Our faith is our statement about God's Character. Either it is wise and desirable to rely totally on God's Word or else it is not. I think many Christians rely somewhat on God and somewhat on their own understanding of things. Am I correct in this?

How wonderful to cast ourselves with abandonment on God, trusting Him to take care of us. Can He be counted on or not? I am betting my life that He can. How do you feel about this?

This is eternal life, that they might know You and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

* Compassion, kindliness, friendliness, and mercy toward people. Such an attitude is the mark of spiritual maturity, of the possession of eternal life.

We are so harassed in this world that it is difficult to overlook the shortcomings of people. Usually when people harm us they do not realize what they are doing.

Even when they do know they are injuring us they are more to be pitied than anything else. They do not know the joy of dwelling in the heights of Zion with God. They are impoverished.

It takes a lot of pressing into God before we are able to overlook the immaturity of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We and they do dumb things from time to time, not because we just want to be perverse but because we are persuaded in our mind of the rightness of our cause.

The older we get in the Lord the less patience we have with the younger Christians it seems, forgetting how we ourselves behaved at that age. The chances are they are doing a better job than we did back then.

We must never let people hurt us twice. When they treat us unjustly we are to press into Christ until we are back on our high places with the Lord. To descend to their level and fight fire with fire is to be hurt twice, once by their perversity and once more by our own reaction. This is not an intelligent thing to do and helps no one.

Adam has a tough time keeping a good attitude toward people. This is why we have to keep pressing, pressing, pressing into Christ. To maintain our peace in the midst of perversity is a form of eternal life.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9—NIV)

* Wisdom in daily living. The Lord Jesus is always available, waiting for us to look to him for the decisions we make each day. Most of the decisions are minor, such as what to eat for lunch (if we have any food, that is). Occasionally we are faced with a major decision, like moving to another city.

If we are faithful in looking to God for the minor decisions we probably will look to Him in weightier matters.

No matter what kind of work we do, no matter what kind of an environment we are in, how our time is occupied, the Lord Jesus knows the best way in which to think, speak, and act. We waste a great deal of time and effort when we do not bring everything to God in prayer.

To be continued.