@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“I shall not hesitate also to put into ordered form for you, along with the interpretations, everything I learned carefully in the past from the elders and noted down carefully, for the truth of which I vouch. For unlike most people, I took no pleasure in those who told many different stories, but only in those who taught the truth. Nor did I take pleasure in those who reported their memory of someone else’s commandments, but only in those who reported their memory of the commandments given by the Lord to the faith and proceeding from the Truth itself. And if by chance anyone who had been in attendance on the elders arrived, I made enquiries about the words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and John the Elder, the Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from the books would profit me as much as information from a living and surviving voice.
~ Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130 AD) From the Preface to his lost ‘Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord’
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

Believe Your Great Future in God

Not all of us have great worldly prospects! But any of us can embrace the most amazing future if we choose God’s path for our life. For those who have great worldly opportunities there is the danger that they may not submit these to the guidance and will of God, whilst for those who don’t face such opportunities, there is the danger that they may see themselves and their lives as somehow a failure. Both these dangers are avoided the moment a person trusts in God’s perfect plan for them, for as Jeremiah prophesies, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). It is far better to serve the purpose of Heaven than to seek merely earthly honour and fame. The latter is transitory and fleeting, but the former lasts forever. Earth usually fails to recognise the true value of a person and his or her life, but Heaven’s records are always precise. People can be duped, but not God. You may not receive recognition on earth but be sure that Heaven will reward your good works. You have a great future and a hope – believe it!