December 14

“But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting.” James 1:6

I once had a Christian friend who was in urgent need of $150. At that time we lived in a riverside village where no ferryboat operated on Saturdays or Sundays. It was already Saturday and he needed the money for the following Monday. He prayed to God and became assured that the money would come to him on the Monday. As he went out to preach the gospel, he met his window-cleaner who reminded him that he owed him a dollar for work done; so he paid him from the remaining two dollars which he had in his pocket. Going on further he met a beggar who asked for alms. His remaining dollar seemed very precious to him, but he felt that he must give it all to the beggar.

As his last dollar went out, God came in. He became exceedingly happy, having nothing now to depend on but God alone. He returned home and slept peacefully. On the Lord’s day he was occupied as usual in his service. Monday came, and sure enough $150 arrived by telegram, even though this means of remittance was very costly. God may not be early, but he is never late! Only he is always right on time.

December 13

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for thy love is better than wine.” Song of Songs 1:2

A kiss is an act of personal, wholehearted committal. It means that all the attention is centered on the one person. (No one kisses two persons at the same time!) Of course there can always be the hypocritical kiss of a Judas, or the merely formal salutation which Simon the Pharisee failed to give to Jesus; but these have no place here, for the words are spoken by one whose heart has been captivated by the Lord and who forgets everybody else in the act of devotion which makes everything of him. Such a one longs for the closest communion with God. The Father's kiss of forgiveness was sweet, but this is something more. It is the Lord’s response to an outgoing of devotion from one who finds his love better than all else.

December 12

“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27

Jesus has just stated that if it is absolutely impossible for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, then it is even more impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. We Christians are all like camels; big or small ones, maybe, but still camels. So when Peter heard this statement, he was uneasy. If eternal life is to be obtained by such impossible contortions, then who can be saved? Have we all to set to work to impoverish ourselves before we are saved?

The Lord Jesus answered Peter’s problem with one sentence: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” What was wrong with the young ruler was not his wealth so much as the fact that he went away sorrowful. Why did he not cry out for grace? Why did he not ask God to do the impossible for him? Man's failure is not due to his weakness, but to his unwillingness to let God deliver him.

December 11

“For to you is the promise, and to your children.” Acts 2:39

The biblical view of children is always that they are God’s gift to us. They are ours on trust from him. You cannot say, “This child is mine,” as if he were exclusively yours, giving you unlimited rights over him until he becomes a man. Such a concept is heathen, not Christian. Christianity never recognizes one’s children as one’s private property. They are a divine trust, to be held for the Giver.

From the first God sees the child as a person with his own rights and privileges. He does not deny the child’s self-respect, nor violate his freedom, nor erase his independent personality when he places him in your hand. He trusts you with him for his good and yours. I would tell parents to be slow in demanding strict obedience from their children, and ask them first to set themselves to be good parents before the Lord.

December 10

“And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah.” Genesis 5:22

We do not know anything about Enoch before he was sixty-five years old, but after he begat Methuselah we discover something special: we learn that he walked with God for 300 years before he was taken up. This is very significant. When the burden of having a family came upon Enoch, he became aware of his unfitness. He felt the responsibility heavy on him, so he came near to God.

The record does not say that he walked with God only when Methuselah was born, but that he individually maintained this personal association as though convinced that unless he was intimate with God, he could not lead his son. Nor does it say that children distracted him from his course. He begat many sons and daughters during those three centuries, but all the while he continued to walk with God. Parenthood itself should not hinder people from this walk of faith; rather, since the bearing of family responsibilities reveals one’s true spiritual state, should it constrain them so to walk. And when the pilgrimage was completed, Enoch was not; for God took him.

December 9

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” John 4:14

The Lord Jesus gives people permanent satisfaction. Why then are we so often unsatisfied? Why is there yet a craving within us for something else? We are attentive enough to the promise of this verse, but have we overlooked the declaration which preceded it? Pointing to the well of Sychar, Jesus had said, “Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” It is “this water” that has reawakened our cravings and that fails to satisfy them. It never will. Our mistake is to build our hopes—even Christian hopes—on the fleeting things of time. That explains the disappointment. The first clause, “shall thirst again,” was necessary to drive us to the second, “shall never thirst." We, whom the Lord intends to satisfy fully, often need reminding not to drink from other sources.

December 8

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger . . . be put away from you.” Ephesians 4:31

I am a Christian, and I feel an outburst of temper rising within me. I cannot repress it by merely repeating such Scriptures as “My old man was crucified with Christ,” “I have died to sin,” for afterwards I have to admit that if I were really dead I could not have lost my temper anyway! No, the simple recital of Bible words produces no result.

The cross of Christ is not meant to relieve our symptoms, but rather to deal with our disease. The disease which causes the temper has to do with our “self.” Let no one excuse himself by saying that it is his disposition to be quick-tempered, for the slow can equally lose his temper, though he may manifest it in a different way. We need to know how to deny our self. This is where the death of Christ is effective. If self is being dealt with before God, then our explosive ill temper will naturally fade away.

December 7

“Surely the justice due to me is with Jehovah, and my recompense with my God.” Isaiah 49:4

Our Lord Jesus is never discouraged. He was sent here to bring Jacob again to God, to gather Israel to him; but with what result? He did not appear to have been successful. Indeed. by man’s estimate, he was totally defeated, for Jacob did not return to God. Israel did not accept him. Instead, the Jews rejected Jesus and slew him as a criminal.

Had we to live on earth rejected by men and apparently fruitless in service, it is more than likely that we should become aggrieved and cry out for justice. Not so the Lord. He had committed himself to the Father, and neither gain nor loss was able to touch him. He was careful about one thing only: to leave the vindication and the reward to the Father. If our justice is safe with God, our recompense from him is also sure.

December 6

“They washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14

We can only be made righteous by being cleansed through the blood. God offers us this way and no other. Not only our sins, but our behavior also must be cleansed. Not a single deed of any Christian is originally white. Even if we have some righteousness, it is mixed and not pure. Often we may have been outwardly kind to others, but were inwardly resentful. Often we have been patient with someone, only to go home and moan about him. Even after doing some righteous deed, therefore, we still need the cleansing of the blood.

So no Christian can ever weave himself a robe which is purely white. If he could make one that was 99 percent pure (and who can’t), there would still be one percent of mixture. Even our good deeds, done out of love to the Lord, need the cleansing of the precious blood. But thus cleansed, we shall find ourselves arrayed in heavenly whiteness.

December 5

“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go . . . and Jehovah will be my God . . . ” Genesis 28:20, 21

Now is it not true that you vowed a vow when you were first saved? Although you may have bargained with God while doing so. as Jacob did, your heart was right. As you set out upon his pathway, your desire toward him was good.

But have you been like Jacob? The morning after, he put that vow behind his back. He traveled eastward and far from relying on God, he began at once to maneuver his way to success. He put his trust, not in the One whom he had asked to keep and clothe and feed him, but wholly in himself. How well he represents us! He looked to God, but he relied on his own cleverness.

In Laban, however, God had prepared for this clever Jacob someone even cleverer. Step by step he was brought back by adversity to his vow, until at length he could only confess himself unworthy of the least of God’s mercies.

December 4

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

In this experience, the discipline of the Holy Spirit leads Paul to a new discovery. He has gone through a lot already, and he is not one to fear danger or sickness; yet now he is being sore tried. The thorn in the flesh is no ordinary thorn. If Paul says it is painful, then it must be very painful indeed. He is weakened by it. But at the very point God gives him grace which he affirms is “sufficient.” Paul has thus made a dual discovery. He recognizes not merely God’s strength but also his own weaknesses—and not ashamed to tell us so.

Countless saints in the Church have been carried through trial and testing by means of the revelation of God to Paul. Oh, if we ourselves only knew how weak we are! For as soon as weakness leaves us, power likewise departs. But like Paul, the testings you and I go through perfect the words we utter. As we then rise up and admitting our own weakness, speak words that are tempered through trial, our brothers and sisters, themselves under testing, are given by God the grace and the strength to carry them through also.

December 3

“For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

A brother once said to me, “My treasure is on earth, but my heart is in heaven.” Such a brother should be exhibited in a Christian museum as rarity! This is greater than a miracle, for it is something which the Lord said is quite impossible.

Mammon (or riches) is an idol which many have served over the past years and have found that such service gets a grip on the heart. The Lord’s Word is both candid and sure: the heart always follows the treasure. There is no escape from this fact. No matter how one reasons, a man cannot serve both God and mammon. We must choose either one or the other.

December 2

“Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee.” Psalm 141:2

True prayer comes from the desire of the heart, not from the imagination of the mind. It arises from a deep inner longing for the will of God. For this reason, the psalmist asked that his prayer might be offered to God as incense. All Old Testament incense came from the frankincense trees. To obtain it, successive incisions were made in the bark, and the tree then oozed a white resin from which the incense was manufactured. Hence prayer is not the offering of just anything that might be at hand; it is the presenting of something drawn painfully out of the innermost heart, as though it seeped from our very wounds.

How different is this from the easygoing prayers that we sometimes offer—prayers good to listen to, but all too empty of content! God answers these too, but let us remember well that our prayers are for God to hear, not for pleasing the ears of our fellow Christians. And God looks on the heart.

December 1

“But I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:39

What is taught us in the Sermon on the Mount? Is it not this—that within us, his sons, God has planted a new life; that that life makes upon us its own unique demands; and that in our conduct toward men we dare not be satisfied with anything less than what fulfills those demands. The Sermon does not tell us that provided we do what is right, then all is well. Men would protest, “Why present the other cheek? Surely it is enough if we accept the blow meekly without retaliating!” But God says otherwise. If when you are smitten on the one cheek, you do no more than bow your head and depart, you will find that the inner life will not

be satisfied.

Many people tell us that the standards of Matthew 5—7 are too difficult; they are quite beyond us. I admit this. They are impossible. But here is the point: you have an inner life, and in a given situation that life gives you no rest until you do as the Sermon on the Mount requires. If the demands of his Son’s life in you are met, God will take care of the consequences. We dare not stop short of his satisfaction.