M&E Thursday

Thursday Morning, August 2

"Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."

Ephesians 1:11

Our belief in God's wisdom supposes and necessitates that he has a settled purpose and plan in the work of salvation. What would creation have been without his design? Is there a fish in the sea, or a fowl in the air, which was left to chance for its formation? Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And shall God be present in creation, ruling over all, and not in grace? Shall the new creation have the fickle genius of free will to preside over it when divine counsel rules the old creation? Look at Providence! Who knoweth not that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father? Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. God weighs the mountains of our grief in scales, and the hills of our tribulation in balances. And shall there be a God in providence and not in grace? Shall the shell be ordained by wisdom and the kernel be left to blind chance? No; he knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place, not merely the corner-stone which he has laid in fair colours, in the blood of his dear Son, but he beholds in their ordained position each of the chosen stones taken out of the quarry of nature, and polished by his grace; he sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to pinnacle. He hath in his mind a clear knowledge of every stone which shall be laid in its prepared space, and how vast the edifice shall be, and when the top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings of "Grace! Grace! unto it." At the last it shall be clearly seen that in every chosen vessel of mercy, Jehovah did as he willed with his own; and that in every part of the work of grace he accomplished his purpose, and glorified his own name.

============================================================

Evening, August 2

"So she gleaned in the field until even."

Ruth 2:17

Let me learn from Ruth, the gleaner. As she went out to gather the ears of corn, so must I go forth into the fields of prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the word to gather spiritual food. The gleaner gathers her portion ear by ear; her gains are little by little: so must I be content to search for single truths, if there be no greater plenty of them. Every ear helps to make a bundle, and every gospel lesson assists in making us wise unto salvation. The gleaner keeps her eyes open: if she stumbled among the stubble in a dream, she would have no load to carry home rejoicingly at eventide. I must be watchful in religious exercises lest they become unprofitable to me; I fear I have lost much already—O that I may rightly estimate my opportunities, and glean with greater diligence. The gleaner stoops for all she finds, and so must I. High spirits criticize and object, but lowly minds glean and receive benefit. A humble heart is a great help towards profitably hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving word is not received except with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner; down, master pride, thou art a vile robber, not to be endured for a moment. What the gleaner gathers she holds: if she dropped one ear to find another, the result of her day's work would be but scant; she is as careful to retain as to obtain, and so at last her gains are great. How often do I forget all that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head, and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I feel duly the importance of storing up the truth? A hungry belly makes the gleaner wise; if there be no corn in her hand, there will be no bread on her table; she labours under the sense of necessity, and hence her tread is nimble and her grasp is firm; I have even a greater necessity, Lord, help me to feel it, that it may urge me onward to glean in fields which yield so plenteous a reward to diligence.

============================================================

Obtaining the Inheritance: The Big Story

Author: Jim Elliff

It was a starry night when God told Abram, soon to be Abraham, that he would have as many descendants as the stars of the sky. On that same night He told him that the land he was on would be his also.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it. (Gen 15:7)

Obtaining the possession, according to God's further revelation to Abram, would be not be immediate. His family would dwell in another land and be oppressed for 400 years, then, his fourth generation would possess the land. God then described its boundaries.

It was this "promised land" that has been the focus of so much warfare and turmoil in the world. Actually, three major religions have a claim here: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

God fulfilled this promise and brought the sons of Israel in, under the leadership of Joshua, as the book by his name describes.

The idea of inheritance fills the Bible, so much so that you may wish to say it is the whole story. It starts with Adam in the perfect state in the Garden of Eden, then transitions to his tragic loss of Eden, to the promised inheritance for the Jews in Canaan, through the Babylonian exile from the land and the return, and finally, in Christ, to the final inheritance of the believers on the new earth.

This is the reason that the word "blessing" shows up so often—the Christian life is all about blessing realized in Christ, promised first to Abraham. The land is part of that blessing. Abraham was told that the blessing would come through the Seed. We find in the unfolding drama of the Bible that this Seed is Christ, and all who are related to him, Jew or Gentile, receive the blessing. "You were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing," Peter said (1 Peter 3:9). We are the true sons of Abraham, blessed forever.And the inheritance isn't a piece of real estate in the Middle East. No, much more than that.

Jesus showed us that the inheritance for the believer in Christ at least includes the entire world. Describing every believer, He said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Mt 5:5). Amazing!

Interestingly, the writer of Hebrews says that to Abraham and his first descendants, the promised landseemed to not actually be the inheritance they longed for after all:

Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own . . . . But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. (Heb. 11:12-16)

So the real inheritance includes a heavenly city. John said that this city, the New Jerusalem now in heaven, will come down to earth one day. The heavenly city will be in the physical centerpiece of the new earth God will provide after he judges the old earth and destroys it (see Rev 21).

The Bible states, in fact, that we have been made fellow-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17). The inheritance for the believer will not only cover the new earth and the New Jerusalem, but the entire universe of created things over which Christ rules. We will rule and reign with Him in whatever ways He directs (Rom 8:17).

The Spirit Also

Paul makes clear that the Holy Spirit is the downpayment of this future blessing.

. . . the Holy Spirit, who is given as a pledge [earnest, or down payment] of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1:13)

So, when we see the word, "blessing," the Bible writers often have an eye both on the Spirit and the future inheritance. Sometimes it speaks of what the Spirit provides as the "Blesser" of believers, the first installment of the final and eternal blessing. This gift of the Spirit shows us how immense the final inheritance actually is—a huge down payment for a huge inheritance.

Peter said, when talking of such things to persecuted people, "Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation [final unveiling] of Christ" (1 Pet 1:13). Good advice for blessed people.

Copyright © 2012 Jim Elliff.
Permission granted for reproduction in exact form. All other uses require written permission.
Find more free articles at www.BulletinInserts.org, a ministry of Christian Communicators Worldwide: www.CCWtoday.org

Download (USA)  | A4 Download

 

You are currently subscribed to daily-devotional as: bnb@applelodge.com Add chs.m-e@juno.com to your email address book to ensure delivery. Forward to a Friend  |  Manage Subscription  |   Subscribe  |   Unsubscribe