August 31

“Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection.” Hebrews 6:1    

In the Christian life, there are a few truths which are foundational. A foundation needs to be laid only once, but it must be firmly laid. First principles are therefore very important.

There is a modern error among Christians which is quite different from that of these Hebrews in the first century. They, having laid the foundation, were in danger of circling round and round it, and never going beyond. Our danger, on the other hand, may be that of trying to go forward without ever having laid the good foundation at all.

Today some want to move too fast, to rush onward before the foundation has been laid. When that is so, our task is to recall them to Christ, who alone is God’s "tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation" (Isaiah 28:16). The apostles had to persuade people to leave, whereas we may need to induce them to return.

August 30

“I therefore so run, as not uncertainly.” 1 Corinthians 9:26

The Lord who is the Creator of our bodies has endowed them with many legitimate impulses; but remember, he created the body to be our servant and not our master. Until that is established, we cannot serve him as we ought. Of those who enter the race, Paul warns us, not all are prizewinners. He stresses, therefore, the importance of self-discipline on the part of each competitor.

If in ordinary, everyday life the Christian worker’s body has not been taught to know and obey its master, how can it be expected to respond to the extraordinary demands he will sometimes have to make upon it for the sake of the work of God? Paul is no ascetic. He does not teach, as some did, that the body is an encumbrance. On the contrary, he declares that the believer’s body is a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. Yet as a messenger of the gospel, he is certain of the value of training and self-discipline if the goal is to be attained.

August 29

“Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee.” Psalm 55:22

Have you ever watched workmen engaged on the construction of a building as they stand at three different levels of the scaffolding and pass bricks from the lowest to mid-level and from there to the top? The work goes on pace as long as each brick, when it reaches one level, is passed on to the level above. What if the man in the middle did not hand on his brick, and yet another came up to him? What if the man at the top level refused to receive the bricks? The poor middle man would be crushed by the load.

That very thing happens to us continually in the unseen. When the first trouble reaches us, we fail to send it on to a higher level, and soon we feel pressed and fretful. Along comes a second trouble, and a third, and by degrees we are worn out and collapse under the load. The remedy is so simple. As soon as any anxiety threatens us, we must immediately pass our burden up higher.

August 28

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you.” John 14:27

God preserves in himself a quite undisturbed peace. It is that peace of God which, Paul tells us, is to garrison our hearts and thoughts. The word “garrison” means that my foe has to fight through the armed guard at the gates before he can reach me. Before I can be touched, the garrison itself has first to be overcome. So I dare to be as peaceful as God, for the peace that is keeping God is keeping me.

Recall that night before Christ’s passion. Everything seemed to be going wrong—a friend going out into the night to betray him, another drawing a sword in anger, people going into hiding in their eagerness to avoid involvement with him. In the midst of it all Jesus said to those who had come to take him, "I am he," and he said it so peacefully that instead of him being nervous, it was they who trembled and fell backward. It is no surprise to us, therefore, that Paul describes this peace as beyond understanding.

August 27

“For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21

Have you noticed how certain words and images are constantly employed by Paul which were not used by Peter or John or Matthew? Have you seen how Luke has structured his Gospel in one way and Mark in another? Have you observed in the one the note of compassion, in the other of immediacy? On each book the writer leaves his own indelible mark; yet each is the Word of God.

Take courage from this. If God wanted to do so, he could use an ass; indeed he did so once, to speak to Balaam. But the ass only spoke when God’s Word was in his mouth; and when God moved on, only an ass remained. Thank God he has chosen you to understand his Word, and live it out, and then give it your own unique emphasis when, in weakness and fear and much trembling, you are called to speak it out for him.

August 26

“And Samuel said, Though thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel?” 1 Samuel 15:17

Saul was only called to the kingdom of Israel because of the people’s insistence that they should be given a king. He was tall and impressive, the type of man who could readily be judged acceptable by most of the people. In spite of the doubtful basis of his position, God gave him every facility, prospered him, and blessed him.

But of course Saul had to be tested, and there are few things more testing than God’s prospering, especially when it is obvious to all. The one who has been greatly helped by God should be the humblest of men, but sometimes the very reverse is true. This was so in Saul’s case. He failed in faith and obedience, but fundamentally his failure was due to conceit. He had been a humble man in adversity, but his prosperity led him into impatience, presumption, and ugly jealousy. May God keep us little in our own sight!

August 25

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14

Many Christians stand up loyally for what is right, yet by the hardness of their attitude they offend against love. They have grown obsessive about righteousness, but deficient in charity. True, as Christians we should never compromise over the righteousness of God, but at the same time we should not strive with others.

Men and women are won by love, not by its opposite. In your contact with people, do not offend them. It is necessary, certainly, for you to obey God and not tone down his commands, but this should not lead you to offend your fellow-men by your attitude or your words. Hard inflexibility should give way in you to meekness and gentleness. That way, many will be attracted to the Lord. Hardness drives people off, but love draws them.

August 24

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God.” 1 John 4:7

The life within the children of God is so rich that it is possible for them to love all their brothers and sisters in Christ. Such love is the spontaneous fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. There is no difference between loving one brother and loving them all, for the same love is shown to the one as to the many. He is loved just because he is a brother, they because they are brethren. The number of persons has no bearing here, for the love expressed is "of God." Brotherly love is love of all the brethren.

Let us be careful lest we do things that violate that love. Do not allow your brotherly love to desert you because of wounds received, for this will have sorry consequences. God has put many brothers and sisters in our way, here and now, to be the targets of love. These give us the opportunity to realize in costly, concrete terms our love toward God. Never boast of your love to God; just learn to show love to the brethren.

August 23

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

How does the Lord Jesus give us rest? He, as it were, sets himself before us that we may see him, saying, "I am meek." Meekness means flexibility. He who is meek is able to declare that only what God wants him to have will he have. Whether to possess a thing or not to possess it matters not at all, provided the decision is the Lord’s. Having it in the will of God, he can thankfully sing hallelujah; yet not having it in the will of God, he can do just the same.

Meekness means that your decisions are subject to change by him. Is God free to change your mind? You have announced that he loves you, but will you then fret if he does not grant you what you ask for? Can you sing hallelujah anyway? A man is meek when he is willing to turn around if God so wishes. Whatever renewing of the mind God desires of him, he is open to it. Such a man has perfect rest.

August 22

“There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” Genesis 32:24

It was not Jacob who wrestled, but God who came and wrestled with him, to bring about his utter surrender. The object of wrestling is to force a man down until he is unable to move, so that he yields to the victor. Jacob was stronger than most, but God conquered. When he would not yield, God, "touched him." With one touch he did what great strength would not do.

The thigh is the strongest part of the body, a fitting type of our own natural strength. Your strong point and mine may be quite different from Jacob’s. Ambition, boasting, self-love—each of us has his own, but for each of us that dislocating work is a definite crisis of experience. What happened looked like a defeat for Jacob, but God said he had prevailed. This is what s when we surrender, beaten, at God’s feet. 

August 21

“In labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst.” 2 Corinthians 11:27

Here speaks a true man of God. The kingdom of God suffers greatly from the neglectful behavior of would-be "spiritual" people who busy themselves with prayer and Bible study, attending only to their own spiritual needs. The Lord’s people should trust him to meet their spiritual no less than their physical needs, and devote themselves meanwhile to the tasks which God has given them to fulfill.

Spiritual life is for spiritual work. Its secret lies in the continuous outflow of that life to others. We should be willing to endure even hunger in order to accomplish what God wants us to do, and be satisfied that our spiritual food is simply to do his will. We shall only lack if we are self-occupied. He who is occupied with the Father’s business will find himself perpetually satisfied.

August 20

“Now is the judgment of this world.” John 12:31

In the New Testament when the word kosmos is used for the world, it refers not only to the material universe and its inhabitants but also to worldly affairs, the whole circle of worldly goods, riches, advantages, pleasures, which though hollow and fleeting stir our desires and seduce us from God. Since the day when Adam opened the door for evil to enter God’s creation, this world order has shown itself hostile to God.

When Jesus states that the sentence of judgment has been passed upon this world, he does not mean that the material world or its inhabitants are already judged. For them, the judgment is yet to come. What is here judged is that institution, that harmonious world order of which Satan himself is the originator and head. Scripture thus gives depth to our understanding of the world around us. Indeed, unless we appreciate that the unseen powers behind material things are satanic, we may readily be seduced by them.

August 19

“Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and riding upon on ass.” Matthew 21:5

The Lord Jesus charges us to be meek. How meek he was himself! To show that his kingship is based not on arrogance but lowliness, he chose to ride upon an ass. During his earthly life he could easily be approached and readily talked to. So should we be. A Christian should not be aloof, but easily accessible in his personal relations.

To be meek in disposition is to be self-controlled. We will not lose our temper. Kindness is the most delicate of human emotions, rudeness and loss of temper the most ill-mannered. The Son of God was never rude. He did not show arrogance, nor seek recognition in high places. He lived humbly on earth, and God’s will for us is that we should do the same, following our humble Lord in his pathway of meekness.

August 18

“For after this manner aforetime the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves.” 1 Peter 3:5     

Unless I am mistaken, this is the only place in the Bible where a direct reference is made to "holy women," though the term "holy men" is often used. It is a notable reference because it draws attention to what is of great price in the sight of God. Why should this adornment of a meek and quiet spirit (verse 4] be so valuable in God’s eyes? Surely because its loveliness is then beauty of Jesus.

It is unseemly for a woman to be beautifully dressed and yet to display an ugly temper. The apostle would not wish that any Christian woman should be carelessly or negligently dressed, but he rightly stresses that the greatest beauty of all is beauty of character. What is more it wears well, for it is incorruptible.

August 17

“And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure.” Revelation 19:8

We have nothing of which we can boast. From outside to inside there is nothing which is entirely pure. The more we know ourselves, the more we realize how filthy we are; our best deeds and our best intentions are mixed with impurity. Without the cleansing of the blood, it is impossible to be white.

The garments here, however, are not only white but bright or shining. Whiteness alone has a tendency to become dull, pale, and ordinary. So it is possible for us to be good and yet to lack divine luster.

God’s desire for us is that we should be both pure and bright. Now we shall find that tribulation and glory are often linked in Scripture, and it was because of the suffering of death that Jesus was crowned with glory and honor. We must therefore not be afraid of affliction. It is the days of difficulty which make us shine.

August 16

“For I Jehovah thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not.” Isaiah 41:13

To know God in the close relationship of "our Father" who supplies our needs is one thing. To know him as God the Father eternal, the source and originator of everything, is something more. We have to learn that nothing can hinder God and nothing can help him. He is almighty.

Before he provides us with the gifts of his grace, our hands are empty. After he has done so, they are full and our hearts are filled with praise. But a day comes when God reaches out his hand to take ours in friendship. Then we need an empty hand to put into his. The question is, Do we have one? What of the gifts we received from him? Have we been nursing them to ourselves?

Are we too occupied with the spiritual provisions—the "our Father" daily bread—to put them down and have a hand free for him? Let go the gift and the experience as things in themselves, and hold to God. They can be done without: God himself is indispensable.

August 15

“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father.” Matthew 16:17

It may seem strange to us that at this point the Lord should identify Peter as the son of Jonah. What relevance had Peter’s human father here? It was the Father in heaven who had shown to him who Jesus was. The light he had received so clearly was not a matter of human instruction or insight. In this matter at least, Peter’s earthly paternity seems of no concern at all.

The only purpose which Jesus could have had was to single out Peter in a specially individual way. This Simon, Jonah’s son and no other, was the one on whom divine illumination had dawned. Such a revelation of Christ to our hearts is always intensely personal. The Church is not a company of people who copy or borrow from one another, but of those who, like Peter, have firsthand experience of the Father in heaven.

August 14

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God.” 2 Corinthians 3:5

God has his work. It is not your work or mine, nor is it the work of this mission or that church group. It is his own work. Paul once expressed a desire to lay hold on that task or role for which he himself had been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. We can conclude that the Lord Jesus has a specific purpose in taking hold of each of us, and it is that purpose and no other which we ourselves want to engage in. He takes charge of us that we in return may actively cooperate with him in his work.

Nevertheless, it is still true that we cannot of ourselves do a work that is wholly and absolutely his. We participate as his co-workers. On the one hand, we acknowledge that we cannot lift as much as a little finger to accomplish God’s purpose; yet on the other hand, we have been given the status of "fellow workers" with him. It is a paradox that casts us completely upon the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit.

August 13

“I wrote unto you with many tears.” 2 Corinthians 2:4

We know that the first letter to the Corinthians was written after Paul had heard from the household of Chloe about the serious condition of the church there. In that letter he had reproved them in straight and severe language for their many errors. Now he tells us that the letter was written out of much anguish of heart and with many tears.

One thing is quite certain: if you want your words to strike home to others, you must first be wounded yourself. Unless you have first been cut to the quick, those fine words of yours will have no impact on your hearers. You must suffer first yourself, and deeply, if you are called to say things that must wound in order to heal. How easy it is to point other people to their faults, but how hard it is to do so with tears!

August 12

“Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23

We are said in the Bible to be "crucified" with Christ, but never in relation to sin. Liberation from sin and its consequences is for us an accomplished fact. Man is not required to do anything to achieve it, for he cannot. He need only accept by faith as accomplished the finished work of Christ on the cross, in order himself to reap the benefits of that death for him.

What the Bible does say is that we should take up the cross, in the sense of denying self, and that this should be our continual attitude. The Lord Jesus instructs us several times to follow him in this. The explanation is that God deals with our "sins" and with our "selves" in two very different ways. To conquer sin the believer needs but a moment; to deny self he will require a whole lifetime. Only once, on the cross, did the Lord Jesus bore our sins, where as throughout his lifetime he denied himself. The same will be true of us, that denial of self is an experience of long association with him. We follow him daily.

August 11

“But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . self-control.” Galatians 5:22

The end of this list, and thus the summit of a Christian’s spiritual walk, is self-control. What commonly is spoken of as the Holy Spirit’s government of us does not mean that he directly controls any part of us. That misunderstanding has lured Christians into passivity, or worse, deception, the end of which road is despair. But if we know that the Spirit is to lead man to the place of self-control, we are on the way to progress in spiritual life.

As believers, it is through our renewed will that the Holy Spirit rules. God’s object in creation was to have man with a perfectly free volition, and his purpose in redemption is no different. The Christian is not obliged to obey God mechanically; instead his is the privilege of fulfilling God’s desires willingly and actively. We are perfectly free to choose or reject the various charges in the New Testament concerning life and godliness. They would mean nothing if God were to annihilate the operation of our own wills. The choice is ours: flesh or Spirit? And the fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

August 10

“For the love of Christ constraineth us.” 2 Corinthians 5:14         

To be "constrained" means to be tightly held, or to be surrounded so that one cannot escape. When someone is moved by love, he will experience such a sensation. Love will bind him. Love is therefore the basis of consecration. No one can consecrate himself to God without first sensing the compelling love of Christ.

It is futile to talk about consecration if this love is unknown to us, but once it is experienced our self-dedication to him readily follows. The Lord loved us sinners enough to purchase us back to himself at the supreme cost of his life. When the love that constrains us is such a love, how could our response of committal to him be less than wholehearted?

August 9

“All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore . . .” Matthew 28:18-19            

On this huge earth there is at least one group of people who, by their subjection to him, uphold the authority of God. Though the nations rage defiantly against him, the Church is the one body proclaiming his authority to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Not only is she on the earth today to preach the gospel and grow up into Christ; she is also here to manifest the sovereign rule of God.

The Church is the precise opposite of the nations. While they take counsel together against God and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” the Church with joy declares that she is ready to put herself under his bonds in order to learn obedience. To obey him is her life. Is it mine?

August 8

“I thank him that enabled me . . . appointing me to his service.” 1 Timothy 1:12

Formerly only those of the house of Aaron were appointed to the service of God. Anyone else who dared to intrude was immediately cut off from Israel. Today also only people of one family may be consecrated to his service; but, thank God, if we believe in Christ we belong to that family.

One thing is clear: men do not choose to consecrate themselves to God; it is God who chooses them to be set apart to him. Those who consider themselves as doing God a favor by forsaking all to serve him know little of true consecration. We are chosen for the honor of serving God: that is what consecration means. Since we are chosen, it is a sense of glorious privilege, rather than any awareness of making a sacrifice, that fills us.