Gems worth pondering
October 3
"For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world . . ."
(2 Timothy 4:10)
The want of a distinct apprehension of the difference between the flesh and the Spirit, keeps people in a very low state. They may be safe for eternity, and yet may grieve and quench the Spirit. If you have got salvation but have worldly notions and a worldly walk, you will be incessantly grieving the Spirit, accrediting something in your walk which God wants to strip off. God cannot accredit Demas's love of present things. He cannot accredit anything of the flesh in Christians. If the Spirit of Christ is in me, all that is of myself must be judged.
In a cup of water, how could you displace the water? By putting something heavier into the cup. If you have a heart full of lusts and vanities, how are you to give them all up? By the precious gold of God poured into the vessel - all there will be displaced by it. (GLEANINGS - G.V. WIGRAM)
N.J. Hiebert - 3846
October 4
"That it may bring forth more fruit."
(John 15:2)
Two years ago I set out a rosebush in the corner of my garden. It was to bear yellow roses. And it was to bear them profusely. Yet, during these two years, it has not produced a blossom!
I asked the florist from whom I bought the bush why it was so barren of flowers. I had cultivated it carefully; had watered it often; had made the soil around it as rich as possible. And it had grown well.
"That's just why," said the florist. "That kind of rose needs the poorest soil in the garden. Sandy soil would be best, and never a bit of fertilizer. Take away the rich soil and put gravelly earth in its place. Cut the bush back severely. Then it will bloom."
I did - and the bush blossomed forth in the most gorgeous yellow know to nature. Then I moralized: that yellow rose is just like many lives. Hardships develop beauty in the soul; they thrive on troubles; trials bring out all the best in them; ease and comfort and applause only leave them barren.
The finest of flowers bloom in the sandiest of deserts as well as in the hothouses. God is the same Gardener.
(SPRINGS IN THE VALLEY)
N.J. Hiebert - 3847
October 5
"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."
(1 John 4:6)
All that I know of the world's path, spirit, affections, and conduct is, that it has crucified my Lord; not in its affections and lusts merely, but by wicked hands it has crucified my Master. Suppose it were but yesterday that you had seen Pontius Pilate the governor, and the chief priests, and the elders, putting Christ to death, would you feel happy to-day in holding communion with them? The stain of Christ's blood is as fresh in God's sight as if it had been done but yesterday; the time which has elapsed since them makes no difference in its moral guilt. (J.N. DARBY)
N.J. Hiebert - 3848
