June 30

“lf there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love . . . if any tender mercies and compassions . . . ”   Philippians 2:1

How timely here are the words “in Christ.” Suppose that Paul had exhorted his brothers in Philippi to be united in love and mercy and compassion; they could well have answered that although such unity was desirable, they could never attain to it. They each had their own goals and ideals and interests. How could they ever expect to abandon them and be so united?

Paul, however, began by stressing the power that there is in Christ. Outside of him they would of course be defeated, but because they were in Christ they could draw freely on the resources which are found in him.

If in him there were no mercy and compassion, these virtues would be impossible to find in his people. They are found in Christ, however, and thus provide, for all his own, the source and the nutrient of a life poured out in his service.

June 29

“And he that is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding.” Proverbs 17:27

Our spirit needs to be fervent, yet also to be cool. Fervency is related to diligence in the service of the Lord, whereas coolness is related to knowledge. If the Christian would simply bear in mind that God cannot lead anyone who is in turmoil, he might be spared many errors.

Never decide on any course or start to do anything while emotion is agitating like a roaring sea. It is in times of emotional upheaval that mistakes are readily made. The mind is easily affected by feelings, and with a restless mind how can we distinguish between right and wrong?

As emotion pulsates, the understanding becomes deceived and even conscience is rendered unreliable. Decisions made in such circumstances are likely afterwards to be regretted. Cultivate a cool spirit. You will open the way for God to give you understanding.

June 28

“lf there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

The cause of much poverty of thought lies in thinking too extravagantly. Learn to conserve your thought, not waste it. Exercise your mind, but do not exhaust its energy on insignificant things. Are you studying the Bible? Do not dissipate your mental powers on minor difficulties of the text.

When you know the Author himself, it matters little whether you can explain these minor problems or not. Are you concerned with the spiritual life? Do not waste intellectual effort on spiritual problems. These are not solved by thinking, but by the entrance of God’s light.

We must daily train ourselves in regard to our thoughts. Do not imagine that God wishes to eliminate reason, but realize that he only desires to bring our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

June 27

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion . . . over all the earth.” Genesis 1:26

Already in God’s act of creation he makes known his desire that man should rule. Moreover, he marks out a specific area—namely, the earth—for his dominion. God’s attention is focused upon this earth, which is destined to become the center of all problems.

The prayer which the Lord Jesus has taught us is also concerned with this earth. “When you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.”

In the original, the last phrase is common to all three clauses, not merely to the final one, so that the hallowing of his name, the coming of his kingdom, and the doing of his will are all “as in heaven, so on earth.”

In other words, there is no problem with heaven; the problem is with the earth, and it is for the earth that God contends. Shall we not, in prayer, exercise man’s dominion by claiming this earth for God?

June 26

“Ye are God’s husbandry.” 1 Corinthians 3:9

The natural trend of things in this fallen world is always away from God. Suppose we take so apparently innocent a matter as agriculture. No one would suggest that in Eden, where the tree of life flourished, farming or gardening was wrong. It was God-appointed.

But as soon as it was let go from under the hand of God, thistles grew. Man was condemned to an endless round of drudgery and disappointment, and an element of perversity marked the fruit of his toil. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake.”

The deliverance of Noah was God’s great movement of recovery, in which the earth was given a fresh start. But how swift, how tragic was man’s reversion. “Noah began to be a husbandman . . . and he drank of the wine and was drunken.”

How different is the Church, God’s husbandry! Through the grace of God she possesses an inherent life-power capable, if she responds to it, of keeping her constantly moving Godward, or of recalling her Godward if she strays.

June 25

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the brunch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.” John 15:4

To abide means to stay where I am. It does not mean to get in or get out. I could not be asked to stay in if I were not already there. Christ never commanded me to get myself into him. That is not my work, but God’s. I cannot do it, however hard I try. He has placed me there. What he does command me to do is to take care that I do not get out.

The difficulty is that we are always prone to let ourselves be uprooted, and Satan is working unceasingly to shake us from our position in Christ. If we yield to some sense of failure, we imagine that we are out of Christ, and we tend to treat ourselves as though somehow we were displaced from him. Yet even though we feel acutely that it is so, we must never allow ourselves to disbelieve God. He assures us that we are in Christ: all he asks us is that, in attitude and action as well as faith, we stay there.

June 24

“And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, und drew water out of the well of Bethlehem.” 2 Samuel 23:16

There is an aspect of suffering referred to in God’s Word in which it is seen as the deliberate choice of his children, those whose consuming desire it is to be of service to him. This is not something imposed upon them to which they reluctantly submit, but something they joyfully choose.

David’s mighty men need not have exposed themselves to danger in this way, but when they heard him express his longing, they hazarded their lives to satisfy it.

The Christian should have a mind to suffer hardship. God will put a limit to our sufferings, but there should be no limit to our willingness to suffer for his testimony and for the salvation of men. This mind to suffer is not a sentimental idea; it is the virile spirit of those who disregard careful calculations and the crippling fear of going to extremes, all for love of Christ.

June 23

“All the saints salute you.” 2 Corinthians 13:13

It is futile to seek to produce individual saints. Praise the Lord that individual sinners are saved, but this is that they may become members of Christ’s Body. God is never satisfied with single, separate Christians. The divine goal is one Man, and not a host of small men. The cross and resurrection point us forward to the Body.

This must be put into practice. Just as reading a book about London is no substitution for visiting the city, and just as having a cookbook full of recipes is valueless until we go into the kitchen, so it is not enough that we believe what we are taught about the Body of Christ. It is essential that we learn and practice our holiness together with other believers.

We have to renounce purely individual goals and learn to move with others and wait for others. Often we shall find this means not only adding to us what is of Christ by the Spirit, but also subtracting painfully whatever in us needs to be put away by the cross. But painful or not, let us practice our membership of the Body.

June 22

“But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me.” Galatians 6:14

When God comes to you and me with the revelation of the finished work of Christ, he does not only show us ourselves crucified with Christ on the cross. He shows us our world there too. If you and I cannot escape the judgment of the cross, then neither can the world escape that judgment. When I see this, I do not try to repudiate a world I love; I see that the cross has repudiated it. I do not try to escape a world that clings to me; I see that by the cross I have escaped.

Let me ask you: What is your occupation? A merchant? A doctor? A farmer? Do not run away from these callings. Physical separation from the world does not bring about spiritual separation; and the reverse is also true, that physical contact with the world does not necessitate spiritual capture by the world.

Eden was a garden without an artificial wall to keep Satan out. God intended that Adam and Eve should “guard it” by themselves constituting a moral barrier to the enemy. Today, through Christ, God plans in the hearts of his redeemed people an Eden in which, in triumphant fact, Satan will at last have no moral access whatever.