DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 24, 24 December 1932, Page 12

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Prayer: We come into Thy presence, O Father, in the name and. through the merit of Jesus Christ our Lord. We draw near to worship and to render thanks for Thy loving kindness and for the all-sufficient grace which has ministered to our deepest need. We rejoice that love plans all our way. Grant us anointed eyes see Thy love behind all trials. May we triumph through Thy power to the glory of Thy na.me. Gladden the hearts of Thy saints, calm each mind with Thy peace, until the bright eternal day dawn and the shadows flee away.—Amen.

O little Town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light; The hopes and rears of all the years Are met in thee to-night. For Christ is born of Mary, And gathered all above, While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wondering love. 0 morning stars together Proclaim the holy birth, And praises sing to God our King, And peace to men on earth. CHRISTIANITY MINUS CHRIST Somebody has truly observed that Christianity is Christ, that the Christian faith hangs upon the person of Christ. Other world-systems of religion do not in the same way depend upon their initiators and founders. The ve:y heart of the Christ revelation is an incarnation of God for the purpose of redemption. If you take that element out of Christianity it immediately sinks to the level of a mere ethical system. _ Christianity minus Christ is negligible. Indeed, Christianity minus the Divine Christ has sunk from being a life and a faith to being simply a code of morals. Hence our Lord’s solicitude as to men’s thoughts of Him. The estimate that His followers had of His person was a matter of tremendous moment to Him, and nothing brought Him greater gladness than when at Caesarea Philippi, to Peter, the spokesman of the twelve. there was given this insight into His dignity, and He was confessed as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16: 13-17).

LOVE’S SACRIFICE. Love is a costly thing. God so loved that He gave His Son; Christ loved that He left heaven and its glory and came. We so love that day by day we go to toil ami hardship, to struggle and pain. Wo load our lives with heavy burdens and our hearts with sore pain, but our sacrifices for love’s sake lift us nearer into kinship with Infinite than anything else can do. Every grief, every loss touches those who are dear to us tear our hearts. Even when they go wrong we cannot unlove; we can only suffer and pray. But if this be true of us, shall we doubt the faithfulness of that higher Love of which ours it but faint reflection? And we may be sure that He understands all that these human ties bring to us of vicarious pain, and that He will be very tender to all of our intercessory prayers.

THE DISCIPLES’ GLAD DISCOVERY.

(By T. Robinson, Barrow.)

The two walking to Emmnus (Luke 24) hod— f 1. A Great Concern as to what had become of the body of their Lord. Women had told them they had been to the sepulchre, had seen angels who said, “He is risen.” Shattered hopes began to revive, but they were bewildered.

2. A Great Contrast was pointed out in the Scriptures by the “Stranger” who joined them in their sadness. Sufferings had been foretold as well as glories. They had lost sight of the former. To-day many believers' lose sight of the latter (see 1 Peter 1, 10, 11). 3. A Great Commentary then was given by the “Stranger,” from Moses to Malachi, “expounding unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”—Messiah (v. 27). Note how the Scriptures are appealed to as the Divine Authority, even as He had done in His earthly ministry.

ST. MATTHEW 17. 14-27

THE CAUSE OF POWERLESSNESS

“Why could not we cast him out?” (19). A sad but serious question. That much service for the Lord is without power we know, alas 1 too well. Why then is it? No doubt this incident is recorded to help us in the matter. First, a warning. Power is not earned by merit, nor necessarily gained by greater energy in the performance of religious duties. Men may multiply their prayers and fasts, their self-inflicted humiliations and denials, and yet remain powerless. No, power is not a thing of straining and fleshly 1 - effort. All the ways of God are easy, unaffected and without friction and anxious energy. How quietly and simply did our Lord do His Father’s will when He went about doing good work, and vet the power of God was ever with Him. “Grant me, 0 Lord, that as I work I may so quietly rest in Thee, That while I would no duty shirk, Thy yoke may light and easy be.” The secrets of powerlessness are stated in our portion, (i) Perversity. “0 faithless and perverse generation”! (17). Power only attends upon the obedience of faith and love. If there is “perversity,” that is, turning away from truth, a backsliding of heart from Christ, a distortion (for so the word is literally), there can be no blessing on our labours. “Without Me ; ” Jesus said, “ye can do nothing.” (ir) Unbelief. “Because of your unbelief” (20). Many work with no confidence in Christ, with no assurance that He will bless, with no expectancy of the Holy Spirit’s conviction, and so “they have their reward”—a fruitless effort, (iii) Prayerlessness (21). No worker can afford to go alone to his Lord’s service. Ho must ask if he would receive. (iv) Selfindulgence. “And fasting.” Our love of ease, our unwillingness to'take pains, to suffer reproach, to labour, persist, endure, and even weep that souls may be won, often accounts for the “cannot.”

To-day’s thought: “He that goeth forth and weepeth ...” is the one who brings in the sheaves (Psa. 126. 6).

SPIRITUAL BREVITIES. ’ A load of earth has crushed many a man to death! Whatever produces a care in us produces God’s care for us. Faith appropriates what Jove has provided; and the more faith takes the greater is the delight of love. Be much with God in secr'et, so will you bring pfofit into meetings of the saints and bring profit away from them- ,* 7'?/ •>'- / . . r What/' we would be if opportunity presentfed itself-, that TO ire; our “would he’s” are., the truest index of our character^, 23 :7). It requires the same, grace to bear in a/'right spirit with a cross word

as a cross injury; the breaking of a china plate as the death of an only son. THE BIG LITTLE WORD OF THE BIBLE. THE WELCOME SO—“God, SO loved the world.” Here is a welcome for all. The warmth of this great love of God gave Christ Jesus to die in the sinner’s stead, that the guilty might be cleared. THE WONDERFUL SO—“As far as the east is from the west, SO far- hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Surely this is full of wonder. Whoever could have effected such a salvation as that? None but God Himself. THE WARNING SO—“How shall we escape if we neglect SO great salvation?” This is a question which can only be answered one way—there is no escape for the sinner who deliberately God’s way of salvation. What a warning 1 A little word, its meaning great A welcome holds, a fearful judgment states, ■ A wonderful Balvation—all may know; J Heed then the mighty littl® So.”