DAILY READINGS IN LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller (1890)

September 19. The Far Country

"And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living." Luke 15:13

It is not long after a man has shaken off his subjection to God — before he begins his departure from Him. He first gets the reins into his own hands — and then the old paths are too straight and narrow for him.

He has taken "his substance" into his own keeping — that is, he has assumed charge and control of all his own abilities, possessions, and energies; and now he will go out and try life in his own way — the way of sin and self-gratification. Everyone who is not at home with God, who is not living as a child in the Father's house — has actually departed from God and gone into the far country.

The "far country" is a costly place to live in. When the prodigal got there — his substance soon began to dwindle; and it was not very long until it was all gone — wasted in wild living.

This story is the literal history of a great many young men. There are thousands of them who are wasting large fortunes every year in this same loose living — in drinking and all kinds of debauchery.

But how must we interpret this, in its spiritual application? The "substance" of the sinner consists in his possessions, talents, abilities, opportunities, and possibilities. He "squanders his substance" — whenever he does not use it for God and for the good of the world — which are the uses for which God bestowed it. He wastes it also, when he squanders it in sin.

Here then, is the picture: a man endowed with abilities fitting him for nobleness and usefulness — rushing into evil courses; spending his strength in sin; destroying his body, mind, and soul — in revelry and sensual pleasure.

The man with one talent, who only hid it away and did not use it at all, keeping it as it was, to be returned in the end — was condemned to outer darkness! How much severe will be the doom of those who squander their many talents in sin, and use them to curse the world and drag down other souls to eternal destruction!

 Einstein on Meaning of Life

  Quote by Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee

NOTE: This quote was delivered by Estes Kefauver (1903–1963), a U.S. Senator from Tennessee and Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1956, during a 1947 Senate hearing. It was later reported in Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy by Michael J. Sandel (1998), p. 243 

 General "Black Jack" Pershing:

 THE FAMILY ALTAR

September 18.

"I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no savior."

Is. 43:11.

Our hearts must fill with holy awe and reverence when hearing

these majestic words of our God. Before the mountains were

brought forth, or ever the earth and the world had been formed

by His mighty word, He was. And He always remains the Lord,

the supreme Kuler of all things in heaven and in earth. It is He

that hath made us, and not we ourselves, and we are dependent on

Him for every breath we draw. Without Him we could not live

a single moment. As His creatures we owe Him all reverence

and obedience. He can both create and destroy. We have to do

with Him, and not with some blind force in nature, for everything

that pertains to our temporal and eternal happiness. He alone

is our Savior. In Christ Jesus, His only-begotten Son made mani-

fest in the flesh, He has obtained for us redemption from sin and

death and from the wrath to come. In Him alone can we find

forgiveness for our sins, life, and salvation. Then let us give our

hearts to Him, and honor and obey Him in His holy Word. Let

us cling in abiding faith to our Lord Jesus Christ and not listen

to the great mass of unbelievers who in their wicked folly deny

that our Savior is true God, who deny that He died in our place

for our redemption, and would rather believe in "Evolution" than

in the personal and living God who made heaven and earth. Let

us take the warning words of Jesus to heart: "Fear not them

which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather

fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

(Matt. 10:28.) He will one day in His wrath destroy all His

enemies who refused to own Him as their Lord and Savior; but

to those who loved, honored, and obeyed Him in Christ Jesus,

His Son, will He give life eternal.