@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'

Carry the Keys to Your Blessings

Have you ever forgotten your keys? I have, and it robbed me of valuable hours and energy! If it is necessary to check that we have our keys when we leave the house, how much more important is it to check that we have the keys of our life. Let’s be specific here. What do I mean by keys? The Bible is clear on this. For example, Jeremiah says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:7). Here it is, in black and white. The key is trust – not just some unsupported confidence that things will work out – but trust in the Lord. When we trust in Him, blessings flow from Heaven. When we hope in Him, things start to work out for us on earth. We will still face problems, challenges, difficulties and loss as we walk the path of life, but there will be an added dimension of God’s blessings and His grace attending our every step. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). There will always be the temptation to trust someone or something other than God, but whenever we do, we will ultimately find that as George Duffield, the hymn writer, says, “The arm of flesh will fail us.” Carry your Kingdom keys.