that the believer is translated from the kingdom of dark ness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Col. 1:13); that such ones are “children of light, and the children of the day” (I Thess. 5:5). For all of this we are grateful. But this is but the beginning of our praise! Our thanksgiving must encompass His boundless and increas ing blessing toward us. We give heart thanks that joint- heirship with Christ was signed and sealed for us in His
God's Unspeakable Gift (continued) arrival of Deity with glory shining round about. It was an expression as well of purpose, God’s eternal purpose which He had purposed in Christ (Eph. 3:11). This pur pose is now enjoying its marvelous fulfillment as sinners, through the exercise of faith,-rise to hope and joyful ex pectation. “I AM COME that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jno. 10:10). The death barrier was then broken, not with a resounding bang, but with a reverberating joy. LIFE appeared in the birth of the Babe; LIFE became available in the death of the Saviour. Now Christ IS our life, and when He shall appear again apart from the sin question, we shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). In the meanwhile, it is His design that this LIFE shall be enjoyed by His own in an increasing abundance, in a fervent flow, in a constantly increasing enjoyment “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Who could not join heartily with the Apostle in say ing, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (II Cor. 9:15)? At the same time, we must remember that
Gift for Christmas
What can I give to men whose empty eyes Trouble my thinking at this Christmastide? Lord, make me humble, loving, strong, and wise. That I may give them Christ, the crucified. Let me not choose the lesser gifts of earth. That pass in dust and are futility; Lord, at this sacred season of Thy birth. Lead me from giving things to giving Thee. What can I give to Thee, O God above? (There is so little that our God could need) And yet, in all my dreams, Thy heart of love Is wounded still: I see it break and bleed With naught to staunch the flow— except I bring Some ransomed soul, called home from wandering. coming, dying and living again for us; that vital rela tionship with the infinite God is now assured; that lines of communion with Heaven for mortal beings are now made possible; that fellowship of a supernatural charac ter is now established; that a prospect of glory trans cending human comprehension now looms on the horizon. Grateful believers will honor and obey the entreaty of the Holy Spirit to “love not the things of the world” (I Jno. 2:15). The glittering lights do not attract their eyes; the exaggerated publicity, often gaudy, has no mag netic effect upon the heart that is spiritually thankful, while the strains of syncopated notes beckon not to the out-reaching souls of those who have found rest and sat isfaction in Christ. It must be different; it is differeit with those who are continually engaged in praising God from whom all blessings flow! Their restlessness changes once and for all to supernal quietude; the endless quest for satisfac tion has terminated; objective Truth becomes an inward reality; they meet the outstretched arms of love; they step into the family of God; they know the burden of sin to have disappeared in the sea of God’s forgetfulness; there is the sweet consciousness of the Holy Spirit’s resi dence within and the assurance of His witness there. Glorying in Christ is the victory celebration of the re deemed which continues with increasing fervor in appre ciation and jubilation throughout the pilgrim journey, then issues in the purest praise in celestial environs. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy . . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” (Rev. 5:9). Such will be the Hallelujah chorus of the white-robed choir of saints in the glory. However, nothing about Him then will deserve more of our love and devotion and thanksgiving and praise than He deserves now. Let us, therefore, with joyful hearts give to Him in this day, in every day of our so journ here the exuberant, the uninhibited, the efferves cent gratitude that we plan to heap upon Him when “the day dawns and the shadows flee away.” “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thess. 5:18).
The Difference
"Unto us a child is born"— and all The world, at Christmastime, admits that birth; There will be holly hung on every wall. There will be caroling around the earth; For something quickens in the hearts of men, (Even the roughest heart by sin defiled) And softens them, and makes them tender, when They think upon the birthday of that Child. "Unto us a Son is given" too— But oh, along the years our feet have trod. From Christmastime to Christmastime, how few We find acknowledging the Son of God. How few who hang the wreath and deck the tree W ill look beyond the Child to Calvary.
the Gift did infinitely more than appear in Bethlehem. We cannot stay with the cradle, nor with the crucifix. We must move on from the cradle to the conquering Christ. And we must note well with appreciative hearts the intermediate connections between the Babe and the blessed 'Benefactor: Gabbatha-Gethsemane-Golgotha, then the tomb, the clouds and the Throne! And now “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” (Rom. 8:32)? Just here is where thanksgiving finds its special im petus. As the magnitude and the magnificence of this divine development begins to dawn upon our darkened minds and hardened hearts, it just naturally sets the joy- bells ringing in our lives, and our souls cannot help but magnify the Lord! We are grateful for His loving kind ness and the multitude of His tender mercies (Ps. 51:1). While reality is largely a lost heritage in our genera tion, it nevertheless requires reality to inspire gratitude. We must realize the actuality of the “all spiritual bless ings” which have been vouchsafed to us. We must real ize that night actually turns to day for the trusting soul;
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