George H. Morrison's Old And Beautiful Devotions

[nChrist]

The Ten Virgins - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Want of Forethought Is True Foolishness

Now I trust that no one will spoil this matchless story by arguing what the lamp or what the oil must be. I do not think that Jesus built up His parables laboriously. It is better to keep to the broad lessons of a parable, and there are three here which anyone may grasp. The first is, want of forethought is true foolishness. Can you tell me why the one builder was a foolish man (Mat_7:26)? It was just because he never foresaw the storm. He built in May when the birds were singing, and the sand was firm enough for summer weather; but he forgot November and its gales, when nothing could stand but a house upon a rock. So here the foolish virgins had their lamps, and their lamps were burning merrily enough. But they forgot to reckon with a tardy bridegroom, and it was just that want of forethought that spoiled all. Now none of us is to be anxious for tomorrow. But we have a strange and difficult life to live, and we have a death to die and a God to meet, and it is high time to make provision for all that. Have you done it? You know perfectly what the provision is. "Evil is wrought by want of thought, as well as want of heart."

Times When We Cannot Help Each Other

And the second lesson of the story is this: in the great hours we cannot help each other. I have no doubt the ten were all good friends; they had done many a kindly turn one to another. But now, that friendship was of no avail; there was no oil to borrow or to spare. It was not because the wise disdained the foolish, or were eager to see them ousted from the marriage, that they were deaf to this request for oil. They refused it for a far better reason—they needed every drop of oil they had. That means, that in every hour of judgment, there is no shining with a borrowed light. The help of others is priceless in many things, but in the hours of spiritual crisis it is vain. Another's faith can never aid us then, even though that other be a friend or father. It is our own faith and holiness and love that will determine matters when the Bridegroom comes.

The Highest Wisdom Is to Be Watchful

Then, lastly, and this is the great lesson of the parable, it is the highest wisdom to be watchful. The bridegroom came when no one looked for him, and Jesus will come in an hour we think not of. The one day has been hidden, said Augustine, that every day might be regarded. How little did Pompeii think, in the bright morning, of the desolation the evening was to bring! With what awful suddenness in 1666, did the great fire devastate London! And like a Bridegroom in the night, Jesus will come. God grant He find us vigilant!

Watch! 'tis your Lord's command,

And while we speak, He's near;

Mark the first signal of His hand,

And ready all appear.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

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April 14

The Talents - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into afar country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey— Mat_25:14-15

Slaves Were Trusted Servants

To understand this parable we must remember that the servants spoken of were really slaves. It might seem a strange act on the part of this proprietor to intrust his goods to servants, in our modern sense; but in the old world the slaves had far more power, and were intrusted with far greater responsibilities, than commonly fall to the lot of servants in our homes. In the Latin plays of Plautus and of Terence the slave is a constantly recurring character; and even in the Bible, we find the slave occupying very confidential posts. Abraham's slave is the steward of his household (Gen_15:2). We read in Proverbs of slaves acting as teachers (Pro_17:2). And Ziba, the slave of Saul, who himself had fifteen sons and twenty servants, was put in charge of the goods of Mephibosheth, very much as the servants are, in this parable (2Sa_9:2-10). We must try then to realise these old-world ways, if we wish this parable to be a living story.

Connect This Parable with the Preceding One of the Ten Virgins

It makes an interesting study for us, too, to compare this passage with that which precedes it. The story of the Ten Virgins and the tale of the Talents were either spoken by Jesus at the same time, or else were designedly placed side by side by Matthew, who felt that each threw light upon the other. For the former is a parable of watching, and the latter is a parable of working—and every Christian watcher is meant to work, and every Christian worker is bound to watch. And the former centers in the heart, while the latter moves in the sphere of outward service, as if to indicate that, in the Christian life, the heart must always come before the hand. Why did the five foolish virgins fail? Because they were over-sanguine and easy. Why did the man of the one talent fail? Because he was over-careful and afraid. Thus Jesus, in His infinite compassion, moves round the whole circle of the heart in warning. I need nothing more than a study of the parables to assure me that He knew what was in man.

Our Gifts Are Proportioned to Our Power of Using Them

Note, first, how our gifts are proportioned to our power of using them. In the parable of the Pounds in Luke, you remember that each man got one pound. That is to say, there are certain things (what were they?) that the wisest and the weakest share alike. But here, one man gets five talents, the second gets two, the third gets only one; but they get according to their several ability (Mat_25:15). Now I think that Jesus meant us to learn that all we have is wisely and justly given. He wanted to teach us that all our several differences, which sort us out into such strange variety, are not the work of any accident, but of the discriminating hand of God. Are any two girls in the Sunday school the same? Is not one brighter, stronger, quicker, than the other? It was that which flashed before the mind of Jesus, when He made this householder give different sums. We are not to be jealous of another's gifts. We are not to think how happy we would be, if only we were like so-and-so. We are to remember that all we have is God's, and God has given us all that we could use. The question is, How are you using it? Are you trying to be faithful in the least? Then, because "thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

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[nChrist]

The Talents - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Non-Use Is Misuse

In the parable of the unjust steward (Luk_16:1-31), the steward is accused of wasting his master's goods. In the parable of the prodigal son (Luk_15:1-32), the son recklessly squanders the portion he had got. But here, there is no wasting and no squandering; the slave returns every penny he received; yet his lord calls him a wicked and slothful servant (Mat_25:26). Learn, then, that it is not enough to have a gift; the gifts of God are given to be used. God is grieved, not only when a talented man does wrong: He is grieved when a talented man does nothing. The sure way to have a gift withdrawn, is to be lazy or too timid to employ it—not to use it, at last spells not to have it. Henry Drummond used to tell us about the fish in the great caves of Kentucky, and how their eyes were perfectly formed, and yet the fish were blind. They had never used their eyes in the dark caves; the gift of sight that God had given them had been unexercised for generations, until at last due to non-use, the power of seeing passed away.

Heaven doth with us as we with torches do;

Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues

Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not.

We Don't Know God Unless We Try to Serve Him

I do not know what the slave who got five talents thought of his master in his secret heart. But I know that when he did his best with the trust his master had committed to him, he found his master far more generous and far kindlier than he had ever dreamed. But the slave of the one talent said: "I know my lord" (Mat_25:24); "I know his temper and his character exactly." And it was he (who was sure he knew his lord so well) who missed all that was most generous in him! That means, that if we never try to do God's will, we shall never know Him in His love and tenderness. The worst of burying our talent is, that it always keeps us from knowing God aright. Do we wish to find what a loving God He is? Do we wish to feel what joy He can bestow? Then we must be in earnest with every gift we have; we must trade with it, and take the risks. Slothfulness always misinterprets God—"I knew thee that thou art an hard man." I wonder if the other two would have subscribed to that, when they were summoned into their Master's joy?

How Jesus Adds Grace to a Word

If we had asked the boys and girls of Nazareth what the meaning of that word
"talent" was, they would have told you it meant a great sum of money—about two hundred and forty pounds in British currency. But now we speak of a very "talented" boy, or we say of a man that he has splendid "talents," and it was Jesus who, in this little parable, lifted the word into these nobler meanings. When He found the word, it signified gold and silver; but when He left it, all gifts and graces were in it. That upward sweep is very Christlike. It is just what Jesus has always loved to do with words, and lives, and all the world. What He did for the word "talent" by one parable, He is waiting to do for you this very day.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
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(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
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April 15

The Fact of Faithfulness - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord— Mat_25:21

Faithfulness, a Test of Character

One might dwell for a long time upon this parable without exhausting its message or its meaning. It is like a sea in which men fish for pearls, and in which every diver has some new reward. These parables are terribly practical, yet in their suggestion they are boundless. Again and again do we return to them, only to be amazed with their significance.

I want to center your thoughts upon one theme—upon the fact of faithfulness, and to speak to you for a little while on that; and my prayer is that as I dwell upon that subject and show you one or two of the bearings of it, we may all be moved to cry, "Please God, I shall be more faithful in the days ahead."

What is our Lord's doctrine of fidelity as we find it in this parable before us? Let me endeavour to present it to you. In the first place what impresses me is this, that our Lord makes faithfulness a test of character.

These men in the parable are sifted out, and the cause that separates them is faithfulness. It is not a case of having great abilities or of being dowered with the gift of genius. It is not along such lines there is a cleavage, with the one servant here and the other there. The touchstone of character is faithfulness; by that they stand, through lack of that they fall; the men go to their blessing or their curse, and the basis of it is fidelity.

To show you that this is a leading thought with Jesus, I might ask you to recall His praise of John the Baptist. For what was the distinguishing feature of John's character? It was his fidelity to God and duty. "What went you out into the wilderness to see: A reed shaken by the wind"—a man swayed to this side and that with every breath that blew upon his soul? True poet that he was, Christ saw the contrast between that reed bowing to every gale and the figure of the Baptist by the river standing four-square to every wind that blew. That is the glory and the strength of John. Nothing could ever move him from his duty. In desert and dungeon the Baptist was magnificently true. I want you to note that it was such a character, conspicuous above all else in faithfulness, that won from our Lord that so majestic praise when He called John the greatest born of women.

According to the measurements of Jesus, then, we are face to face here with a test of character. It is in faithfulness that men are great; it is in unfaithfulness that they are weak. When the morning breaks and we get our welcome, it will never be, "Well done, thou brilliant servant." The highest praise even for all the talents will be, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

But, after all, when we think of the world's great men, when we get to know them intimately in their lives, there is perhaps nothing so arresting as the fidelity which we discover there. When we are young we are ready to imagine that the great man must be free from common burdens; we think he has no need to plod as we do and face the weary drudgery daily; we picture him lighthearted and inspired, moving with ease where our poor feet are bleeding. Ah! in such terms we dream about the great in the days when we know little of them, but as knowledge widens we see how false that is.

We see that at the back of everything is will. We come to see how every gift is squandered if it be not clinched with quiet fidelity, until at last we dimly recognise that the very keystone of the arch of genius is something different from all the gifts, and that something is called fidelity.

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[nChrist]

The Fact of Faithfulness - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Examples of Faithfulness

One of the critics of Shakespeare, Professor Bradley, insists upon the faithfulness of Shakespeare. It is the fidelity of Shakespeare, in a mind of extraordinary power, he says, that has really made Shakespeare what he is. I turn to Sir Walter Scott, and the same thing meets me there. It is written on every page of his journal. If there ever was a man who was faithful unto death, faithful to honour, to duty, to work, and I shall say, to God, it was that hero who so loved his country, and died beside the murmur of the Tweed.

My point is that one mark of all the greatest is a fidelity which is sublime. No gifts, no brilliance, no genius can release a man from being faithful. Not in the things we do but how we do them, not in fame but in fidelity, is the true test of a man's work, according to the teaching of our Lord.

Faithfulness—a Result of Courage

In the second place our Lord recognises that faithfulness calls for courage. It is significant that the man who hid his talent said to his lord, "I was afraid." In trading there was a certain risk, as in all commerce, I suppose there is a certain risk, and the man with the one talent was unfaithful because he had not the courage for that venture. It was far easier to wrap his talent up than to give it out to the traffic of the market. I dare say he slept a deal more comfortably than the others, who tossed with their anxieties; but God has not sent us into this stirring world just to sleep comfortably and wake at ease. He has sent us to work, and to carry to the market every power that He has dowered us with. It is only in doing that that we are faithful; it is only in taking the risk which that involves. And when our Lord makes the servant say, "I was afraid," and bury his talent without using it, He indicates in His own exquisite way that in faithfulness there is the element of courage.

As our life advances we come to see clearly that our Lord is right. To be faithful in one's duty, whether for layman or for minister, may come to be the finest of heroisms. In youth we are hardly awakened to that fact. When we are young it seems easy to be faithful, for youth is a time of generous enthusiasm and a heavenly disregard for the world's judgment. But the outlook alters when we get a little older; we grow more cautious, more prudent, more worldly wise, until to be quietly and gladly faithful is only possible when the heart is brave.

When Thomas Carlyle, with no prospect of a settled income, received the offer of the editorship of a London magazine, it was an honourable offer; it required competence. A man less sure of a mission would have jumped at it; but Carlyle, faithful to his trust, refused it, and only a brave man would have done that.

It is a brave thing when morning after morning a man goes cheerfully to his unpleasant duty, and it is a brave thing when a daughter year after year nurses an aged mother, or toils for a motherless family. It is a brave thing when a wife is faithful to a husband when he has ceased to be a man and plays the brute. Yes, there is nothing spectacular in that long fortitude: the world will never hear it and applaud; but I think that Jesus understands its courage and will not forget the reward when He returns.

The Rewards of Faithfulness

In the third place, observe that our Lord makes faithfulness the road to power. "Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things." Now, we must remember God's rewards are never arbitrary like the prizes boys get for running races. God's rewards grow out of the struggle that we wage, as the fruit of the autumn grows from the flower of spring. All the rewards that we shall ever gain are with us in their rudiments, just as the doom that waits some in eternity is germinating in their heart this very hour.

You see, then, in the light of that, why Christ associates faithfulness and rule, "Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." It is because one is the outflow of the other, as is the brook among the heather in the spring. It is because, as the flower blossoms from the bud, influence blossoms from fidelity.

There are many pathways to power in this world, some of which may lie far away from us. There is wealth, there is social influence, there is charming manner; all these make a man powerful enough, but the power that an earnest heart will covet most is not an authority that is external; it is the influence that radiates from the heart to hearten those who struggle by our side. That is the rule, I take it, of which Jesus speaks here. That is the power which is so much worth possessing, and having it makes a man's life worth living. Now our Lord here shows that the road to it is not to be feverishly anxious to do good, but rather to be faithful in the least.

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[nChrist]

The Fact of Faithfulness - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

Do you think Abraham had an eye for power when he obeyed God's call to leave his home? Do you think that Moses dreamed of majesty when he loyally accepted his great task? Moses and Abraham were sublimely faithful, passionately bent on being loyal, and all the power in the lives of men has sprung from their fidelity to God.

Now if you believe in Christ at all, I want you to believe in that. I want you to believe that your life is bound to show if you are day by day faithful in the least. Seekest thou great things for yourself? Seek them not; study to be quiet and to do your work within your own path, and follow it to the end. Men will be helped toward the feet of God by you, and there is not one of us who does not have an audience.

The Joy of Faithfulness and the Sorrow of Unfaithfulness

Then I want you to observe, Christ associates faithfulness with joy. To the faithful servant came this benediction: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." It is not success and joy, it is not fame and joy; it is not these that are joined in our Lord's teaching, but faithfulness and joy. These are the bride and bridegroom and the mystical marriage of our Lord.

Then look at the doom of the unfaithful servant; it is outer darkness and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I trust none will take these words of parable as a correct description of a material hell. A man who is unfaithful is always moving nightwards. He has been false to the light God gave him for his journey; and the man who has been unfaithful, when the day is done, what can he look for but remorse and tears?

Here are two men engaged in the same work, both of them intelligent and skillful craftsmen. One is careless and scamps his work, while the other does it with his heart and soul. Is the work easier for the man who does it negligently? Is he happier when the bell rings in the evening? I tell you that every nightfall, had he but eyes to see it, he might detect the shadow of the outer darkness. It is only the faithful workman who has joy, no matter how hard and laborious his work be; he understands, when he lays down his tools, why Christ associates faithfulness with gladness.

Or here are two young men starting in life with bright ideals and dreams of a great future. And one holds fast his ideals through failure and toil; the other is overcome and barters them. He may be very prosperous indeed and an honourable citizen, but all his prosperity will never compensate him for having ceased to walk in the direction of his dreams. He has gained much, but he has lost himself, and the bitter note is that he knows it. He sees things in their proper values now, and would give half the world to begin again. He understands the meaning of those words, perhaps the most solemn that were ever spoken, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Lord, keep our young men from that successful tragedy. We wish to live no less than well, therefore to be faithful, whatever our trust be, no matter how hard and wearisome the toil along that road is, if the words of Christ mean anything, the song of triumph will echo by and by.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

April 16

The Lowly Duty of Fidelity - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

Thou hast been faithful over a few things— Mat_25:21

Fidelity Can Be Anybody's Virtue

It was very like our Lord to make fidelity the test of life. He was quick to recognise the lowly virtues. Just as He took obscure and lowly men when He wanted to build up a kingdom, so did He take obscure and lowly virtues when He wanted to build up a character, and this not merely because they were obscure, but because they were within the range of all, and His was to be a universal Gospel. There is nothing dazzling in fidelity. It is not at all a rare and splendid gift. It has no power to arrest the eyes, nor get itself chronicled in any newspaper. And it is singularly like the Lord, with His passion for undistinguished people, that He should crown a virtue such as that. Some of my readers never can be brilliant. They serve in the great army of the commonplace. But there is one thing within the compass of them all, and that is the steady practice of fidelity. And the inspiring thought is that our Lord should take a thing within the reach of everybody, and make it the criterion of character.

Fidelity Demands Courage

It is like Him, too, to recognise that fidelity demands a certain courage. In the parable from which our text is taken that is very charmingly exhibited. There is one man there who was not faithful. He got his talent and he buried it. And it is a master-touch of a profound psychology that in the end of the day, when the reckoning was taken, that man is made to say I was afraid. His infidelity was fear, and the Lord delights to hint at truth by negatives. There is a courage of the battle-field, which is often a very splendid thing. There is courage needed for every high adventure, whether it be in Africa or Everest. But perhaps the finest courage in the world (in the eyes of God, if not of men) is the quiet and steady courage of fidelity. To do things when you don't feel like them, to keep on keeping on, to get to duty through headache and through heartache, to ply the drudgery when birds are calling—there are few things finer in the world. That is not a thing of the rare moment—it is carrying victory into the common day. It does not flash in the country of our dreams—it illuminates the dreary levels. And life is never a victorious business unless our common days are full of victories of which no one ever hears anything at all.

Christ Demonstrated the Courage of Fidelity

I should like to halt a moment to say in passing that this was the courage of our Lord Himself. Sometimes we forget how brave He was. We sing of "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild," and we dwell on His exceeding tenderness, nor in a world like this, so full of difficulty, can we ever dwell on His tenderness too much. But if we ignore His courage, we lose one of the appeals of Christ to youth, and to do that is infinitely pitiful. Did it take no courage to come down from heaven and become the tenant of a cottage? Did it take no courage to remain at Nazareth when His heart was burning in His breast? Did it take no courage to resist the devil, offering Him the kingdoms of the world, when the winning of these kingdoms was His passion? To scorn delights and live laborious days, to take the long, long trail that led to Calvary, to set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem, where the Cross was waiting and the crown of thorns—never was finer courage in the world. When we feel that we are missing things (and to feel that means an aching heart), when we are tempted to rebel at drudgery and to long for the wings of a dove to fly away, we must remember Him who never flew away (though white-winged angels were His servitors), but took up His cross, daily, to the end.

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[nChrist]

The Lowly Duty of Fidelity - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Fidelity Is Rewarded by Capacity

Another profound suggestion of our Lord is that fidelity is rewarded by capacity. "Thou has been faithful over few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." Sometimes an employer of labour says to me, "The young fellow you sent me is no use. He has proved a slacker in his task, and I never can offer him a bigger one." But sometimes he says to me, "I've been watching that lad; he's doing splendidly; the first bigger thing that offers he will get." The real reward is not the bigger task. It is the capacity to do the bigger task. Real rewards are never arbitrary; they are vitally related to the toil. The reward of service is greater power to serve. The reward of fidelity is new capacity—added fitness comes through being faithful. To be faithful in the least is to be qualifying for what is greater. To do with the whole heart the lowliest thing is to be getting ready for the higher thing. So live, and whatever the world may have in store, He whose word can never pass away will make you ruler over many things. Life will deepen and be enriched for you, though your home be but a humble lodging. Your will shall be strengthened by those daily victories which, after all, are the victories that count. True wealth is augmented personality, with corresponding increase of capacity, and the avenue of God to that is faithfulness.

Fidelity Is Associated with Joy

We shall not forget how our Lord associates fidelity with joy. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Tell me, is not that profoundly true? Here are two men engaged in the same task, both intelligent and skillful workmen. But the one is careless, and he scamps his work; the other is laboriously faithful. At the end of the day, when work is over, and there stretches ahead the leisure of the evening, which of these two workmen is the happier? "Flowers laugh before thee in their beds," says Wordsworth of the man who is found faithful. Unfaithfulness moves towards the dark. Fidelity pitches its tent towards the sunrise. Be thou faithful, and when the task is over, and the morning breaks upon the farther shore, thou shalt enter into the joy of thy Lord.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

April 17

Judgment - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory— Mat_25:31

Preaching on the Judgment

One always notices in time of revival that a great deal is preached about the Last Judgment. In our ordinary pulpit ministration it is not so. I think most ministers hesitate to face up to these awful truths, but always, both in past centuries and today, when there is a revival of God's Spirit, as a moral motive power you find prominence on the Last Judgment. Over against the inequalities, the injustices, the apparent unrighteousnesses of this world, mankind almost naturally has postulated a judgment to come. I suppose there is not a savage faith without some glimmering of it; and in the religion of old Egypt there was no picture more familiar than that of the Judgment Hall, and somebody standing holding a pair of scales, and in one side of them the human souls.

The Judgment Is Going to Be at the End of Time

One wants, then, to find what our Lord had to say about this deep instinct of the human heart. We find it here. Laying aside the imagery—one can never be quite sure when or not the curtain is the picture—but trying to lay aside the imagery and trying to get at the truth which our Lord wanted to teach, I think we discover this. First of all, our Lord makes it perfectly plain to us that this judgment is going to be at the end of time; when the Son of Man cometh in His glory and His holy angels with Him, then—and whatever be our thoughts of eschatology, and whatever be our views of the millennium, I think it must be clear to all of us that what our Lord meant was that the great judgment is not to be until the story of time is at an end. Now a little reasoning will just show you how necessary that is. For instance, nobody can be perfectly judged in this life, just because life is not static; life is a thing of movement. Our blessed Lord never judged a man by what he might be at the particular moment, but rather by the trend of what he was going to be. You take the parable of the Pharisee and Publican praying in the Temple. At that particular moment the Pharisee really thought he was better than the Publican, he had done far more good, but in the broken heart of the poor penitent the Lord saw such possibilities for tomorrow that He pronounced blessing. John Newton was a slave trader, and if at any hour in his earlier life you had judged him you would have condemned him to the lowest pit. But Newton was converted, became a well-known minister, and won multitudes of souls for Christ. You see, you can never judge him while his life is moving. Again, is it not equally clear to you that you can never judge a man just when he dies, because when a man dies his influence does not die; it may go on from age to age. You take, for instance, a case like Mr. Quarrier. Mr. Quarrier with all the passion of his heart loved these little orphan children, and then he got the Homes built at Bridge-of-Weir, and there he laboured till he died; but the Homes did not die. Year after year, generation after generation, perhaps to the end of time, they are going to go on blessing the orphan children. If you want to sum up the total influence of Mr. Quarrier you cannot judge him till the end of time. You take a man whose influence is bad: a man who writes a bad book, it may be an obscene novel, spawn of the press, it may be a book deliberately designed to overthrow faith. The man writes it and gets his bread by it, and he dies; but the book does not die. Year after year it may go on corrupting, degrading, and lowering, and not till the ripples have broken on the shore of eternity is the whole story of the man's influence known, and our Lord, who is always so reasonable, says that when the Son of Man comes, when times is done, when your influence has gone to its uttermost limit, then we are going to be judged.

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Judgment - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Judgment Is Going to Be Final

The next thing our Lord tells us here is that the judgment is going to be final. I want you to listen while I read over quietly these words—not of mine, but of Christ: "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous unto life eternal." If there be anybody here who knows Greek, he will know that the word for "everlasting" is the same word as the word for "eternal," and therefore if you and I believe that the life we are going to live beyond is one that never ends, you can only interpret the words of Christ as meaning that the punishment is never going to end. I want you to think of that. It is perfectly true that men have tried to get out of it by giving another meaning to that word "eternal." They have taken it to mean "age-long": that is, lasting through the next period to this, though beyond that no one knows what happens. There is no hope that way. All through the Bible—St. Paul, St. John, the writer of the Hebrews, the Revelation—the word means "never ending." So it means in classic Greek, so it means in Plato. It is not I, it is the Lord who says, and says it with a passionate intensity, "Where the worm never dieth, where the fire is never quenched." It is not I, it is the Lord who says, "These shall go into everlasting punishment, and those into everlasting life," and how the Lord, with His big heart of love, tender to everybody, even to the beasts, how the Lord could combine that with such an awful prospect, is something we have never fathomed to this hour. If you want to say, "I do not believe in everlasting punishment," remember you are at perfect liberty to say it. If it is your judgment, then it is yours, but please observe you can never quote the authority of the Lord Christ for that. It is awful to think that His authority is on the other side. You have got to face up to that. I suppose the two difficulties men have felt when they have allowed themselves to brood upon this matter are these. First, we say, we have all said, How could anyone be happy in heaven, how could the saints of heaven sing their song if they knew that there were souls—even one soul—suffering in hopeless misery? To that there is no answer. But is not it possible that a little light may be drawn from what we see in this present world? Are not there people in Glasgow who are perfectly happy, thoroughly enjoying themselves, and all the time within a stone's throw there are men and women in hopeless misery? You see it can be done, and if you answer, as I have no doubt the keener among you would answer at once, that these are worldly people, these are not the inhabitants of heaven, my experience is, it is generally worldly people who talk like that. The saints rather bow the head and say, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Can God Be Love and Punish?

I fancy our other profound difficulty is this. How can God be love? How can God care and be a Father and wish us well and have the power to give us the best, and yet forever have creatures in hopeless misery? Again there is no answer, but again does not this present world suggest that it may be possible? Is not God love today? Is not God infinitely kind today? And yet today are there none who have committed the unpardonable sin which can never be forgiven, neither in this life nor the life to come? May there be forgiven, neither in this life nor the life to come? May there not be a fixity of heart, a deadness like that of the nether millstone, owing to our free will working as well as the love of God? There is not one of us in pew or pulpit, who does not long with all the passion of his heart for universal restoration; there is not one who does not crave that ultimately all should be blessed; but the Lord has been our light, the Lord has been the Revealer of the Father, and it is the Lord who says, "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched." It is the Lord who says, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." I want to speak in the right tone, I don't want to speak harshly. I am like a man groping in the dark, but with one hand I grip Christ, and I say, Brother, would not it be awful to awaken and find that you were wrong and the Lord was right? "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him."

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Judgment - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

Christ Himself Will Be the Judge

The next thing which our blessed Saviour tells us is that He Himself is going to be our judge: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory." Our judge is not God, the Father; our judge is Christ, the Son, and you know that is as stupendous as it is beautiful. Think how stupendous it is. Here is Christ, born in a manger, living for thirty years in a little cottage, going about among humble people, doing little deeds of kindness, and then He says, "I am going to judge mankind." It is either arrogance raised to the point of madness, or it is the truth, and I do not think that any fair review would ever charge the Lord with arrogance. And if it is the truth, your Carpenter of Nazareth is God, and you have got to bow before Him and say, "My Lord and my God." All well enough to say, I love the Carpenter of Nazareth; I like to watch Him talking with the children, watching the sparrows, moving through the harvest; but mark you, your only source of knowledge of that Carpenter tells you that He said, "I am going to judge the world." Then how beautiful it is that you and I are going to be judged by a Man, by One who bore our burdens, by One who knew our frame, by One who understands us perfectly. The other day there came into the vestry a man who again had given way to drink. When I asked him what was the cause of it, he answered something like this: "I was down and out, my business tottering, my home unhappy, and I gave way to drink." If I had judged him, what would he have said? He would have said, "You do not understand; you never had a business that was tottering; you were never unhappy at home." But if I could have said to him, "Brother, I have been down and out, I have come through all that you have, and yet God brought me through," my very presence would have judged him. It is so with the Lord. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He was down and out when every disciple forsook Him and fled; and He is going to be our Judge. I could imagine some daring soul on the Day of Judgment, if the judge was God the Father, saying, "Thou who dwellest yonder, far away in the light that never fades, you do not understand." Nobody ever can say that to Christ; I think just His presence will be the judgment.

Our Judgment Will Depend on the Discharge or Neglect of the Common Charities of Life

One thing more I have got to say, and it is this, that our Lord—apart from the figure altogether—teaches us the principle of the Last Judgment, and the principle is this: it is the discharge or the neglect of the common charities of life. May I say it again? It is the discharge or the neglect of the common humanities of life—visiting the prisoner, cheering the sick, giving bread to the hungry, clothing the naked; and that is but a short and swift summation of what we call the charities of life. Are you not surprised? You thought character was going to be the test in the Last Judgment; you thought the Spirit of Christ was going to be the test—"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." But what is the spirit of Christ? It is believing and experiencing what He said about the new birth and proving it by doing what He did. It is the Spirit who brought Him to the manger, it is the Spirit who kept Him quiet in Nazareth for thirty years, it is the Spirit who made Him move among men, teaching them, healing them, helping them, doing them good; and if that is your life, you have got the Spirit of Christ. You do not know it ? Of course you don't; none of the saved knew it, they were all amazingly surprised when the Lord told how He reckoned them (see Mat_25:35-40). And you may have the Spirit of Christ if you go out and be kindly, charitable, helpful; and yet you may never know it till the judgment comes. You say, I am going to be judged by my relationship to Christ. Yes, you are. When the Lord was here, with whom, tell me, did He identify Himself? Was it with Herod? "Go tell that fox." Was it with the Pharisees? "Woe unto you, Pharisees." The Lord identified Himself with the poor, with the needy, with the last, with the least, with the lost; and He is the same yesterday and today and forever. And if the Lord is identified with all who are in need, then every time you help a man in need you are brought into relationship with Christ.

We Must Revise Our Lives

It has been very difficult—not difficult to speak the truth, but to speak the truth in the right spirit. I trust I have done it tenderly, and I simply want to ask you to remember that all of us have got to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and therefore should not we all revise our lives, lest at the end, when far off there is music, for us it should be wailing and gnashing of teeth?

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

April 18

The Anointing at Bethany - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified…Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat— Mat_26:1, Mat_26:2, Mat_26:6, Mat_26:7

Jesus Was Calm on His Way to the Cross

We are now approaching the last days of the earthly life of Jesus in our study of Matthew's Gospel, and our lesson opens with the clear declaration from our Saviour's lips that in two days He would be crucified. There is a singular interest in Matthew's little preface to these words: he tells us that it was "when Jesus had finished all these sayings" that He spoke plainly about His crucifixion. That means, I take it, that the mind of Christ was calm; that there was order and quiet progress in His teaching; that He moved forward through His many lessons with a deliberate and sure advance, till His hearers were able to bear the news of Calvary. How apt we are, when a great secret holds us, to blurt it out in an ill-considered way! How thoughtless and how unkind we often are, in the eager telling of unpleasant things! The narrative of Matthew deepens our impression of the noble self-restraint of Jesus. Matthew had felt in Christ that sweet reserve without which love is sure to prove a wastrel. Observe, too, that when Jesus foretells His death, He does not say He is going to be betrayed. He says, "The Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified" (Mat_26:24). That intimates that in the heart of Judas, Christ read the deed as if already done. In the thoughts of the traitor everything was planned, and Jesus is a discerner of men's thought. The secret imaginings of our today are the open sins and failures of our tomorrow. There is a deep philosophy of conduct in the advice of Paul, to bring every thought into captivity to Christ. I fancy that God sees, hidden in every acorn, the beauty and the gnarled strength of the oak tree; so Jesus, in the dark and brooding heart of Judas, saw the arrest in the garden, and the cross. And one point more: The high priest is called Caiaphas (Mat_26:3). But it seems that Caiaphas was only his distinguishing name. His personal name was Joseph, but there were so many Josephs that men called him Joseph Caiaphas, perhaps Joseph the Oppressor. Can we recall a similar Bible instance where the name of Joseph has been almost forgotten? "Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is, being interpreted, the Son of Consolation" (Act_4:36).

In the House of Simon the Leper

Then follows the beautiful scene at Bethany, and we cannot too closely note the setting of it. It is immediately preceded by this black conspiracy (Mat_26:1-5); it is immediately followed by the traitor's bargain (Mat_26:14-16). On the one side, fear and jealousy and hatred; on the other side, treachery and bargain driving. And in the center (a rose between the thorns) a love that forgot everything and lavished all. Who Simon the leper was, we do not know. I like to think he was that leper we read of, who had cried, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean" (Mat_8:2). Whoever he was, no doubt our Lord had cleansed him: and yet men called him Simon the leper still. You see how old names, like old reputations, stick. Men keep them alive with a kind of evil pleasure. There would be many who could never talk of Simon but they would add, "Of course, you have heard he was a leper once?" And yet I think that Simon loved his name. It was a standing memorial of one glorious morning. He never could think how he had been a leper but it led him to think of how he had met the Lord; and now that that same Lord was at his table, he may have been saying, "My cup is running over." It was then that this woman, whom we know to have been Mary, performed this act that was to live forever. She broke the alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on Jesus' head as He reclined at meat. And the disciples were indignant and thought it sheer extravagance; but Jesus crowned the act with immortality. Just note that in the ancient world rare ointments were commonly held in alabaster vases. Herodotus tells somewhere that among the presents sent by King Cambyses to the Ethiopians there was an alabaster vessel of nard like Mary's. Now, if this woman were indeed the sister of Lazarus, may not the ointment have been purchased to anoint his body, and so have been given with a double meaning to the Lord who had raised her brother from the grave ?

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The Anointing at Bethany - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Lord Can Read the Glory of Humble Acts

The first thing to impress us in this story is Christ's rich interpretation of the deed. It was a simple action, done by a sinful woman, yet Jesus drew a wealth of meaning from it. To the disciples it was a foolish exhibition. Even the best of them thought lightly of it. Christ had no need of it, so they began to reason; He came not to be ministered unto but to minister. Were there no paupers in the village of Bethany? And might not the ointment have been sold for their benefit? A murmur of disapproval ran round the table, scarcely audible, perhaps, when it reached John, but loud and positive when Judas voiced it (Joh_12:4). And then, had you asked the woman what she meant, I dare say she would have stammered in reply. She might have said she had never stopped to reason; she had only listened to her heart, and there she was. None of the disciples knew what she was doing; I question if she really knew herself. Only Jesus saw the meaning of the deed, and felt its glory in the love that filled it. Never forget, then, that we serve a Lord who can read the humblest actions gloriously. The Son of man in the midst of the seven candlesticks has eyes as it were a flame of fire (Rev_1:14). He sees in the simple deed, inspired by love, meanings and purposes we never dreamed of. He so interprets our poor and tangled service that we shall hardly know it in the morning. All which is fitted to make us very hopeful when, loving the Master, we first try to serve Him; and to restrain us from judging or troubling anybody when they serve in ways we fail to understand.

Mary's Act of Sacrifice Was a Symbol of Christ's Cross

But the heart of this exquisite story lies in this, that this deed was the dying of Jesus, in a figure. It was not merely because love inspired it that Jesus crowned it with unequalled praise. It was because He found in it the very Spirit that was leading Him on so steadily to Calvary. Had Mary stopped to balance or to weigh, we should never have heard of the alabaster box. Had the gift been calculated to a nicety, it had never been part of the undying Gospel. But the love of Mary never asked how little; the love of Mary only asked how much. With a magnificent and glorious disregard, it broke the box and lavished everything. Now there is no need to make the alabaster box a type and figure of the body of Jesus. It was not the vase that was like the body of Christ; it was the act that was kindred to His death. For Jesus, like Mary, never asked how little. He lavished everything in saving men. He gave with a glorious fulness like that of Mary's, when He gave Himself to the cross and to the grave. And wherever the love of Christ is known and felt, and the wonder of its lavish sacrifice awakens, "there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her."

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

April 20

Love's Wastefulness - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

To what purpose is this waste?— Mat_26:8

A Strange Deed Lives Forever

The scene was Bethany, and the time was near the end. A few more days and the earthly life of Jesus would be over. Jesus and His disciples are seated at their evening meal, when a woman, whom from other sources we learn to have been Mary, did this strange deed that is to live forever. It is not always true that "the evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." The harm that Mary did, if she did any, lies sleeping with the other gossip of the street of Bethany. This deed still lives, like a choice framework for her heart and hand. 'Tis one of those countless actions of the just, that smell sweet and blossom in the dust.

A Simple Act to Express Love

And the deed, however unforeseen, was very simple. It was the breaking of an alabaster box, and the pouring of the ointment on the feet of Christ. How much this Mary owed to Jesus, perhaps we shall never know. We cannot tell what a new peace had stolen upon her heart, and what a new glory had fallen upon her world, when first this guest entered her brother's home. But when her brother died, and Jesus came, and called him from the dead, and gave him back to Bethany and to Mary, why then, by any passionate thankfulness we have felt in getting back our kindred from the gates of death, we can touch the fringes of the gratitude of Mary. And that was the motive and meaning of her act. She loved Him so, she could not help it. Christ's love had broken her alienated heart. Now let it break her alabaster box. The best was not too good for Him, who had given her a new heart and a new home.

This Was a Deed Only Christ Could Understand

But there are deeds so fine only Christ can understand them. There are some actions so inspired, that even the saintliest disciple, leaning on Jesus' bosom, will never interpret them aright. And this was one of these. Peter, and James, and John—they understand it now, but they did not understand it then. They were indignant. It was a shocking extravagance of an impulsive woman. What need to squander so a year's wages of a working man—for the ointment never cost a penny less. If it were not needed now for Lazarus, it might have been sold and given to the poor.

You call them narrow? And you are irritated by their lack of insight? Stay, brethren, there were some noble features in their indignation. And had you and I been lying at that table, I almost hope we should have fallen a-fretting too. These men could not forget, even at the feast, the gaunt and horrid form of destitution that sits forever in the chamber of the village pauper, crying aloud for clothing and for bread. It may be, too, that at their evening worship they had been reading that he who gives to the poor lends to the Lord. And had they not had it from their Master's lips that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister? Till in the light of that, and in the remembrance of the woes of poverty, their hearts began to burn with a not so dishonourable indignation. And each began to ask his fellow, "To what purpose is this waste?"

Her Wastefulness Was the Expression of Her Love

But these disciples had forgotten one thing. They had forgotten that this woman's wastefulness was the native revelation of her love. There is a wasteful spending that is supremely selfish. There is a lavish giving that is disowned in heaven, because the giver is always thinking of himself. But God suspends the pettier economies, and will not brook a single murmur, when He detects the wastefulness of love. It is the genius of love to give. It is love's way to forget self and lavish everything. And Mary's way was love's way when she brake the box and poured the ointment on the feet of Christ. And being love's way, it was God's way too.

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Love's Wastefulness - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

God Lavishes His Love

And so we reach the truth that I am anxious to press home on your hearts. If God be love, and if a prodigal expenditure like that of Mary be of the very essence of all love, then in the handiwork of God we shall detect a seeming wastefulness. I scan the works of the Almighty, and everywhere I see the marks of wisdom. I look abroad, and the great universe assures me of His power. But God is more than wisdom or than power. God is love. And I can never rest till I have found the traces of that love in all I know and all I see of God. Here, then, is one of love's sure tokens. It is a royal expenditure, a lavish and self-forgetful waste. Can I detect this prodigality in the various handiworks of God?

In Nature

First, then, I turn to nature. I leave the crowded city, and find my way into the field, and there, amid the hedgerows, under the open sky, I see a prodigality like that of Mary. God has His own arithmetic, it is not ours. God has His own economy, but it is not the economy of man. Things are not measured here and weighed in scales, and nicely calculated and numbered out. The spirit that breathes through universal nature is the spirit that brake the alabaster box. That heather at my feet is flinging off its seeds in such countless millions, that this one patch could cloak the mountainside in purple. Yon birch that shakes its leaves above my head could fill with seedlings the whole belt of wood. The sun is shining upon dead Sahara as well as on the living world that needs it. And the gentle rain that falls on the mown grass is falling just as sweetly on the granite rock. What mean these myriads of living things? Was He utilitarian who formed and decked the twice ten thousand creatures who dance and die upon a summer's eve? Have we not here in primal force the spirit that prompted Mary to her deed? There is a royal extravagance in nature. There is a splendid prodigality. There is a seeming squandering of creative power. Let men believe it is the work of carelessness, or of a dead and iron law; but as for us, we shall discover in it some hint that God is love, until the day break and the shadows flee away.

In Beauty

Or holding still by nature, let us set the question of beauty in that light. This world is very beautiful, the children sing; and so it is. And the only organ that can appreciate beauty is the eye of man. No lower creature has the sense of beauty. It serves no purpose in the world's economy. Beauty unseen by man is beauty wasted. Yet there are scenes of beauty in the tropics on which the eye of man has never lit. And there are countless flushings of the dawn, and glories unnumbered of the setting sun, that never fall within the ken of man. Arctic explorers tell us that in the distant north there is an unsurpassable glory in the sunset. For a brief season in declining day the levels of the snow are touched with gold, and every minaret of ice is radiant. And every sunset has been so for centuries, and never an eye has looked on it till now. O seeming waste of precious beauty! Until the heart begins to whisper, "Why, to what purpose is this waste?" Ah! it is there! that is the point. We have observed it now in the Creator's work.

In Providence

But now I turn to providence. If Mary's action was in the line of God's, we should detect even in providence something of the prodigality of love.

When aged Jacob sat in his tent in Canaan, nursing the hope that Joseph still was living, he would have been content to have had his son again though he came home in rags. And when the prodigal of the parable came home, ashamed of himself, and sorry for his sin, he wished no better chamber than his father's kitchen. But God was lavish in His lovingkindness, and gave a prince and not a beggar back to Jacob. And the father of the prodigal was himself so prodigal of love that he must put a ring upon that truant hand and bind the shoes upon these wandering feet.

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