George H. Morrison's Old And Beautiful Devotions

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Faith Refusing Deliverance - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

Sometimes Deliverance Can Be Failure or Treachery

The same issue of faith is also seen in public and in Christian service. I suppose there is no one engaged in that who does not feel at times a longing for release. It may be that enthusiasm has vanished. It may be that we are disappointed. It may be that those whom we are called to labor with are irritating and interfering people. So sooner or later comes to us the day when we are tempted to have done with it; to take our armour off, and hang it up, and pass into the oblivion of peace. Now I am far from saying that that is always wrong. Sometimes it may be right and necessary. A man may be forced to it by doctor's orders, and if he be wise he will attend to these. A man may be led to it by the appeal of conscience telling him he should be more at home, and that no service can have heaven's blessing if wife and children are neglected. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. That is a matter for heart and God. All that I want to do here is this: it is to warn you that all release is not like that. There may be times when deliverance is treachery; when to seek for freedom is to fail; when a man's first duty is to continue serving, even though his service may be torture. "They were tortured, not accepting deliverance," and sometimes we are called with that vocation. If we trust God we shall refuse relief, and stick to the service we have put our hand to. God has no pleasure in these sorry workers who are always threatening to send in resignations. No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Beware of False Deliverance from Moral and Intellectual Doubt

I am impressed again by the same truth in regard to our spiritual and intellectual difficulties. I may be speaking to some here who have great difficulties about faith and God. They would fain believe, and yet they find it hard. They would fain trust, and yet they cannot trust. They cannot feel their need of a Redeemer. They cannot grasp the power of the cross. Or it may be that, having grasped it once, they have been thrown into darkness by their reading, and cannot reconcile the facts of science with the old message of the love of heaven. My brother, I want to say to you that Christ has got deliverance for you. He has come to preach deliverance to the captive, and there is no captivity so dark as doubt. But there are times of darkness and perplexity when other methods of release will face you, and if you are a man you will reject them, and face the torture which rejection brings. You will not take shallow answers to great questions. You will ,or yield up moral questions in despair. You will not fall back upon a life of sense, as if in sensuality were rest. But you will be true to all the light you have, and you will cling to all the good you know, and you will trust that, when the night is past, the singing of the birds is sure to come. To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. It is sometimes better to be tossed and tortured, than to be sleeping on a couch of ease. This is one mark of every earnest soul that has come at last to liberty and light, it has been too faithful to the Highest to accept deliverance upon unworthy terms. "Not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection."

Christ Refused False Deliverance

In closing, may I just remind you how true this was of our Lord Jesus Christ? He is our Savior not because He refused deliverance. "All these kingdoms will I give thee," said the Tempter, "if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Was not that a road to power and princedom which would have escaped the torture of the cross? But He was tortured, not accepting deliverance. He chose the bitter way that led by Calvary. He scorned deliverance by that compliance, and so He has won deliverance for the captive. Then think again, when He approached the cross, how the women offered Him the opiate. And had He but drunk it, His senses had been numbed, and the agony of crucifixion had been deadened. But having tasted it, He put it from Him. He could not and He would not drink it. And He was tortured, not accepting deliverance, that He might be the Savior of mankind. Now He preaches freedom to the captive. Do you know it? Have you experienced it? Can you this minute bear witness in your heart that you are a freed man in Jesus Christ? if so, to you may come those darksome hours when voices call you to some mean escape, and just because you are a man in Christ, with all the saints and martyrs you will scorn it.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
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Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
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[nChrist]

June 2

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

And all…wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth— Luk_4:22

Christ's Manner Was Gracious

Our text tells us that the words of Christ were gracious words, and in every sense of the word gracious that is true. But the exact meaning of the terms which are here used is a little different from what we commonly imagine. His hearers were not referring to Christ's message; they were referring rather to Christ's manner. They marveled, not at the grace of which He spake; they marveled at the grace with which He spake. In other words, what so arrested them as they gathered round and listened to the Master was what I would call the winsomeness of Jesus. It is on that theme I wish to dwell. I desire to speak on the winsomeness of Christ. I shall try to unveil to you a little of that charm which was so characteristic of the Lord. And I shall do so in the one hope—to use the prophetic words of the old psalmist—that we may behold the beauty of the Lord.

Winsomeness Radiated from His Whole Life

You will note that this winsomeness of Jesus was not by any means confined to His discourse. It was in His speech that men felt the spell most powerfully, but it radiated out from His whole life. The moment He was baptized, on to the last agony on Calvary—at the marriage feast—at the table of Zacchaeus—out in the meadows where the lilies were—everywhere, in every different circumstance, men felt not only the holiness of Jesus; they were arrested also by His winsomeness. It was indeed this very winsomeness that was a stumbling block to godly Jews. It was so different from all that they had read of in the men whom God had sent to be His messengers. Had Christ been stern, and lived a rugged life, and dwelt apart in fellowship with heaven, they would have been swifter to recognize His claims. It was in such guise the ancient prophets lived. It was in such guise that John the Baptist lived. He was a rugged man of fiery speech, and he fared coarsely, and loved to be alone. And then came Jesus moving with delight among the homes and haunts of common people, and what I say is that this very winsomeness was a perpetual riddle to the Jews. They could not understand His childlike interest in every flower that made the meadow beautiful. They could not understand His love for children nor His quiet happiness in common life. Reverencing the old prophetic character as that of the true messenger from God, they were baffled by the winsomeness of Jesus.

Winsome in Spite of His Stupendous Claims about Himself

Now if you wish to feel the wonder of that winsomeness there are one or two considerations which are helpful. You have to think of it, for instance, in connection with the stupendous claims which Jesus made. One of the commonest features of the winsome character is a certain delightful and engaging diffidence. It is extremely rare to discover charm in anybody who seems a stranger to the grace of modesty. And though of course not for a single instant would I suggest that Christ was such a stranger, yet the fact remains that there never lived a man who made such amazing and stupendous claims. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (Joh_14:6). Tell me, was there ever heard from human lips such amazing and unbounded self-assertion? And the wonderful thing is that with a note like that ringing like a trumpet through the ministry, men should still have felt that Christ was winsome. The fact is that unless Christ had lived men would have called His character impossible. So to assert, yet all the while to charm, is almost beyond credence psychologically. And it is just this glorious self-assertion sounding through the ministry of Christ that makes His winsomeness to thinking men such a baffling and amazing thing.

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

Winsome in Spite of His Loyalty to Truth

Again the wonder of Christ's winsomeness is deepened when we remember His loyalty to truth. Christ did not say, "I speak the truth"; He said, "I am…the truth." Now it is one of the sad things about the winsome character that it is not always the most truthful character. There is often more of truth in the blunt man than there is in the charming and attractive man. The former takes a sturdy pride in telling out exactly what he thinks; the latter, by his very temperament, is in peril of prophesying smooth things. When truth is unpleasant, the winsome character is continually under temptation to conceal it. There may still be a compliment upon the lip, although there is a curse within the heart. And that is why men are generally readier to trust one who is bold and blunt and rugged than one whose distinguishing attribute is charm. They have a lurking conviction that the winsome man, for all his winsomeness, is not quite sincere. They question if he be really genuine when in every society he is so delightful. And this is the wonder of Christ's winsomeness, not that men felt it and acknowledged it, but that they felt it in One who stirred them to the deeps by His passionate loyalty to truth. "I am ... the truth," said Jesus Christ; and He lived that out to the last syllable. Not by a hairbreadth did He ever swerve from all that had been given Him from heaven. And the strange thing is that, with such sublime fidelity to Himself and His brother and His God, He should yet have been so infinitely winsome. "We beheld his glory," says the Apostle John, "and it was full of grace and truth." That was the wonder of it in apostolic eyes, and that has been the wonder of the ages. There are men who are splendidly truthful and not gracious. There are men who are finely gracious and not truthful. This was the wonder of the Son of God, that He was full of grace and truth.

Winsome in Spite of His Trials

The wonder of that winsomeness is deepened also by the experiences of Christ's life on earth. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and men hid as it were their faces from Him. Had He always lived among the hills at Nazareth we might more easily have understood His charm. Dreaming His dreams there, where the world was beautiful, we might have expected a character of beauty. But Christ deliberately left that quietude, and flung Himself into the battle of humanity, and it is when we think how awful was that battle that we marvel to find Him winsome still. If ever there was a life to make one stern, it was the life that Jesus had to live. It was so hard, so misinterpreted, so ringed about with diabolic malice. Yet in spite of every lip that taunted Him, and every heart that hungered for His tripping, Christ never lost, whether in word or deed, the winsomeness that so attracted men. To be suspected as Jesus was suspected is not the common road to charm of character, it is not often that life blossoms out in an atmosphere of suspicion and of treachery. Yet every day Christ rose, there were the Pharisees, and there was Judas with his eyes of malice, and men said; "He is mad; he hath a devil"—and Jesus through it all was winsome still. Still had He eyes for the lilies of the field. Still was He happy in the home at Bethany. Still was He in love with little children, and happy-hearted and pitiful and courteous. It is this contrast between the outward lot and the infinite and inward grace of the Redeemer that makes so wonderful to thinking men what I call the winsomeness of Christ.

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The Winsomeness of Jesus - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

The Moral Beauty of Christ

Observe too, that to the very end Christ never lost that moral beauty. It did not pass away as the dew passes, under the burning heat of the high sun. I know few things in life more saddening than to meet again some comrade of our youth, and to discover how the years have marred the likeness which we cherished in our memory. As we remember him, in school or college, he was one of the most delightful of companions. There was a charm in him, a happy winsomeness, that made him a universal favorite. And now after the lapse of years we meet him again, it may be unexpectedly, and we discover, in an afternoon, that the years have robbed him of his best. He is no longer the happy-hearted comrade whom we remember in the golden days. He is irritable or heavy-hearted now, or he is worldly and cynical and bitter. Everybody called him winsome long ago; nobody could call him winsome now. He has gone out to his battle with the world, and the grim world has beaten him. My brother, Jesus Christ entered that battle, and for Him the struggle was terrific. And it grew fiercer every year He lived, till the last hour of agony and blood. And I shall tell you what convinces me that He came out victorious at the end: it is that on to the end He never lost the sweet and winsome beauty of the morning. No bitterness, even in the thick of it. No cynicism, even at the darkest. No cold suspicion of His brother man, though He knew man as he was never known. No forfeiting of deep and happy peace; no dimming of the mystic radiance, even when under the olives of Gethsemane the bloody sweat was dropping to the ground. With words of grace His ministry began, and there were words of grace upon the cross. With a deed of grace His ministry began, and there were deeds of grace in the resurrection garden. I want you to feel as you have never felt before the magnificent persistence of Christ's winsomeness, that you may be ashamed at what the years have been plundering from you.

The Importance of the Home

Now if you ask me what were the sources of this unequalled winsomeness of character, I think I should answer that they were chiefly two, and the first was the influence of home. We do not know much about the home in Nazareth—God in His wisdom has hung a veil on that—but we know enough from the Gospels to assure us that it was a home of happiness and peace. Martin Luther could never think of home without a certain shuddering of heart. There was no gladness for him in his Pater Noster, so loveless were his memories of his father. But Jesus, all through His stormy years, turned to His home with infinite delight, and clothed His deepest thoughts of God and man in the tender and sweet memories of Nazareth. There had He seen the woman sweep the house. There had He watched the hands that used the leaven. There had He learned, with innocent, childish lips, to run to the workshop and cry Abba Father. Out in the battle, with evil eyes upon Him, His thought went flashing back to happy Nazareth, and at the darkest He never lost His winsomeness, because He never lost the influence of home. There are homes where it is well-nigh impossible that the children ever should be winsome. There is so much bitterness in them, so much worldliness, so much unkindly and unguarded talk. There is so little of that gracious reverence that ought to encircle the great years of childhood, when the foot of the angel is still upon the ladder, and every bush is burning with its God. Out of such homes may come successful men, or smart and clever and fashionable women; but never, from such a barren childhood, is there built up the temper that is winsome. It takes a Mary to make a winsome son. It takes a home of reverence and of love. It takes a depth of fatherhood and motherhood that has never lost the hallowing of prayer. Men marveled at the grace with which He spake, and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" That was their difficulty, and, as often happens, at the heart of the difficulty was the explanation. They would have marveled less had they but known how quietly beautiful was that home in Nazareth, where those lips which were to draw the world stammered the first syllables of speech.

The Importance of Fellowship with the Father

But the winsomeness of Jesus had another source than the kindly influence of Nazareth. It was His knowledge of the Heavenly Father and His unbroken fellowship with Him. It was Charles Kingsley, was it not, who as he lay dying was heard murmuring, "How beautiful God is!" His heart was quieted in the dark valley by his vision of the beauty of the Lord. And no one, I think, can read the Gospel story and learn what Jesus saw of the divine, without echoing the words of Kingsley, and murmuring, "How beautiful is God." One would not call the God of Sinai glorious. He dwelt in the light that no man could approach, and He was infinite in holiness and majesty. But the God of Jesus is something more than that, as every page of the four Gospels shows us. He is not only infinitely holy, He is also infinitely winsome. He does not dwell apart in awful majesty; it is He who clothes the lilies of the field. His care is not limited to mighty empires; it is He who caters for the sparrow. And He makes the rain to fall on the evil and the good, and when we ask for bread He will not give a stone, and He has a ring and a robe and a sweet kiss of welcome for the poor battered son from the far country. Aristotle pictured an ideal man, and one of his marks was that he should never run. But the father, when he saw the prodigal far off, ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him. My brother, do you not feel the charm in that—the charm that has wooed and won through all the ages? There is more than authority in such a God; there is the grace of winsomeness as well. Christ felt, as man had never felt, the unsurpassable winsomeness of God. To that He clung with a faith which never faltered, in the teeth of everything that contradicted it. And I think it was that winsomeness of God, learned in the intimacy of a perfect sonship, that was one secret and unfailing spring of the winsomeness of our Redeemer. If God be holy, and nothing else than holy, those who trust in Him will be holy. His righteousness may make them righteous. It takes a God of love to make men lovable; a God of perfect grace to make them gracious. So that God in His infinite glory must be winning if men who know His name are to be winsome. It was that discovery which Jesus made. He walked in sonship with a winning God. All that He had ever seen at home was reinforced by what He saw in heaven. Until at last, reflecting as a mirror the sweet and kindly fatherhood of God, He lived in a winsomeness the world could never give, and at its dreariest could not take away. We cannot hope to repeat that. It is too high and wonderful for us. But at least we can pray, as the psalmist prayed of old, "Let the beauty of the Lord be upon us." And so it may be that as the days go by, not without many a pitiable failure, we too may come to show a little of the winsomeness of our Master and our 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]

June 3

The Call of the Fishermen - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught .... And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake— Luk_5:4-6

Christ Singles Out an Individual's Disappointment

It was not easy for Jesus Christ to be alone, men were so eager and so curious about Him. Not only did they crowd round Him in the villages, where at any moment there might be a work of healing, but they also watched Him as He stole away into retirement, among the hills, or by the seashore. Our lesson opens, then, with Jesus at the seaside, and there, as in Capernaum, there is a great crowd round Him, eager to listen to the Word of God. Then Jesus steps into one of the fishing boats and preaches there—note the many and strange pulpits in which Christ preached. And when the sermon was over, and Jesus was doubtless weary—what did He do? Did He ask for a drink of water? He immediately turned to Peter, in whose boat He was, and said to him, "Launch out into the deep." He had seen the disappointed look in Peter's face. He had detected that the night's fishing was a failure. All the excitement of the thronging crowd, and all the effort of telling them God's news, had not made Him careless of one man's disappointment. So may we learn to trust Christ's individual care, though we be only atoms in a countless multitude. Then follows the miracle, and the call to discipleship, and so this brief but exquisite lesson closes.

It Was in Deep Waters that the Draught Was Got

Now, note that it was in deep waters that the draught was got. The first word of Jesus was, "Launch out into the deep." if the nets were to be filled with fish that morning, the first requirement was to leave the shallows. Now, every miracle is but an acted parable; there are meanings in it that all life may interpret, and to us today, no less than to Simon Peter, Jesus is saying, "Launch out into the deep." We must come right out for God if we are ever to enjoy Him. We must unfasten the cable that binds us to the shore. It is when we launch out into the deeps of trust, that we find how mysteriously the nets are filling. For the harvest of life's sea is joy and peace, and growing insight, and increasing love, and these are beyond the reach of every fisherman, save of him who dares to launch into the deep. Then, too, as experience increases, we learn the meaning of the expression "deep waters." We learn that sorrow and care, and suffering and loss are the deep waters of the human heart. And when we find what a harvest these may bring, and how men may be blessed and purified and made unworldly by them, we understand the need of the deep waters, if the nets are ever to be filled.

God's Gifts May Cause Some Disorder at the First

Note again that God's gifts may cause some disorder at the first. When Peter at Christ's command let down the net, it enclosed a great multitude of fishes. We may be sure that the net was a good one if it was Peter's making, yet for all its goodness it began to break. Now nets are very precious to a fisherman; the loss of them is sometimes irreparable. So in a moment we see Peter and Andrew beckoning to their neighbor's boat, and like the man of Macedonia, crying, "Come over and help us." They came at once, and both of the boats were filled, and filled so full that they began to sink. And the point I wish you to note is that the first results of the kindness of the Savior were—breaking nets and sinking ships! You see, then, that when Jesus enters a life as He entered Andrew's and Simon's boat that morning, it is always possible that at the first there may be some distress and confusion and disorder. We find abundant records of it in the early Church, and every minister has seen it in his converts. Let no one be distressed, then, if when Christ steps on board it is not all joy and singing from the start. All that will come, in the good time of God, for the promise is there shall be no more sea. Meantime, just because Christ is good, and charges the empty night into such morning fulness, the nets (that are so precious to us) may seem on the point of breaking, and the waves come lapping to the gunwale of the ship.

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[nChrist]

The Call of the Fishermen - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Nearness of Jesus Shows Us Our Unworthiness

Once more, it is the nearness of Jesus that shows us our unworthiness. One day, when Jesus was across the lake in Gadar, the Gadarenes came to Him with a strange petition: they came and begged Him to depart out of their coasts. Jesus had cured the Gadarene demoniac; He had interfered with the local trade of swine keeping; and so incensed were the people at this interference, and so dead were they to the glory of their Visitor, that they begged Him to depart, and He departed. How different is the cry of Peter here, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." It was not because he was dead in trespasses and sins, it was because he was wakened to his own unworthiness, that Peter was overpowered by the Lord's presence. And so, while Jesus departed from the Gadarenes, the next word that He spoke to Peter was "Fear not" (Luk_5:10). Sometimes, when we gather a bunch of flowers, they seem to us very sweet and beautiful; and so they may be, for they are God's creatures, and He has made everything beautiful in its time. But if we take a pure white rose and set it in the midst of them, it is strange how garish and coarse some of the others appear. They are God's creatures, but they seem less worthy now, in the near presence of that pure and perfect whiteness. Just so when Jesus Christ is far away, we may be very well contented with ourselves. But when He enters our boat, and shows us His love and power, like Peter we too would say—"I am a sinful man."

They Followed Christ When Things Were Brightest with Them

Then, lastly, these men followed Christ when things were brightest with them. They had never had such a fishing in their lives. It was not in the weary morning after a useless night that they forsook all and followed Jesus. It was when they were the envy of the neighborhood for the huge haul of fishes they had got. Will the children act as Simon and Andrew acted? Will they follow Jesus when life is at its brightest? It is better to come late than not at all. It is better to come in old age than to die Christless. But it is best to come when all the nets are full, when life is golden, and the heart is young; best, and not only best, but surest, for "they that seek Me early, shall find Me."

____________________

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 4

Somewhat to Say - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee— Luk_7:40

Jesus Christ Has Somewhat to Say

It is one of the notable things about our Lord that always He has somewhat to say. No hour of need ever finds Him silent. The intrusion of the woman into Simon's dining room was an entirely unexpected incident. It was a painful and perplexing moment when she made her way into the feast. But our Lord had somewhat to say then, and one of the wonderful things about Him is that, always, He has somewhat to say still. Listen to the speaker at the street corner discussing Socialism or industrial unrest. Join an eager company of young fellows gathered to reconstitute the universe. Socrates and Shakespeare are not mentioned, but almost always Christ is summoned in; they all feel He has somewhat to say still. Heaven and earth have passed away, but His words have not passed away. We live under a different heaven now, and the earth has been displaced from her centrality. Yet still, on every problem which emerges, Jesus Christ has somewhat to say. It is a fact which is well worth considering.

Jesus Has Somewhat to Say When Everybody Else Is Silent

He has somewhat to say, it should be noted, just when everybody else is silent. My impression is that when that woman entered, you might have heard a pin drop in the dining room. Some of the guests would hang their heads, and some would look at each other "with a wild surmise." A sudden quiet would fall upon the table; conversation would instantly be hushed. And just then, when there was silence, when nobody else had a syllable to utter, our Lord had somewhat to say. So was it in the house of Jairus, when the father and mother could do naught but weep. So was it outside the gates of Nain, when the widow was stricken dumb in her great sorrow—and the wonderful thing is that so is it still. When all the philosophers are dumb, and cannot give one word of help or comfort; when learning has no message to inspire or to console the heart; when sympathy hesitates to break the silence, lest it give "vacant chaff well-meant for grain," the Lord has something to say. Nothing can rob Him of His message, not even the bitterest experience of life. He never grows silent when the way is dark, nor when the feet go down into the valley. There are many voices, and none without significance; but the hour comes when they all fail us, and then we find how in such hours as that. Jesus has somewhat to say.

He Has Somewhat to Say to Those Separated from Him by Great Distances

One notes, too, that He has somewhat to say to those separated from Him by great distances. What a gulf there was between our Lord and Simon! It is true that Jesus was sitting next to Simon, for that was the place of the chief guest. But sometimes one may sit beside another, and all the while be thousands of miles away. Just as two may live in the same dwelling, and sleep under the same roof at night, and yet seas between them "broad may roar." Many a young fellow is nearer Keats or Shelley than he is to the fellow-clerk on the next stool. Real nearness differs from proximity. And that night, though seated next to Simon, our Lord was really separate from Simon by a gulf it is impossible to measure. The One a provincial from Galilee; the other trained in the learning of the schools. The One with love filling His great heart; the other discourteous and cold and legal. And yet across that gulf the Savior reaches, with His searching and revealing word—"Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee." That is the wonder of the word of Christ. it is universal. It bridges every gulf. Men hear that word in their own tongue, as they did at the miracle of Pentecost. He has somewhat to say to the millions of India. He has somewhat to say to the myriads of China. He has somewhat to say to the New Guinea cannibals. When one thinks of our industrial civilization and compares it with the environment of Jesus, it might seem incredible that that lone Man of Galilee should have anything to say to us. yet there come times when we most profoundly feel that there is no one who understands us and our problems like the Guest who was in Simon's house that night.

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[nChrist]

Somewhat to Say - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Lord Has Somewhat Personal to Say

Then, too, we must not forget that our Lord has somewhat personal to say. To his intense surprise Simon discovered that. I imagine that when he invited Christ to dinner, he was counting on some splendid talk. Had he not heard from the assembly officers that never man spake like this man? Simon was a man who loved good talk, and had an abhorrence of gossip at the dinner table, as every decent person ought to have. He would get this prophet to talk of the Old Testament—He was said to have strange views of the Old Testament. He would get Him to speak about the Coming One. He would urge Him to tell one of His beautiful stories. And then, suddenly, and in the deathlike silence, came what he was never looking for: "Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee." It was a word for him and him alone. It was intensely personal and individual. It reached his solitary, selfish heart. It probed his conscience and convicted him. And that is the abiding wonder of the Lord, that He speaks to each of us in such a way that there might be no one else in the wide world at all. He holds the answer to the vastest problems. He has a message for international relationships. But when we listen to Him He never leaves us brooding on international relationships. As He speaks to me, I come to realize that the problem of all problems is myself. "Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee."

____________________

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.)
____________________

[1Tim]

" Oh Lord we pray, deliver us from everything...that might make us grow."     

Thanks amigo.  Got a situation right now in my life that is hard, and will most likely get harder before a way out is offered.  I've determined not to take it, even though everyone who has gone down that road before me has (thats why I expect it---its worked for them before).  Though I've determined now not to take the out, it may look more attractive once I get there, so I need the encouragement.  The time must be getting closer, huh?

[nChrist]

Hello 1Tim,

YES Brother, the time might be getting short. I really hope and pray that it is. I do know for sure that trials and adversity can many times result in growing stronger in JESUS and closer to him. These things should be a matter of prayer, but I'm convinced there is a time for us to take up our cross and carry it. Above all, we should yield to GOD'S will.

Love in Christ,
Tom

1 Peter 1:3 NASB  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

[nChrist]

June 5

Seeming to Have - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

From him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have— Luk_8:18

Not Hypocrisy but Self-Deception

You will observe that when our Lord speaks of the man who seems to have, He is not referring to the hypocrite. Our Lord poured out the vials of His wrath upon the hypocrite, but it is not the hypocrite who is in question here. There is a sense in which every hypocrite seems to have. He makes pretentions to virtues or to graces that he does not in reality possess. But then he is aware, more or less clearly, that he lacks them. The hypocrite deceives others, not himself. But this is a case of genuine self-deception. The man is not practicing trickery on anybody. There are things that a man may imagine that he has, and Jesus says he only seems to have them.

The Pharisees—More Self-Deceived Than Hypocritical

There are one or two notable instances of this in the New Testament. For example, there is the Pharisee in the parable. We quite mistake the meaning of that parable if we think that the Pharisee was consciously a hypocrite. The moral of the story lay in this, that it was spoken to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. The Pharisee thanked God quite sincerely that he was a great deal better than his neighbor. He believed most genuinely in his superior self. There was no question in his own mind of his possessions. And the tragedy of the man's career is found in this, that he only seemed to have.

The Church of Laodicea Was Self-Deceived

On a larger stage we are faced by the same spirit in the Church of Laodicea in the Apocalypse. it was a very prosperous and comfortable church. I am rich, it said. I am increased with goods, I have need of nothing. An exceedingly snug and smug society, with its own peculiar Laodicean smile. Yet thou art wretched, said the Spirit of God; and thou art miserable, and poor and blind and naked! The tragedy of that church's career is found in this, that it, too, only seemed to have.

The Causes of Self-Deception

I venture, then, to speak for a little on that most subtle form of self-deceit. There is probably not one of us, in pew or pulpit, but is giving himself credit for what he does not possess. Now, how is this? Can we detect the causes of this delusion? I shall endeavor to touch on some of them.

1. Inexperience

The first and most innocent of all is inexperience. In all inexperience there is a seeming to have, which the rough and pushing world helps to dispel. I take it that every rightly constituted youth has a kind of lurking scorn for all his ancestors. All things are possible to faith, says the apostle. And all things are possible to one-and-twenty also. Unmatched with the intellect and power of the great world, untried by the searching discipline of life, we seem to have aptitudes, touches of heaven within us, that will carry us to the front imperiously. And then we are launched into the great depths of life, and we find there were brave men before Agamemnon. it is a humbling and sobering experience. We have to recast everything, before we are through. But at least we come to know what we possess. We learn what we can do, and what we cannot. When we were immature and inexperienced, before we had come to grips with actuality—ah, then we seemed to have. Today we have far less, but it is ours.

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[nChrist]

Seeming to Have - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

2. Self-Love

Again, this strange deception is intimately connected with self-love. We seem to have much that we do not really have, simply because we love ourselves so well. In all love, even the very purest, there is a subtle and most exquisite flattery. Love is not worthy of its name at all, unless it clothes its object with a thousand graces. You fathers and mothers—you don't know how much you seem to have to your young children, it is enough to make the hardest of us cry to God for mercy when we remember that, to our child of five, we are still perfect. You know the kind of week you spent last week; yet to your little family there is not a stain on you. Such love is wonderful. Was there ever a mother who was not quite convinced that her one-year-old was a most marvelous child? He seems to be, because she loves him so. I think you see, then, the point I wish to make. Love can make any wilderness blossom as the rose. And never a child loved the most honored father, and never a mother loved the dearest child, more passionately than most men love themselves, it is thus that we seem to have, just because self-love is dominant. It is thus that he that hateth his life for Christ's sake begins to learn the secret of self-knowledge. "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

3. Pressures around Us

Often, again, we imagine we possess, because of the pressure of the general life around us. We move in certain circles of society; we are surrounded by what we call public opinion; and by the pressure of our environment upon us, our life takes its color and its trend. Now I am far from saying that these outward influences may not have a very real effect on a man's character. Some of the most useful habits we can form may be formed through compliance with social convention. But there is always the danger of mistaking for our own the support we get from the society we move in. And it is only when that external pressure is removed that we discover how we only seemed to have. Put any man of average sensibility into the company of born enthusiasts, and in a week's time you shall have him enthusiastic. There are hours when the dullest talker feels that he is gelling on excellently in conversation, and it is not till afterwards that it begins to dawn on him that someone else had the magnetic charm. We seem to have, we think that we possess; but the possession is not really ours. Here is a man living at home in Scotland, a man of correct, perhaps exemplary conduct. He is a regular churchgoer at home; he is quite interested in church affairs. But he goes abroad to China or to India, and there is little of the old Scottish feeling round him now; and gradually, almost insensibly, he drifts away from the old reverence, till the kindliest critic dare not call him religious. What I want you to note is that that man was not a hypocrite. He was not consciously deceiving anybody when he lived that exemplary life at home. He never possessed his possessions, that was all. He was guided and molded by an outward pressure. He seemed to have the root of the matter in himself, and it lay in his surroundings all the time.

The Fate of These Fancied Possessions

Now our Lord tells us the fate of these fancied possessions. From him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. Sooner or later, as our life advances, we shall have our eyes opened to these fond delusions. We are to be so led, each one of us, that there will be no mistaking what is really ours. I want to ask, then, what are God's commoner methods for making clear to us what we only seem to have.

One of the commonest of them all is action. We learn what we possess by what we do. There are powers within each of us waiting to be developed; there are dreams within each of us waiting to be dispelled, and it is by going forward in the strength of God that we learn our limitation and our gift. I am sure there is not one man in middle life here but has been surprised by the revelations of his past. He has been called to work he never dreamed of doing; his way has led him far differently from his wish. There were gifts which you were quite certain that you had; but the years have gone, and you are not so certain now. Meantime, out of the depths of self, some unsuspected powers have been emerging, and the hand that has quickened them into life is duty. The men who do nothing, always seem to have. So-and-so is a genius, we say; if he would only exert himself what he might do! Well, probably he would cease to be called a genius if he did, and, therefore, he is wise in doing nothing. I do not call that genius. I call it cowardice. Life is given us just to find out what we can do. And it is through a thousand tryings and a thousand failures that we come to find what is really our own. That is one of the great gains of earnest duly. We learn from it the confines of our kingdom. It is by action that there is taken from us that which we only seem to have.

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[nChrist]

Seeming to Have - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

This, too, is one great gain of life's variety, it shows us what is really our own. We are tested on every side as life proceeds, and every mood and change and tear is needed, if we are to be wakened to what we seem to have. It is so easy to be patient when there is no worry. When there is no peril, it is so easy to be brave. It is when the whirligig of time brings its revenges that we discover more exactly what we own. If I want to know the value of an army, I must wait till the campaign has tested it. It may seem to be perfectly equipped for service, yet a month on the field may teach us other things. So you and I, seeming to have so much, are marched into battle, led over weary miles; we are kept waiting, we are baffled, wounded; till out of all that changeful discipline, that which we seemed to have is taken from us. One of the functions of our vicissitudes is to strip us bare of what we seemed to have. Life is so ordered for us in its heights and depths, its changes, its hopes, its sufferings, its fears, that, unless we are blind, we shall discover gradually all that is ours and all that only seems so.

And if life fails, remember death is left. Death is the great touchstone of the man. We may be self-deceived for threescore years and ten, but the deception ceases on the other side. There we shall know even as we are known. Know what? Among other things, ourselves. There will be no delusions concerning our possessions when our eyes open on that eternal dawn. I bid you remember there will be no seeming to have, before the great white throne and Him who sits on it. All that is accidental and imaginary will be revealed in the light of that great day. If we have never let action do its work, and never seen ourselves amid life's changes, we have not escaped the judgment of the Christ.

I have sometimes thought, too, and with this I close, that the words might apply even to those we love. Is it not true, in the realm of the affections, that sometimes we have and sometimes we seem to have? We are thrown into close relationship with others; we are bound to them with this tie and with that. We call them friends; we think we love them, perhaps. Is it real, or is it only seeming? Nothing can tell that but the strain of life, and the testing of friendship through its lights and shadows. Nothing can tell that finally but death. All that seemed love, and was not really love; all that we fancied or mistook for friendship; all that is taken from us, passed away, in the hour and the separation of the grave. But true affection is an immortal thing; nothing can separate us from love indeed. Where hearts unite, there is eternity. And in eternity partings are unknown.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
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[nChrist]

June 6

Jairus' Daughter - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

There came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue and he fell down at Jesus feet and besought him that he would come into his house— Luk_8:41

The Only Child Dying

The morning that saw the Gadarene demoniac cured dawned sadly over one home in Capernaum. The sun rose up, the narrow streets became busy, one heard the word of command of the Roman officer drilling his garrison beside the fort (Luk_7:1-10); but in one house in the Jewish quarter everything was hushed. Folk moved on tiptoe, they spoke in whispers; and in the little bedroom the father and mother knelt beside the bed. There lay their daughter—she was twelve years old. They had been watching and praying by her bed all night. They had been hoping against hope, and fighting with their fears. But the autumn morning came, fresh, bright, and beautiful, and the strong light of it flooded the room and fell on the little sufferer's face—and hope was gone. No Jewish doctor was needed to confirm the worst. Their daughter was dying. She was an only daughter, How often one thing, one person, stands at the center of a Gospel scene or story. It was one coin the woman lost. It was one sheep the shepherd missed. The widow of Nain had but one son. Here the whole family was one daughter. Around the throne of God in heaven thousands of children stand; but—

Thou art as much His care, as if beside
Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth.

Jairus Believed in Christ but Nobody Knew It 'Til Trouble Came

The father's name was Jairus, and he was the leading elder in the Capernaum Church. He had heard Jesus reading the Scriptures there: he had often talked with neighbors whom Jesus had healed; he had seen a miracle with his own eyes. Everybody in Capernaum knew Jairus; but no one knew that he believed in Christ till his little daughter was at the point of death. Then he confessed it. tie ran to the shore. He flung himself down at Jesus' feet. He implored Him to come and heal his daughter, and Jesus, in compassion, heard his prayer. What different impulses lead men to Christ! Yesterday on the lake the disciples had cried "Master!" and it was fear for themselves that made them do it. And now the ruler of the synagogue cries "Master!" and it was love lot his child that made him do it. A little child had led him. Had Jairus' daughter always been strong and happy, she never would have helped her father so. Health is a precious gift. We thank God for the rosy cheeks in nursery and schoolroom. But there are crippled lads and fragile daughters who have led their fathers and their mothers straight to Christ, and there is no service in the world like that.

We see but dimly through the mists and vapors;
Amid these earthly damps,
What seem to us but sad funeral tapers
May be heaven's distant lamps.

To the Sufferer God Seems to Move So Slowly!

It was not far from the shore to Jairus house, but it never seemed so long to Jairus as that morning. The news soon spread up the street that Jesus was back: at every turning the crowd gathered and grew, until at last, the way was almost blocked, and Jairus almost in despair. Then came an unexpected interruption. A poor sick woman had touched the tassel of Jesus' robe and had been healed, and Jesus had to halt and call her forth, and teach her that there was no magic in the tassel, but that her faith had healed her. And all this took so long—or seemed to Jairus to take so long—that when he saw a movement in the crowd, and caught sight of his servant forcing his way through, he knew in a moment that his daughter was dead. How slow God often seems! How hard it often is to wait with Christ! I saw a little girl once playing on the seashore at building castles. She built her fort and dug her trenches, and then waited for the waves to fill them. But the waves were so long in coming that the little girl lost patience, and in a fit stamped down her battlements and went away. And all the time, ceaseless and irresistible, the ocean was creeping up. Invisible fingers were drawing the whole sea up to her moat. I think she would have waited had she been sure of that. So Jairus and you and I must wait. Things seem all wrong sometimes. We cannot understand why Christ delays. "Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole."

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Jairus' Daughter - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Lament Turns to Scornful Laughter

At last Christ reached the house, and with that tender courtesy that will not rudely invade the home of death, He waved all back, save Peter and James and John, and entered with them. We call for silence in our death-chambers. But in the East the house rang with lamentations—so necessary, indeed, was this show of grief considered that women were actually hired to wail (Jer_9:17). "Weep not," said Christ, anxious to quiet the uproar, "the maiden is not dead, but sleepeth"—and how unreal their grief was we may see, when the next moment they broke into scornful laughter. Then Jesus turned them out. If they would not be still, they would not know that He was God. And He took the maid by the hand, and called, "Talitha cumi!" "And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway; and He commanded to give her meat." Can you wonder that her parents were amazed? Do you not see why Christ wished it kept a secret? Think what would happen if the news spread that a dead girl in your street was raised to life; think how people would crowd to see her, till the excitement would make her ill again; think of the stir and tumult that would surround the man who raised her, and you will understand the reticence of Christ.

Kindness That Is Dishonoring to Christ

One or two lessons from this beautiful story. Note first an instance of mistaken kindness. That servant who came pushing through the crowd said, "Trouble not the Master." It was the honest and kind desire of Jairus' household to save Jesus from unnecessary worry. But it is never truly kind to treat Christ so. It is dishonoring to His power and love. Sometimes when I have done a little service for a friend I add, "It is no trouble"—and the greatest service is no trouble to Jesus. His power is infinite. His love is endless. The more I let Him do, the better pleased He is.

Christ's Hatred of Insincerity

The women who wailed were wailing for a fee. They beat their breasts at so much per hour. Had their grief been genuine, Jesus had been very pitiful. But it was insincere, and He turned them out. Christ hates all shams. He cannot tolerate hypocrisy. He excludes from His company the insincere.

The Unfailing Thoughtfulness of Jesus

It was He who commanded that the maid should have food. Jairus loved his daughter, and would have died for her. But in the joy of that hour he never noticed that she was hungry. Christ noticed what Jairus failed to see.

Those That Are Called Early Are Called Easily

The maid was newly dead. She had not been lying in her grave, like Lazarus. So here there is no agony of spirit, no crying with a loud voice; but all is quietly and easily done. All spiritual awakening is the work of God, but the young are the most easily awakened. No graveclothes bind them yet. No long-continued sins have made them loathsome. Let fathers and mothers realize their opportunity, and plead with God for definite conversions. Christ still is saying, "Suffer the children to come unto me."

____________________

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.)
____________________