyard on the eve of the Summer Solstice of the year 2012.
