George H. Morrison's Old And Beautiful Devotions

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May 24

Love and Courage

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and they were sore afraid— Luk_2:9
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping and seeth two angels and she turned herself back, and saw Jesus— Joh_20:11, Joh_20:12, Joh_20:14

The Shepherds Were Afraid

We do not like to associate fear with Bethlehem. Fear seems to be banished from the picture. We associate Bethlehem with joy and singing, and with the springing up of glad and glorious hope. Our Christmas hymns are among the gladdest hymns to be found in the whole range of Christian praise. Even waifs and strays, and desolate, lonely people are conscious of an inward warmth at Christmas. And yet these shepherds, out on the hillside, and "simply chatting in a rustic row," were (as Moffatt puts it) terribly afraid. They were not careless nor irreligious men. Eastern shepherds were very rarely that. Their converse with the solitudes of nature kept their hearts alive to awe and wonder. Yet when the angel of the Lord appeared, in some sudden and overwhelming flash of glory, these hardy men were terribly afraid. The unseen world was breaking in on them. Invisible presences were near. That hidden realm which lies beyond the grave was revealing its mysterious secrets. And though their trust, as simple faithful shepherds, was in the God of Abraham and Isaac, an awful dread fell upon their hearts.

But Mary Magdalene Was Not Afraid When the Angels Spoke to Her at Jesus' Grave
Now the singular thing is that when we come to Mary there is not a trace of that commanding terror. And yet if it struck into the shepherds' hearts we should expect to find it here intensified. They were hardy and courageous men; she was a delicate and shrinking woman. They were together, in strengthening companionship; she was all by herself in the dim dawn. They were out on the hills, where sheep were bleating, and where every bush and streamlet was familiar; she was in the presence of a grave. Fear falls upon the heart more readily when some intense experience has exhausted it. No such experience had reached the shepherds; Mary had come through Calvary. Yet there is not a trace in Mary's instance of that gripping and overpowering fear which seized the shepherds when they saw the angels. She did not flee. She did not faint. She saw them, and she continued weeping. The angels spoke to her and Mary answered, as if she were talking with some village friend. And so little did they disturb her heart that she did not even continue gazing at them, but, having spoken, turned herself about. One could not imagine the shepherds doing that. Terror held their eyes. Had a wolf howled, and any sheep cried piteously, I question if they would have even heard it. What, then, had happened? What made the difference? What banished that overwhelming dread in the intrusion of the realm unseen?

Mary's Love for Jesus' Made the Difference

The difference lies in Mary's love for Jesus, a love of which the shepherds were quite ignorant. They came to the innumerable company of angels; she to the Mediator of the better covenant. We all know how love can banish fear. The Apostle tells us there is no fear in love. In the strength and passion of her mother-love, the timidest of mothers will grow brave. And the love of Jesus had so mastered Mary, and captured every tendril of her heart, that fear took to itself wings and flew away. it was a fearful thing to be out in the dim dawn, beside a grave, and near those Roman soldiers, it was a fearful thing within a sepulchre lo be confronted with these unearthly presences. But just as mother-love will drill out fear when a beloved baby is in peril, so the love of Jesus drove out fear from Mary. To have known Jesus had made all the difference. To have loved Him had slain a hundred terrors. To be perfectly certain of His love for her had swallowed up her womanly timidities. A woman with a woman's heart, she was stronger than these hardy sons of shepherding, because Christ had come into her life.

Haunting and Mysterious Fears Can Be Banished in Your Life

And that is what always happens in a life, amid the presences of the unseen and the unknown. To banish haunting and mysterious fears takes more than the natural courage of the heart. No one would charge these shepherds with being cowards. They would have laid down their lives for the sheep. Amid familiar and expected dangers they were easily equal to their problem. But let unseen and mysterious fingers touch them, and flashes betray the nearness of eternity—and dread awakes, and sudden pangs of fear, and piercing terrors in the stoutest heart. No natural courage can keep such fears at bay. They haunt and darken every human heart. We all move through a mysterious universe, and from irruptions we are never safe. But one thing we do know, and even Mary was not sure of this, that neither height nor depth nor life nor death can separate us from the love of Christ. in that love, given and returned, lies the dismissal of a thousand fears. We do not tremble now when the unknown assails us, nor when the finger of death is on the latch. We are like Mary, very near a sepulchre, in the dim dawn, amid unearthly things, but undisturbed, untroubled, unafraid—because Christ has come into the life.

____________________

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]

May 25

Where to Go at Christmas - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem— Luk_2:15

Bethlehem Did Not Know What God Was Doing in Its Midst

Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, that we may see the unobtrusiveness of God. How little the great world knew that night of all that was happening at the inn! The inn itself was crowded; every corner of it housed a traveler. Men were talking excitedly and eagerly on a hundred subjects of the hour. And the great subject of eternity—the birth that was to alter all the future—unobserved, was at their very hand. Nobody was discussing that. The innkeeper would wish to keep it quiet. A few might wonder what was going on in the manger, but they would give to it only a passing thought. And it was thus that the Redeemer came, for the King is really the Kingdom, and cometh not with observation. The old Greeks used to say that the gods come to us on feet of wool. It was thus that God came when His Son was born, in the greatest moment of all history. Men were trafficking, and little children playing, and women gossiping beside the well—and lo! the kingdom of heaven was among them.

No One Expected Christ to Be Born in a Manger

Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, that we may see the unexpectedness of God. Here was the heavenly purpose of the ages, fulfilled in a Babe lying in a manger, it was a common dream that the Christ would come in power, breaking into the world of time magnificently. Even if born (as prophecy had hinted), there would be visible splendor at His birth. The last thing that anyone expected, was that the Christ would be a manger-child, unable to find housing in an inn. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isa_55:8). The manger is forever preaching that, and we are forever slow to take it in. When we are tempted to dictate to heaven, and to "limit the Holy One of Israel," let us instantly turn our steps to Bethlehem.

They all were looking for a King

To slay their foes and lift them high:

Thou cam'st, a little baby thing

That made a woman cry.

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[nChrist]

Where to Go at Christmas - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

In Their Obedience the Shepherds Found God to Be Faithful

Let us now go again even unto Bethlehem, that we may see the faithfulness of God. That was what the shepherds found that night. When the shining angels went away, everything would be darker on the hill. Often in life the very darkest hours follow hard on the splendor of the vision. And one pictures the shepherds, in that enfolding darkness, no longer "chatting in a rustic row," but wondering if it all had been a dream. It is characteristic of these honest souls that they put things to the proof at once. They did not discuss the vision; they obeyed it. And so obeying, when everything was dark, and when the night had swallowed up the glory, they discovered the faithfulness of God. Was there a scoffer, I wonder, in their company? Did he warn them that they were self-deceived? Did he bid them "tarry by the sheep-folds," for that they would go to the city and find nothing? Then, with a wisdom that learning cannot give, they disregarded him, and made for Bethlehem, and found their proof of the faithfulness of God. That is how we always find it. It is not enough to have the hour of vision. Visions unacted on and unobeyed never authenticate high heaven, it is when the vision goes, and through the following darkness we carry on, though with a sinking heart, that we find He is always better than His word. To act instantly on what has been revealed to us, though there be nothing round us but the familiar pastures; to obey, when the voices of heaven are all silenced, and we hear only the bleating of the sheep, that, for us, as for these simple shepherds, is the way to discover the faithfulness of God in the unspeakable gift of the Lord Jesus.

God Uses Human Hands to Dispense His Higher Gifts

Let us now go yet again even unto Bethlehem, that we may see how God needs human service. The shepherds came to the Baby in the manger—and Joseph and Mary were both there. When God sends rain, man cannot interfere. It is the unaided ministry of heaven. When God sends sunshine, He does not ask our help. It comes quite independently of man. But one mark of all the higher gifts of God is that something is always left for man to do, and he is summoned to be a fellow-worker. The gift of the corn demands the farmer's aid. The gift of the olive-trees demands the gardener. The precious gift of the little crying infant demands the love and watching of the mother. And the Babe at Bethlehem, the greatest gift of all, was not alone when the shepherds reached the manger—even for that gift, human hands were needed. The infant Christ demanded loving service. Without that service He could not have lived. May I not say that He demands it now as imperiously as He ever did at Bethlehem? All which does not decry the great word gift, for always, the nobler be God's gift, the more it claims the toil of human hands.

God's Gifts Reveal His Thoughtfulness and Understanding

Let us now go once more even unto Bethlehem, that we may see the thoughtfulness of God. For that gift, though few might have known it then, was exactly what all the world was needing. Sometimes, even at Christmas, we get gifts which do not speak of thoughtfulness. We feel that the giver has never really known us, or he would never have given us a thing like that. But love and thoughtfulness and perfect understanding (which is always one of the sweetest fruits of love) are mingled in that Christmas gift at Bethlehem. "Thou, O Christ, art all I want, More than all in Thee I find." The cultured Roman and the savage African were all to agree that this was true. I think as years roll on, and hours of triumph reach us, and shadows fall, and days of heartbreak come, one of the most wonderful of life's discoveries is the all-sufficiency of Christ.

____________________

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]

May 26

The Message of Christmas - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us— Luk_2:15

Find Out What God Is Doing in Your Neighborhood

It was a great thing for these shepherds to be in the same country with the new-born Christ. There were many other folk upon that countryside. There were the merchants of Bethlehem, and the shopkeepers. There were the Roman officers taking the census, and the Roman soldiers in their garrisons. But they never dreamed that the crisis of all history was being enacted at their very doors. The shepherds knew it; God had revealed it to them; out on the hill-pasture under the stars they learned it. And it was a great and glorious thing for them to be in the country of the newborn Christ. I trust it will prove so to all who read this page. For not in a manger and not in swaddling clothes, but in all revivals and in all righting for the right, Jesus is mystically born again. And to be awakened to the new life, and catch the meaning of it, is to join the company of these simple shepherds. Do not be self-centered any more. Find out what God is doing in your neighborhood. And in a wider horizon and a glowing heart, and a song from above like the music of the angels, it will be a great thing for you, as for the shepherds, to be in the country of a newborn Christ.

God's Greatest News Is Revealed to Humble Men

Note first, then, that God's greatest news is revealed to humble men. There were many great men and many wealthy men in Palestine. There were scholars of the most profound and various learning. There were lean ascetics who had left the joys of home, and gone away to pray and fast in deserts. But it was not to any of these that the angels came, and it was not in their ears the music sounded; the greatest news that the world ever heard was given to a group of humble shepherds. Few sounds from the mighty world ever disturbed them. They were not vexed by any ambition to be famous. They passed their days amid the silence of nature, and to the Jew nature was the veil of God. They were men of a devout and reverent spirit, touched with a sense of the mystery of things, as shepherds are so often to this day. is it not to such simple and reverent spirits that God still reveals Himself in amplest measure? Must we not become as little children if we would know the secrets of the Kingdom? Whenever I read the beatitude of Jesus, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," I see the shepherds chatting on the hill. How fitting it was, too, that shepherds should be chosen, when we remember how the twenty-third Psalm begins, and when we reflect that the Babe born in Bethlehem was to be the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep.

The Shepherds Were with Their Flocks

Again, note that when the glory reached them, the shepherds were with their flocks. I like to think that when the heavens shone, and the air thrilled with that magnificent music, these humble men were at their humble duty. I dare say that on the highway over the hill there were fast young fellows going rioting home. Do you think they caught one whisper of that heavenly chorus? I dare say one shepherd had turned lazy, and was asleep at home when he should have been at his herding. Do you imagine he had any vision of the angels? It was to the shepherds who were at their posts, and who were toiling faithfully at their appointed work, that God revealed the birth of Jesus Christ. Could there be any better Christmas message than that? There is an open heaven above simple duty. It is not through the pageantry of idle dreams that life becomes a great and noble thing. It is through the fine heroism that sweeps moods aside, and takes up the cross, and grapples with daily work. it is on simple duty that the glory falls, it is the shepherds at their posts who see the angels.

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The Message of Christmas - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Manger Proves the Music True

To the same purpose is this other lesson: it is the manger that proves the music true. This was a night of wonder for the shepherds. It is not remarkable that they were sore afraid. When the darkness of midnight flashed into glorious splendor, and the silence of midnight rang with an angel's voice, it is no marvel that the shepherds were dismayed. Was it a dream? Was it the work of magic? Would the splendor pass, and leave things as they were? "This shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." You note, then, what a mean and sorry thing was to be the proof that the vision was from God. No cradle enriched with ivory or gems; no palace flashing with a thousand lights, it was a lowly cave that confirmed the tidings. it was the manger that countersigned the music. What does that mean for your life and for mine? it means that we may put our visions to the proof. It means that God intends us to prove them true in spheres as lowly as the manger cradle. No vision of love, if the love be truly God's, will pass away and leave us to our midnight. It will be verified in the round of humble toil, and in the drudgery of every common day.

The Angels and the Vision and the Music May Go, but the Lord Was with Them Still
Lastly, the angels depart, but Jesus Christ remains. It would be a little while before the shepherds realized that the angels had actually gone. Then the darkness would be deepened a thousandfold. Yet it was not while the angels sung their hymn that the shepherds found the place where Christ was laid. It was in the moment of the angels' going that they rose up and made for Bethlehem. And is it not often when the angel departs (and the angel may be a child or sister) that the heart for the first time sets out for Christ? The angels went, but Jesus Christ remained. The music ceased, but the Lord was with them still. They would never hear again these heavenly strains, but the Savior was never far away. It is in that faith we all must live and work. The angel and the vision and the music go. The dreams and the hopes of our childhood may depart, and we may seem to be left under a cheerless sky. But though the glory fade, Christ Jesus still remains. He is always with us to hearten and cheer and keep us. Better than any song of angels is His fellowship. It is the true secret of a happy Christmas.

____________________

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]

May 27

Simeon and Anna - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him .... And there was one Anna. a prophetess .... which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day— Luk_2:25, Luk_2:36, Luk_2:37

Age and Infancy Meet

No more beautiful scene could be imagined than this meeting of age and infancy in the Temple. As we read the story of the life of Jesus, we find Him surrounded on all hands by hypocrisy, until we begin to wonder if there was any religion left in those who haunted these sacred courts. But here, for a moment, the curtain is drawn aside. We get a glimpse of a Jewish man and woman. And we find them living holy and separated lives, and longing for the advent of Messiah. On a gravestone erected over certain soldiers in Virginia there are these words, "Who they were, no one knows; what they were, everyone knows," and we might use these words of Simeon and Anna. Who Simeon was we shall never learn; Luke is at no pains to tell us that; but what he was in his daily life and walk, in his inmost desire, and in the sight of God, everyone knows who has read this Gospel chapter. Simeon and Anna, then, entered the Temple when the infant Savior was there, and to them the glory of the child was shown.

Never Give Up Hoping

First, then, we learn that we should never give up hoping. When Alexander the Great crossed into Asia he gave away almost all his belongings to his friends. One of his captains asked him, "Sir, what do you keep for yourself?" And the answer of the king was, "I keep hope." Now we do not read that Simeon was an old man, though it has been universally believed that he was (see Luk_2:29). But through all his years Simeon was like Alexander: he had parted with much, but he had held fast to hope. The days were very dark days for Israel; no John the Baptist had sounded his trumpet note; everything seemed hopeless for the Jews, and some of the noblest of them had taken refuge in despair. But this brave soul "waited for the consolation of Israel," and we know now that his waiting was not vain. Do you see the roots of that heart-hopefulness of his? It ran down to justice and devotion (Luk_2:25). it would have withered long since if it had not been rooted in an upright life and in fellowship with God. Dishonest conduct and forgetfulness of God are always visited with the withering of hope, for hope hangs like a fruit on the first two great commandments. Let us all keep hoping, then, as Simeon did; let us be expectant and on the outlook to the end; and let us remember that a glad and helpful temper is only possible when we are just and devout.

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[nChrist]

Simeon and Anna - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

God's Performance Greater Than His Promise

Next we see that God's performance is greater than His promise. There is an old legend that Simeon had stumbled over the words in Isa_7:14. And as he prayed and wrestled with his doubts, it was revealed to him that with his own eyes he would see the virgin's Son. All that he dared to hope for was a glimpse—"a brief glimpse" and "a passing word" would have sufficed him. He lived in expectation of the hour when someone would say to him, "Behold Messiah!" Now the expected moment has arrived—and is it merely a glimpse of Messiah that he wins?—he takes the child of all his hopes up in his arms (Luk_2:28). No wonder that he broke forth into such glorious praise; he had got more than he could ask or think. God's promise had buoyed him through many a weary day; but the performance was greater than the promise. We should all remember that in entering a New Year, and when we speak about the promise of the year. God has a royal way of doing things, and His cups have a happy art of running over. The devil is a most lavish and tireless Promiser, but how the promise is performed let our own past days tell us. God's promises are very many and very great; but to a living and prayerful faith as Simeon's was, the performance is greater than the promise.

Simeon and Anna Saw Jesus in the Temple

Again we remark that Simeon and Anna saw Jesus in the Temple. The shepherds had seen Him lying in the manger; there, too, the wise men from the East had seen Him. But it was not in the manger that He was seen by these two devout souls; it was in the House of God. Now there is a sense in which we all must find Christ in the manger, we must discover Him under life's lowly roofs. In places which were never consecrated, but where the daily drudgery is done, there must we waken to the presence of Jesus. But on the other hand it is equally true, that we shall miss Him if we do not go to church; and we must never enter a place of worship without the prayer, "Sir, we would see Jesus." Columba got his Gaelic name, "Colum of the churches," says an old Irishman, because as a boy he was so devoted to church-worship; like Simeon, he saw Jesus in the Temple.

Till We Have Seen Jesus We Are Not Ready to Die

Lastly, we learn that till we have seen Jesus we are not ready to die (Luk_2:29-32). Children do not dwell much upon death; God did not intend that they should do so. But sometimes, even to children, comes the thought, "When is a person ready to die?" Well, length of years has little to do with it, although all young people think that it has. We are not ready to die when we are seventy; we are ready when we have seen Christ as our Savior. Have the children of the family seen Him so? Are the fathers and mothers praying for that end? A little girl dearly loves to hold the baby. Get it from Simeon's arms, and give it 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]

May 29

The Boyhood of Jesus - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. Now his' parents went to Jerusalem every year at the fast of the Passover. And when he was twelve fears' old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast— Luk_2:40-42

Uneventful Years Need Not Be Unprofitable

One of the holiest doctors of the mediaeval church, who was placed by Dante among the saints of paradise, said a striking thing about the youth of Jesus. "Take notice," he said, "that His doing nothing wonderful was itself a kind of wonder. As there is power in His actions, so is there power in His retirement and His silence." When we read the false Gospels of the youth of Jesus, we meet with story after story of miracle. Jesus makes clay sparrows and they fly away; or He puts out His hand and touches some plough that Joseph had made badly, and immediately it takes a perfect shape. But in our Gospels there is nothing of all that. There is not a whisper of a boyish miracle. Jesus grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him (Luk_2:40). Let us learn then that uneventful years need never be idle or unprofitable years. The still river in the secluded valley is gathering waters to bear a city's commerce. Give me health and a day, said Emerson, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous. Give Me, said Jesus, the quiet vale of Nazareth, and the blue sky and the blossoming of flowers, and David and Isaiah, and My village home and God, and I shall be well prepared for My great work.

One Event in Thirty Silent Years

Now out of these thirty silent years one incident alone has been preserved, it is the story of Jesus in the Temple. We learn that when Jesus was twelve years old, He went up with Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. And how, when the feast was over, Mary and Joseph set out again for home, and how they missed their child and went to search for Him and found Him in the Temple with the doctors, all that we have known since our days of Sunday school. Now, why do you think this story has been preserved? Why should it rise, a solitary hilltop, out of the mist that hangs along the valley? It is worth a great deal of pains to discover that.

Influence of the Journey to Jerusalem on Jesus.

First, then, let us try to realize the in influence of this journey upon Jesus. It is always a very memorable hour when a lad for the first time leaves his village home. He has dreamed of the great world many a night, and now he is going to see it for himself. Hitherto his horizon has been bounded by the range of hills that encircles his quiet home. Now he is actually going to cross the barrier, and touch the mystery that lies beyond. There is a stirring of the heart in such an hour, a fresh conception of the greater world; a journey like that will do what a death does sometimes, it wakens the childish spirit to the mysteries. And the lad may come home again, and live with his father and mother, but the world can never more be quite the same. So when Jesus for the first time left His village, it was an ever-memorable day. From Nazareth to Jerusalem was some eighty miles, and almost every mile was rich in memory. Yonder was Shunem, where the woman's son was raised. There was Gilboa, where Saul had perished. That curling smoke rose from the homes of Bethel. These walls and battlements were Jerusalem, at last. So all that Jesus had ever learned at Nazareth, and all that He had drunk in from His parents' lips, thrilled Him, and glowed in His young heart, and by the very glow, expanded it. And what with the growing crowds that joined their company, and what with the ever-changing scenery, the nature of the boy was so enkindled that old things passed away for Him. That is one reason why God preserved this incident, it was a momentous hour in the life of Jesus. Luke gives the story as a kind of picture to illustrate the truth that Jesus grew.

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[nChrist]

The Boyhood of Jesus - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Character of Jesus Is Revealed

Next note that in this incident the character of Jesus is revealed. For a boy of twelve reared in a quiet village, Jerusalem at Passover must have been paradise. A city has always a fascination for a lad, especially a crowded city on a holiday. What throngs there were! What pillars and stairs and castles! And at any corner might they not hear the tramp of a marching company of Roman soldiers, with glittering helmets and flashing pikes? Now tell me, did you ever hear of a lad who would leave the stir and the busy streets and the gallant soldiers, and steal away into the quiet Temple? Yet that is just what Jesus did, and it is an exquisite glimpse of His young heart. I dare say He heard the music of the trumpet and had a boyish pleasure in the crowd. But here was the Temple He had heard of so often at Nazareth, and here were the doctors who could answer all His questions. Many a time at home He had questioned Mary, and Mary had said: "Ah, child! I do not understand; it would take the Temple doctors to answer that." And now the Temple doctors were beside Him, and Jesus forgot the crowds—forgot His parents—in His passionate eagerness to ask and know. No doubt when all the companies turned homeward, not a few children were missing beside Jesus. No doubt when the first evening fell, other mothers turned back to seek their boys. And one would find her child among the soldiers; and another would find her child in the bazaars. Mary alone found Jesus in the Temple. is it not a priceless glance into a spirit whose consuming passion was the things of God?

Jesus' Dawning Sense of His Mission to the World

Lastly, this incident has been preserved because in it we have Jesus' dawning sense of His mission to the world. The age of twelve was an important period for a Jewish boy; it was the time when he ceased to be a child, and in the letter of the law became a man. It was at twelve, according to the Jews, that Moses had left the house of Pharaoh's daughter. It was at twelve that Samuel had been called. It was at twelve that King Josiah, of the tender heart, had launched forth in reform. But more important still, it was at twelve that a Jewish boy began to work; he was then apprenticed, if I may say so, to a trade. So Mary and Joseph, travelling to Jerusalem, would be much in talk about their Son's career. They would often kneel on the grass by the roadside, and cry to the God of Abraham to guide them in choosing rightly for their beloved Boy. And here was the answer to their evening prayers—how different from all that they had dreamed!—"Wist Ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" How much that meant for Jesus we cannot tell. How far He had seen into the dark yet glorious future, we shall know better when we see Him face to face. But at least He was conscious that He stood apart, and felt, as man had never felt before, the nearness and the glory of God's Fatherhood, and knew that henceforward life was to be to Him an absolute devotion to His Father's will. Then He went back with Mary and with Joseph and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them; but His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

____________________

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]

May 30

Coming Back Again - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them— Luk_2:51

It Was Hard to Return to Nazareth after the Vision of Jerusalem

That visit to Jerusalem was one of the great hours in the life of Jesus. It must have moved Him to the depths. Often in the quiet home at Nazareth His mother had spoken to Him of the Holy City. And the Boy, clinging to her knee, had eagerly listened to all she had to tell. Now He was there, moving through the streets, feasting His eyes upon the Temple. He had reached the city of His dreams. Clearly it was a time of vision. "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? In that moving hour there broke on Him the revelation of His unique vocation. And the beautiful thing is that after such an hour He quietly went back to Nazareth, and was subject to Mary and to Joseph. He drew the water from the well again. He did little daily errands for His mother. He weeded the garden, tended the flowers in it, lent a hand to Joseph in the shop. And all this after that great hour which had changed His outlook upon everything and moved Him to the very depths.

Coming from Vision to Duty Was Characteristic of Jesus

That faithful and radiant way of coming back again was very characteristic of the Lord. We see it later at the Transfiguration. That was a splendid and a shining hour, when heaven drew very near to earth. Such hours find a more suitable environment on mountain-tops than on the lower levels of the world. There Moses and Elias talked with Him. There was heard the awful voice of God. There His very garments became lustrous. After such an hour of heavenly converse you and I would have craved to be alone. Voices would have had a jarring sound; company would have been deemed intrusion. And again the beautiful thing about our Lord is that after such a heavenly hour as that He came right down to the epileptic boy. Instead of the voices of Moses and Elias, there was the clamor and confusion of the crowd; instead of the tranquillity of heaven—the horrid contortions of the epileptic. It was the way of Jesus, after His hours of vision, to come right back, whole-heartedly and happily, to the task and travail of the day.

Routine Should Never Be Counted as Drudgery

Now, that is big with meaning for us all, and is capable of endless application. At this season, for instance, one would think of holidays. Many of my readers have had a splendid holiday, favored by weather exquisitely fine. A strong light, says Emerson, makes everything beautiful, and multitudes have found the truth of that. And now, from the "large room" of holidays, and the healing vision of mountain and of moorland, they are back to the old drudgery again. It is never easy coming back like that, especially in the vivid years of youth. The "daily round and common task" are alien and irksome for a little. But if we are trying to follow the great Master, we can show it not only in our going forth, but by the kind of spirit in which we return. He went down and was subject to His parents. He left the hills for the epileptic boy. He did it with that unfaltering faith of His, which assured Him that His God was everywhere. And in that radiant spirit of return from the vision to the daily round, He has left us an example that we should follow His steps.

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[nChrist]

Coming Back Again - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

It Takes Heroism to Come Back to Lowly Tasks

The same truth holds with equal force of all the great revealing hours of life. There is often not a little heroism in coming back again to lowly tasks. When love has once come caroling down the highway it is not easy to get back to drudgery. When sorrow has come and "slit the thin-spun life," how intolerable, often, is that housework! The hand that knocks the nail into the coffin seems to knock the bottom out of everything, and we are left sometimes, paralyzed and powerless, in a world of phantoms we cannot understand. Some men in such hours take to drink. Some who can afford it take to travel. Some lose "the rapture of the forward view" and settle down in the "luxury of woe." But He who came to lead us heavenward, and who drank our bitter chalice to the dregs, has empowered us for a better way than that. To take up our common task again, to march to our duty over the new-filled grave, to come back to the detail of the day, knowing that this, too, is holy ground—that is the path marked out for us by Him who went down and was subject to His parents, and who left the mount for the epileptic boy.

A Christian Does Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways

Nor can we forget how this applies to the great hours of the spiritual life. For that life, too, has its high revealing seasons, when like the apostle we are caught up to Paradise. After such hours (and one of them is conversion) men often yearn to do great things for heaven. They want to be ministers; they want to leave the bench, and go abroad to evangelize the heathen. If that be the authentic call of God it will reveal itself as irresistible, but often the appointed path is otherwise. It is not to go forth in glorious adventure; it is to come back with the glow upon the face—to the old home, the dubious friends, the critical comrades, the familiar faces, it is to tell out there all that the Lord has done, not necessarily by the utterance of the lip, but by the demonstration of the life. A Christian does not always do extraordinary things. He does ordinary things in extraordinary ways. He makes conscience of the humblest task. He does things heartily as to the Lord. And to come back again, with that new spirit, to the dull duty and narrowing routine is the kind of conduct that gives joy in heaven.

____________________

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]

May 31

John the Forerunner - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight— Luk_3:3-4

Forerunners Precede Great Events or Persons

It is one of the ways of God in the ordering of history to grant forerunners of great events or persons. The widespread superstition that such things as meteors or earthquakes are the heralds of mighty happenings in history, is nothing but a mistaken application of heaven's great principle of forerunning, in the stormy gusts and the sweeping rains of March we have the forerunners of the beauty of the summer, in illness and sorrow and the open grave we have often the forerunners of changed and useful lives. Before the full sunshine of the Reformation there was the dawn in Wycliffe and his "poor preachers." And the earthquake and the bursting of gates at midnight, was the preparation for the Philippian jailer's joy. So John was the great forerunner of Jesus. It was he who roused the people from their lethargy. He touched the national conscience by his preaching. He made men eager, expectant, and open-eyed. In the far-reaching words of his great namesake he was sent "to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe" (Joh_1:7). What then was the character of John? What features impress us in these verses from Luke? That is what we must endeavor to find out.

John Stood Alone and Yet Undaunted

First, then, we note that John stood alone, and yet he was undaunted. We know that it is easier to be brave when we have brave friends on our right hand and our left. It is a great assistance to a soldier's heart to be one of a regiment of gallant fellows. A little boy will not mind the darkness much, so long as he knows that someone is beside him: it is when he wakens, and finds that he is solitary, that we hear the bitter crying in the night. Now remember that John the Baptist was alone. He lived in the desert of the Jordan Valley. He cut himself off from the haunts and homes of men; he did not mingle in glad human companies. Yet from first to last he was conspicuously brave. His courage shone like a star in the dark night. His voice never lost its trumpet-note though other voices failed to answer it. John came (we read) in the spirit of Elijah. But in this respect John was greater than Elijah. He was more than cousin, in this matter, to the Savior, whose prophet and whose forerunner he was. For Jesus trod the winepress alone; in His great hour all forsook Him and fled; yet He set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem, and cried on Calvary, "It is finished."

John Was a Dreamer and Yet He Was Most Practical

Again, we observe that John was a dreamer, and yet he was most practical. When I call him a dreamer I do not use the word slightingly, I use it in its best and noblest sense. It was to be one mark of Messianic times that the old men were to dream dreams in it, and though John was far from being an old man, yet this touch of the latter day was on his heart. The word of the living God had come to him. He was preparing for a coming Savior. He woke and worked and preached and prayed, with the vision before him of the advent of Messiah. Yet read his preaching, when the people flocked to him, and tell me if anything could be more intensely practical. "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father" (Luk_3:8). "Exact no more than that which is appointed you" (Luk_3:13). "Do violence to no man, and be content with your wages" (Luk_3:14). What teaching could be more plain and practical than that? Let us learn from John, then (the greatest born of women), that the highest character embraces dream and duty. It knows the value of the present task; but it has its vision of a Christ-filled tomorrow. It does not lose itself in things to be. Nor does it despise the humble round of drudgery. It does life's common work with strenuous faithfulness, but never forgets that Jesus is at hand.

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[nChrist]

John the Forerunner - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

John Was Very Stern and Yet He Was Most Wonderfully Humble

Once more, we mark that John was very stern, and yet he was most wonderfully humble. We always think of John as the stern prophet. There is the mark of severity about the man. The spirit of the wild and desolate wilderness, where the dislodging of any stone might show a viper, seemed to have cast its tincture on his heart. Now we do not associate sternness with humility, it is the sister of pride more often than of lowliness. And the great glory of John's character is this, that with all his severity he was so humble. Men had been deeply stirred by the Baptist's message. They began to question if he might not be Messiah. Was it not just such a leader that they needed if the kingdom of Israel was to be restored? So all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not (see Luk_3:15). it was then that the grandeur of John's character shone forth. "He confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ." "He must increase, but I must decrease." "I am not worthy to unloose His shoe-latchet." Stern in the presence of evil and of vice, stern in the presence of Herod and his court, John was as humble as a little child before the feel of Him who was to come. Other prophets have been as stern as John. Other saints have been as true and lowly. But it is the union of his matchless heroism with lowliness and joyous self-effacement that makes John the greatest born of woman.

John Had Imperfect Views of Christ and Yet He Glorified Him.

Then, lastly, we see that John had imperfect views of Christ, and yet he glorified Him. What kind of Messiah, think you, did John expect? Read over the verses again and you will see. it was a Messiah whose fan was in His hand, and who would burn the chaff with fire unquenchable (Luk_3:17). Now when Christ came, He did indeed come to winnow. What John foresaw was true, and terribly true. But it was also true that He would not strive nor cry; that He was gentle, and loved the gatherings of men; that a bruised reed He would not break, and smoking flax He would not quench. All that had been but dimly seen by John. It was that which vexed him as he lay in prison. The Baptist had imperfect views of Christ—and yet how nobly did he glorify Him! So you and I may have imperfect views of God—for clouds and darkness are around His throne—yet if we be brave and earnest as our hero was, knowing God's infinite worth and our unworthiness, we too shall glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever.

____________________

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]

June 1

Faith Refusing Deliverance - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

He hath sent me... to preach deliverance to the captives— Luk_4:18
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance— Heb_11:35

Faith Leads to Deliverance

Among the blessings which we connect with faith, one of the most conspicuous is deliverance. The Bible is a great record of deliverance effected through the agency of faith. Abraham was delivered from idolatry. Joseph was delivered from his brethren. David was delivered from Goliath, and Peter from the prison at Jerusalem. And most notable of all, there was the Exodus, when Israel was delivered from its bondage—drawn out of Egypt, by the might of God, into the peril and the prize of liberty. All these are instances of deliverance, wrought in the power of a living faith. Men trusted God, and in the joy of trust were freed from darkness and captivity. And so the Bible, as we read its pages, grows into a great argument for this, that God is able and willing, if we trust Him, to set the feet in a large room.

The same issue of faith also arrests us when we come into the company of Jesus. Here, too, as in the rest of Scriptures, faith is a mighty power to deliver. We see the maniac released from legion, and sitting clothed and in his right mind. We see the withered arm restored again; the eye that had been blind regaining sight. We see a woman delivered from infirmity, and a loved brother delivered from the grave, and a great company whose eyes are glad because they have been delivered from their sin. Christ was the great enemy of bonds. He was the lover and the light of liberty. He came to preach deliverance to the captives, and to bestow the gift which was His message. And so again we learn this happy lesson, that faith is a mighty power to redeem; and that in every sphere where faith is active, one of its blessed fruits is liberty.

There Is a Faith That Refuses Deliverance

Yet while that is true, and gloriously true, in a way I trust we all know something of, there is a suggestion in our second text that it is fitting we should not forget. "They were tortured, not accepting deliverance," and the whole chapter is a song of faith. The chapter is a magnificent review of all that faith is powerful to achieve. So this is also a result of faith, not that it brings deliverance to a man, but that sometimes, when deliverance is offered, it gives him a fine courage to refuse it. There are seasons when faith shows itself in taking. There are seasons when it is witnessed in refusing. There is a deliverance that faith embraces. There is a deliverance that faith rejects. They were tortured, not accepting deliverance—that was the sign and seal that they were faithful. There are hours when the strongest proof of faith is the swift rejection of the larger room.

Better to Be Faithful Than Free

Think in the first place of the martyrs, to whom our text immediately applies. When a man was charged with being a Christian, deliverance was always at his hand. He had only to blaspheme the name of Christ—a word or two of cursing—that was all. He had only to spit upon the name of Christ, when the Roman centurion scratched it on the wall. He had only to put his hand into a box, and take a grain or two of incense from the box, and sprinkle it without a single word before the beautiful statue of Diana. On the one hand was life, and life was sweet. On the other hand was death, and death was terrible. On the one hand was liberty and home. On the other hand was torture and the grave. And they were tortured, not accepting deliverance. They might have had it by a single word. It was their faith that led them to the scaffold. It was better to be faithful than be free.

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[nChrist]

Faith Refusing Deliverance - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

It Takes Faith to Refuse to Be Liberated from the Troubles Entailed in the
Performance of Needed Common Tasks

The same issue of faith is seen again amid the troubles of our common life. in precisely the same manner it is witnessed in the pettier martyrdoms of every day. Each of us has got his cross to carry. There is no escaping from the law. Each of us has got his secret bitterness, and his burden, and his travail or his fear. For one the trouble may be in business matters; for another, the cross may be at home; while for a third, perhaps, it is the body that wakes the heart to trembling in the night. Now I believe that whatever be the trouble, Jesus Christ has come to preach deliverance. There is peace in Him, and quietness of soul, and conquest over death and all its terrors. But remember that there are other outlets which sometimes loom upon our gaze invitingly, and promise us the release that we are craving—if only we are untrue to our best selves. I think that all of us are tempted so, though these are temptations of which we seldom speak. Sometimes indeed we hardly understand them, they are so subtly hidden and disguised. But always there is a tampering with conscience in them, and a certain lowering of the flag of youth, and a sinking clown upon a lower level than we know to be worthy in our hearts. it is when a man or woman is so tempted that faith in God is needed to be true. To choose the drudgery and spurn the liberty is the sign-manual of faith in him. "They were tortured, not accepting deliverance." They let the laughter and the sunshine go. And sometimes in the quiet of our obscurity, you and I may be called to be their children.

Don't Miss the Best by Choosing the Easier and More Remunerative in Disregard of Conscience

Now I might illustrate how to beware of choosing the easier in disregard of conscience by many instances. For example, the case of a young man. His work is hard and irksome and ill-paid, and he has a father who is dependent on him. From morning till evening it is a weary grind. There is no encouragement. There are scarce any prospects. And when evening comes he is so fagged that he can hardly follow a good book. And then there comes to him the glittering chance of work that is easier, and pay that is far better, on the condition that he shuts his eyes, and does not trouble about a tender conscience. Many a man accepts that swift deliverance. He offers the grain of incense to Diana. And then he prospers, and is kind at home, and there are comforts for the aged father. But nothing on earth can alter the old fact that such an act was faithless and untrue, and that a man forever from that moment has left the company of saints and martyrs. He has been tortured and accepted deliverance, and the world and the devil are exacting creditors. Somehow, as the years unroll themselves, he will discover he has missed the best. And if my words have any weight on young men who are starting out on life, they will write upon their hearts this text of Hebrews, and avoid that tragic mistake.

Faithfulness Is Better Than Happiness When Happiness Is Brought On by What Is False

Or I might take the case of a young woman who is set amid uncongenial surroundings. She is not happy. Perhaps she has to work, and probably her health is very far from good. I shall not paint the picture at its blackest, though I have seen it at its blackest for myself. I shall not touch on that most awful freedom that lurks on every street of every Babylon. But I shall say that she gets the offer of marriage from someone to whom God has never led her, and to whom in her woman's heart there is no drawing, as of those cords which have been knit in heaven. There is the chance of freedom, if you like. There is deliverance from all the drudgery. But, O my sister, at what an awful cost of all that is most womanly and delicate! A thousand times better to be tortured daily than to accept deliverance like that—and it is there, you see, that faith comes in. Faith that God can uphold you in the darkness, and give you music in the weariest mile. Faith that there are better things than happiness, when happiness is bought by being false. Faith that the best in life is ,ever lost when you are true to what is high and beautiful; and always lost when you have played the traitor to the sweet sincerities of womanhood.

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