December 31

“Among whom ye are seen as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:15

A candle should burn until it is all consumed; likewise a man’s testimony should continue until his death. It one candle’s light is to live on, then it needs to kindle another before it is completely burned out. By kindling candle after candle, the light can shine on and on until it covers the whole world. Such is the testimony of the Church.

When the Son of God came to the earth, he kindled a few candles; later on he ignited another candle in Paul, and of course many more. During the 2,000 years since then, the Church’s light continued burning on in candle after candle. Many have even sacrificed their lives to ignite others, but although the first candle gutters out, the second one continues, and so on and so on. Go therefore and witness for the Lord! Let his testimony shine out in the earth unceasingly.

December 30

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.” Joel 2:25

Do our hearts ache over the years we have foolishly squandered? Then let us thank God for the comfort of knowing his power to restore them. “Alas,” we lament, “our best years have been devoured by the locusts. They are lost now, never to be regained. What shall we do?” The answer is, “Nothing!” It is God who will restore those years. As to the time wasted, a lost decade of ours  may have been worth no more than one day in God’s eyes; but if hereafter we redeem the time by using it for God, then one day may become equal in value to 1,000 years.

For the day on earth is not clocked in heaven on the basis of twenty-four hours. Instead, God has his own moral scale of computation. If our service is according to his will, let us take courage. Who can tell what a single hour may count for in his sight?

December 29

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never some yoke.” Numbers 19:2

While all Israel's other sacrifices were offered to meet current needs, the red heifer alone was different, it was offered to provide for future eventualities. The whole heifer was to be burned. Then the ashes were collected and stored, so that as the need arose they could be mixed with running water and sprinkled on an unclean person to make him clean.

In those ashes was embodied all the efficacy of redemption. Whenever a man was defiled, he had no need to slay another heifer; he needed only to he sprinkled with this water. Putting this in Christian terms, a believer today does not need the Lord Jesus to work for him a second time; he has the incorruptible ashes and living water of Christ’s finished work fur his cleansing. The atonement which God has wrought for us in Christ is always at once available for our need.

December 28

“And not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.” Acts 4:32

Once these men had gained eternal life, their possessions began to lose their grip on them, and in quite a natural way they disposed of their properties. Applying this to us who come to follow the Lord today, should it not be quite natural to us that our many possessions are placed at his disposal?

From my own personal life may I tell you something which may make you laugh. For nearly twenty years I have had the habit of purchasing a half dozen or so of anything I buy for myself. For example, if I buy a safety razor blade. I purchase a dozen of them, to avoid buying for my own self alone. Of course I cannot give a razor blade to each of a thousand or more brethren, but if I give to other brothers before I use my own, it saves me from feeling in a wrong way that the razor belongs exclusively to me. This has proved to be one small way of holding my material possessions for God.

December 27

“And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.” 1 John 2:1

What the Lord has done is wholly to forgive us for our sins and totally to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When Scripture says “all,” there is no doubt that God means all. Let us not divide his Word. He forgives all our sins, not only of the past but right up to date—sins that we are conscious of as well as those of which we are unaware.

“If any man sin.” God has spoken to us that we should not sin, Faced with his great forgiveness our gratitude, far from making us careless, will surely constrain us not to sin. But if a Christian should sin, he has an Advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. It is now a family affair, as the words “with the Father” indicate. The very fact that the Son intercedes for us there guarantees that the least believer, however lately entered upon the Father-Son relationship with God has unqualified forgiveness.

December 26

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

“The peace of God” is not just a certain kind of peace that God bestows upon us. It is God’s own peace, the very peace which is inherent in his nature. His is a peace that nothing can disturb. When he created the angels, and when rebellion broke out in their ranks with far-reaching effects in his universe, not even so dark a calamity could disturb him. He proceeded to realize his heart’s desire by repairing the damage done on the earth and then creating another order of beings—man.

Then man too fell. Yet the peace of God remained undisturbed, We would have expected him to act immediately to make good the damage; but not so. God could wait for “the fullness of time” before sending his Son to recover what was lost. A wait of thousands of years put no strain on his peace. God promises that a peace of this quality will guard the hearts and thoughts of those who fulfill his condition of committing everything to him in prayer.

December 25

“They shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.” Matthew 1:23

The whole outworking of redemption activities was initiated by this coming of the Babe to Bethlehem. It illustrates in a supreme way the quiet and apparently small character of God‘s beginnings. Only a few humble shepherds were called in to witness this unique addition to the human race by which the eternal Son of God was thereafter able to claim to he the Son of Man.

Jesus himself adopted this description of himself and seemed to delight in it, though truly God, he was now truly Man. The title of Immanuel was never fully understood while Jesus was on earth and was probably never used by those nearest to him. Since Calvary and Pentecost, however, believers have claimed it as one of the most precious of his many names. He set his own seal on it when he assured his adoring apostles, “Lo, l am with you always.” Since he added “unto the end of the age,” we too can claim him as our ever-present Immanuel.

December 24

“For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Hebrews 4:15

Why was it that our Lord Jesus did not enter this world as a grown man? Why did he have to be conceived as a baby, to be nursed and carried, until he gradually grew up to manhood? Why was he obliged to pass through more than thirty years of earthly sufferings? Could he not as easily have accomplished the work of redemption by coming down into the world and being crucified three days later? The answer is that he suffered chastening and hardship and frustration and disappointment in order that he might be sympathetic with you and me.

Sympathy is compassion, “suffering together.” He feels with you. He is always sympathetic toward your infirmities, never to the sins you commit, but always to the sufferings of your body and distresses of your soul. He has been through it all. He not only has the grace to save you; he also has the heart to sympathize with you.

December 23

“Thou art fair, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.” Song of Songs 6:4

It is in the heavenly realm that the saints have their union with Christ, but there too they meet the real force of the enemy's attacks. God never intended believers to possess heavenly beauty merely and be without the spiritual stamina to fight his battles. Unfurled banners denote victory. It is the defeated who have to roll them up. Christ’s beloved people are meant to make an impact in the heavens, marching on triumphantly as an army.

Yet when that is said, they are at the same time likened to Tirzah, a place renowned for its beauty, and are described as being comely as Jerusalem, the city of God. There is no contradiction here. The Church which is beautiful to God will be a challenge to his enemies.

December 22

“Having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13

What does it mean to be a stranger and a pilgrim? Let me use an illustration. During my stay in England, shortly before the Munich crisis, I noticed people preparing for war by digging trenches. preparing shelters, and distributing masks for poisonous gas. My feelings at that time were entirely different from those of the Englishmen. I watched them prepare for war until the news came that a pact had been signed.

Many could not sleep that night. They sang and they shouted. But what was my reaction? I watched unmoved. While they had been busily preparing for war, I had watched coldly; now when they rejoiced over peace, I still watched coldly. I was a sojourner. I would soon go away. In their joy and in their sorrow I was merely an observer. So it was that I realized what it means to he an alien. My attitude toward England was neutral. I hoped for her good; I wished her peace; but my interests lay elsewhere.

December 21

“But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love.” Revelation 2:4

The expression “first love” refers not only to primacy in time but also in quality. The story of the prodigal son’s return home tells us that the father called for “the best robe” to be brought to replace the penitent’s rags. This is the same word. The first love is the best love.

The tragedy in this church at Ephesus was that it had left or moved away from that devotion which gave the Lord the first place in their affections. There was, however, a hope. It is not always possible to recover what has been lost, but it is always open to us to return to a position from which we have strayed. The Lord calls each of us who has wandered to come back to the experience of loving him best, to return to our first love.

December 20

“I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears.” 2 Kings 20:5

How good it is to know that God sees our tears. As Hezekiah prayed, he also wept; and God answered him. Such tearful prayers can move God’s heart. It seems that whatever cannot move your heart cannot move God’s heart either. A weeping before men may reveal your weakness and lack of manly strength, but a weeping before God is different.

Yet be clear about this, that tears are futile if they are not shed before God. There are people who are prone to weeping, but if a man's cry simply expresses his own sorrow and distress, it will not produce any positive results. Tears accompanied by prayer, however, are effective. Every time you cry in distress, why not therefore add prayer? The supplications of the Lord Jesus went up to God with strong crying and tears, and he was heard because he feared.

December 19

“Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1

We never cease to need God’s cleansing of our spirits. As his children, we come often face to face with the cross of Christ and it never confronts us in vain. Each time some new defect in us is brought to light and dealt with, often painfully, and we are cleansed once again and our spirits are purified.

If the Spirit of the Lord were to reject every man who had some defect, things would be much simpler. It would be easy to draw a clear line between what is the work of the flesh and what of the Spirit. The problem is compounded, however, because God does not reject us outright, even though our spirit is not pure and our flesh may be active. Instead he uses us, and next time deals with us afresh by his cross. Although he uses us, let us be careful that we never lose sight of our own impurity. And the more he uses us, the more willingly let us subject ourselves again to his cleansing work.

December 18

“And she said, thy handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.” 2 Kings 4:2

The work of the Holy Spirit is not “once empty, always full”; it is “keeping on being empty to keep on being full.” The woman’s difficulty was having too few vessels. She was told to borrow “not a few.” which is to say “the more the better.” The greater the space, the greater will be the fullness. This is the rule which God wants us to learn.

He waits for us to be empty. If you have an unlimited vacancy, the Holy Spirit will occupy it all, dispensing to you his unlimited fullness. Let me repeat; our emptying needs to be continuous. To the degree that we empty ourselves. God can fill us. The emptying is our responsibility, just as the filling is his. God wants to see the hungry filled with good things. Only those who presume to be rich will he send away empty.

December 17

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.” Hebrews 8:13

In Acts 21 Paul went into the Temple to perform a vow. Let us not hastily conclude that he was wrong to do so. We dare not apply God’s ultimate standards to his saints in every age, since his movement toward the final goal is progressive. What is required of you and me today is not that we attain to God’s ultimate but that we keep in step with him now. At that period of his life, it may have been perfectly right for Paul to purify himself in the Temple in accordance with the Old Covenant, but what was fitting then could have been wrong at a later time.

From beginning to end, the book of the Acts is a progressive narrative. Even when the record closes with chapter 28, the movement of the Spirit does not cease. The tide flows on throughout succeeding generations, and all the while God keeps raising up those who will make their specific contribution to each stage of his onward move.

December 16

“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight . . .” Deuteronomy 32:30

Christianity is unique in that it is not only individual but corporate in nature. It stresses the coming together of the saints. Other religions advocate piety; Christianity alone calls people to assemble.

It is promised here that whereas one chases off 1,000 foes, two put to flight ten times that number. We do not know how this is possible, for the arithmetic seems wrong, but it is a fact. We would calculate that if one can chase 1,000, then two will dispose of 2,000. But God says NO. Eight thousand more will flee when two of his children unite. This added effectiveness is the surplus gained from meeting and working together. Let us not, therefore, be content with personal grace alone. God has so much more he can do with us together.

December 15

“If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself.” John 7:17

God grants us light to the degree that he sees we genuinely desire to know his will and do it. A heart that is hardened or self-seeking or self-reliant may shut out God’s light, If we truly want him to illumine us, we must be tender, unselfish, dependent on him, in short, we must be humble, for we are subject to error. What we judge as right may not necessarily be right; what we judge as wrong may not be wrong at all.

We may see darkness as light, or see light and think it darkness. It is so easy for us to act overconfidently and in haste on these mistaken grounds. It is only the light of God that can show us the true character of a thing. Let us ask for that light out of a pure desire for his will, for the Christian life should not be filled with problems, doubts, hesitations, and mistakes.