Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

For Reading and Meditation:     James 3:1-18

We continue making the point that we cannot be peacemakers until we first find peace within ourselves. A psychiatrist was interviewing a man full of conflicts. In the middle of the interview the telephone rang, and because the receptionist had put a call through to him when he had given instructions not to be disturbed,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Titus 2:1-15

Today we go a step further and affirm that no one can be spiritually or mentally healthy until they know what it means to have peace in their inner beings. A psychologist says: "If we could only measure the amount of emotional energy that is dissipated within the human personality by lack of peace, we would be surprised...

For Reading and Meditation:     1 John 2:28-3:11

Peacemaking is a positive attitude that produces good spiritual and mental health, and the one who has this attitude, according to Jesus, is to be envied and congratulated. The promise of the seventh Beatitude is that peacemakers "will be called sons of God". Why called? Because they are sons of God. This is their...

For Reading and Meditation:     Philippians 1:12-30

We come now to Christ's eighth and final prescription for good spiritual and mental health: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10). The inevitable result of bringing our attitudes in line...

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Timothy 3:12-17

We continue from where we left off yesterday in saying that persecution is one of the proofs that we are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many Christians find great difficulty in coming to terms with this issue of persecution, and because they have never understood that those who reject Christ will also...

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 10:1-20

We are saying that many Christians are ineffective witnesses because they attempt to water down their testimony to avoid persecution - and end up achieving nothing. Once we accept that those who reject Christ and His teaching will also reject us, we will then be free to throw our whole weight on the side of Christ and...

For Reading and Meditation:     1 Peter 4:7-19

We continue focusing on the fact that many Christians are persecuted, not because of identifying with Christ, but because of their tactlessness and folly. This eighth Beatitude - "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" - does not apply to such people. Let us...

For Reading and Meditation:     Colossians 2:1-15

We are seeing the suffering and persecution we experience can be due to our own tactlessness and folly. Today I want to go a stage further, and suggest that in relation to this matter of suffering and persecution, some Christians have developed a "martyr complex". A "martyr complex" is an attitude of mind that finds...

For Reading and Meditation:     John 15:12-27

We continue meditating on the eighth and final Beatitude. One of the questions that has often puzzled people concerning this matter of suffering and persecution is this: Why is it that Christians, when they do good, are often persecuted, while non-Christians who do the same kind of good are adored? One commentator...

For Reading and Meditation:     Deuteronomy 30:1-20

We spend one last day meditating on the eighth and final Beatitude. Some feel that the verses which follow this Beatitude (verses 11,12) constitute a ninth Beatitude, but really they are an amplification of what our Lord has been saying in verse 10. It must be pointed out in passing that more is said about this...

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Corinthians 13:1-14

As we conclude our study of the Beatitudes it is time for us to take a simple test. Ask yourself the following questions and see how many of Christ's "beautiful attitudes" have been assimilated into your life: 1. Am I trying to grasp things from God's hands or are my hands relaxed and empty so that I might...

For Reading and Meditation:     Genesis 1:1-12

We focus on what without doubt is the most noble and loftiest of themes - the nature and character of God. I have noticed that Christians, generally speaking, seem to be preoccupied with knowing more about themselves rather than knowing more about God. Ask any Christian bookshop manager: "What are the best-selling...

For Reading and Meditation:     Romans 11:25-36

A subject which is of great interest to many today is anthropology - the study of man. Although this subject is of great importance, for a Christian there is something far more important - the study of God. The great preacher C. H. Spurgeon said: "The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 92:1-15

How does contemplation of God expand the soul? "The soul," says one theologian, "is at home only when it is in God." He meant, of course, that as the soul was made for God it can only function effectively when indwelt by God. Contemplation of God is like breath to the soul; it inflates it and causes it to be fully...