Jewish Contributions to Christmas - Christian and Missionary Alliance

Sunday
JAMES 4:l-10 (verses 7-8)
Prayer does not mean that 1 am to bring
God down to my thoughts and my purposes
and bend His government according
to my foolish, silly and sometimes sinful
notions. Prayer means that I am to be
raised up into feeling, into union and design
with Him; that 1 am to enter into
His counsel and carry out His purpose
fully. . . . God knows better what is best
fur me and for the world than I can
possibly know.-AN~NYM~WS.
Monday
LUKE 2:s-20 (versc 16)
This is the inauguration of the world's
redemption. Not in palace halls and amid
pageants of earthly grandeur, not with
prmces leading the inaugural procession,
but with a company of shepherds at their
nishtly task as the first witnesses. And
the Saviour Himself ib introduced with a
lowliness and poverty in keeping with the
calling of the shepherds and the condition
of the sinful world to which He came.
A . R. SIMPSON.
Tuesday
hlnRK 9:1-13 (verse 1)
Christ and John had both preached that
the kingdom of Gad was at hand. . . -
Christ said that it would be in the lifetime
of same who heard Him that the kingdom
uould come in powcr. That could mean
nothing else but that when He, as King,
had ascendcd the throne of the Father,
the kingdom would be revealed in the
hearts of Hi\ disciples by the power of the
Holy Spirit.-ANDREW MURRAY.
Wednesday
MATTHEW 6:X-15 (verse 10)
'l'i,cn~ is a me~kne~r frv~ from pridc
Tit01 fccls no uwer rise
Ar dighrs or liarc or ridicrrk,
Bur o.ossr.7 cou,,Ir ii prizc.
7lrerc is a pnfiencc lltul endurcs
Wirltoul n fr~l 01 cme,
Birr joyful si,i,ys, "Thy will he rlorre,"
My Lord's s+wcr ,?raw I sitare.
-SELI CTI D.
Thursday
I'KOVLRUS 27: 1-10 (verse I)
The only preparation for the morrow is
the right use of today. The stone in the
hand of the builder must be put in its
place and fitted to receive another. The
morrow comes for naught if today is not
heeded. Neglect not the call that comes
to thee this day, for such neglect is nolh-
ing less than boasting thyself of tomorrow.
-GEORGE BOWEN.
Friday
J~HN 13:33-38 (verse 34)
In repairing a church in one of the Boston
wards the inscription upon the wall behind
the pulpit was covered up. The first
Sunday after repairs a little five-year-old
whispered to her mother: "I know why
God told the paint man to cover that
22
pretty vcls: up. It was because the people
did not love one another." The inscription
was, "A new commandment I give unto
you, That ye love one another."-D. L.
MOODY.
Saturday
Jnm 8:24-29 (verse 29)
Jesus never wavered in His choices. His
rule of life in everything was to please
God, regardless of what His natural de-
hire might be (Matthew 26:39). God's
ill was the most important thing in life.
God never needed to coerce Him: the law
of absolute obedience was the guide-star
of His decisions. And God honored it.
God's will led Him to the cross. If God's
children fallow Christ's example it will
lead them to thc cross also (John 12:24).
PAMLII.
Sunday
M,~K l0:35-45 (verse 45)
Jesus gave to His disciples a law of love
higher even than that of the Old Testamcnt.
It is no longer "Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself," but it is "Love one
another; as I have loved you." His birth
in Bethlehem, His toiling youth, His life
of constant self-surrender, sacrifice and
privation, His ministry of benevolence and
unceasing blessing, and His death of voluntary
shame and agony . . . all have
lifted up a flaming protest against the selfishness
of man.-A. R. SIMPSON.
Monday
PSALM 23 (verse 2)
A rcrtlcss mind is a mind that cannot act.
A restless heart is a heart that cannot
love. A restless or wavering will is a will
that cannot decide. It is only when the
soul has begun to "lie down in green
pastures" that it is able to walk in the
paths of righteousness. It is not said,
"Walk and you will gel rest"; it is "Walk,
and ye shall find rest." The rest is there
already; it simply waits to be revealed.-
GLl1Rr.L MATHESON.
I uesday
PSALM 119:137-I44 (verses 140, 142)
The Bible is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed
by any earthly substance. This is a star
without a speck; a sun without a blot; a
light without darkness; a moon without
its paleness; a glory without a dimness.
0 Bible! . . . We can declare all wisdom
is gathered up in thee, without a particle
of folly. This is the judge that ends the
strife, where wit and reason fail. This is
. . . pure, unalloyed, perfect truth.-C. H.
SPURGEON.
Wednesday
SONG OF SOLOMON 5:9-6:3 (5:16)
Srill, still, wirhour ceasing,
I feel ir increasing,
This fervor of holy desire;
And ofren exclaim,
Ler me die in rhc Aome
Of a love rhar can never expire!
This Fail!,, in the dork
Pursuing irs mark,
Through many slrarp lrials of Love,
Ir rite sorrowful wnsre,
Ihnr is ro be passed
In rile way to the Canaan above.
-MADAME GUYON.
Thursday
1 PETER 1: 14-25 (verse 23)
How tragic that we in this dark day have
our seeking done for us by our teachers.
Everything is made to center upon the
initial act of "accepting" Christ . . . , and
we are not expected thereafter to crave
any further revelation of God to our
souls. We have been snared in the coils of
a spurious logic which insists that if we
have found Him we need no more seek
Him. This is set before us as the last word
in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted
that no Bible-taught Christian ever be-
lieved otherwise.-A. W. TozEn.
Friday
J~HN 15:l-14 (verse 7)
The way to trust Christ is to know Christ.
You cannot help trusting Him then. By
knowing Him faith is begotten in you,
as cause and effect. To trust Him without
knowing Him, as thousands do, is not
faith, but credulity . . . . We should pray
. . . that we may be able to fulfill the
conditions, and then, when we have fulfilled
the conditions, the faith necessarily
follows. The way, therefore, to increase
our faith is to increase our intimacy
with Christ. We trust Him more
and more the better we know Him.-
HENRY DRUMMOND.
Saturday
PSALM 145 (verse 18)
My prayer is not my cry to Thee; it is
my flight to Thee. My wish is my way;
my longing is my locomotion. I sail by
every sigh; 1 near by every need; I am
winged for Thee by every want of Thee.
Through the voidness of my soul without
Thee do I voyage to Thy home; every
stage of my joy is a stage of my journey.
The movement of my heart is a short
road to Paradise; there is no space to them
that fear Thee.-GEORGE MATHESON.