Document: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db931221.TXT
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    OUR DAILY BREAD                      Tuesday, December 21, 1993
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    Read:  John 15:9-17

                          OUR UNFAILING FRIEND

                 [Abraham] was called the friend of God.
                              --James 2:23

    As  a  young man, Joseph Scriven had been engaged to a  woman  he
    deeply  love.  But tragedy struck the night before their  wedding
    when  the boat she was in capsized and she drowned.  In the  hope
    of forgetting the shock, which he never did, Joseph left his home
    in Ireland and went to Canada.

    There  he taught school and served as a tutor.  He chose to  live
    very  simply,  spending  his money  and  strength  in  generously
    providing  for destitute people.  At times he even gave away  his
    own clothing.  He was considered an eccentric by some, yet all he
    tried to do was obey God's Word as best he could understand it.

    In  his  loneliness, Joseph Scriven needed  a  steadfast  friend.
    Having  found that friend in Jesus Christ, he wrote these  simple
    words, which movingly express his experience:

                     What a friend we have in Jesus,
                    All our sins and griefs to bear!
                        What a privilege to carry
                      Everything to God in prayer!

    Even  if we have been blessed with deeply enriching  friendships,
    we  all  need Joseph Scriven's Friend.  But before  we  can  know
    Jesus  as  our  Friend, we must know Him  as  our  Savior.  Then,
    through all of our changing circumstances, He will be the One  we
    can depend on -- our unfailing Friend.

    Author:  Vernon C. Grounds

    THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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    Christ's friendship prevails even when human friendship fails.

    THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  1 Peter 3-5

 




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