M&E Thursday

Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Thursday Morning, March 10

In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved.

Psalm 30:6

Moab settled on his lees, he hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel. Give a man wealth; let his ships bring home continually rich freights; let the winds and waves appear to be his servants to bear his vessels across the bosom of the mighty deep; let his lands yield abundantly: let the weather be propitious to his crops; let uninterrupted success attend him; let him stand among men as a successful merchant; let him enjoy continued health; allow him with braced nerve and brilliant eye to march through the world, and live happily; give him the buoyant spirit; let him have the song perpetually on his lips; let his eye be ever sparkling with joy--and the natural consequence of such an easy state to any man, let him be the best Christian who ever breathed, will be presumption; even David said, I shall never be moved; and we are not better than David, nor half so good. Brother, beware of the smooth places of the way; if you are treading them, or if the way be rough, thank God for it. If God should always rock us in the cradle of prosperity; if we were always dandled on the knees of fortune; if we had not some stain on the alabaster pillar; if there were not a few clouds in the sky; if we had not some bitter drops in the wine of this life, we should become intoxicated with pleasure, we should dream we stand; and stand we should, but it would be upon a pinnacle; like the man asleep upon the mast, each moment we should be in jeopardy.

We bless God, then, for our afflictions; we thank him for our changes; we extol his name for losses of property; for we feel that had he not chastened us thus, we might have become too secure. Continued worldly prosperity is a fiery trial.

Afflictions, though they seem severe, In mercy oft are sent.

Evening, March 10

Man ... is of few days, and full of trouble.

Job 14:1

It may be of great service to us, before we fall asleep, to remember this mournful fact, for it may lead us to set loose by earthly things. There is nothing very pleasant in the recollection that we are not above the shafts of adversity, but it may humble us and prevent our boasting like the Psalmist in our morning's portion. My mountain standeth firm: I shall never be moved. It may stay us from taking too deep root in this soil from which we are so soon to be transplanted into the heavenly garden. Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodman's axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and the hour when we must return them to the lender's hand may be even at the door. The like is certainly true of our worldly goods. Do not riches take to themselves wings and fly away? Our health is equally precarious. Frail flowers of the field, we must not reckon upon blooming for ever. There is a time appointed for weakness and sickness, when we shall have to glorify God by suffering, and not by earnest activity. There is no single point in which we can hope to escape from the sharp arrows of affliction; out of our few days there is not one secure from sorrow. Man's life is a cask full of bitter wine; he who looks for joy in it had better seek for honey in an ocean of brine. Beloved reader, set not your affections upon things of earth: but seek those things which are above, for here the moth devoureth, and the thief breaketh through, but there all joys are perpetual and eternal. The path of trouble is the way home. Lord, make this thought a pillow for many a weary head!

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MORNING THOUGHTS, or
DAILY WALKING WITH GOD

By Octavius Winslow

"You are come . . . to the spirits of just men made perfect." Hebrews 12:22, 23.

That the saints will recognize and have communion with each other immediately on their entrance into glory is, we think, clear from these words of the apostle, when enumerating the privileges of the released believers. We indulge, therefore, the fond hope that, should death remove us before the coming of the Lord, we shall meet, know, and have delightful communion with our friends who departed this life in Jesus. But the recognition and the communion must necessarily do not be so perfect and full as when Christ shall appear, and the risen saints shall cluster together around the person and in the kingdom of their Lord; since neither we nor they have attained our state of full knowledge and capacity until that great event take place, and the "blessed hope" is realized. We argue the recognition of the saints from the fact of the perfection of knowledge to which the coming glory will advance us. Our dear Lord reminds His saints that they shall be equal to the angels. They know each other. It would seem impossible, living together for so many years, that they would not. If, then, the saints are equal to them at all, they must be in this sweet privilege. And is it reasonable to suppose that in all other respects our knowledge will be perfected, but in this one particular only? Shall we possess an element of mental power here, which we shall lose in a gradation towards perfection, and, consequently, shall not possess in a higher degree hereafter? Assuredly not. When, therefore, the dead in Christ shall rise at His coming, every intellectual faculty will be enlarged, and not only retaining all our former, but increasing the amount by a larger degree of additional knowledge, we shall "know even as we are known." The perfection of happiness, which glorification implies, involves this blessing. What a rich source of high and holy delight does the communion of saints supply, even in our present state! How it elevates, chastens, expands, and soothes the mind and heart, so much beclouded by care and chafed by sorrow! But heaven will perfect this bliss. Does it not heighten the beauty of the prospect, and strengthen the expectation of the scene?

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Rebels With a Cause "But I tell you who hear me:  Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27-28). Even when we say, "I forgive you," many of us have a difficult time not thinking about what others have done to hurt us... It is very difficult simply to stop thinking about an unpleasant experience.  Instead, we must replace negative thoughts and memories with positive ones... Every time you begin to dwell on or brood over what someone else has done, ask for God's help and deliberately pray for that person or think of something about the offender that is "true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy." Taken from  The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2003) p. 220-221 Food for Thought Would people describe you as rebellious?  If so, in what way?  If not, why? Rebel is not the way most believers would describe themselves these days.  It's just a stone's throw from rebellious, and we surely wouldn't want to lean in that direction.  But even a cursory reading of Jesus' words show just how rebellious the Christian life is.  He tells us to go totally cross-grain to the way of this world -- do the counterintuitive thing.  So put on your James Dean jacket, slick your hair back, re-read Jesus' words and let's redeem the word rebel. But remember our cause -- reconciliation with God. Ken's encouragement to use the replacement principle is exactly what Jesus is referring to in Luke 6.  Instead of hating those who hate you -- negate the hate with doing good.  When you want to curse those who are cursing you, rearrange your four-letter words so that they spell bless.  And all those who mistreat you?  Replace your "I'm gonna' gitcha'" scheme with "Lord, have mercy."  But be warned -- people don't like rebels, and they usually want to make them go away.  This kind of godly rebelliousness may leave your James Dean jacket in shreds, your hair may lose all its slick, and it just might get you persecuted.  There's a pretty good precedent for that.  But remember our cause -- the peace of God.  God's true rebels are not necessarily the popular and successful, but the hated, cursed and mistreated; those who stay true to the cause no matter what.  And the cause is peace.  Peace has a face (and it's not James Dean's).  "For he himself is our peace" (Ephesians 2.14) -- Jesus himself replaces justice with mercy and condemnation with freedom.  What a rebel! PeaceMeal is a weekly e-publication of Peacemaker Ministries (www.Peacemaker.net). All Rights Reserved. Don't forget to pass the peace! If you found this PeaceMeal helpful, please forward it on to friends. If you'd like to reprint PeaceMeal in your church bulletin or newsletter each week, see the guidelines at www.Peacemaker.net. Say your piece in PeaceMeal. We are looking for peacemakers from around the world to write the Food for Thought section of a future issue of PeaceMeal. How about you? Guidelines and more information can be found at www.Peacemaker.net.

 

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