Gems for the Week
September 1 - 3
"Thy love is better than wine." (Song of Solomon 1:2)
"The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." (Ephesians 3:19)
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David says, "Wine maketh glad the heart" - it exhilarates. To the believer there is no more exhilarating joy than Christ's love, no cordial so sweet to his weary, fainting spirit. Christ's love captivates the affections of the heart - "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love. . ." (Ephesians 3:17), calms the apprehensions of the mind "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?. . ." (Romans 8:35), and claims the activities of the life "For the love of Christ constraineth us." (2 Corinthians 5:14). Such love is better than any natural joy. (Adam Ferguson)
N.J. Hiebert # 2722
"Lord, all my desire is before Thee." (Psalm 38:9)
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Only a simple word. This afternoon, words would not come when I tried to pray, and this troubled me; and then it was as if He, Who is never far away, said, What does it matter about words, when all thy desire is before Me? Perhaps you, too, find that words will not come when you wish they would. So I pass on my comfort.
In St. Augustine's words: "To Him Who is everywhere, men come, not by traveling, but by loving." (Amy Carmichael - Edges of His Ways)
N.J. Hiebert # 2723
"He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a
towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into
a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to
wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded."
(John 13:4,5)
It was much more than a lesson in humility that the Lord Jesus sought to impart to His disciples when He arose from the last supper and proceeded to wash all their feet. The condescension on His part, as the Father's well-beloved Son into whose hands all things had been given, was amazing, and the lesson in lowliness and loving care was indeed profound; but there was immeasurably more than this in the act. His words to Peter in verse 7 indicate another meaning than that which was apparent at the moment. "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."
The key to this remarkable incident is found in verse 3. "Jesus . . . knowing that He was come from God and went to God." A heavenly Person has thus been here, and has returned again to His glory on high, but one great object of His coming was to fit a company of sinful men to have part with Himself in His own blest abode for ever. His washing of the disciples' feet has thus a moral connection with the Father's eternal purpose of love concerning them. (W.W. Fereday - Peter the Apostle)
N.J. Hiebert # 2724
