The big compelling of God
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. Luke 18:31. Jerusalem stands in the life of Our Lord as the place where He reached the climax of His Father’s will. “I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father…
The discipline of difficulty
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33. An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is…
Something more about his ways
He comes where He commands us to leave. When Jesus had made an end of commanding His disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Matthew 11:1. If when God said ‘Go,’ you stayed, because you…
Till you are entirely His
But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4. Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not…
The discipline of disillusionment
Jesus did not commit Himself unto them. . . for He knew what was in man. John 2:24-25. Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly…
What do you see in your clouds?
Behold, He cometh with clouds. Rev. 1:7. In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is…
After obedience—what?
And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side. . . . Mark 6:45-52. We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will…
The way to know
If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. . . John 7:17. The golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. If a man wants scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is his guide; but…
The account with purity
Out of the heart proceed. . . Matthew 15:18-20. We begin by trusting our ignorance and calling it innocence, by trusting our innocence and calling it purity; and when we hear these rugged statements of Our Lord’s, we shrink and…
Am I blessed like this?
Blessed are. . . Matthew 5:3-10. When we first read the statements of Jesus they sem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unobserved into our unconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes seem merely mild and beautiful precepts for all…