Daily Devotionals

Devotional: February 3rd

For Reading and Meditation:
     Proverbs 12:11-28

There are people in our world who, even though they are not Christians, catch sight of the fact that the universe is made for wisdom and that to live effectively on this earth one has to search for wisdom and cultivate it. Through rational thought and intuition these people come to the conclusion that without diligence, life is more a cage than a challenge. Victor Frankl is one such person. Frankl is a Jew who was put into a concentration camp in the Second World War and survived the Holocaust. In fact, the only reason why he was not murdered with the other Jews was because he was appointed personal physician to several of the Nazi SS officers. Throughout the years in concentration camp he gave himself to the task of finding out why it was that despite tremendous odds some survived while others gave up the will to live. He discovered that the reason why people gave up so easily was because they had no sense of meaning. Those who had a meaning or purpose to live for, such as the hope of seeing a loved one again, kept going despite the greatest odds, while those who had no meaning or purpose simply gave up. Frankl discovered by empirical means what another Jew discovered by revelation - that in order to persist, one needs hope. That Jew was the apostle Paul and he took things a stage further than Frankl when he said, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Christ with us is one thing; Christ in us - now that's another.

O Father, how can I sufficiently thank You for the joy of having Christ within? His presence within gives me a hope that provides meaning in the deepest and darkest moments of my life. Thank You, Father. I am eternally grateful. Amen.

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