@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'

Expect To Receive

We do not necessarily receive in this life all the things that we would like, but God always fulfils the desires that He gives us. Those who love Him and seek to walk with Him will long for those good things that He inspires in their heart, and the wonderful thing is that as they continue to take His path for their life, trusting in His love and care for them, He will cause these things to happen today, tomorrow, and for as long as we walk with Him. This was the message of the psalmist: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:4-5). Notice that this verse does not refer to every desire in the human heart, for not all our desires are godly or right. Thank God that He so often delivers us from getting things we would like but which would be harmful to us, others, or the work of the Kingdom. As the best Father of all, God desires to give us truly good things, so let us fulfil the relational conditions and expect to receive!