@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'

Let God Establish Your Steps

We’ve all seen instances of people finding it hard to walk, whether it is the little child learning to walk, a sick person who finds it hard to stand, or a person of advanced age who finds walking difficult. Walking well matters to us, not merely in the literal sense, but also figuratively, in relation to our actions. Actions may be tentative and uncertain or bold and confident. Their outcomes may be constructive or destructive, immediate or delayed, visible or hidden. What does it mean to walk well through our lives? The writer of Psalm 37 says that “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way” (v.23). In other words, there is an invaluable aid available to us which, if we will adopt it, will transform our lives from mediocrity to excellence, from irrelevance to effectiveness, and from darkness to light. That aid is Jesus. Jesus offers to walk with us along life’s path, but will we accept His kindly offer? To accept is to daily practice His presence, using our Spirit-filled imaginations to listen to His personal word to us, and bringing all our steps and plans before Him, that He may guide us. A life so lived is one on which Jesus smiles.