Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6867, 23 March 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

Devotional Column

Precept. Be vc kind one to another. Eph. 1, 32. Promise. With everlasting kindness will I hove mercy on thee. Isaiah 51, 8. Prayer. Quicken me after Thy loving kindness. Psalm 119. SS.

LOVE'S LIFTING POWER. Love has tremendous lifting power. No downpull can ec]ual its uplift. That is why love laughs at burdens. An elderly woman was recently speakrSg with pride and gratitude of her young married daughter, and said to another Christian woman who knew and loved the daughter, “I’ve been such a burden to her.” Quietly the friend replied, “Mothers are never that.” The word came instantly and spontaneously without any affectation or effort _to “say something.” For this Christian friend had an invalid mother, and had lavished her life in caring for her, with true love and with gratitude that she had this privilege. After that mother was called Home the daughter thanked God over and over again that she had nothing to regret in her relation to her loved parent; and sho would gladly have had the burdcnless “burden” of her care back again if she might. Love docs not know the meaning of the word burden. The story has often been told of the little girl trudging along the road with a heavy baby in her arms, when a passer-by stopped arfd ‘said sympathetically, “Isn’t he very heavy, my dear?” “Oh, no,” eiune the quick reply, “he’s my brother!” Brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers and children, are never “heavy” when love is filling the heart. The natural 'downward pull of the attraction of gravitation loses all its force against the upward power of the affection of the love which is of Goff.

BETTER THAN THE BEST BLESSING.

Joy is not the best blessing God can give us. Nor is peaco or faith, or meekness or even love. Blessed and wonderful arc these miracles that are included in the fruit of tho Spirit God offers a gift oven better. It is described in the words of the late Dr A. B. Simpson, recently quoted in the Keswick Calendar: “I heard people speak of joy. I even thought that I had the joy, but I did not keep it, because I had not Himself as my joy. At last Ho said to me —‘My child just take Me, and let Me be in you the constant supply of all this Myself.’ And when I got my eyes off my sanctification and my experience of it, and just placed them on Christ In Me, I ifound that, instead of an experience I had a Christ larger than the moment’s need — the Christ that had all that I should ever need, who was given to mo at once and For Ever. And when I saw Him, it was such a rest!” The Blesser is better than his best blessings. Tho moment wo give Him all there is of us, we may have all there is of Him. FOR LOVE ONLY.

If we do all tliat we do in love for tlie Lord Jesus, there will always be things coming into our lives that will cause us to suffer in our flesh, but wo will then be dear children to God. We will then be loving as He loves us. Wo will bo showing the love that Christ had for us. Wo will bo showing to others that we arc not living for ourselves, but for the Lord who loved us and gave Himself for us. Overcome evil with good. Korn. 12. 21.

Evil for good is devil-like, evil for evil is beast-like, good for good is manlike, good for evil is God-like. Yes, that lifts mo into the heavenli'es in Christ Jesus. Then, have I the mind of Christ! To that soul shall be given the grace of “abovenoss,” that soul shall never be under, always above Ir> an infinite real and more intimate sense the soul that dwells in “the secret place” is shadowed by the sleep- 1 less grace and love of God. God's

coolness is more than a match for our fever-heat. His quenchings arc transformations. Hr. J. H. Jewett. GROWING TOWARD GOD. Plants and vegetation and trees grow towards the sun. Even the heart of a tree trunk is not at the centre, as many suppose, but tho main body of every tree has an eliptical bulge toward the sun-prevailing side. In garden or grove or thicket, if any plants or trees or shrubs arc in the shade, they struggle toward the sun, the source of their life and light and well-being. _ It is in the same way that Christians ought to grow—toward God, the source of their life and light and blessedness.

A LUXURIANT LIFE. “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a fountain; Ms branches run over the wall” (Gen. xlix. 22-24; K.V.). The brethren of Joseph mocked at him and said: “Behold, this dreamer cometh”; but his dreams were dreams of usefulness; he saw himself binding sheaves. With every duty, there was a vision of larger things beyond. In Potiphar’s house he was given some menial task, but so well did he do it, that he soon found himself tho absolute steward of all Potiphar's household. His branches had “run over tho wall.”

Then came prison life, but so useful was ho among tho prisoners that still his branches spread. At last he is a free man again, Prime Minister of Egypt! No wall can confine his usefulness to Egypt alone, but all the world is welcome to,cmhe and buy famine supplies. Tho writer recently saw in lowa a grape vino about four inches thick; it. had run over one side of the house, and out into the topmost branches of a large tree. And as he marvelled at its luxuriance, they ’told hiin that its roots ran into air old well. Ah! there is the secret of Joseph’s life: he lived by an unfailing fountain. Four times in one chapter wc are told “Jehovah was with Joseph”; therefore ho was a prosperous man. Everyone may draw from Joseph’s source of life and become luxuriant.

THE LOVE OP GOD. “Could we with ink the ocean fill, Were the wholo world of parchment made, And every blade of grass a quill And every man a scribo by trade, To tell the love of God to man Would drain that ocean dry, Nor could that scroll contain the whole Though spread from sky to sky.”

THE GREATEST QUESTION. The most momentous question in the world is this: How can folk live more sinlessly, labour more serviceably, and love more steadfastly? The answer to this question is the secret of individual, social and international reform! Some cynics say there is no answer. They claim that human nature is largely animal nature and, therefore, unchangeable. To them, moral reform is impossible folly. But others believe in reform. There are the intcllcctualists, who argue that the source of all human reform is the intellect. Others say that conscience is the secret. But conscience is not the source of moral reform. Conscience is a judge, and provides no power to help us do right. Again, somo say the will! But no! the will holds no power that guarantees right action; stubborn wills ate often the agents of evil plans! What is that secret power -which is the source of strength in tho hour of spiritual stress? There is only one answer and it is strongly positive! The life must lose itsolf in a new- love! The heart of this mighty truth is enshrined in those consummate commandments of Jesus. When tho intellect, the conscience, and tho will arc filled with tho love of God, Jesus tells us, then have we spiritual power from on high! When heart, soul, mind andj strength are consecrated to God, then does human reformation commence. It is concluded when supplemented by a sincere love for all human kind. Power to live nobly, to labour unselfishly, and to love truly is always tho result of a new life, lost, yet found, in an overflowing devotion to God and man.