Good Friday Devotional '24 "...to despise no one, despair of no one, because Christ despises none and despairs of none..."

 

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.  For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 2:21-25

 

When the tempest comes; when affliction, fear, anxiety, shame come, then the Cross of Christ begins to mean something to us. For then in our misery and confusion we look up to heaven and ask, “Is there any One in heaven who understands all this? Does God understand my trouble?” Then, does the Cross of Christ bring a message to our heart such as no other thing or being on earth can bring. For it says to us, God does understand thee utterly; for Christ understands thee. Christ feels for thee; Christ feels with thee; Christ has suffered for thee, and suffered with thee. Thou canst go through nothing which Christ has not gone through. He, the Son of God, endured poverty, fear, shame, agony, death for thee, that He might be touched with the feeling of thine infirmity and help thee to endure, and bring thee safe through all to victory and peace. 

On the torturing Cross Christ prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And this is the character many a man may get in the dark deep. To feel for all, to feel with all; to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep, to understand people’s trials and make allowances for their temptations; to put oneself in their place till we see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, till we judge no man, and have hope for all; to be fair and patient and tender with everyone we meet; to despise no one, despair of no one, because Christ despises none and despairs of none; to look on every one we meet with love, because they too may have been down into the deep….

 

CHARLES KINGLSEY

Good News of God ~1883

 

Midwinter Lenten Devotional '24 ~The Cross of Christ

 

On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

 

Oh, that old rugged Cross so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me
For the dear Lamb of God, left His Glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary

 

In the old rugged Cross, stained with blood so divine
A wondrous beauty I see
For the dear Lamb of God, left His Glory above
To pardon and sanctify me

 

So I'll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies, at last, I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it some day for a crown

George Bennard

 

 

 

Whatever may be the mysteries of life and death, there is one mystery which the Cross of Christ reveals to us, and that is the infinite and absolute goodness of God. Let all the rest remain a mystery so long as the mystery of the Cross of Christ gives us faith for all the rest. Faith I say; for God Himself has taken upon Himself the task of solving it; and Christ has proved by His own act, that if there be evil in the world, it is none of His, for He hates it, fights against it, and He fought against it to the death. The Cross says, Have faith in God. Ask no more of Him, “Why hast Thou made me thus?” Ask no more, “Why do the wicked prosper on the earth?” Ask no more, “Whence pain and death, war and famine, earthquake and tempest, and all the ills to which flesh is heir?” All fruitless questioning, all peevish repinings are precluded henceforth by the death and passion of Christ.

 

Dost thou suffer? Thou canst not suffer more than the Son of God. Dost thou sympathise with thy fellow-sufferers? Thou canst not sympathise more than the Son of God. Dost thou long to right them, to deliver them, even at the price of thine own blood? Thou canst not long more ardently than the Son of God, who carried His longing into act, and died for them and thee. What if the end be not yet? What if evil still endure? What if the medicine have not yet conquered the disease? Have patience, have faith, have hope, as thou standest at the foot of Christ’s Cross, and holdest fast to it, as the Anchor of thy soul and reason, as well as of thy heart. For however ill the world may go, or seem to go, the Cross is the everlasting token that God so loved the world, that He spared not His only begotten Son, but freely gave Him for it. Whatsoever else is doubtful this as least is sure, that God must conquer, because God is good; that Evil must perish, because God hates Evil, even to the death. 

  

CHARLES KINGSLEY

Westminster Sermons ~1883

Christmas Devotional '23 "But this was the Lord of glory. This was not the beginning of His life."

     

    So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn….                                                                                                                                           And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. -Luke 2:6-7, 16, 20

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Sleep! Holy Babe! 

Upon Thy mother’s breast;

Great Lord of earth and sea and sky,

How sweet it is to see Thee lie

In such a place of rest.

Sleep! Holy Babe! 

Thine angels watch around,

All bending low with folded wings,

Before th’ Incarnate King of kings,

In reverent awe profound.

Sleep! Holy Babe! 

While I with Mary gaze

In joy upon that face awhile,

Upon the loving infant smile

Which there divinely plays.

Sleep! Holy Babe! 

Ah! take Thy brief repose;

Too quickly will Thy slumbers break,

And Thou to lengthened pains awake

That death alone shall close.

EDWARD CASWALL

~ Sleep! Holy Babe

How wonderful this was!  We must remember who it was that was thus born.  The birth of another child in this world was nothing strange, for thousands of children are born every day.  But this was the Lord of glory.  This was not the beginning of His life.  He had lived from all eternity in heaven.  His hands made the universe.  All glory was His.  All the crowns of power flashed upon His brow.  All mighty angels called Him Lord.  We must remember this if we would understand how great was His condescension….   

      Christ’s glory was folded away under robes of human flesh.  He never ceased to be the Son of God; and yet He assumed all the conditions of humanity.  He veiled His power, and became a helpless infant, unable to walk, to speak… lying feeble and dependent in His mother’s bosom… He laid aside His sovereignty, His majesty. What condescension!  And it was all for our sake, that He might lift us up to glory.  It was as a Saviour that He came into this world.  He became Son of man that He might make us sons of God.   He came down to earth and lived among men, entering into their experiences of humiliation, that He might lift them up to glory to share His exaltation.               

J.R. MILLER~

Come Ye Apart

        How gentle the coming!  Who would have had sufficient daring of imagination to conceive that God Almighty would have appeared among men as a little child?  We should have conceived something sensational, phenomenal, catastrophic, appalling!  The most awful of the natural elements would have formed His retinue, and men would be chilled and frozen with fear.  But He came as a little child.  The great God “emptied Himself”; He let in the light as our eyes were able to bear it.

J.H. JOWETT~

My Daily Meditation

Thanksgiving Devotional '23 "The Lord knows what is best for us..."

 

 

        And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing. 

Psalm 107:22

        By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:15

 

 

        God's definite will for the believer is that he shall be a fountain of praise and that his life shall be in thanksgiving to God at all times and in all circumstances.  The Lord God, who is the Author of all our blessings, appreciates, desires, and even seeks our praise and thanksgiving.  "Whosoever offers praise glorifies Me" (Ps. 50:23).  And the Psalmist also said, 

"Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name 

for ever and ever" (Ps. 145:2).

 

        We are to thank God in all things; the Lord knows what is best for us, and He is ordering the course of our life, bringing the details to pass in the time and manner of His desire.  He has never made a mistake, and what He allows to come into the life of His child is for the good of that child and for the glory of God.  Any chastisement that ever reaches us comes for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:10).

Donald Barnhouse 

                                                                                                                          

        To be out of harmony with the things, acts, and events, which God in His providence has seen fit to array around us —that is to say, not to meet them in a humble, believing, and thankful spirit—is to turn from God.  And, on the other hand, to see in them the developments of God's presence, and of the Divine Will, and to accept that Will, is to turn in the opposite direction, and to be in union with Him.

Thomas C. Upham

                                                                                                                                          

Midsummer Devotional '23 "To see Him, then, is the final consummation of all."

 

  Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light

Matthew 17:1-2

 

 Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”  All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

Mark 9:7-8

 

 

Deep into the night, the sky begins to darken, 

Glimmers of hope start filling the midnight sky.

I lift up my eyes, my spirit begins to hearken,

For One who shepherds the stars, reigns on high. 

 

Like a flock, You lead forth the vast starry host,

Calling out each one by name as their Maker.

In the Name of the living God, will I boast,

Possessor of great strength and absolute power.

 

ch: 

Jesus, You shine with radiance, clear and bright,

More brilliant than the sun, moon, and stars of light.

Praise and glory to You in the highest height,

Mighty Savior, God of uncreated Light.

 

Who has measured the great waters in his hand?

Who has weighed the mountains upon a scale?

Yet, it’s my name You call, my destiny You’ve planned;

Shepherding with a love that does not fail.

C.A. TAYLOR

Shepherd of the Stars

 

 

Who can adequately speak of the great scene on the Holy Mount, when heaven and earth met and became one, and the body of Jesus shone with a dazzling brightness; of the glory which came down from heaven and covered the Savior and His companions; and of the voice that came out of the excellent glory and proclaimed the Son of Man to be the Son of God? It must be admitted that these things are far above our loftiest conceptions. 

         All the bright and blessed things God’s people know on earth are but feeble foretastes of the joys of heaven. Yes, I have a word of comfort for thee, aged pilgrim. Thine eyes, often so tear-stained, red with weeping, weary with anxiety, perhaps half-blinded with infirmity, or dim with age, thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty. 

When Simeon beheld the infant Savior in the Temple, he said, “Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace…For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” To the pure in heart, it is promised that they shall see God. When our Lord prayed for His elect before his Passion, He said, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou has given me, may be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me.” And John says, “Now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” To see Him, then, is the final consummation of all. There is nothing more held out to man, as nothing higher could be. For this great vision our whole life here is but a preparation. This is the end of creation, the end of redemption, the end of struggle and victory. They to whom it is vouchsafed will have reached the greatest height and the most perfect bliss that any creature can attain. 

 

JAMES HASTINGS

Greatest Texts in the Bible -Isaiah

 

 

         It is when I have lifted up mine eyes that I am impressed with the solitary majesty of the Son of Man; it is in the elevation of my own moral view that I see Him to be what He is—the King of kings. When my moral view was not lofty, I thought of Him as of other men; I would have built for Moses and Elijah tabernacles by His side. But when the transfiguration glory touched me, I awoke to His glory—His solitary, unrivaled glory. I saw Him to be the chief among ten thousand, and fairer than the children of men. Moses and Elijah faded from the mountain’s brow, and He stood alone in peerless unapproachable splendour; I saw no man there save Jesus only.

GEORGE MATHESON

Easter Morning Devotional '23 "...someday life shall conquer death, light conquer darkness..."

 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”  So, they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Matthew 28:9-10

 

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Matthew 6:28-29

 

My love, My fair one, come!”

Yea, Lord!  Thy Passion over,

We know this life of ours

Hath passed from death and winter

To leaves and budding flowers;

No more Thy rain of weeping

In drear Gethsemane;

No more the clouds and darkness,

That veiled Thy bitter Tree.

Our Easter Sun is risen!

And yet we slumber long,

And need Thy Dove’s sweet pleading

To waken prayer and song.

Oh, breathe upon our deadness,

Oh, shine upon our gloom;

Lord, let us feel Thy presence

And rise and live and bloom.

Jackson Mason~1889

O voice of the Belovèd!

 

Consider the lilies of the fields.  We must take our Lord’s words exactly.  He is speaking of the lilies, the bulbous plants which spring into flower in countless thousands every spring over the downs of Eastern lands.  All the winter they are dead, unsightly roots, hidden in the earth.  But no sooner does the sun of spring shine upon their graves, than they rise into sudden life and beauty, as it pleases God, and every seed takes its own peculiar body.  Sown in corruption, they are raised in incorruption; sown in weakness, they are raised in power; sown in dishonour, they are raised in glory; delicate, beautiful in colour, perfuming the air with fragrance; types of immortality, fit for the crowns of angels.

    Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.  For even so is the Resurrection of the dead.  Yes, not without a divine providence —yea, a divine inspiration —has the blessed Eastertide been fixed, by the Church of all ages, as the season when the earth shakes off her winter’s sleep; when the birds come back, and the flowers begin to bloom, when every seed which falls into the ground and dies, and rises again with a new body, is a witness to us of the Resurrection of Christ; and a witness, too, that we shall rise again; that in us, as in it, life shall conquer death; when every bird that comes back to sing and build among us, every flower that blows, is a witness to us of the Resurrection of the Lord and of our Resurrection….

    They obey the call of the Lord, the Giver of Life, when they return to life, as a type and a token to us of Christ their Maker, who was dead and is alive again, who was lost in hell on Easter eve, and was found again in heaven forevermore.  And so the resurrection of the earth from her winter’s sleep, commemorates to us, as each blessed Eastertide comes round, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is a witness to us that someday life shall conquer death, light conquer darkness, righteousness conquer sin, joy conquer grief; when the whole creation, which groaneth and travaileth in pain until now, shall have brought forth that of which it travaileth in labour —even the new heavens and the new earth, wherein shall be neither sighing nor sorrow, but God shall wipe away tears from all eyes.

 

CHARLES KINGSLEY

Out of the Deep -1880

 

Good Friday Devotional '23 "This is the only record of our Lord’s singing..."

  

And while they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it; and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”

        And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank from it. 
        And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is to be shed on behalf of many." 
        "Truly I say to you, I shall never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

 

        And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 
      Mark 14:22-26

 

 

 

This is the only record of our Lord’s singing when He was on the earth.  It is worthy of special notice that it was just as He was starting out to Gethsemane that He sung a hymn with His disciples.  It would not have seemed so strange to us if He had sung that night on the Transfiguration Mount, or the day He entered Jerusalem amid the people’s hosannas, or on some other occasion of great gladness and triumph; but that the only time we hear Him singing should be in the darkest night of His life is very suggestive.

        It tells us of the deep gladness that was in the heart of Christ under all His griefs and sorrows.  He knew the agony into whose black shadows He was about to enter.  He saw the cross, too, that stood beyond Gethsemane.  Yet He went out toward the darkness with songs of praise on His lips.  There is a Scripture word which tells us that “for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.”  This was the joy that broke forth here in a hymn of praise.  It was the joy of doing the Father’s will and of saving lost souls.  We get thus here another glimpse of Christ’s great heart of love.

        We can go forward with joy to meet sorrow and sacrifice when we are doing our Father’s will.  We should learn to sing as we enter life’s valleys of shadow.  It is a great thing to be able to sing as we work and sing as we suffer.  The secret of Christ’s song here was His looking beyond the garden and the cross; He saw the reward, the glory, the redemption accomplished.  If we look only at the sorrow before us, we cannot sing; but if we look on to the joy of victory, and the blessedness of the reward, and the ripened fruits that will come from the suffering, we can sing too as we enter the sorest trial.

          J. R. Miller 
         Come Ye Apart