THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S pessimism and panic to bear this in mind. God knows no Sabbath and takes no holiday. “My Father worketh even until now.” His saving and redeeming ministry is perennial and perpetual. WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26. 1 Pet. 2:11-21. Honoring All Men. This is a law of the heavenly king dom. The word “all” makes it hard to obey. The word means universality. All men without regard to their com plexion, culture or social standing, ser vant and master, plebeian and patrician, sinner and saint! The precept of Peter was the practice of Christ. He honored Matthew the publican “by calling him to be an apostle. He honored Zaccheus by going home to dine with him. He hon ored a social outcast by calling her “daughter.” He honored the dying thief by admitting him to Paradise. He never did an unreasonable thing. The Bible never gives an unreasonable com mand. We should honor men because they bear the similitude of God, Jas. 3:9, and because of their possibilities of sainthood. It is not a Christian way of speaking to call working men “hands,” to lump them together as “masses,” and most of all to designate the helpless poor as “canaille.” THURSDAY, Jan. 27. John 1:35-42. The Tenth Hour. John’s first personal interview with Jesus made an ineffaceable impression upon his mind. In writing about it more than fifty years after it occurred he mentions the exact hour, vs. 39. it was four o’clock in the afternoon. How could he ever forget it? The ordinary human life is monotonous and made up largely of routine duties repeated day after day. There are, however, in ev ery life certain outstanding days and perhaps even hours th a t are unforgeta- ble. Can a child of God ever forget the hour when turning from sin, he found peace and pardon at the cross? Can we ever forget the time when a new tru th was revealed to us, perhaps the second coming, of Christ by the Holy Spirit as the Divine objective of the present age and a key to the understanding of Scripture? “It was the tenth hour.” FRIDAY, Jan. 28. John 11:1-10. A Twelve Hour Day. Behind the reply of the Master to His disciples when they remonstrated against His returning to Judea, vs. 9, there is a philosophy of life. There is a
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sense of serenity and security in the answer. The Saviour felt the urgency of life but He was never hurried or ex cited because He knew He had His twelve hours. The disciples were panic- stricken a t the thought of going to Judea. To them it meant premature and certain death. Jesus said, “My times are in the Father’s hands. While He has work for Me to do, He will give Me time to do it. Therefore let us obey the call of duty and go into Judea again.” A certain writer says th a t time is cheap as space. Therefore there is time for every duty God expects of us and we are immortal till our work is done. SATURDAY, Jan. 29. Acts 16:1-7. The Guidance of the Spirit. God guides us as certainly by a closed, door as by an open door.. Divine guid ance was a practical tru th to Paul. He did not merely believe that God had a general plan for his life and work. He saw the hand of God in every circum stance of daily life. Where Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit we speak of “circum stances.” God is in everything or noth ing. If we believe in a living God at all, we must believe that He compasseth our path and our lying down and is ac quainted with all our ways. “The steps (and stops) of a good man are ordered of the Lord.” 'There is no place in the Christian life for accident or chance or luck. This view of life gives moral fibre and steadfastness. “I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem,” said Paul. Friends sought to dissuade him. Proph ets predicted bonds and imprisonment. “None of these things move me,” said he and calmly went his way. SUNDAY, Jan. 30. Matt. 2 1 : 1 - 1 1 . Palm Sunday. “O’er all the way, green palms and!* branches gay.” W^en President Wil son rode through the streets of, Los An geles on his last visit to the Pacific coast, he was greeted by a rain of flowers flung from balcony, window and side walk as a popular tribute to the Chief Magistrate. For one brief hour the Master received the . ontaneous and un restrained homage c .'th a people. He ac cepted the demonstration as a literal fulfillment of prophecy, Zech. 9:9, but He recognized its transient character and shortly afterward He referred its ultimate fulfillment to His second ad- \ vent. Matt. 23:39. As the garments flung upon the road-bed stand for util ity, the palm branches may represent
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