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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
June. 1933
fore God—nothing less, nothing more. The question always to be asked is, “What will God think of this?” If we would meet His approval, we must first have our hearts right, and then we must be true in every part of our life . . . We should do our work just as honestly where it will be covered up and never seen by human eyes as Where it is to be open to the scrutiny of the w orld; for God will see it. We should live just as purely and beautifully in secret as in the glare of the world’s noon.— J. R. M iller . JULY 7 “I f our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we then live?” (Ezek. 33:1). If they are upon us, how can we live? The burden of them is intolerable. If this burden is upon us, we cannot walk in newness of life; we cannot run in the way of His commandments: we cannot arise and shine. The burden is too heavy. But, it is written, “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” He took it all. The “ scapegoat” bore upon Him all their in iquities. Can we doubt the Father’s love to us when we think what it must have cost Him to lay that crushing weight on His dear Son, sparing Him not, that He might spare us instead ? On Thee, the Lord My mighty sins hath laid; And against Thee Jehovah’s sword Flashed forth its fiery blade. The stroke of j ustice fell on Thee, That it might never fall on me. ■—F. R. H avergal . JULY 8 “ God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son ” (John 3:16). The cross is the insistence of love. It is the persistence of love. It is love that holds the throne in the darkness. But for love there would have been no cross. :It is the magnificent and majestic authority of love. He will love. We cannot prevent His loving. He cannot help loving, because He is love. He will never cease to love a single one He has created. Sin as a force that ruins is ended in the cross. It is not ended anywhere else. If men will not come into relation with that cross, then sin is still an element o f force, so great that no man is equal to its overcoming. — S elected . JULY 9 “And there arose a great storm” { Mk. 4:37). A storm, and Christ on board! It seems a contradiction in terms. Will not His presence ensure a pellucid sea and a tran quil voyage? But no! It is often precisely the reverse. Life appears to become more difficult, to encounter fiercer oppositions, and to be assailed by wilder tempests, when He is Captain, and when I am sur rendered to Him. A storm! and Christ asleep! The perplexity deepens . . . Does He not care that I am buffeted, assailed, on the point of perishing? Is He unmind ful of my necessity? The silences of Jesus, the delays of the Lover o f my soul, the mysteries of my Lord’s dealings—these are too high for me to understand. A storm, and the disciples fearful! For such tremors and dreads there is no excuse. Christ’s actions and ways may frequently be darkness to my intellect; but they should always be joy to my heart. . . . I shall expect His predestined moment of deliverance. I shall praise Him before it arrives, as well as when I enter into its peace.— A lexander S mellie .
CDaily CDevoitonalc^^eadings A M E S S A G E F O R E V E R Y D A Y O F T H E M O N T H
Many years ago, a young fellow by the name o f Wray, a student at Princeton College, applied for appointment as a for eign missionary. He was a thoroughly good man, but not very quick in learning, and when he reached the field of his pros pective labors, he found it difficult to mas ter the language. But though the simple natives could not understand his talk, they could understand his walk. One day when, according to the custom in those countries, they were seated in a circle on the ground, listening to the instruction o f one of their teachers, the question was asked, “What is it to be a Christian?” And none could answer. But finally one pointed to where this young man sat, and replied: “ It is to live as Mr. Wray lives.” Not one o f them could .read the Gospel according to Mat thew, Mark, Luke, or John, but every one there could read the Gospel according to Wray.— S unday S chool T im es . JULY 4 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever” (Heb. 13:8). The prayer, “ Thou hast been my help; leave me not,” ought to be taught us by every remembrance of what Jesus Christ has been to us. The high-water mark of His possible sweetness does not lie in some irrevocable past moment o f our lives. We never have to say that we have found a sufficiency in Him which we never shall find any more. Remember the time in your experience when Jesus Christ was most tender, most near, most sweet, most mys terious, most soul-sufficing for you, and be sure that He stands beside you, ready to renew the ancient blessing and to sur pass it in His gift. Man’s love sometimes wearies, Christ’s never. All in which the past has been rich lives in the present. — A lexander M aclaren . JULY 5 “I will come again” (John 14:3). “Know that he is near, even at the doors” (Matt. 24:33). What great changes there will be when He comes again: Great changes for His redeemed, for all will receive the fullness of their redemption and enter into their eternal inheritance as the fellow heirs of the Lord Jesus Christ; great changes in the earth, for, when Hecomes, evil and the god o f this age will be dethroned; great changes for Israel, for that nation will no longer be the homeless wanderers among the nations of all continents, but will be regathered and enjoy the covenant bless ings promised so long ago, but then glo riously realized by the coming o f the K ing; great changes among the nations of the world, for idolatry will cease, and all will worship and adore the L ord ; great changes in all creation, for groaning cre ation will be delivered of its groans, and be brought into the liberty of the sons of God. All is waiting for His return. — A . C. G aebelein . JULY 6 “And they were both righteous before God” (Lk. 1 :6). We are in reality just what we are be
Explanation U1 am enclosing $1.00 for THE KING’S BUSINESS for whatever period this amount will pay. It is the ONLY PAPER we receive in China in time to use the Sunday-school lesson helps.” The writer of this letter, a missionary in Hong Kong, is one of approximately 700 sub scribers who are living in foreign countries. Her letter is typical of many others received from this sacrificial group of appreciative readers, many of whom say also that the Daily Devotional Readings in the magazine are a source of joy and help to them. It takes four or more weeks for the magazine to reach these distant readers. 1 We believe that every reader of THE KING’S BUSINESS will be glad to sacrifice a little con venience in order to cooperate with these mis sionaries and other subscribers in foreign countries in the meeting of a very real need. In this issue, therefore, the Devotional Read ings, as well as the Sunday-school Lesson helps and Christian Endeavor Notes, are for the month of July. If in any case this plan is not thought desirable, please write us. Con structive criticisms are always welcomed. , — Editor. JULY 1 “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is to ward me” (Cant. 7:10). It is a good thing to forget the feeble ness o f our desires, and to remember the strength and the greatness of His desire for His own. Did you observe . . . in the Gospel by St. John, how the Gospel of St. John begins and how it ends? It begins with the Son in the bosom of the Father ( 1 :18), and it ends with the sinner on the bosom o f the Son (21:20). Such is the desire o f the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit toward His own. May that moving, melt ing fact . . . bring us to the feet o f our Lord Jesus Christ.— R . B. S tewart . JULY 2 “ The steps o f a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way” (Psa. 37:23). To every young man and maiden on the eve of your life work, at the dawn of your manhood and womanhood, as you anticipate your life work of pencilling in the outline o f God’s will, I say to you, “ Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Whom God calls, He equips. He will provide strong shoes for stony paths. He is ever the “I am” to those who say “ Thou art.”— B ishop T aylor S m it h . Dear saint of God, you who, day by day through the years, have been placing confident (if sometimes weary) footsteps in the prints of the ever on-marching Son of God, courage take and comfort, for “the Lord thy God is with thee,” blessedly with thee, just before thee, and His path is traced so easily, so surely, by the blood marks of Calvary. Keep to the narrow way. Follow the blood-stained way. Youth presses after. Glory looms ahead. ; — A ndrew W ills . JULY 3 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
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