While ye have light, believe in the light. John 12:36.
We all have moments when we feel better than our best, and we say—‘I feel fit for anything; if only I could be like this always!’ We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for this workaday world when there is no high hour. We must bring our commonplace life up to the standard revealed in the high hour. Never allow a feeling which was stirred in you in the high hour to evaporate. Don’t put your mental feet on the mantelpiece and say—‘What a marvellous state of mind to be in!’ Act immediately, do something, if only because you would rather not do it. If in a prayer meeting God has shown you something to do, don’t say—‘I’ll do it’; do it! Take yourself by the scruff of the neck and shake off your incarnate laziness. Laziness is always seen in cravings for the high hour; we talk about working up to a time on the mount. We have to learn to live in the grey day according to what we saw on the mount. Don’t cave in because you have been baffled once, get at it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by your own act. Never revise your decisions, but see that you make your decisions in the light of the high hour.
“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed.” (Heb. 11:8)
WHITHER he went, he knew not; it was enough for him to know that he went with God. He leant not so much upon the promises as upon the Promiser. He looked not on the difficulties of his lot, but on the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, who had deigned to appoint his course, and would certainly vindicate Himself. O glorious faith! This is thy work, these are thy possibilities; contentment to sail with sealed orders, because of unwavering confidence in the wisdom of the Lord High Admiral; willinghood to rise up, leave all, and follow Christ, because of the glad assurance that earth’s best cannot bear comparison with Heaven’s least. —F. B. M.
It is by no means enough to set out cheerfully with your God on any venture of faith. Tear into smallest pieces any itinerary for the journey which your imagination may have drawn up.
Nothing will fall out as you expect.
Your guide will keep to no beaten path. He will lead you by a way such as you never dreamed your eyes would look upon. He knows no fear, and He expects you to fear nothing while He is with you. The day had gone; alone and weak I groped my way within a bleak And sunless land. The path that led into the light I could not find! In that dark night God took my hand. He led me that I might not stray, And brought me by a new, safe way I had not known. By waters still, through pastures green I followed Him—the path was clean Of briar and stone. The heavy darkness lost its strength, My waiting eyes beheld at length The streaking dawn. On, safely on, through sunrise glow I walked, my hand in His, and lo, The night had gore. —Annie Porter Johnson.
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’ 1 Peter 1:3 SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 4:15–31
The knowledge and appearance: a lively or a living hope, or enlivening. They are heirs, but at present under age and therefore under restraint, but they know what they are born to. A king’s son while very young has but faint thoughts of his state and rank, but as he grows up, and the nearer he comes to possession, his views enlarge. So believers grow in hope. From the first there is a pleasure to know what they are born into. This hope is lively, the object great, the ground sure, being the promise of God and the resurrection of Christ, who has said, Because I live, ye shall live also [John 14:19]. It is living hope because it springs from a living faith—and it is enlivening, comforting and supporting them under all the griefs and troubles of life (1 Corinthians 15:19). What could we do without it? The inheritance: (i) incorruptible, cannot waste or come to nothing. The soul is immortal and must be miserable except its portion was enduring. (ii) undefiled, uncrossed with trouble, disappointment, temptation and sin. (iii) unfading. A flower is the emblem of all worldly good—if it looks fair it is but for a season, and soon withers. Such are our pleasures. They always end in weariness and if not plucked from us fade of themselves. But not so hereafter. O for a manifestation of the Spirit, that we may receive an impression of this glory that shall be revealed.
FOR MEDITATION: The frame of mind to which these thoughts should raise us: (i) Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; to us the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus he is our God and Father. This is the language of faith, love, trust and joy. (ii) Praise to Jesus by whom we have access to God. We had continued strangers if he had not brought us nigh.
An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God’s wings.
After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.
Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings.
The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies.
When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.
“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91:4)
The following article appeared in my hometown newspaper, The Daily Commercial, on Sunday, December 27, 1998, and was written by Marci Elliot, and copied here with her permission.
The real Christmas began Friday
Merry Christmas, everyone. What? It’s over, you say? It ended on Friday, Christmas Day?
No, no, no. The Christmas that ended Friday was the commercial christmas.
The Real Christmas began Friday. Today is the third day of Christmas.
People who believe in the Real Christmas understand this, of course. The rest of you have me to explain it, so hold on. Here’s my Real Christmas gift to you.
The 12 days of Christmas are the 12 days between Christmas Day, Dec. 25, the birth of Jesus, and the Epiphany, Jan. 6, the day Christians celebrate the arrival of the magi and the revelation of Christ as the light of the world.
The Christmas song, “The 12 Days of Christmas” may sound silly and contrived to many of us. But it actually had its origins in religious symbolism – and with a serious purpose.
Here’s the background: From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not allowed to worship and practice their faith openly. The song, “The 12 Days of Christmas,” was written by one of them as a kind of secret catechism they could sing in public without getting persecuted.
The song has two levels of interpretation – the surface meaning, plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church. Each element is a code word for a religion reality.
The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus.
The two turtle doves are the Old and New Testaments.
Three French hens stand for faith, hope and love.
The four calling birds are the four Gospels.
The five gold rings recall the Hebrew Torah (Law), or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.
The six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation.
The seven swans a-swimming represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The eight maids a-milking are the eight Beatitudes.
Nine ladies dancing are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.
Eleven pipers piping represent the 11 faithful Apostles.
Twelve drummers drumming symbolize the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostles Creed.
If you think Jesus being symbolized as a partridge in a pear tree sounds blasphemous, listen to this: He is represented as a mother partridge in memory of His sadness over the fate of Jerusalem in the verse, Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..(Luke 13: 34 and Matthew 23: 34).
The “true love” in the song refers to God Himself. The “me” receiving the gifts is every baptized person, i.e., the church.
Now you know.
So that “silly” song we sing at Christmas time has more meaning than we thought. Since the song sounded like rhyming nonsense, the persecutors never caught on.
They never knew it was a religious song used to serve as a memory aid to teach religion.
As a matter of fact, the song’s message was rather ecumenical – so Catholics could even claim to be Protestant if by some chance they were cornered by the authorities.
The point here is that Christmas has just begun. There really are 12 days of Christmas, partridges or not. So have a happy, merry, meaningful Christmas.
And may you all receive lots of real “gifts” from your real True Love.
This is my personal collection of thoughts and writings, mainly from much smarter people than I, which challenge me in my discipleship walk. Don't rush by these thoughts, but ponder them.
Milo 