THE KING’S BUSINESS
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fear either man or Devil; the most they can do is to kill the body and that means for the believer mere release; they are not able to kill nor touch the soul; but there is One whom we should fear, that is God, for He is “able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” God’s care extends to the minutest things, even to the sparrows and to the minutest things about ourselves. The very hairs of our head are all numbered. What ever the dangers may be that surround us, whatever sacrifice it may involve, we are to seize every opportunity of confessing our Lord Jesus publicly before men. Such con fession has abundant reward. When we confess Him down here, He confesses us before the Father. Not to confess Him is to deny Him and if we deny Him before men He will deny us before the Father which is in heaven. The words of our Master do not hold out one ray of hope to the one who tries to believe in Christ in the secrecy of his own heart but does not pub licly confess Him before men. We are saved by faith, it is true, but we are only saved by real faith and real faith always leads to open confession (Rom. 10:9, 10). Thursday, February 4. Matthew 10:34-42. Our Lord Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and when he reigns peace will be universal, but He brings conflict before He brings peace. At His first coming He proved a divider of men, sending not peace but a sword. He divides families, some accept Him and some reject Him, and oftentimes in the history of the development of the work of Christ on earth a man’s bitterest enemies have been those of his own house hold. Many hesitate to accept Christ for fear that such acceptance will divide them from their dearest friends, but Christ must have the pre-eminence: he that loveth even father or mother more than Christ is not worthy of Christ. He that loves his own son or daughter more than Christ' is not worthy of Christ. A real following of Christ always involves a cross. Each one has his own cross, that is the shame and
do under such trying circumstances two things are necessary, the wisdom of ser pents and the harmlessness or simplicity or doves. These two qualities are seldom found together but what Jesus commands, He also makes possible. Great emergencies and extraordinary testings were to be met but still they need have no anxiety no mat ter how great the emergency (v. 19 R. V.). It should be given to them what they should speak and they were not to undertake the speaking but to look to the Spirit to do it. Our confidence also in every emergency that may arise should be in Him and not in ourselves. We see one glorious fulfillment of this great promise in Peter before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8-14). One word that Jesus spoke to them should sink deeply into every one of our hearts, “The disciple is not above his Master.” Are we willing to take the treatment'from the world that our Master got? We ought to be glad to—“it is enough for the disciple that he should be as his Master.” Wednesday, February 3. Matthew 10:26-33. One of the most frequently occurring messages both in the Old Testament and the New is “Fear not.” Our Lord wishes His disciples to be absolutely without fear and it is our privilege so to be. Our enemies may be very strong and thoroughly unscru pulous but we need never fear them. God is on our side, and “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). Our en emies may try to carry on their plans for our destruction under cover and with the utmost subtlety, but “there is nothing cov ered that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be ljnown.” Perhaps that Is not full of comfort to some of us; for we may be trying to cover things up that we would not have others know for anything. Well, it is certain they shall be known. What our Lord tells to us in our solitary communion with Him in the darkness, we are to speak in the light and what He whis pers in our ear, we are to preach upon the housetop. There is no occasion for us to
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