TH E KING’S BUSINESS
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The scholars of the day when Jesus taught here on earth did not like the teaching of Jesus, just as some scholars today do not like it, but “the common people heard Him gladly” then, and they do still. “The com mon people” were wiser than the scholars then just as they have often been since. Sunday, August 8. Mark 12:38-40. The Scribes, like many modern ecclesi astics, sought pre-eminence among religious people, wore a particular kind of clothes to show how pious they were, coveted rever ential salutations in public places, demanded for themselves seats of honor in the syna gogues and chief places, even at banquets. But they “devoured widow’s houses,.” taking charge of their property and turning it over unto their own use; sought to cover their covetousness and dishonesty by long pray ers that would cloak a greedy heart with a pretense of piety. They have many modern imitators. All that comes of their long prayers is “greater condemnation.” Monday August 9. March 12:41-43. What a contrast between this widow and the Scribes. Jesus gazed intently at the people as they cast their money into the treasury of God. He does the same today. Among the rich were many generous giv ers ; they gave much in quantity but not in proportion to their ability. The poor, widow cast in very little in quantity .but much in proportion to . her ability. The admiring throng applauded the rich as they cast in their silver and gold, just as they applaud the Carnegies and Rockefellers today. No one applauded when the poor widow threw in her “two mites”—that is, no one but Jesus. Today the newspapers are full of the munificent gifts of men who roll in wealth, but God’s eye is on the little gifts of those who have not much but give all. Jesus thought this poor widow’s gift worthy of the attention of His disciples, to His discerning eye it was more than all the rich together had cast into the treasury. They gave “of their superfluity”; most modern giving is
Friday, August 6. Mark 12:28-34.
Man’s first duty is to God. Man’s whole duty to God can be summed up in one word, “love.” To love another is to have a desire for and delight in his welfare. It is not a mere emotion or affection, but the attitude of the whole man. To love God with all the heart and soul and mind and strength is to have a supreme desire for and delight in God’s glory, making everything else second ary to that. It is to put God first in busi ness, in politics, in study, in social life, in domestic life, in pleasure, in everything. To do this is to keep the first and great com mandment. To have failed to do this is to have broken the first and great command ment, and, therefore, to have committed the greatest sin a man can possibly commit, and even' one of us have at some time done this; so “there is no difference” among us, we are all lost as far as the law of God goes (Rom. 3:23). There is a second law “like unto” the first, but not equal, “the second.” Its central word, too, is "love.” Its abject, our neighbor, our fellow man. This second command demands that we have the same desire for and delight in the welfare of other men as we have in our own welfare. Saturday, August 7. Mark 12:35-37. There are many in this day who, follow ing the lead of the Destructive Critics who are being more and more discredited all along the line, tell us, that the 110th Psalm is not by David and that if is not Messianic.' But Jesus here builds an argument for His Deity upon the Davidic authorship and Mes sianic application of this Psalm. If these “modern scholars” are right, then Jesus built an argument for His Deity upon a mis take or a fraud. As we have aburidant evi dence, overwhelming evidence, that Jesus was Divine and inerrant, we are compelled to rej ect the conclusions of these so-called scholars. The 110th Psalm is by David as Jesus here says it is: it does refer to the Messiah, and David clearly taught that the Coming Messiah was “Lord,” i. e., Divine.
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