Document: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db931212.TXT  
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      OUR DAILY BREAD                       Sunday, December 12, 1993  
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      Read:  Titus 2  
  
                              THE FROSTED BELL  
  
                          I have this against you,  
                     that you have left your first love.  
                              --Revelation 2:4  
       
    Pastor Raymond Biddle shared the following experience with me  in  
    a letter.  He wrote, "Our church has a good, clear-ringing  bell.  
    But  yesterday we were ashamed of it.  The first dull sound  sent  
    me looking for the bellringer, who soon found out what was wrong.  
    Nearly  an inch of snow and sleet had blown on it during a  night  
    storm, and it was thoroughly encased in ice.  What a poor call to  
    worship it gave!  Then the Lord impressed on me the thought  that  
    Christians often become sheathed in the sound-deadening things of 
    the world.  As a result, their witness becomes `ice-encased'.  
  
    The  devil rejoices when Christians are drawn away from the  Lord  
    and  their  testimony  is dulled by an  accumulation  of  worldly  
    attitudes and actions.  Some of the "ices" that encase  believers  
    are  price, jealously, materialism, hatred, lying, gossip,  envy,  
    and  all  the other sins that characterize our  old  nature.  The  
    best  way to keep from becoming "iced up" is to keep "fired  up."  
    This is accomplished through prayer, the study of God's Word, and  
    regular fellowship with other believers.  
  
    Do  you need a good spiritual "thaw"?  Let your  testimony  sound  
    forth loud and clear!  
  
    Author:  Richard W. De Haan  
  
                 Oh, may our lives ring loud and clear  
                     With God's good news for all,  
                     So people who are lost in sin  
                             Will clearly hear His call.  
                                       --Sper  
  
   THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  
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   A cold heart doesn't ring true.  
  
   THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:   Titus 1-3  
  
   
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