November 16

“I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut.” Revelation 3:8

If God is going to have a witness in the earth today, he must have the service of all his less-gifted servants, his “one-talent” men. We might imagine that if he were gracious to his Church, he would give us more people like Paul and Peter; but in fact he seldom does so. The Church of God is full of ordinary, one-talented believers, and if only we would abandon our personal ambitions and seek instead ways for them to serve him, wonderful things would happen.

The Church needs leaders, but it also needs brothers. I believe in authority, but I believe also in brotherly love. In Philadelphia they respected authority, for they kept the Lord‘s word and did not deny his name. But philadelphia in Greek means “brotherly kindness.” It was to these caring brothers and sisters that the door was opened. Let them set out to serve him together and not wait for the specialists; then we shall begin to see what the Church’s service really is.

November 15

“Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

The divine life planted in us, itself so utterly alien to the world around it, is a light-source designed by God to illuminate the world’s true character. It does this by emphasizing through contrast the world’s inherent darkness. From this it is clear that to separate ourselves from the world today, and thus deprive it of its own light, is no way to glorify God. It merely thwarts his intention of serving mankind through us.

The Church, to use another metaphor, is a thorn in the side of God's adversary, a source of constant annoyance to him. We make a heap of trouble for Satan simply by being in the world. So why leave it? The Church glorifies God, not by getting out of the world but by radiating his light in it. Heaven is not the place to glorify God; it will be the place to praise him. The place to glorify him is here.