June 14

“As many as I love, I reprove and chasten.” Revelation 3:19

How different were these Christians at Laodicea from those whom the Lord recognized as truly rich at Smyrna. The Laodiceans may well have been marvelous Christians with much of which to be proud, but it would have been better if they had not themselves boasted of it but had left it to others to applaud them.

Spiritual things are not to be boasted of. One can boast of worldly riches, and the paper money will not fly away unspent nor will the amount magically decrease, but the spiritual riches you boast of vanish with the telling. When a Christian says he is strong, at that moment his strength has gone. lf the face of a Moses really shines, he is never the one to be aware of it. We always hope that we are growing spiritually, but it is not for us to appraise our own progress.

June 13

“We departed, and went on our journey; and they all, with wives and children, brought us on our way.” Acts 21:5

I trust that if the Lord is gracious to our churches today, half of the people added to them will be the children of Christian parents and the other half will be people rescued from the world.

The gospel does indeed rescue people from the world, but a church cannot be strong if the increase comes only from that quarter and not also from the children of its members. We should hope to see a steady flow coming also from Christian families. People such as Timothy must be brought in through the influence of a Lois and Eunice. Thereby will the church be greatly enriched.

To lead your children to God, you must yourself walk ahead and let them follow. The standard of faith which you pursue will contribute largely toward theirs.

June 12

“Wherefore let us keep the feast . . . with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:8

The breaking of the bread has two meanings in Scripture: one is to remember the Lord and the other is to express fellowship with all the children of God. It is literally impossible for me to give the right hand of fellowship to every one of God’s children here on earth. Yet on the Lord’s Day his people touch symbolically the same bread, as they break it in his name here and therefore throughout all the earth.

Wherever they may be, they touch by faith the same living Bread as I. So in this way I relate by touch with all the true children of Cod. Here I meet all my brothers and sisters, as well as my Lord. I not only have fellowship with those who share the bread with me in my local meeting, but also with all whose hands are outstretched to touch the same Bread of life throughout the world. We, though so many and so different, are yet one loaf in Christ.

June 11

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33

To repent for sin is good, but to become engrossed with the thought of our own evil is wrong because we too easily mistake this for Christian humility, not realizing that we are but suffering the harmful effects of Satan’s accusations. Of course it is true that when we sin, we must confess it and deal with it. But there is another lesson which we must learn. It is to look, not upon ourselves, but upon the Lord Jesus.

Once a child of God accepts Satan’s accusations, all day long he will feel that he is wrong. From morning till evening, whether working, resting, walking, reading the Scriptures, or praying, he will be consumed with the thought of his own worthlessness. The Word of God tells us that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin—and “all sin” means any sin, whether it be great or small.

June 10

“I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus . . .”  Revelation 1:9

In Revelation 6:10 we hear the cry “How long?” Those who utter this plaint are finding it difficult to exercise patience any more. They cry for vengeance, for the execution of judgment. Surely if impatience is justified in any, it is justified in the dead saints rather than the living, for they have waited so much longer. Even so, they are told that the time of patience has not yet expired.

It is significant that John calls himself a partaker in the patience of Jesus at the outset of a book which deals so much with judgment. As seen as judgment is carried out, there will be no mere need for patience. John, about to write on the subject of judgment, declares that he is still living in the realm of patience. When God pours out his wrath upon the earth, then the time of patience will be over. Meanwhile, he calls upon his people to share with him in it.

June 9

“lf Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, l cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah.” Numbers 24:13

Only when the Word of God was voiced by Balaam did his words become a prophecy. He spoke as the Spirit of God came upon him and irrespective of his own moral condition, for he spoke in spite of himself. God was merely employing the man’s mouth to utter his word. Had Balaam attempted to add his own thoughts and feelings, it would at once have ceased to be the Word of God.

How different is the way God’s Word was proclaimed through the Lord Jesus! Earlier, God had engaged men’s voices to propagate his word. Even John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, was but a voice in the wilderness. When we come to the Lord Jesus, however, his consistency of character compels us to speak of him as the living Word of God. When he opened his mouth, there was God’s Word; but even when he kept it shut, that Word was still living there in his wonderful Person.