George H. Morrison's Old And Beautiful Devotions

[nChrist]

The Best Wine Last - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

Calvary Was the Best at the Last

I think, too, we may apply this thought to the life of the incarnate Lord Himself. It was all blessed, yet it was most blessed, not in its beginning but its end. I turn to the manger-cradle by the inn when I wish to fathom His humiliation. I turn to His words and to His perfect life when I wish to know the Fatherhood of God. But when I realize I am a sinner and that my deepest need is pardon and release, then it is "Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee." Not on the teaching of Christ is the church built, although that teaching shall never pass away. Not on the example of Christ is the church built, though that example be its spur and goal. The church of God is built upon redemption, on pardon and peace that have been won through death; and that is why Christendom has looked to Calvary and said, "Thou hast kept the best wine until now." If the Sermon on the Mount were the whole Gospel, I confess that I could hardly understand it. It is so unlike all that we know of God to give all that is best at the beginning. But if the Sermon on the Mount be but a step in the ladder that leads upward to the cross, then, in the life and death of Jesus, I am in touch with the ways of the divine. It is that fact—the fact of a redemption—that fills and floods the apostolic page. It is that fact that has made the cross the universal symbol of the Gospel. "And he took the cup .... and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Mat_26:27-28). Ah yes, Thou hast kept the best wine until now.

The Path of the Just Shines More and More

Lastly, and in a word or two, is not this true also of our Christian calling? The path of the just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Not all at once does Christ reveal Himself when we go forward determined to be His. And the old life still struggles for the mastery, and we are in heaviness through manifold temptations. But the difference between Christ and the devil is just this, that the devil's tomorrow is worse than his today; but the morrow of Christ, for every man who trusts Him, is always brighter and better than His yesterday. Every act of obedience that we do gives us a new vision of His love. Sorrow and trial reveal His might of sympathy as the darkness of the night reveals the stars. And when at last the wrestling is over, and like tired children we lie down to sleep, and when we waken and behold His face in the land where there is no more weariness, I think we shall look back upon it all and find new meaning in every hour of it; but I think also we shall cry adoringly, "Thou hast kept the best wine until now."

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

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[nChrist]

July 23

The Miracle at Cana

Thou hast kept the good wine until now— Joh_2:10

Two Periods of Christ at a Feast

When a man has set his hand to some stupendous task that can only be achieved through years of suffering, there are two seasons when the strain is sorest. One is when the great work is but begun and the difficulties of it are coming into view; the other is when the work is well-nigh ended. At these two times, when the strain is most intense, the heart recoils from the common intercourse of life. It is very notable that at these two periods we should find Jesus seated and happy at a feast. When other men are fevered, He is feasting. When others cannot brook the common talk, He joins the conversation of the happy table. Could you have guessed, seeing that quiet stranger at the table, that but a week before, alone and in the wilderness, He had been tempted so fiercely by the devil? Could you have thought, seeing Him at the Last Supper with His own, that in a few days He would be crucified? The marriage feast at Cana and the closing banquet in the upper chamber not only tell us of His great love for men, they fill us with ever-deepening surprise at the wonderful serenity of Christ.

The First Miracle, a Counterpart to the First Temptation

First, then, let us observe that in this first miracle we have a counterpart to the first temptation. In the difference between Jesus' action then and now we have the first glimpses of His glory (Joh_2:11). Alone in the wilderness there came the whisper, "There is no bread; command that these stones be made bread." Now at the marriage feast there comes the whisper, "There is no wine," and Jesus turned the water into wine. Both acts would have called for equal power; they were identical if regarded outwardly, yet Jesus saw in the former a snare of evil, and by the latter He began to show His glory. Do you see the difference between the two? In the one, His power would have been employed upon Himself; in the other, it was at the service of His friends. He turned the water into wine for others, but for Himself He would not turn the stones to bread. He saved others, Himself He would not save. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. It was the golden dawn of a self-forgetful service that won its crown on Calvary.

Nothing Can Match in Quality What Christ Offers

Again, in this first miracle we have the first foreshadowing of the surpassing excellence of Jesus' handiwork. The home at Cana was a humble home; but at a marriage an Oriental home, however humble, found ways and means to have the choicest wine. It was its very excellence which proved fatal to it—had it been worse, it might have lasted longer. Then Jesus wrought, and the six waterpots of water became wine, and when the chairman tasted it, not knowing whence it came, he cried that this was the best wine of all. When the company sat down there was wine upon the table. Christ's vintage challenged comparison with that. No wine would match the quality of that wine which was introduced into the feast by Christ. Now, is not that a mystical foreshadowing of the abiding glory of the Lord? Are there not many things which Jesus brought to the world, the same in kind as the world had always had, yet overtopping them all in worth and excellence? I see the table of the world when Jesus came. There is the cup of love on it and the beaker of joy; there is the wine of hope and of peace and of human character. But when I compare the hope and love and joy that Jesus found with the hope and love and joy that Jesus gave; and when I place the highest pagan character with the noblest character that Christ has fashioned, I cry with the chairman, "This is the best of all"—no wine can match the wine of Christ in quality.

That Which Christ Gives Is Abundant

Once more, in this first miracle we have a first glimpse of the divine prodigality of love. Did you ever think how much these waterpots contained when the servants had filled them, perhaps in quiet humor, to the brim? They held about a hundred and twenty gallons. One-twentieth part of that would surely have been ample to satisfy the largest marriage company. But I hardly think that Jesus stopped to count whether the waterpots were six or twelve. Had He consulted His mother or the servants, they could have told Him exactly what was needed; but He consulted none but His own heart and God—and all the six are wine. Now turn to the wilderness again and to the first temptation. There, for Himself, Jesus would not turn one single stone into a loaf. Here, in the service of His neighbor, there is no bounty that can be too great. He gives with a lavishness that is sublime because it is the lavishness of love. Do you not think that as John looked back on this, he saw in the prodigality Christ's glory? I think he would recall this opening scene at Cana when the whisper went round, "To what purpose is this waste?" It was Christ's glory to lavish His all upon the world. It was His glory to die upon the cross. In the uncalculating lavishness of dying love, John saw the spirit that had made the water wine.

Whatever Christ Touches Acquires an Upward Trend

Lastly, in this first miracle, we have the first prophecy of the upward trend of Jesus' touch. There have been men who never entered the circle of a home or of a church or of another's heart, but they have left it a little lower than they found it. But there are other men whose faces shine although they wist it not, and it is easier to be brave while they are with us, and we shall walk till the evening with a firmer tread because we met with them in life's golden morning. Now, magnified ten-thousandfold, that was and is the way with Jesus Christ. There is an upward trend in all His influence: He touches nothing that is not adorned. The lilies of the field speak loud of God; the mustard-seed is the likeness of the Kingdom. Shifty Simon becomes stable Peter, and John the passionate grows into John who loves. The water becomes wine; the wine shall yet be the symbol of His blood. Have we all shared in this upward trend of Jesus' touch?

____________________

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]

July 24

The Tidings of the Breeze - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit— Joh_3:8

The Night Wind

This is one of the profoundest sayings that ever fell upon a listening ear, and yet it bears to us every mark of being occasional and unpremeditated. The time was night—the place some quiet cottage—the theme the regeneration of the Spirit. And then it may be, right across the talk, there came the sighing of the night wind around the cottage. And Jesus, whose ear was ever quick to catch and use the parables of nature, said, "Hark, Nicodemus, don't you hear it? The wind bloweth where it listeth." It is Christ's parable, infinitely beautiful, of the life not of the flesh but of the spirit. It is Christ's picture of certain large realities in the experience of the regenerate. And the question which I wish to ask is what features of the breeze does our Lord seize upon as illustrative of the spiritual life?

As the Wind Blows Freely, So Does the Spirit

The first feature which our Lord selects is liberty—the wind bloweth where it listeth. In every literature and for every man the wind is the emblem of glad and glorious liberty. You may tell its direction, whether east or west; you may devise instruments to measure its velocity; you may watch its path across the field of corn or where the giants of the forest bow before it; but in spite of the minutest observation and all the imprisoning energies of science, the breeze still is gloriously free. You can raise no barriers that will block its progress. You can forge no chains that will confine it. You cannot divert it as it crosses the ocean, or bid it halt in its hurrying fox an hour. Tonight, as long centuries ago, the wind bloweth where it listeth.

Freedom Governed by Laws

Now there are two elements of this liberty which science has made very plain to us, and the first is that it is not a lawless liberty. I do not say that we understand its laws yet as we understand the laws of light, for instance. There is much that is obscure and very baffling in the origin and travelling of the wind. Yet for every zephyr of the summer evening and for every storm that whistles down the glen, there are adequate causes known to the Creator and gradually becoming known to us. The wind bloweth where it listeth, but it is never a lawless or capricious liberty. It is not the child of any sudden fury, irresponsible, arbitrary, uncontrolled. It is a liberty based upon a reign of law—enjoyed in harmony with the whole scheme of nature—obedient to the great Creator's purpose, no less than the seraphim around the throne.

Liberty of Services

But not only is it a liberty of law, it is also a liberty of service. There are few services more rich and wonderful than the service of the freedom of the wind. We never talk of the wind working, it is true; we talk of the wind playing in the forest. But sometimes, when our children are at play, they are working for manhood better than they know. And so when the wind, rejoicing in its freedom, is so happy that we say it plays, it is working magnificently all the time. It is ripening the seeds within a million flowers; it is filling the ears of corn across the field. It is building the cones of every Scotch fir tree; it is preparing for another harvest time. It is carrying a thousand ships across the sea, and cleansing away the vapors of impurity, and coming to many a slum in the great cities as the angel of purity and health.

=======================See Page 2

[nChrist]

The Tidings of the Breeze - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And it is not freedom from the Law of God—it is not freedom to follow every passion—it is not freedom to do just as we please when hands are beckoning and voices calling. It is the freedom of an indwelling spirit poured into our hearts by Jesus Christ so that we are no longer in bondage to the outward, but moved by a principle of life within. And it, too, issues in unequalled service, for there is no service in the world like that which Christ inspires. It is the service of the son who loves and not the service of the slave who fears. And it thinks no toil too great to be attempted—and none so trifling that it may be despised—just as the wind that carries the great argosy carries also the pollen of the willow.

As the Wind Is Heard, So Is the Spirit

The next feature which our Lord chooses is its utterance—the wind bloweth, and thou hearest the sound thereof. And as He spoke, He said, "Hark" to Nicodemus, and they heard it sighing down the village street. Listening, they heard the nightingale calling as it winged its way in the darkness to the hills. Listening, they heard in yonder tavern the boisterous laughter of the village prodigals. And then there came a pause, and riot ceased, and the dogs out in the street were quietly eating, and Christ said, "Hark," and Nicodemus hearkened, and round the cottage they heard the sound thereof. It was a peculiar and distinctive music. There was no mistaking it for any other—no mistaking it for any sound of riot, not for the crying of any fevered child. And Christ—I fancy with that smile of His which must so often have lit up His words—said, "So is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Resistance to the Wind Brings Music, So Is It with Life in the Spirit

Again there are two elements in this utterance which it is well that we should bear in mind. And the first is that the music of the wind is the music of movement and obstruction. It is because the wind is moving that we hear it, but the music comes out not by movement only. It becomes audible to us in all its voices only when there is resistance in its path. As the breeze passes over the summer meadow, there is not a whisper to indicate its presence. We should never know that the wind was blowing there save for the tossing of a million daisies. But when it beats on the cheek of him who breasts the hill—when it hurls itself against the cottage gable—when it leaps angrily upon the armies of the forest, and they lift up their branches to defy it— then do we hear the music of the wind. So the spiritual life has its peculiar utterance because it moves, and moving, it is obstructed. If there were no obstructions, no obstacles, no difficulties, it might glide so silently that we should never hear it. It is in meeting these and overcoming them in the wonderful power of an indwelling Savior that men, marveling, hear the sound thereof.

The Wind Produces Music of Infinite Variety, So Does the Spirit

And then, as everyone of us has known, it is a music of infinite variety—from the faintest melody as of some distant harp to the magnificence as of some mighty organ. Now it is like the melancholy sighing of a human heart from which all hope has fled. Now it is like the murmuring of waters amid the rocks and under the thick heather. And now it is like the thrilling song of battle that warriors sing when the lust of fight is on them, and they have found foes worthy of their steel. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit—the life in Christ has got a thousand voices. It is no harsh monotone, constantly repeated, unvarying, unmusical, unending. It is infinitely varied as the wind is varied, with a thousand cadences as of the aeolian harp—from the loud note of the trumpet in the morning to the scarce audible whisper of the dying. Do not say that when a man is Christ's, he must show it in this way or in that way. Euroclydon is very different from zephyr, yet both of them are the breathing of the wind. So every life that is inspired of heaven has its distinctive spiritual utterance, for there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit.

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[nChrist]

The Tidings of the Breeze - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

The Unknown and Mysterious Origin of the Wind

The next feature which our Savior seizes on is the unknown and mysterious origin of the wind. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell whence it cometh. "Hark, Nicodemus, do you hear it—crying and calling in the village street? Come now, you are a master in Israel, answer me this: Where has it traveled from?" And then when Nicodemus deprecated, as if to say, "Lord, how could I tell that?" Christ in His infinitely winsome way said, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Now of course, to a certain limited extent, we always can tell which way the wind has come. We have our vanes to indicate its course, and a straw will show which way the breeze is blowing. If from the west it has traveled from the sea; if from the north it has reached us from the hills. If it be balmy, it tells of warmer lands; and if it be icy, it speaks to us of snow. And yet, when all is known that can be known, what a range and reach there is that we know nothing of! The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell whence it cometh. Where did it come from, that breath of heavenly wind that fanned your cheek as you came to church? What glens—what moors—what villages—what cities has it traveled through and passed in coming hither? Sooner or later men find the source of rivers, though they be hidden and shrouded as that of ancient Nile. But the wind, that river of the upper air—thou canst not tell, says Jesus, whence it cometh.

The Mysterious Movement of the Spirit of God

Now if there is one thing clear and constant it is that of spiritual renewal that is true. There was never a man yet who was born of God who did not feel that it ran into the mysteries. Of course to a certain extent, as with the wind, we can trace back the course of spiritual renewal. Perhaps we can point to a sermon or a prayer or a quiet talk with somebody we trusted; perhaps we can point to a striking and signal providence, or to a terrible illness when we fought with death, or to an open grave when the dull earth that thudded seemed to be falling on our heart. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. We can trace out the history a little way. We can say it was this or that which changed us to the depths in the unerring providence of God. But when we have said all that, and said it gratefully, then overpowers us the wonder of it all, and saved by grace when we deserved the darkness, we can but whisper, "We know not whence it cometh. "Who can tell—or who shall ever tell—what was behind that hour of decision? What prayers of a mother when we were little children, and she stole in at night and prayed when we were sleeping? And that is many years ago, dear friend, and you have lived a sorry life since then, God knows; but tonight, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come"—yes, come, and thou knowest not whence it cometh. Respond to the infinite love of Christ, and His Holy Spirit will come down and fill you. And you will go out wondering and awed, and crying, "I have got it, and know not whence it came." But some day when the veil is lifted, you shall know, and you shall find behind it all a Savior's sacrifice and a mother's prayers and a minister's entreaty and a love of God that chose you in eternity.

Its Goal Is Unknown and Unreckonable

Then the last feature which our Savior seizes on is its unknown and Unreckonable goal. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell whither it goeth. "Come, Nicodemus, thou who teachest others—thou hearest it—where is it going tonight?" "Lord, I cannot tell where it is going"—and so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Over the city, and then whither away? An hour hence, and where shall the breeze be? Will it fill some sail—ruffle the mountain lake—travel to cities where the speech is strange? Thou knowest not, brother; and I am here to tell you that if you open your heart to the Spirit of God, no man can tell what power and use and blessing thou shalt travel on to from this hour. There are men and women whom we know quite well whither they are going. They are going to useless lives and unregarded graves with not one tear of genuine regret for them. But let a man respond to Christ and receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—and thou knowest not whither thou shalt go. Thou shalt go to a life that is a joyous thing. Thou shalt go to a life that is a conquering thing. Thou shalt go to a power and usefulness and honor that will amaze thee, knowing what thou art. And then at last, kept by the power of God, and plucked as a brand by Christ out of the burning, thou shalt go to be with Him, which is far better.

____________________

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]

July 25

The Three Centers of Love

God so loved the world— Joh_3:16

Christ also loved the church— Eph_5:25

The Son of God, who loved me— Gal_2:20

John's Assurance of God's Love for the World

We have first the love of God for the whole world, or, as we should put it, for all the human race. The world of John is not the world of nature, but the teeming world of sinful men and women. Now, the extraordinary thing is this, that such a statement should fall from Jewish lips. The ancient Hebrew was the true aristocrat looking with proud disdain on every Gentile. And it was because this Jew had companied with Christ and drunk deep of His spirit, that there had come to him the rich assurance that the love of God was for the world. Born of a Jewess, made under the law, Christ was the Son of man. For all mankind He lived and taught and died. He was the light of the world. It was in following Him and brooding on His mystery, that the eyes of John were opened by the Spirit to recognize the worldwide love of God.

The Universality of God's Love

The wonder of it deepens when we remember what the world of men is like. The Bible, for all its unconquerable optimism, never gives us a rosy view of man. It is the writer of our text who tells us that the whole world "lieth in the evil one." Like a precious vessel sunk in a foul stream, it is submerged under a tide of evil. And this is not only the view of the disciple, it is the view of our blessed Lord Himself—"the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." I could understand God loving the world of nature where the sunshine is sleeping on the lake. If the human heart is drawn to hill and meadow, how much more the infinite heart in heaven. But that that heart, knowing every secret, should love the teeming millions of mankind lies on the utmost verge of the incredible. It only becomes credible in Christ. It is a dream but for the Incarnation. Unless God gave His only begotten Son, worldwide love goes whistling down the wind. It was because this writer had learned, from personal contacts, the universality of the unspeakable Gift that he awoke to the worldwide love of God.

God's Love for the Church

The second center of divine love is the Church—Christ also loved the Church. And at once this question rises in the mind, why should the Church be singled out like that? Well, when you read the story of the prodigal, you feel that the father always loved that son. When he was far away rioting with the harlots, the father was yearning for him night and day. But only when that prodigal came home could the pent-up love be poured upon the child—and the Church is the bit of the world that has come home. The true Church is not an organization. It is not Episcopalian nor Methodist. It is the mighty company of quickened souls who could never rest content among the swine. Drawn by need, hungry and despairing, they have traveled back to "God who is our home," and found the love that had been always yearning for them. The prodigal was loved in the far country, but there no ring could be put upon his finger. So long as he was there no cry was heard, "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him." To gain these tokens of unwearying love, the poor rebellious child had to come home—and the Church is the bit of the worm that has come home. That is why the Church, and not the family, is the second center of the love of heaven. Some in the family may still be far away, living in utter heedlessness and sin. But no one in the true Church is in the far land. All are brought nigh by the blood of Christ, and love is able to show itself at last in the ring and in the shoes and in the robe.

God's Love for the Individual

The third center of divine love is the individual—He loved me, says the apostle. And it is just here that the love of God so infinitely transcends the love of man. No man can love a multitude with the intensity wherewith he loves his child. No patriot can feel towards all his countrymen as he feels towards his little daughter. But the wonder of the love of God is this, that with a compass that encircles millions, every separate soul is loved as if there were no one else in the whole world. Our Lord was moved to His depths by mighty multitudes. He brooded over them with infinite compassion. He came to be the Savior of the world, and He came because He loved the world. Yet, living for mankind, He gave His richest to the one who fell suppliant at His feet, and, dying for mankind, He gave His heart to the one who was hanging by His side. He loved the world—and gave. He loved the Church—and gave. But all would be incomplete could we not add, "He loved me and gave Himself for me." When we are tempted to doubt the love of heaven for the little unit in unnumbered millions, there comes a gentle voice across the darkness, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."

____________________

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.)
____________________

[doc]

Hey, BEP,

This preacher is one eloquent guy.  His devos on e-Sword encourage me constantly and lift me up spiritually.

I have some contacts in Scotland and am trying to find more than the attached about him.

Bio for George H. Morrison
George Herbert Morrison (1866-1928) completed his university studies and then assisted Sir James Murray at Oxford in the preparation of the Oxford English Dictionary. Sensing a call to the ministry, he studied at Free Church College and went on to serve several churches, including the Wellington United Free Church of Glasgow, Scotland, from 1902 until his death. He has been characterized as one of the century's great "pastor-preachers," always seeking to meet life's need with a word from God.

As an aside have any of you used Leon Morris as an exegete?  His commentaries are wonderful and well balanced for an Anglican.  He just died at age 92 and left an indellable mark on Christian apologetics

doc

[Rev. Belch]

Wow that made for good reading thanks

[nChrist]

Wow that made for good reading thanks

You are most welcome. These sermons from George H. Morrison are old, but they are timeless and beautiful.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 5:1-2 NASB  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

[nChrist]

Hello Doc,

I'm sorry to be so late in answering your post. I've been away from computers and visiting with my son in Florida. We just got back, and I'm trying to catch up on tons of mail and forum posts.

I'll have to look, but I don't think that I have anything at all on George H. Morrison, so I'm glad to get the information that you posted. I have seen his name mentioned in various Christian materials, but the information is usually very short. I also enjoy his writing and receive a blessing with every message. He does have a very pleasant writing style, and it's obvious that he loves the LORD as the core of his life. I'll try to find some more information about George H. Morrison and share it.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

[nChrist]

July 26

The Casual Contacts of Jesus

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water— Joh_4:7

The Casual Encounters of Jesus

One notes, in the life of Jesus, how many folk there were who met Him casually. The meetings were in no sense prearranged; they were unplanned and unpremeditated contacts. One may hold that in the deepest sense no meeting with the Lord is really casual. Contingencies are not without the will of Heaven. Still, speaking in the way of men, no one can read the life of Jesus without observing how very full it was of what we call casual encounters. The woman of Samaria had no idea that she was going to meet the Lord beside the well. It was with no thought that he would meet with Christ that the man with the withered hand went to the synagogue. The impotent man beside the pool was not waiting for Him who is our Peace—he was waiting for the troubling of the waters. All these were casual meetings, speaking in the common way of men. They did not issue from definite intention as in the case of the Greeks who sought an interview. And how our Lord comported Himself in what we may call these casual encounters, is a deeply interesting study.

Meetings That Were Casual But Rich in Consequence

One might be sure, from all we know of life, that such meetings would be rich in consequence; doubly sure when we remember the radiant personality of Jesus. Mark Rutherford, in "Miriam's Schooling," tells us of a man who was now growing old. That man, when twenty years of age, had one day passed a woman on the street. And the spiritual beauty of her face, he tells us, haunted him and held him to the end. A thousand times it had rebuked him, and a thousand times it had redeemed him. Not infrequently, when we are dull or troubled, we meet someone in the most casual fashion, and instantly (such is personality) the time of the singing of the birds has come. Now multiply all that by the radiant personality of Jesus, and you grasp the consequence of casual contact. Life was going to be different forever to that Samaritan woman by the well. There was going to be work and happiness at home for the man with the withered hand. Yet these were but casual meetings — momentary encounters by the way—unpremeditated and unplanned. There is a line in a well-known hymn which says, "Not a brief glimpse I beg, a passing word." One understands that perfectly. It is love demanding the forever. But do not forget that a passing word of Christ—a single glimpse of the beauty of His face—may alter life down to its very depths and make the future different forever.

Christ Always Had Time for Casual Meetings

It is a beautiful and helpful thought that for these casual meetings Christ had always time, and the wonder of that deepens when one recalls the greatness of His mission. His was the most stupendous mission ever given to a son of man. He was here to bear the sins of the whole world. He was here to make all things new. It is when one thinks of that, and the weight and pressure of it, and the brief years allowed for its accomplishment, that one marvels at the leisurely serenity with which He took these casual encounters. With a baptism to be baptized with, living under the urgency of Calvary, who could have wondered had He been preoccupied, pushing aside every casual comer? Yet He had time to halt when Bartimaeus cried, and to sit and talk with the woman at the well, and to wait serenely till they discovered her who had gripped the tassel of His garment. That is often a very comforting thought when we come to Him upon the throne today. With the government upon His shoulder, can I reasonably hope He will have time for me? Yet on earth He always had the time and the heart at leisure from itself—and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Christ Always Gave Himself at These Casual Meetings

One likes to think, too, how in these casual meetings our Lord gave of His very best, and He did that because He gave Himself. It is a thought familiar in many a book and sermon that Jesus gave of His riches to the individual. That is profoundly true as every reader of the Gospel knows. But still more striking and suggestive is it that He gave of His richest to the individual He met casually. I could understand Him dealing with Nicodemus so, for Nicodemus deliberately sought Him. He took his courage in both hands and braved a great deal when he set out to meet the Lord that night. But that Jesus should give of His riches and His best to folk who met Him in quite casual contact—that is the kind of thing which gives one pause. He did that with the woman at the well. The words He spoke to her have changed the world. They have come ringing down the corridors of time, nor will men ever let them die. Yet she went out that noonday just to fill her waterpots, at an hour when she might hope to be alone, without one thought that she would meet the Lord. Now may I say quietly to all my readers that there He has left us an example. Sometimes going into company we say, "I must be at my very best tonight." And sometimes preachers, addressing certain audiences, say, "I must be at my very best today." But who can tell the good that we might do, who can explore the influence we might wield, if we only determined to give of our very best in the casual contacts of the hour? There may be a bit of the Kingdom in a handshake and a gleam of heaven in a happy smile. A word of cheer to some poor "down and out," may be as a well of water in a thirsty land. That, I take it, was the Master's way, and if in joy and peace it be our way, casual folk will be thanking God for us though we never hear anything about it.

____________________

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]

July 27

The Woman of Samaria

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water— Joh_4:10

Scenes by Wells

It is remarkable how many of the choicest scenes of Scripture should be associated with wells. It was by a well that Abraham's servant met with the destined bride of Isaac in that loveliest story of the Book of Genesis. It was by the well that Jacob first cast his eyes on Rachel. It was at a well that one of the crises in the life of Moses came, when he stood up and rescued the daughters of Reuel from the shepherds. And all the memories and meetings of these Oriental wells are crowned by this story of the woman of Samaria. It was the hour of sultry noon, and the whole land was weary, and Jesus shared in the weariness of noonday. And then a woman of Samaria came to draw, thinking, remembering, dreaming as she came, and all so busy with her woman's heart that she hardly spied the dusty traveler till He spoke. So do we stumble on life's greatest moments. So coming to the well a thousand times unaltered, we come one day and everything is changed. Life's crises often come unheralded. God is not pledged to warn of their approach. They wear the garments of the common hours and come in the multitude of common duties, when lo! we are at the parting of the ways, and all things shall be different forever.

Christ Disregards Prevailing Prejudices

Now what struck the writer of this story first was the disregard that Jesus showed for the most cherished prejudices of His day. Christ was a Jew after the flesh, and the woman with the pitcher was Samaritan, and for long centuries, and notably since the rebuilding of the Temple, Jew and Samaritan had been so ripening in mutual spite that now they would not speak to one another. But Jesus sweeps these prejudices off. He bids defiance to conventionality. Behind the sinner and back of the Samaritan, He hears the cry of a soul that can be saved. Everything else becomes as threads of gossamer before His burning passion to redeem her. Now there are some men who scorn conventionalities just because they want to seem original. But there are other men so filled with a burning purpose that in the heat of it common prejudices die. That is a right noble disregard; it is the disregard of Jesus by the well.

Christ First Asks for a Favor

It is remarkable that the first words of Christ are an appeal. "Give me to drink," He said. It was the first time in all her life that she had ever been asked a favor by a Jew, and to be asked a favor by those whom we are certain would despise us, produces a strange revulsion in the heart. I do not know if even on the cross the humility of Christ is more apparent than in these humble pleadings that fell on this Samaritan's ears and still are calling to our hearts today. We, too, may feel certain that Jesus will despise us. We may think ourselves very loathsome in His sight. Yet He is pleading with us as a brother pleads and calling to us as a brother calls, and He is holding out His death to us and offering us His pardon and His power. Nay, more, whenever we give a cup of water to a little one in Jesus' name, then like the woman of Samaria we are giving Christ to drink. And in every kindly deed we ever did, we are responding to this pleading of the Master. In every face of pain, every distorted limb, every moan and sigh, and all the sobbing of the helpless children, Christ still is saying, "Give me to drink." And we had better cease to worship Him as Lord than fail to respond to such a pleading.

Christ Was Impressed by the Samaritan Woman's Ignorance

I note, too, that what roused the compassion of Jesus for this woman was her ignorance. "Ah! woman, if you only knew the gift of God: if you only knew who was speaking to you!" In Sychar the honest neighbors rather shunned this woman, not because she was ignorant, but because she knew too much. They hated her. They tattled of her. She was a bold and an unprincipled woman. Only Jesus in the whole wide world pitied her from the bottom of His heart. She was so ignorant for all she knew. She had so missed the prize for all her unhallowed grasping! O heart of Christ, so infinite in pity, teach us again the ignorance of passion, and make us pitiful to the men and women who have missed the mark, because they have not known God's gift of love!

Christ Offers Something Superior and of Permanent Value to the Inner Man
So Jesus gently deals with the Samaritan, reading her heart and showing her what she was and leading her upward from the well of Jacob to the wellsprings that are found in Jacob's God. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Two features of this promised gift arrest us. (a) The first is that he that drinketh of the living stream shall never thirst again. But do we not find the Psalmist saying, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God"? Is every longing of the soul satisfied forever when we have tasted of the wells of God? Nay, God forbid. The more we drink of holiness, the more we thirst for it. The more we drink of purity, the more we crave it. The more we taste of God, the more we long for Him. But under the power of this new affection, sinful affections gradually die; and baser cravings that dominated once sink slowly in this newborn life in God until at last the very craving is forgotten, and having tasted God, we thirst no more. (b) And then this fountain is within our heart. This poor Samaritan had to take her pitcher and run the gauntlet of the village street whenever she wanted a draught of Jacob's well. But the gladness and the peace are within us when we have truly met with Jesus Christ. There is a sense in which a Christian is dependent. There is another sense in which a Christian is the most independent man alive. He can go singing under the dullest skies; he can have royal fellowship in crowded streets, for he carries his heaven in his heart, and heaven in the heart is heaven on earth.

____________________

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]

July 28

The Dedication of the Will - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me— Joh_4:34

Is Religion Based on Reason or Feeling?

It has been a matter of controversy time and again which is the true wellspring of religion; and to this question, which is fresh in every age, there are two answers which demand attention.

On the one hand there are many reverent thinkers who trace the roots of religion to the reason. It is because we are reasonable beings that we know the infinite reason, which is God. A dumb beast is not endowed with reason though it has instinct. It is man alone, lifting his forehead heavenward, who is a truly reasonable creature; and in man alone, because he is so gifted, is there the craving for the eternal Being, and the assurance, at the back of all things visible, of a hand that guides and of a heart that plans. Thought is the lattice through which the human spirit peers forth upon the vista of eternity. Thought is the mystical ladder that goes heavenward and lifts itself through the silence to the throne. And if the angels, clad in their garb of ministry, move up and down upon its steps of radiance, it is because the head that lies upon the pillow is that of a reasonable man.

On the other hand, there have been many thinkers who have denied this primary place to thought. It is not from reason that religion springs, they tell us; it is from the deeper region of the feelings. How can the fragmentary thought of man reach forth to the perfect thought of the Almighty? Can any by intellectual searching find Him out, and are not His thoughts different from out thoughts? Do we not know, too, that an age of so-called reason is never a time when eternal things are clear, but always a time when voices are but faint that come with the music of the faraway? On these grounds there has been raised a protest against reason as the wellspring of religion. Not upon reason is religion based; it sinks its shaft into the depth of feeling. It is born in the longing you cannot analyze; in the emotion that is prior to all thought; in the craving for God that rests upon no proof, and stirs in a depth below the reach of argument.

The Wellspring of Personal Religion Is the Will

But when we turn to the word of Jesus Christ and to its translation in apostolic doctrine, we discover that neither thought nor feeling is laid at the foundation of religion. Christ had no quarrel with the human intellect. He recognized its wonder and its power. His own intellectual life was far too rich for Him to be a traitor to the brain. Nor was Christ the enemy of human feelings. He never made light of tenderest emotion. He who wept beside the grave of Lazarus could never be the antagonist of tears. But in the teaching of Christ, it is not thought nor feeling that is the wellspring of personal religion. "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me"; the wellspring is in the region of the will. It is there that a man must pass from death to life. It is there that the path of piety begins—not in the loftiest and holiest thought nor in the rapture of excited feeling. The first thing is the dedication of the will; the response of a free man to a great God; the yielding of self to that imperious claim which is made by the loving Father in the heavens. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness"—"Let the dead bury their dead, follow thou me"—such are the words in which our Lord describes the primary and determinative action. A man may cherish the most reverent thought or may luxuriate in tenderest feeling, yet if he harbor an unsurrendered will, he knows not yet the meaning of religion.

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The Dedication of the Will - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Yield Your Will to Christ

It is thus that we begin to understand the condemnation of Christ on indecision. "He that is not with me, is against me"—"No man can serve two masters." No matter how ignorant a man might be, Christ never was without hope for him. No matter how depraved he was, there was a spark within him that might be fanned to flame. But of all men the most hopeless in Christ's sight was the irresolute and undecided person, the man who refused to take a spiritual stand and who was contented to drift aimlessly. It is very probable that Judas Iscariot was a man of such irresolution. It had been growing increasingly clear to him, as months went by, that he was hopelessly out of sympathy with Jesus. But instead of arising in some great decision that might have closed that mockery of following, he drifted, amid ever quickening waters, till suddenly the whirlpool and the cry. The man who hesitates, we say, is lost—but Christ has come to seek and save the lost. Am I speaking to any waverer, to any hesitating, undecided person? Till the will is right, nothing is right. No man is Christ's until the will has been yielded. "Our wills are ours, we know not how; Our wills are ours to make them Thine."

Jesus Never Overpowered the Will

It is further notable in this connection that Jesus never over powered the will. It was His glory to empower it, but to overpower it He scorned. "Come unto me, and I will give you rest"—a man must come; no hand from heaven will drag him. No irresistible and irrational constraint will force him into the presence of the Savior. A man is something better than a beast—he is but a little lower than the angels—and as a man, or not at all, Christ will have the allegiance of the will. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life" —there is the ring of an infinite pity about that; but the other side of that so baffled yearning, reveals the very grandeur of humanity. For it tells of a being whose heritage is freedom—not to be overborne by God Himself—of one who must come with a freely yielded will, or else not come at all. With Mohammed it was the Koran or the sword, and that compulsion was a degradation. Hence never, under Mohammedan dominion, has manhood risen to its highest splendor. But with Christ there was no compulsion of the will, save the compulsion of overmastering love, and that great recognition of our freedom has blossomed into the flower of Christian manhood. Do not wait, then, I would beg of you, as if a day were coming when you must be good. Do not think that the hour will ever strike when you will be swept irresistibly into the kingdom. At the last it is a matter of decision, and in all the changes of the coming years, never will it be easier for you to make the great decision than now.

Christ's Emphasis on the Motive

We might further illustrate Christ's emphasis on will by some of the relationships in which He sets it. Think first of its relationship to action. It is not the action in itself that Jesus looks at; He has a gaze that pierces deeper than the action. He sees at the back of every deed, its motive, and that is the measure of value in His sight. Viewed from the standpoint of the day's collection there was no great value in the widow's mite. One coin out of the pocket of the rich was worth a hundred such in some eyes. But there is a certain kind of calculation that is intolerant of all arithmetic, and it was always on that basis Christ computed. Was there no sacrifice behind that little gift which was dropped so quietly into the temple treasury? Was there no will so bent upon obedience that it must pour its all into the offering? What Jesus saw was not the mite; it was the dedicated will behind the mite. An action had no value in Christ's eyes unless at the back of it there was the willing mind. Deep down, in the unseen springs of a man's being, lay that which determined the value of his conduct. And that is the reason why Christ appraises action in a way that is sublimely careless of the common standards by which the world distributes applause.

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The Dedication of the Will - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

To Know, You Must Will

Or think of the relationship of will to knowledge if you want to know how Christ regarded will. "If any man will to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." If any man willeth to do His will—then at the back of true knowledge is obedience, and what we know of the highest and the best ultimately depends upon the will. Let a man refuse to submit his will to God, and the gateway of truth is closed to him forever. No daring of intellect will pierce its deeps, nor will any imagination see its beauty. Truth at the heart of it is always ethical, kindred in being to man's moral nature; and if that nature be choiceless and disordered, the power and majesty of truth are never known. That is the reason why the simplest duty has always an illuminative power. Do the next thing, and do it heartily, and the very brain will grow a little clearer. For the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet, and only when our feet go forward bravely will the circle of light advance upon the dark and reveal what is always shadowed to the stationary. It is not merely by His depth of thought that Christ has kindled the best thought of Christendom. It is by His urgent and passionate insistence upon the dedication of the will. And men have obeyed Him, and taken up their cross, and followed bravely when all in front was shrouded, to find that they were moving into a larger world and under a brighter heaven.

Fellowship Rests on the Will

Or think of the relationship of will to fellowship—man's spiritual fellowship with his Redeemer. That friendship is not based on kindred-feeling; it is based, according to Christ, on kindred-will. "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee"; and Jesus answered, "Who is my brother? He that doeth the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my mother, my brother, and my sister." It is not a question, then, of what you know, if you are to be a brother or sister of the Lord. It is not a matter of excited feeling nor of any glowing or ecstatic rapture. He that doeth the will—though it be often sore and though the way be dark and though the wind be chill—he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My sister and My brother. That means that all fellowship with Jesus Christ depends on dedication of the will We must say, "Take my will, and make it Thine," if we are to be numbered in His company. And if fellowship with Him be true religion—the truest and purest the world has ever known—you see how it does not rest on thought or feeling, but has its wellspring in the surrendered will.

Surrender of the Will

And in the life of Christ this is the crowning glory—a will in perfect conformity with God's. He is our Savior and our great exam-pie because of that unfailing dedication. Look at Him as He is tempted in the wilderness—is there not there a terrible reality of choice? Does there not rise before Him the alternative of self, to be instantly and magnificently spurned? And ever through the progress of His years, His meat is to do the will of God who sent Him; until at last, upon the cross of Calvary, the dedication is perfected and crowned. I want you then ever to remember that the will is the very citadel of manhood. To be a Christian that must be yielded up. Everything else without it is in vain. Religion founded on feeling is unstable. A religion of intellect is cold and hard. Total surrender is what Christ demands, and in it lies the secret of all peace.

____________________

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.)
____________________