We may be in the world — and not be injured by it!

(James Smith, "The Pleading Savior" 1861)

"I do not pray that you should take them out of the world — but that you should keep them from the evil." John 17:15

We may be in the world — and not be injured by it! 

The world is the field — in which we are to labor for Christ. Here we are to . . .
  plough up the fallow ground,
  sow the good seed, and
  reclaim the waste places for Jesus.

The world is the battleground — on which we are to
  fight the good fight of faith,
  overcome Satan, and
  crucify the old man.

The world is the ocean — over which we are to sail to the port of glory; and it befits us to look well to . . .
  the vessel in which we sail,
  the captain who commands it,
  the pilot who steers it, and
  the compass by which it is steered
 — so that we may . . .
    avoid the rocks and quicksands,
    outlive the storms and tempests,
    and cast anchor within the veil!

The world is the school — in which we are to learn . . .
  the evil of sin,
  the power of corruption,
  the craft of Satan,
  the preciousness of Christ,
  the value of Heaven, and
  the importance and worth of God's promises.

The world is the hospital — in which we are under the Spirit's treatment, in order that we may be restored to health, and prepared to enjoy our Father's eternal house and home!

We should, therefore, rather pray to be kept from evil — than to be removed out of the world. We may be useful, very useful in it, and useful in a way in which we cannot be in Heaven. Here, we can . . .
  visit the sick for Jesus,
  clothe the naked for Jesus,
  feed the hungry for Jesus,
  relieve the widow and fatherless for Jesus,
  and teach the ignorant for Jesus — and thus feed, clothe, visit, relieve and teach Jesus Himself in doing so; for He has said, "Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these My brethren — you did it unto Me!"

Let us not, therefore, be anxious . . .
  to leave the field of labor until our work is done;
  or to get out the battle until the victory is gained;
  or to leave school until our education is complete;
  or to be discharged from the hospital until we are perfectly cured!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

God has not promised

(Annie J. Flint, 1919)

"Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." Job 5:7

"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure." Job 14:1-2

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows." John 16:33

God has not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God has not promised, sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God has not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He has not told us, we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God has not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river, turbid and deep.

But God has promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love!

"God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!" Revelation 21:4

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel! 1 Samuel 3:10

  
Our Daily Homily

      And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel! 1 Samuel 3:10
     
      See the urgency of God! Four times He came, and stood, and called. Mark how He stands at the door to knock. At first He was content to call the lad once by name; but after three unsuccessful attempts to attract him to Himself, He uttered the name twice, with strong urgency in the appeal, Samuel! Samuel! This has been called God's double knock. There are seven or eight of these double knocks in Scripture: Simon, Simon; Saul, Saul; Abraham, Abraham.
     
      How may we be sure of a Divine call?
     
      We may know God's call when it grows in intensity. If an impression comes into your soul, and you are not quite sure of its origin, pray over it; above all, act on it so far as possible, follow in the direction in which it leads and as you lift up your soul before God, it will wax or wane. If it wanes at all, abandon it. If it waxes follow it, though all hell attempt to stay you.
     
      We may test God's call by the assistance of godly friends. The aged Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child, and gave him good advice as to the manner in which he should respond to it. Our special gifts and the drift of our circumstances will also assuredly concur in one of God's calls.
     
      We may test God's call by its effect on us. Does it lead to self denial? Does it induce us to leave the comfortable bed and step into the cold? Does it drive us forth to minister to others? Does it make us more unseIfish, loving, tender, modest, humble! Whatever is to the humbling of our pride, and the glory of God, may be truly deemed God's call. Be quick to respond, and fearlessly deliver the message the Lord has given you.

"Get thee, behind me, Satan" (Matt. xvi. 23).

  
Days of Heaven Upon Earth

      "Get thee, behind me, Satan" (Matt. xvi. 23).
     
      When your old self comes back, if you listen to it, fear it, believe it, it will have the same influence upon you as if it were not dead; it will control you and destroy you.
     
      But if you will ignore it and say: "You are not I, but Satan trying to make me believe that the old self is not dead; I refuse you, I treat you as a demon power outside of me, I detach myself from you"; if you treat it as a wife would her divorced husband, saying: "You are nothing to me, you have no power over me, I have renounced you, in the name of Jesus I bid you hence,"--lo! the evil thing will disappear, the shadow will vanish, the wand of faith will lay the troubled spirit, and send it back to the abyss, and you will find that Christ is there instead, with His risen life, to back up your confidence and seal your victory.
     
      Satan can stand anything better than neglect. If you ignore him he gets disgusted and disappears. Jesus used to turn His back upon him and say, "Get thee behind Me, Satan." So let us refuse him, and we shall find that he will be compelled to act according to our faith.

Maintaining the Glow

George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons       Maintaining the Glow             Maintaining the spiritual glow--Rom 12:11 (Moffatt)             All of us have hours in the interior life when we are conscious of the glowing spirit. Our hearts burn within us as we journey. Sometimes these hours reach us unexpectedly; sometimes after periods of prayer. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and so is every one born of the Spirit. But when such hours come, the inward life grows radiant, and in the light of heaven we see light. In such hours we learn a great deal more than we ever gained from unillumined study. In such hours heaven is very near. In such hours, as by unseen fingers, the veil is taken from the face of Scripture, and the Word, that was marred more than any man, now shines on us as altogether lovely. We have caught the spiritual glow. We are in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. There steals on our ear the distant triumph song. We behold Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Such glowing hours of spiritual warmth and radiance come with greater or with lesser frequency to everybody who is stepping heavenward.             Maintaining the Spiritual Glow             But the great difficulty in the interior life is to maintain that spiritual glow. The problem is not to catch it, but to keep it. Seasons come when we are overwrought and when the keepers of the house do tremble. We may have overdriven "our brother the ass," as St. Francis used to call his body. Or it may be, in the providence of God, that for long days we have to take our journey through a dry land where no water is. It is easy to lose the glow in such experiences. It fades into the light of common day. The Bible loses its fragrance and dew. Heaven recedes; we miss the golden ladder. And yet the divine command is laid on us, poor unstable mortals though we be, that our duty is to maintain the spiritual glow. It can be ours in spite of feeble health. It can be ours whatever be our temperament. It is not given for rare or precious moments. It is meant for every mile of the long journey. And just there the difficulty lies, of maintaining, through dark and dreary days, the radiance and the warmth of hours of insight. He who does that is victor. Having done all, he stands. He "makes a sunshine in a shady place." In weakness he is strong. And we may be certain that when God commands a thing, He never mocks us with impossibilities. When He commands, He gives the power to do.             The Spiritual Glow Is Not a Luxury but a Necessity             For what we must always bear in mind is this, that the spiritual glow is not a luxury. If it were that and nothing else than that, it would never reach us as a divine command. There are tasks that no man will accomplish unless he be gifted with a glowing spirit. There are victories that call for radiance. They never can be accomplished in cold blood. To come victorious out of this present life, unembittered by its tears and tragedies, is beyond the compass of the stoic heart. "No virtue is pure that is not passionate." The song of the Lord must sound above the sacrifice. For the campaign of life we need the song just as surely as we need the sword. Those who have conquered and are robed in white do not flash the glittering sword in heaven. They sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. That is why the inspired volume bids us to maintain the spiritual glow. It is not that we may be happy all the time. It is that we may be triumphant all the time. There are valleys we shall never cross unscathed, and there are temptations we shall never master without a certain glow within the soul.             To Love the Lord Gives the Glow             Now it is just there that we thank God afresh for the unspeakable gift of the Lord Jesus. To love Him gives the glow. Nobody ever has a glowing heart because he is ordered to do certain things. Paul never found that his big heart was glowing when he struggled to obey the ten commandments. But when the ten commandments are incarnate in a living Lord whom we can love, then obedience is set to music. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is law translated into melody. Love laughs at difficulties, just as it is said to laugh at locksmiths. And when, right at the center of our being, there is real love for Him who died for us, cold and heavy obedience is gone--it is replaced by the spiritual glow. Thus to continue glowing is to continue in the love of Christ. It is to live in the experience of His great love for us and in continual response to that experience. The one way to maintain the spiritual glow is to maintain fellowship with Christ, and that is possible for everybody. Every day we may open our hearts anew to receive anew the Holy Spirit. We may begin each day, however dark and dreary, by saying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." So maintaining, through heavenly supply, our loving personal fellowship with Him, we maintain (and yet not we) the glowing heart.

The Never-Failing God

By Oswald Chambers

      'For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'
      Hebrews 8:5

      What line does my thought take? Does it turn to what God says or to what I fear? Am I learning to say not what God says, but to say something after I have heard what He says? "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

      "I will in no wise fail thee" - not for all my sin and selfishness and stubbornness and waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never fail me? If I have listened to this say-so of God's, then let me listen again.

      "Neither will I in any wise forsake thee." Sometimes it is not difficulty that makes me think God will forsake me, but drudgery. There is no Hill Difficulty to climb, no vision given, nothing wonderful or beautiful, just the commonplace day in and day out - can I hear God's say-so in these things?

      We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and bye, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute. If we have God's say-so behind us, the most amazing strength comes, and we learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways.

Safest Protection in the World

By Warren Wiersbe

Read Psalm 9:7-12 

This passage teaches a great truth: The safest and strongest protection we have is the name of the Lord. "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You" (v. 10). 

As I read those words, I'm reminded that God forsook His Son for us. Jesus said from the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). Has it ever occurred to you that the only person God ever really forsook was His own Son? "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32). Because He did this, we can be sure He will never forsake us for the sake of His Son. The Father loves His Son and says to Him, "You have died for these people. I will never forsake them." God's promise to us is "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb. 13:5). "Lo, I am with you always" was our Lord's last statement in the Gospel of Matthew (28:20).

The safest place in all the world is in the will of God, and the safest protection in all the world is the name of God. When you know His name, you know His nature. His names and titles reveal His nature. They tell us who He is and what He can do. For example, He is Jehovah, the God who makes covenants. He is the Lord, the sovereign king. He is Jesus, the Savior. Each name He bears is a blessing He bestows on us.

Are you getting to know God? "And those who know Your name (who know God's nature) will put their trust in You" (v. 10). The better you know God, the more you will trust Him. The more you trust Him, the better you will get to know Him--an exciting and enriching experience.

One of the great experiences of the Christian life is the personal relationship we enjoy with our God. To trust God is to seek Him (Isa. 55:6). Today, seek Him with a desire to know Him better.

Desperate Situations

  
Streams in the Desert

      

Desperate Situations
     
      "The angel of the Lord came upon him (Peter) and a light shined in the prison; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off" (Acts 12:7).
     
      "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. . . . And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's bands were loosed" (Acts 16:25, 26).
     
      This is God's way. In the darkest hours of the night, His tread draws near across the billows. As the day of execution is breaking, the angel comes to Peter's cell. When the scaffold for Mordecai is complete, the royal sleeplessness leads to a reaction in favor of the favored race.
     
      Ah, soul, it may have to come to the worst with thee ere thou art delivered; but thou wilt be delivered! God may keep thee waiting, but he will ever be mindful of His covenant, and will appear to fulfill His inviolable Word. --F. B. Meyer
     
      There's a simplicity about God in working out His plans, yet a resourcefulness equal to any difficulty, and an unswerving faithfulness to His trusting child, and an unforgetting steadiness in holding to His purpose. Through a fellow-prisoner, then a dream, He lifts Joseph from a prison to a premiership. And the length of stay in the prison prevents dizziness in the premier. It's safe to trust God's methods and to go by His clock. --S. D. Gordon
     
      Providence hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a desperate case. Let us be faithful; and care for our own part which is to suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there.--George MacDonald
     
      Difficulty is the very atmosphere of miracle--it is miracle in its first stage. If it is to be a great miracle, the condition is not difficulty but impossibility.
     
      The clinging hand of His child makes a desperate situation a delight to Him.

Think about such things!

(J.R. Miller)

"The cheerful heart has a continual feast!" Proverbs 15:15 

We pretty much see just what we are looking for. If our mind has become trained to look for troubles, difficulties, problems, and all gloomy and dreary things — then we shall find just what we seek. On the other hand, it is quite as easy to form the habit of looking always for beauty, for good, for happiness, for gladness — and here too we shall find precisely what we seek.

It has been said that the habit of always seeing the bright side in life, is worth a large income to a man. It makes life a great deal easier. 

None of us are naturally drawn to a gloomy person, who everywhere finds something to complain about — but we are all attracted to one who sees some beauty in everything. Joy is a transfiguring quality. Its secret is a glad heart.

"Finally, brothers, 
 whatever is true, 
 whatever is noble, 
 whatever is right, 
 whatever is pure, 
 whatever is lovely, 
 whatever is admirable — 
 if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — 
think about such things!" Philippians 4:8 

   ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

His mother made him a little coat. 1 Samuel 2:19

  
Our Daily Homily

      His mother made him a little coat. 1 Samuel 2:19
     
      What happy work it was! Those nimble fingers flew along the seams, because love inspired them. All her woman's art and wit were put into the garment, her one idea and ambition being to make something which should be not only useful, but becoming. Not mothers only, but fathers, are always making little coats for their children, which they wear Iong years after a material fabric would have become worn out. How many men and women are wearing today the coats which their parents cut out and made for them long years ago!
     
      Habits are the vesture of the soul. The Apostle bade his converts put off the old man, "which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts," and to put on the new man, "which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness"; to put off anger, wrath, and malice, whilst they put on mercy, humility, and meekness. What words could better establish the fact that habits are (as the name indicates) the clothing of the inner life! Where and how are habits formed? Not in the mid passage of life, but at its dawn; not in great crises, but in daily circumstances; not in life's arena, but in the home, amid the surroundings of earliest childhood. Oh that the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness may ever be exhibited before those with whom we daily come in contact!
     
      By their behaviour to each other and to their children; by the ordering of the home life; by their actions, more than by their words; by the way in which they speak, and spend their leisure hours, and pray men and women are making the little coats which, for better or worse, their children wear ever after, and perhaps pass down to after generations.

The richest man in the world

(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
 or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)

"Having nothing—and yet possessing all things." 2 Cor. 6:10

This is a riddle the world cannot understand. A holy man
cannot be a poor man. A holy man is always the richest
man. The riches of a Christian have no bottom. All a
saint's bags, are bottomless bags.

Experience tells us that unholy men's bags, purses, coffers,
and mints—may be drawn dry. But the treasury, the riches
of a saint—can never be exhausted, for he possesses all
things in Christ and with Christ! The Christian has the
God of all—he has Him who has all.

Though he has nothing in hand—yet he has all things
in hope. A holy man is the richest man in the world,
for he has the great and glorious God engaged by many
thousand promises to own him, to bless him, to stand
by him, to give grace and glory to him, and to withhold
nothing from him that may be good for him.

When wicked men brag of their great possessions and
riches, a holy man may make his boast of God, and say,
"God is mine! God is mine! He is my great all; He is my
all in all; and therefore I am richer and a greater possessor
than any wicked man in the world—yes, than all wicked
men in the world put together!"

    ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Many divine miracles

(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
 or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new
 creature: old things are passed away; behold,
 all things are become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 

In every saved person, there are many divine
miracles; there is . . .
  a dead man—restored to life,
  a dumb man—restored to speech,
  a blind man—restored to sight,
  a deaf man—restored to hearing,
  a lame man—restored to walking,
  a man possessed with devils—possessed with grace,
  a heart of stone—turned into a heart of flesh, and
  a life of wickedness—turned into a life of holiness.

    ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right!

(Francis Bourdillon)

"I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75

"I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right." God orders all things! His "judgments" here mean His general orderings, decisions, dealings — not afflictions only, though including them. 

And when the Psalmist says, "Your judgments," he means especially God's judgments towards him, God's dealings with him, and thus all that had happened to him or would happen to him. For in the Psalmist's creed, there was no such thing as chance. God ordered all that befell him, and he delighted to think so. He expresses a sure and happy confidence in all that God did and would do, with regard to him. He trusted fully in God's wisdom, God's power, and God's love.

"I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right" — quite right, right in every way, perfectly wise and good — without one single point that might have been better. David shows the firmest persuasion of this. "I know," he says; not merely "I think." But these very words, "I know," clearly show that this was a matter of faith, not of sight. For he does not say, "I can see that your judgments are right" — but "I know." The meaning plainly is, "Though I cannot see all — though there are some things in Your dealings which I cannot fully understand — yet, I believe, I am persuaded, and thus I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right."

"Your judgments." Not some of them — but ALL. He takes into view all God's dealings with him and says of them without exception, "I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right." 

When the things that happen to us are plainly for our comfort and good, as many of them are — then we thankfully receive what God thus sends to us, and own Him as the Giver of all, and bless Him for His gracious dealing; and this is right. But all the faith required for this, is to own God as dealing with us, instead of thanklessly receiving the gifts with no thought of the Giver. It is a far higher degree of faith, that says of 

ALL God's dealings, even when seemingly not for our happiness, "I know that Your judgments are right!"

Yet this is the meaning here, or certainly the chief meaning. For though the word "judgments" does mean God's dealings of every kind — yet here the words which follow, make it apply especially to God's afflictive dealings — that is, to those dealings of His that do not seem to be for our happiness, "I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that You in faithfulness have afflicted me."

The judgments which the Psalmist chiefly had in view, and which he felt so sure were right, were not joys — but sorrows; not things bestowed — but things taken away; those blessings in disguise; those veiled mercies; those gifts clad in the garb of mourning — which God so often sends to His children. The Psalmist knew, and knew against all appearance to the contrary, that these judgments were "right." Whatever they might be — losses, bereavements, disappointments, pain, sickness — they were right, perfectly right; so right that they could not have been better; just what were best — and all because they were God's judgments.

That one thing satisfied the Psalmist's mind, and set every doubt at rest. The dealings in themselves, he might have doubted — but notHim whose dealings they were. "Your judgments." That settled all.

"And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me." This means that, in appointing trouble as his lot, God had dealt with him in faithfulness to His word, in faithfulness to His purposes of mercy, and in faithful love. God had sent him just what was most for his good, though not always what was most pleasing; and in this He had shown Himself faithful. Gently and lovingly does the Lord deal with His children. He gives no unnecessary pain; but that which is needful, He will not withhold.

     ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

We may safely let our life write its own record

(J.R. Miller)

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward!" Matthew 10:42 

We need not trouble ourselves to keep diaries of our good deeds and sacrifices, or to write autobiographies filled with pages of the good things we have done. We may safely let our life write its own record, and let Jesus be our biographer. He will never forget anything we do — and the judgment day will reveal everything. The lowliest services and the obscurest deeds, will then be manifested.

"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God!" 1 Corinthians 4:5 

     ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

The Broken Things of Life

  
George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons

      The Broken Things of Life
     
      Some on broken pieces of the ship...escaped...safely to land--Act 27:44
     
      Broken Time
     
      Among the broken things of life one would think first of broken time. Time, says Benjamin Franklin, is the stuff of life: it is a stuff which is very easily tattered. When a man is eagerly plying his own work, interruptions are intensely irritating. Sometimes they are inevitable; at other times they spring from thoughtlessness. And one of the lessons everyone must learn who wants to achieve anything in life is how to hold to things through recurring interruption. That is how the worker comes ashore. That is how most of the world's work is done; not by men of an unbroken leisure--is very rarely fruitful. It is done by men who have to seize their hours, rescue and redeem their opportunities, gather up the fragments that remain. I think of Shakespeare with all a player's worries; of Milton burdened with the cares of State; of Spurgeon founding colleges and orphanages yet preaching those magnificent discourses. They seized their hours, rescued their opportunities, toiled on in the teeth of interruptions, and on broken pieces of the ship they came ashore.
     
      Broken Health
     
      Again, the words have comforting suggestion for those who are suffering from broken health. Doubtless there are some of my readers in that category. Once they were strong, vigorous, and tireless; now they are very easily tired. Once it was a great, glad thing to live; now it is rather a burden to be borne. There is so much that they would gladly do if only they had the strength to do it. It is so very bitter to feel useless. My dear friends, health is a priceless blessing. Rubies and diamonds are nothing to it. Without it, castles and carriages are vanity; with it, the tiniest cottage is a kingdom. But never forget that with a little courage and trust in God and patient, quiet endurance, you may get ashore on broken pieces of the ship. Think of Calvin with his sickly body; of Pascal, all his life an invalid; of Richard Baxter tortured by disease; of Mrs. Browning on her couch. Think of the great Apostle to the Gentiles with his ophthalmia and his malaria. They never knew what perfect health was; they did not sail in any golden galleon; they did not waken in the morning singing, feeling as if they were capable of anything. But they did their work, wrote immortal literature, altered Europe, changed the course of history, clinging to the broken pieces of the ship. I knew an invalid in quite a humble home who used to lament to me that she was useless. Her brothers and sisters were in splendid health; she was only a burden to them all. And yet no wages that the sisters earned brought such an enriching to that home as the presence of her who thought that she was useless. Her gentleness was like the rain from heaven--her patience a rebuke--her happy smile for everybody was gladdening as the sunshine in November. She earned no wages, wrote no poems, never made a dress nor cooked a dinner--and yet on broken pieces of the ship she came ashore.
     
      Shattered Faith
     
      Now I want to go a little deeper, from a shattered body to a shattered faith. There are many in the world today whose early faith is very sorely broken. Trained in Christian homes, there was a time when they accepted things. They prayed; they read their Bibles; they attended Sunday school; they went to church. And now the years have gone, and everything is different, and the old, sweet assurance has departed, and clouds and darkness are around the Throne. Once their faith was like a gallant vessel with the sails set and the flags flying. They thought, once, that they would reach the harbor so--and now that gallant vessel is a wreck. And I want to tell them, quietly and earnestly, for I fervently believe that it is true, that on broken pieces of the ship they can make shore. Much is lost; something yet remains, something they can cling to in the dark something they cannot doubt, divine and unalterably true. And I say that if they only cling to that, like the shipwrecked sailor to a spar, it will buoy them up and bring them to the shore. There are those who make the haven gloriously. They have a prosperous and sunny voyage. Their love is burning, and their faith is bright; they live and die in the fulness of assurance. But I thank God that men can reach the haven clinging to a spar, for the Lord God is merciful and gracious. Trembling on the borders of agnosticism, questioning the fatherhood of God, uncertain of the authority of Scripture, critical of the Church and of its ministry, let them grip Christ, the little bit they know of Him; let them tell Him that they will not let Him go, and He will pluck them out of the deep waters.
     
      Broken Character
     
      Lastly, and in a word or two, I apply the words to broken character, to those whose character is sorely broken and who today are on the margins of despair. I think of the prodigal son in the far country; his conduct had disgraced the name of son. I think of Peter when he denied his Lord, and his whole life seemed toppling to ruin. I think of Rahab in her life of sin that must have crushed all that was fairest in her. I think of the woman who was called the Magdalene. Not perfect characters, very far from that; rent and torn by the fury of their passions; characters that sin had battered as the storm had battered the vessel of St. Paul. And then, thanks to the grace of God that is able to save unto the uttermost, on broken pieces of the ship they came ashore. The prodigal came home again, and there was music and dancing in the house. The Magdalene was drawn out of the mire into the garden of a saintly womanhood Some who read this have been living carelessly, and their character has gone to pieces in the dark. Thank God that there is still a shining hope for them as for the shipwrecked comrades of St. Paul.

By Death We Live

  
Streams in the Desert

      By Death We Live
     
      "As dying and behold we live" (2 Cor. 6:9).
     
      I had a bed of asters last summer, that reached clear across my garden in the country. Oh, how gaily they bloomed. They were planted late. On the sides were yet fresh blossoming flowers, while the tops had gone to seed. Early frosts came, and I found one day that that long line of radiant beauty was seared, and I said, "Ah! the season is too much for them; they have perished"; and I bade them farewell.
     
      I disliked to go and look at the bed, it looked so like a graveyard of flowers. But, four or five weeks ago one of my men called my attention to the fact that along the whole line of that bed there were asters coming up in the greatest abundance; and I looked, and behold, for every plant that I thought the winter had destroyed there were fifty plants that it had planted. What did those frosts and surly winds do?
     
      They caught my flowers, they slew them, they cast them to the ground, they trod with snowy feet upon them, and they said, leaving their work, "This is the end of you." And the next spring there were for every root, fifty witnesses to rise up and say, "By death we live."
     
      And as it is in the floral tribe, so it is in God's kingdom. By death came everlasting life. By crucifixion and the sepulchre came the throne and the palace of the Eternal God. By overthrow came victory.
     
      Do not be afraid to suffer. Do not be afraid to be overthrown.
     
      It is by being cast down and not destroyed; it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds, that men become men of might, and that one a host; whereas men that yield to the appearance of things, and go with the world, have their quick blossoming, their momentary prosperity and then their end, which is an end forever.--Beecher
     
      "Measure thy life by loss and not by gain,
      Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth.
      For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice,
      And he who suffers most has most to give."

The government shall be upon his shoulder

By A.B. Simpson


You cannot make the heart restful by stopping its beating. Certain drugs will do that, but that is not really rest. Let the breath of life come-God's life and strength-and there will be sweet rest. Home ties and family affection will not bring it. Deliverance from trouble will not bring it. 

Many a tried heart has said: "if this great trouble were only gone, I would have rest." But as soon as one crisis goes another comes. The poor wounded deer on the mountainside thinks if it could only bathe in the cold mountain stream it would have rest. But the arrow is in its flesh, and there is no rest for it until the wound is healed. It is as sore in the mountain lake as on the plain. 

We shall never have God's rest and peace in our hearts until we have surrendered everything, even our work, to Christ and believe He has taken it all. Then we have only to be still and trust. It is necessary to walk in holy obedience and let God have the government on His shoulder. Paul said, "This one thing I do." There is one narrow path for us all-Christ's will and work for us.

Government policy policy - Yes Minister - BBC comedy

"Peace be unto you" (John xx. 19, 21).

  
Days of Heaven Upon Earth

      "Peace be unto you" (John xx. 19, 21).
     
      This is the type of His first appearing to our hearts when He comes to bring us His peace and to teach us to trust Him and love Him.
     
      But there is a second peace which He has to give. Jesus said unto them again, "Peace be unto you." There is a "peace," and there is an "again peace." There is a peace with God, and there is "the peace of God that passeth understanding." It is the deeper peace that we need before we can serve Him or be used for His glory.
     
      While we are burdened with our own cares, He cannot give us His. While we are occupied with ourselves, we cannot be at leisure to serve Him. Our minds will be so filled with our own anxieties that we would not be equal to the trust which He requires of us, and so, before He can entrust us with His work, He wants to deliver us from every burden and anxiety.
     
      "Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin,
          The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
      Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed,
          To do the will of Jesus, this is rest."

"The Lion Man" - Shocking Real Story

Yes, Lord!

(J.R. Miller)

"Lord, what will You have me to do?" Acts 9:6

Whatever command God gives--we should instantly and cheerfully answer, "Yes, Lord, I am ready to obey!"

It is not hard to say "Yes, Lord!" when God leads us in pleasant paths, where the flowers are plentiful, where the way is smooth and agreeable. But we know that sometimes the path is covered with thorns, and is rough and steep--or runs through fire or flood. We are still called always to say, "Yes, Lord!" If God calls us to some trial or cross-bearing or sacrifice, our answer should always be the same. We should be able to trust His loving heart--when our eyes cannot see blessing or goodness in the way He takes us. Every true path of God leads to rich joy!

"Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path!" Psalm 27:11

"He led them forth by the right way" Psalm 107:7

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SHIPS IN STORM - INCREDIBLE VIDEO

No devoted thing, shall be sold or redeemed. Lev 27:28

  


Our Daily Homily




No devoted thing, shall be sold or redeemed. Lev 27:28

There is a great principle involved in these words. When once a person or possession had been solemnly dedicated to God, it was not permissible to withdraw from the obligations which had been assumed. Once given, the offering was regarded as God's property, and might not be resumed by the offerer, or placed to any inferior use.

This regulation is specially applicable to our conception and practice of consecration. We are Christ's; by the gift of the Father, by the purchase of the blood of Christ, by the sealing of the Spirit; but a moment often comes in the life of the earnest believer when the Lord appears to claim a more earnest recognition of His rightful claim. Then thoughtfully and earnestly, spirit, soul, and body, are laid upon the altar, and we solemnly declare, "I am Thine, O Lord!"

When once this is done, we must reckon that God has accepted us, and that we cannot repeat the gift. We may perpetually refer to it, and acknowledge its abiding obligation, and apply its principle to all those new departments and functions which are perpetually increasing on us; but we can no more repeat it, than could the Israelite give God the firstling lamb, since it was already His (Lev 27:26).

If we go back from the attitude we have once taken up, we must confess our relapse with tears and deep contrition, asking to be restored, waiting to be put back again into the old place by our merciful and compassionate High Priest. We cannot undo that past; but we may ask Him to restore us to the place we occupied before we went astray. Oh that we might never withdraw from the altar of entire consecration!

Our Role and God's Role

By Mary Wilder Tileston


He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He.
DEUTERONOMY 32:4

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
PSALMS 100:3

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
PSALMS 23:1, 4

DUTIES are ours, events are the Lord's; when our faith goeth to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's Providence, and beginneth to say, "How wilt Thou do this or that?" we lose ground; we have nothing to do there; it is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm; there is nothing left us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls, in well-doing, upon Him who is God omnipotent, and when what we thus essay miscarrieth, it shall neither be our sin nor cross.
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

SHALL there be a mutiny among the flocks and herds, because their lord or their shepherd chooses their pastures, and suffers them not to wander into deserts and unknown ways?
JEREMY TAYLOR

The Viewpoint

By Oswald Chambers


'Now thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.'
2 Corinthians 2:14

The viewpoint of a worker for God must not be as near the highest as he can get, it must be the highest. Be careful to maintain strenuously God's point of view, it has to be done every day, bit by bit; don't think on the finite. No outside power can touch the viewpoint.

The viewpoint to maintain is that we are here for one purpose only, viz., to be captives in the train of Christ's triumphs. We are not in God's showroom, we are here to exhibit one thing - the absolute captivity of our lives to Jesus Christ. How small the other points of view are - I am standing alone battling for Jesus; I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold this fort for Him. Paul says - I am in the train of a conqueror, and it does not matter what the difficulties are, I am always led in triumph. Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul's secret joy was that God took him, a red-handed rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive, and now that is all he is here for. Paul's joy was to be a captive of the Lord, he had no other interest in heaven or in earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. The Victor ought to have got us so completely that it is His victory all the time, and we are more than conquerors through Him.

"For we are unto God a sweet saviour of Christ." We are enwheeled with the odour of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.

James Smith - I will Uphold you with My Righteous Right Hand (Christian devotional reading)

Running Toward the Goal

By A.W. Tozer


The true Christian, though he is in revolt against the world's efforts to brainwash him, is no mere rebel for rebellion's sake. He dissents from the world because he knows that it cannot make good on its promises. He has tasted the pleasures of society and he knows that they leave a bitter taste; and he has found that blessing of the Lord of which the wise man speaks, which maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it.

And the Christian is not left without a "norm" to which he seeks to become adjusted. The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the norm, the ideally perfect model, and the worshiping soul yearns to be like Him. Indeed the whole drive behind the Christian life is this longing to be conformed to the image of Christ. The energy with which the believing man revolts against conformity to the image of unregenerate society will be in exact proportion to the intensity of his yearning to be like Christ.

The classic expression of this burning desire to be Christlike is, of course, Paul's personal testimony in his letter to the Philippian Christians which begins, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ," and ends with the fervent declaration, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" ( Philippians 3:7-14).

Disrespect: Negation of Authority

By Basilea Schlink


Why is it so difficult for us to respect people who deserve to be respected? Why is it especially true in our times, even among Christians, that people take such a stand against respect and authority? Why is it difficult for us to recognize the words of Scripture and to regard them as binding for us in our everyday life: "Outdo one another in showing honour" (Rom. 12: 10) and "Count others better than yourselves" (Philip. 2: 3)? Yes, why? Because we are so filled with our own importance and our own honour. The proud cannot humble themselves easily. When I respect someone else, I humble myself before him in spirit. Then I have taken the lower position; I have to honour the other person, because he is above me, because he is more mature or older, because he has attained more, because he is my superior, or because he is my parent.

Only the humble can give respect. But because we often lack humility, we refuse to respect others. And only the humble will accept the truth that because they are younger, they often do not have the same degree of maturity, the same wisdom, the same rights and privileges that an older person has. Children will see that because they are like children, needing education, they are not yet old enough to take on the responsibilities and privileges of parents. Employees will see that they are not the boss, and therefore have to accept and obey the current rules, which, of course, does not mean that we should ignore our sense of responsibility. It is a matter of accepting these things. If I respect God, I also have to respect those whom He has appointed to be above me, in spite of their deficiencies and mistakes.

That would be obvious to all of us, if, yes if, the sin of pride were not in us. Satan incites it with his arguments which we like so much to hear. For instance, "We all have the same rights", or, "No one should have a position of authority above anyone else". Satan, the fallen Lucifer, has to argue like this. He fell, because he did not want to respect God; he wanted to be equal with Him. Now he ants to pull us men after him. He wants to make us fall also, so that we will be his prey. He does not want to let us choose Jesus' way, being humble and giving respect to others. He does not want us to become like God and reach the great glory that he lost.

Therefore, the enemy works feverishly to incite us to rebel against authorities, because he knows that then we will join him in the rebellion against God, the highest authority. Satan's poison makes us want to be equal with others, to have equal rights and equal respect. He does not want us to recognize that there are rules and superiors, that the Kingdom of God is a hierarchy, a hierarchy of reverent love. If we do not want to admit this fact, because we are exceedingly proud, we will fall into Satan's hands and fall away from God just as he did. The Word of God tells us very clearly that we must be reverent, respectful and subject to others. "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph. 5: 21). "Likewise you that are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another" (1 Pet. 5: 5).

According to the divine order of life, as long as the earth exists there will always be relationships that demand the paying of respect. There will always be those who teach and those who are taught; parents, and children who need to learn many things and be brought up; employers, and employees who have to learn the trade. Otherwise the result would be chaos. If today we deny this and loudly proclaim the new anti-authoritarian society and way of life, we will actually become slaves of those leaders and authorities who come from Satan. In the end we will have to do exactly what we are fighting against: to slavishly obey the authoritarian slogans of our leaders. But God would like to grant us a new and blessed relationship of respect for one another-one that stems from voluntary love and respect of those who deserve honour.

Lack of respect, which is a result of pride, destroys the Kingdom of God in our midst and binds us tightly to Satan. Indeed, at the end of our lives it can bring us into his kingdom of darkness, where the proud and haughty live. If we do not want that to be our fate, let us recognize those whom God has placed over us and strive to be freed from our disrespect. Jesus shows us the way to be healed from pride and disrespect. We should look at Him and His humility. He said, "The Son can do nothing of his own accord" (John 5: 19) and "The Father is greater than I" (John 14: 28). By looking at Jesus, the humble Son of God, who reverently always honoured the Father, we will be remade in His image.

We must fight the battle of faith in the power of His blood, so that His virtue of reverence might gain room in us. Taking the first step, we must humble ourselves and begin concretely to respect those whom we are supposed to respect. We must obey them by doing everything they demand that is not against our consciences (Acts 5: 29) be respectful towards them, show them our esteem and gratitude. We must prove to them, through our behaviour and actions, that we are respecting Jesus in them-Jesus, our Lord, who has placed them above us.

But if we see our superiors sinning, we must ask for the humility, the courage and the proper moment to speak with them about this. Otherwise we are in danger of speaking about them behind their backs and ruining their reputation instead of being a witness for Jesus with all respect for them. Jesus wants to set us free from disrespect and at the same time from trying to please man and being servile. Because this is a narrow path, we will only find it through the power of His redemption. When we live in true reverence and respect, the hosts of heaven will surround us. For we will be following their example. The angels and the cherubim, the elders and the saints humbly bow before God and in reverence cast their crowns before the throne of God (Rev. 4: 10).

He makes no mistakes!

(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"He led them forth by the right way" Psalm 107:7

God leads every one of His children by the right way. He knows where and under what influences each particular life will ripen best.

One plant grows best in the sheltered valley, another by the water's edge, another on the bleak mountaintop swept by storms. God puts every tree or plant in the locality where the conditions of its growth exist — and does God give more thought to trees and plants, than to His own children? He places us amid the circumstances and experiences in which our life will grow and ripen the best!

The peculiar discipline to which we are each subjected, is the discipline we especially need to bring out in us the beauties and graces of true spiritual character. God knows what is best — He makes no mistakes!

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

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Reverence

George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons

      Reverence
     
      And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead--Rev 1:17
     
      John was a prisoner in the isle of Patmos when he had this revelation of Jesus Christ. He had been banished thither because he was a Christian; and if the early legends can be trusted, he was condemned to the hard slavery of the Patmos mines. But sweet are the uses of adversity. There are some things we cannot learn in Babylon that become plain to us in sea-girt Patmos. There are some sights we are blind to in the markets: our eyes are only opened in the mines. It was not at home that Jacob had his Bethel: it was in the hills, a wanderer and alone. It was not at Pharaoh's court that Moses saw Jehovah in the burning bush: it was when flying from Pharaoh in the desert. It was not in peaceful days that Stephen saw heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God: it was in the hour of martyrdom. And this vision of Jesus, the alpha and omega, the first and last, whose head and hairs were white as snow and whose eyes were as a flame of fire,--this vision came to John, an exile in the mines. "It is adversity," says Bacon in his priceless essays, "which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favour."
     
      Reverence
     
      Now there are many lessons in this story. An old and fragrant commentary that I opened on the chapter rises into a height of eloquence, lost in this day and age, over these eyes that were like a flame of fire. But I want to center on one point only. I want to take this falling-down of John as a true instance of a truly reverent spirit. John saw, John worshipped, John adored. And we are living in a world that's full of God, and we have something better than a vision; we have the word of prophecy. And do we stand or fall upon our faces, and are we reverent or are we not? that is the question.
     
      I do not think that the most cheerful optimist would dare to assert this was a reverent age. Of course we shall always have some reverent souls in every congregation, but reverence is not a note of modern life: still worse, it is not a desire. There was a time when to be thought reverent was an honorable thing. Now, to be thought reverent is to be old-fashioned. Men want to be smart and clever and successful, and somehow reverence does not agree well with these. We are all busy: few of us are reverent. Yet without reverence life is a shallow thing, and true nobility of character is impossible; and without reverence we shall be strangers to the end to all that is best and worthiest in our faith.
     
      The Lack of Reverence
     
      Can we explain the comparative absence of this grace? I think we can. It springs from certain features of our modern life, and the first of these is the wear and hurry of it. It is no chance that the most reverent hour in Moses' life was in the desert. It is no accident that John fell down as dead, not in the streets of Babylon, but in the isle of Patmos. It was no whim, though it seems whimsical to us, that a prophet of reverence whom we lost a week ago should have denounced our crowded city life. It is not easy for an overdriven man to keep a reverent heart. It is very hard to feel perpetual reverence when life for thousands is a perpetual rush. When I travel fast enough by train, castles and towns and woods and battlefields flash for an instant and are gone, and the great things are but little for the speed. So in the rush of life, worrying, leisureless, the great things of the soul and of the universe are dwarfed, and it is hard to be a reverent man. There is a certain leisure needed for the cultivation of a truly reverent spirit, a certain inward quietness, a certain detachment from the present day. But do note that leisure is a thing of heart and not of hours. Some of our hardest workers, who never enter a church door, it may be, are far more reverent, and being more reverent are better men, than many a church-goer who never felt the awe of things and never fell down at His feet as dead.
     
      The lack of reverence too, I cannot doubt, is partly due to the spirit of inquiry of today. God knows that if to be reverent meant to be ignorant, some of us, in the eagerness to know, would say farewell to reverence forever. But is not the keenest teacher sometimes as reverent and humble as a little child? We had three great professors in my day at Glasgow, men known in every academy in Europe--the one for Greek, the other for medicine, the third for natural philosophy --and only to hear them was to be reminded of Sir Isaac Newton who felt like a little child picking some pebbles from the shore and casting them into the infinite ocean of the truth. Still, for all that, it is the truth that an inquisitive age is rarely reverent. And of all inquisitive and critical times, I fancy we have fallen on the worst. We are all eager: few of us are reverent. We are never afraid to criticize, but we have almost forgotten to adore. We can discuss these seven golden candlesticks, and trace the sources of the vision in Daniel, and smile at the strange mixing of the metaphors; but "when I saw Him," says John, "I fell at His feet as dead."
     
      But this present lack of reverence has another source: it is the dying-out from heart and conscience of the fear of God. "Ah, Rogers," said Dr. Dale of Birmingham to his old friend,--"ah, Rogers, no one fears God now." And there can be little question that in the largest sense Dale was right. Man's views of God have changed in the past century. It was the Sovereignty of God that was the watchword once. It is the Fatherhood of God that is the watchword now. And no man can quarrel with that change of emphasis, when we remember how it has flashed new light upon the love of God and kindled into meaning many a page and parable. But things are not right if we can only love God more by reverencing Him less. And who can doubt that something of the majesty, and something of the grandeur, and something of the awesome fear of God is gone in this reiterated insistence on His Fatherhood? I sometimes think God had a special purpose in giving us the Old Testament in our Bible. With all its difficulties, I feel it was preserved to counteract a natural tendency of man. For God in the Gospel comes so very near us, and the love of God shown in the love of Jesus is so brother like, that only to realize it is to run the danger of forgetting reverence and growing very familiar with God. And it takes all the Psalms and all the prophets, with their magnificent Gospel of a Sovereign God, to make us fall down at His feet as dead. O living Spirit, open our eyes and give us back again something of the fear of God! For we shall never love or serve Thee well till we have learned to reverence Thee more!
     
      What Is Reverence?
     
      Now what is reverence ? It has been variously defined, but perhaps the old definition is the best. It is the practical recognition of true greatness. It is my attitude of heart and mind when I am confronted by the truly worthy and the truly great. It does not matter of what kind the greatness is: it may be the greatness of my brother's character, it may be the greatness of this mysterious world, or it may be the greatness of Almighty God; but the moment I see it, feel it, and recognize my place, I am a reverent man.
     
      And that is the condemnation of the irreverent man. He may be clever, but he is always shallow. He may be smart, but he is blind. To live in a universe like this and to find nothing to reverence is to condemn, not the world, but myself. Irreverent men are often amusing, and are always selfish. For not to see and feel what is sublime, and not to be touched by what is truly great, is a true token of a selfish heart. The other side of reverence is humility. The other side of irreverence is pride. It is the curse of the irreverent heart that underneath all lightness and all jest it is a stranger to the humility of Jesus.
     
      Now where does individual irreverence begin? I think that generally it begins at home. When I have ceased to reverence myself, it is the hardest thing in the whole world to reverence my brother and to reverence God. If I am mean, I shall read meanness in my neighbor's heart. If I am selfish, I shall find selfishness in the most Christlike thing my neighbor ever did. We all get as we give. If there is nothing great in you, no hope, no ideal, you pay the penalty by finding the world mean. If there is any glimmering of greatness in you and any passion for righteousness and God, it is wonderful what a grand world this becomes, and what new worth we find in other men, and what a majesty we see in God.
     
      The Reverence of Jesus
     
      Now there are two things in the life of Jesus that arrest me. And the first of these is His reverence for God. Jesus knew God as God was never known on earth before. God was His Father in far deeper senses than He is yours or mine. His intimacy with His Father was complete. He was at home with God. Yet nothing can match the perfect reverence of Christ towards this Father He knew and loved so well. I can always speak of Jesus' fellowship with God. It is a misuse of language to speak of Jesus' familiarity with God. There is an awe and reverence in all the recorded communication of Jesus with His Father that is as wonderful as His perfect trust.
     
      But still more arresting than the reverence of Jesus for His God is the reverence that Jesus had for man. Sometimes you reverence a man because you do not know him well; you get to know him better, and your reverence dies. Christ knew men thoroughly. Christ knew men through and through,--their thoughts, their hopes, their fears, their weaknesses, their struggles, and their passions. Christ saw each sin more deadly and each vice more horrible than the most tender conscience in its most tender hour had ever dreamed of. If you had seen what Christ had seen, you would have spumed your brother. If you had known what Jesus knew, you would have spat on him. The wonder is Christ reverenced him still, still thought it worth His while to teach him, still thought man great enough to live for, still thought man great enough to die for. There never was a reverence so loving, there never was a love so sweetly reverent, as the love of Jesus Christ for you and me, fallen men, yet still in our ruin not without tokens of a heavenly greatness and of the God who made us in His image!
     
      Lessons to a More Reverent Life
     
      So as I think on reverence, and link it with the supreme reverence of Jesus, I learn three lessons that may guide us to a more reverent life.
     
      And first, if we are ever to grow reverent again, we must know more. The reverence of ignorance is gone. Half-knowledge is irreverent: a fuller knowledge will make us reverent again. Jesus was reverent because His knowledge was perfect: we are irreverent because our knowledge is shallow. When we know man, far off, as Jesus knew him, we shall find something to reverence in our most ordinary brother. When we know God as Jesus knew Him, we shall adore. And is that knowledge possible to me? Thank God, through daily fellowship with Christ, I may follow on to know the Lord.
     
      And then, if we are ever to grow reverent again, we must trust more. If John had never trusted Christ, he never would have seen the vision and never would have fallen at Jesus' feet as dead. I cannot reverence a man whom I distrust, I cannot reverence a God. It wants deep faith to make me reverent. It wants a perfect faith like Jesus had to make me perfectly reverent like Him. I never can be noble without reverence. I never can be reverent without faith.
     
      And if we are ever to grow reverent again, we must love more. There never was a time when so much was spoken and written about Christian love. If we loved more and said less about it, we might revive our dying reverence. Oh, how much of our so-called love to Jesus is spurned by an infinite God because the feeling of reverence is not in it. It is so easy to talk of leaning on Jesus' bosom. It is so easy to forget that he who leaned on Jesus' bosom fell down at Jesus' feet as dead. I plead for more love, not to increase, but to remove that light familiarity that blots our Christian service. For love reveals, love sees, love breaks the bars, love reads the secrets both of man and God. And when I have seen my brother's secret story, and when I have seen into the deep things of God, I never can be irreverent again.