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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
May, I93S
DAILY ‘Devotional‘Readings 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
JUNE 1 At Home “ The eternal God is thy dwelling-place” (Deut. 33:27, R .V .). How we do pity the homeless ones o f earth, and how those o f us who have homes rejoice in them I But there need be no truly homeless ones in the world. The eternal God is the dwelling place of all who will accept the home He offers. W e are in Christ. What does a home mean? First of all, it means rest. “ Come unto me,” says the Master, “and I will give you rest.” Home also means protection. In medi eval, days, each castle was a fortress, and those within had secret hiding places from the enemy. W e also have secret places in Christ in which we may hide from tempta tion and trial and be always safe. “In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.” But more than these, home means com panionship, intimate communion with others o f the household. In Christ, we have fellowship with the noblest men and women who have ever lived. But, oh, infinitely more blessed, we have fellowship with God Himself—the loving Father, and with Christ, His Son—our elder Brother! — C osa E lizabeth R eynolds . JUNE 2 Faith as a Burning Flame . "Without faith it is impossible to please him” (Heb. 11:6). Mere faith may be a cold abstraction. The Scriptures refer to “ faith which worketh by love.” Love always centers in a person. W e may like things, admire things, but we love persons. I believe in the law o f gravitation, in the Copernican theory, nature’s abhorrence o f a vacuum. But, also; I believe in my mother! Is there a difference in my beliefs regarding nature’s laws, and the faith that leaps up in my very soul? You will say, “Yes, in deed, the faith that you have in your mother is the faith that worketh by love.” Correct. Faith as a cold abstraction and faith as a burning flamp in the heart differ much. The Christian’s faith is the faith that worketh by love, and Jesus is the ob ject and incentive o f that love. ■ —W illiam M. R unyan . JUNE 3 The Word in Relation to Practical Living “ How I love thy precepts” (Psa. 119: 159). God’s holy Word and my everyday life must be in exact agreement. And this con dition cannot exist unless I live “in the secret place o f the Most High.” Am I, are you, living there today? Unless I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I cannot be in “the secret place” . . . We are in sad need o f Spirit-filled leaders today. Year by year they seem to be becoming fewer and fewer. And that lack is the main cause of the increase o f crime and inquity . . . To believe, and to exalt, and to honor the Bible, is to believe, honor, and exalt the Lord Himself.
“ Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord, True wisdom its pages unfold. And though we may read them a thousand times o’er, They never, no never grow old. Each line hath a treasure, each promise a pearl; That all, if they will, may secure. And we know that though time and the world pass away, God’s Word shall forever endure.” :■—M ilton M c K endree B ales . JUNE 4 A Vision of Christ “I f any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” ( Rev. 3 :20). O thou who are the ideal of what I ought to be, the ideal o f what my Father would have me to be, come into my soul and shine! Give me one glimpse o f the brightness o f Thy glory! I know it will send me, not peace, but a sword; I know it will strike me blind to all that I once thought beautiful. I shall never again prize my attainments when I have discerned Thy splendor. What matter! — come, Lord Jesus 1At the price o f my own humiliation, come! Though my flower o f self-esteem shall wither, though my pride o f life shall fade, though my peace o f ignorance shall vanish, com e! . . . Come, though Thy shining be my shadow; come, though Thy presence be my poverty; come, though the vision tell me I am vile! I would rather be humble in sight o f the stars than proud in lighting my tapers.— G eorge M atheson . JUNE 5 The Heavenly Ladder “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top o f it reached to heaven', and behold the angels o f God ascending and descending on i f ’ (Gen. 28:12). With all his trickery and treachery, Jacob had in him spiritual affinites 'and possi bilities. As night came on, the lonely exile laid his weary head upon a stone for a pillow. But on that stone pillow he saw the vision o f the ladder reaching to the very throne of God and the angels going up and down. He was not alone after all. God often leads us into a hard place, in order to show some heavenly vision. The greatest realities are not always the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. What a pitifully narrow and insig nificant place this earth would be, if it had no ladder connecting it with the sky! It is not a softer place we need, but opened eyes to see the angels that are ever ascend ing and descending before us. —Baptist Herald. JUNE 6 Content— and Yet Unsatisfied "I have learned . . . to be content" (Phil. 4:11). “I press toward the mark” (Phil. 3:14).
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