Gems for July - wk 1
July 1
"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."
(Proverbs 4:23)
We must be right ourselves, in our own inner lives, if we would be right towards others. What I am when alone in the presence of God is what I really am. What I am before my fellows should be the outcome of this, otherwise my public life will be largely a sham. (H.A. Ironside - Colossians)
N.J.H. # 3021
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings." (Malachi 3:8)
If I do not get what is mine in spiritual things, I will not give God what is His in spiritual things. If I fail to enjoy my portion, I will not give God His portion. . . You say perhaps in your inmost heart, if I am not enjoying the highest kind of spiritual life, it is my own fault, it is my own loss. No, it is God's loss. He is the loser. What He craves from you is the obedience and worship of a heart which is so full of His blessing that it has got to express itself in worship and service. No, you are not the chief sufferer, not the chief loser. Our blessed God is the loser. "Will a man rob God?" (S. Ridout - Lectures on the Book of Judges)
N.J.H. # 3022
July 2
"I have called you friends." (John 15:15)
Who has not longed for an ideal and yet a real friend - one who should exactly understand us, to whom we could tell everything, and in whom we could altogether confide - one who should be very wise and very true - one of whose love and unfailing interest we could be certain? There are other points for which we could not hope - that this friend should be very far above us, and yet the very nearest and dearest, always with us, always thinking of us; always doing kind and wonderful things for us; undertaking and managing everything; forgetting nothing, failing in nothing; quite certain never to change and never to die - so that this one grand friendship should fill our lives, and that we never need trouble about anything for ourselves any more. Such is our Royal Friend, and more; for no human possibilities of friendship can illustrate what He is to those to whom He says, "Ye are my friends." We, even we, may look up to our glorious King, our Lord and our God, and say, "This is my beloved, and this is my Friend!" And then we, even we, may claim the privilege of being the King's companion and the King's friend. (Frances Ridley Havergal - Opened Treasures)
N.J.H. # 3023
July 3
"Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee."
(Psalm 119:11)
This, truly, is a wise and safe thing to do. Let us ponder it. Let us understand it. Let us imitate it.
1. What have I hid? "Thy Word." It is not man's word, but the Word of God, that liveth and abideth for ever. This is the thing to hide. It is a treasure worth hiding. No thief can steal it, no moth corrupt it. It increases by being hidden in the way here spoken of. We cannot set too high a value upon the Word of God. So the psalmist thought when he "hid" it. This expression sets forth how intensely he prized the Word. "I have hid it." He placed it out of the reach of every one and every thing that could deprive him of it. May we ponder it - may we understand it - may we imitate it!
2. Where have I hid it? "In my heart." It was not in his head or in his intellect: but in his heart - the seat of his affections - the center of his moral being - the source of all the influences that swayed his entire career.
3. Why have I hid it? For a very weighty reason - a most important reason. "That I might not sin against Thee." It was not that he might have a rich fund of new ideas to talk about and show off upon. Nor yet was it that he might be able to confound in argument all his opposers, and silence them. . . . He had a horror of sin - a holy horror; He knew that the most effectual safeguard against sin was the Word of God. (The Young Christian - Vol. 3)
N.J.H. # 3024
July 4
"Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification."
(Romans 15:2)
Maturity is the stage in life when you don't see eye to eye but can walk arm in arm.
N.J.H. # 3025
July 5
"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 2:1)
"We . . . shall be caught up . . . in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air." (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
The air is Satan's sphere, so the believer being "caught up," raptured, is a triumphal gathering in open defiance of the devil right in his own stronghold. Think of what is included in these verses (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)! The earth and the sea yielding up the dust of all dead in Christ. Then the transforming miracle by which this dust is formed into glorified bodies, free forever from sickness, pain and death. Then the space-flight to heaven. And all of this in the twinkling of an eye! (1 Corinthians 15:52) (Christian Newsletter)
N.J.H. # 3026
July 6
"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5,6)
Repentance is the judgment of my sin that I have in the light of love, and grace known. Remorse is produced by viewing the sin in the light only of its probable results. Repentance begets hope, remorse leads only to despair. Repentance leads the soul back to God, remorse drives it to deeper sin, and further into Satan's hands. This is all illustrated in the consequent pathway of Peter and Judas. Judas, who did not know what grace was, went out and, in remorse over this consummate wickedness, hanged himself; Peter, who did know what grace was, and who knew better than ever then how deeply the Lord loved him, went our and wept bitterly. (Wolston)
N.J.H. # 3027
July 7
"For I am in a strait (between) two, having a desire to depart,
and to be with Christ; which is far better. " (Philippians 1:23)
If I stay here, Christ gains. If I am called to leave the body, I gain. (Food for the Desert)
N.J.H. # 3028
