@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'

Make the Most of Your Life

Life is short, and most of us want to make the most of it. But what does that look like in practice? For some, it is the completion of their ‘wish list’; for others, it may be working towards the achievement of a particular aim or goal. Even where these purposes are right and good, the Bible teaches that there is something greater. It’s implied in a prayer found in the book of Psalms: “Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!” (Psalm 90:14). Here is a recognition that the safest path to happiness and life fulfilment is the path walked with God. Notice the word ‘early’. It signifies that the first step to a fulfilled life is to be taken as each new day begins. Why postpone something so valuable? God’s mercies are new every morning, awaiting those who will arise and look to Him. It is impossible to avoid sadness and pain living in a fallen world where forces of death and decay operate. But there is pain and loss that we bring upon ourselves when we reject a life of looking to Jesus. Let us endeavour to daily walk and talk with Him that by His grace we may make the most of the life He has given.