February
February / 23 "If it were not so he would have told us." Surely we may trust him and accept his statements as facts, without any further questioning.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword:..
. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom 8:35, 37)
No one can read the history of the words and deeds of the apostles and the early believers without seeing that they were saturated through and through with an utter certainty of their salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was as much a part of them as their nationality as Jews, or their nativity in Israel, and was no more open to question. Let us try to imagine them as being filled with the doubtings and questionings of modern Christians and think what effect it would have had upon their preaching and their work. We can see in a moment that it would have been fatal to the spread of the gospel and that a church founded on doubts and questionings could have made no headway in an unbelieving world.
This tone of utter assurance runs through all the Epistles.
Each is addressed to people who took for granted their standing as the reconciled and forgiven children of God; and the writers express the same assurance for themselves as they do for those to whom they write.
Again, if we run through the Epistles we shall invariably find that they also, like the Gospels and the Acts, are saturated through and through with assurance. Nowhere is a doubt or a question of the believer's standing in the family of God even so much as hinted at or supposed.
Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (Jn 6:28-29)
Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. (1 Jn 5:1)
24 / Daily He Leads Me We must believe two things. First, what God says concerning
Christ. Second, what he says concerning us.
We are not really believing a person if we only believe half of what he says; and yet many who would consider it the worst of sins to disbelieve God's testimony concerning Christ consider it no sin at all, but in fact rather virtuous humility, to doubt his testimony concerning themselves. They dare not doubt that Jesus is the Christ but find no difficulty in doubting whether they themselves are children of God. Yet God joins the two inseparably together. Here is a plain and simple statement.
"Everyone who believes, is a child of God"; not will be, but is, now in the present moment; for no one can believe who is not born a child of God.
You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior / and your Redeemer, the Mighty one of Jacob. (Is 60:16)
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. (Jn 14:20) This assurance of who God is and who we are in him is necessary for all right living. It ought to be the first step in the Christian life. In the absence of this assurance lies the secret of much of the failure of Christians. They present the strange anomaly of children who doubt their parentage, of heirs who are afraid to take possession of their inheritance, of a bride who is not sure she is really married.
What could we expect from such doubts in earthly relationships but indifference, fear, anxiety, unkindness, sorrow, and rebellion? Are not these the very things that are found far too often in the hearts of God's children, in reference to their relationship with him?
Let us draw near witha true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:22)
By the assurance of faith is meant a clear and definite knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, of reconciliation with God,
February / 25 and of our relationship with him as our Father. About these vital matters we must be able to say, "I know." Not "I hope so," or "I wish so," but firmly and unhesitatingly, "I know."
No soul can serve the Lord with joyfulness who is in doubt about the reality or the stability of its relationship with him. All human comfort is destroyed when such doubt affects earthly relationships; and little divine comfort is to be found in doubts about our spiritual relationships.
Can we then suppose for a moment that this too frequent reign of doubt in Christians' hearts was God's plan for his people? Does the Bible teach that it is? 1 answer most emphatically, no, a thousand times no!
8 "Tam the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Rv 1:8)
These simple words "I am," express eternity and the unchangeableness of existence, which is the very first element necessary in a God who is to be depended upon. None of us could depend on a changeable God. He must be the same yesterday, today, and forever, if we are to have any peace or comfort.
But is this all his name implies, simply "Iam"? 1 am, what?—we ask. What does this "I am" include? I believe it includes everything the human heart longs for and needs. This unfinished name of God seems to me like a blank check signed by a rich friend, given to us to be filled up with whatever sum we may desire. The whole Bible tells us what it means.
Every attribute of God, every revelation of his character, every proof of his undying love, every declaration of his watchful care, every assertion of his purposes of tender mercy, every manifestation of his loving kindness, all are the filling out of this unfinished "I am."
God tells us through all the pages of his book what he is. "I am," he says, all that my people need: "I am' their strength; "Iam" their wisdom; "I am" their righteousness; "I am" their peace; "T am" their salvation; "I am" their life; "I am" their all in all.
26 / Daily He Leads Me No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. {Jn 1:18)
Christ, then, is the revelation of God. None of us have seen God, and we never can see him in this present stage of our existence, for we have not the faculties that would make it possible. But he has incarnated himself in Christ, and we can see
Christ, since he was a man like one of us.
A man who wants to talk with ants might stand over an ant hill and harangue fora whole day and not one word would reach the ears of the ants. They would mn to and fro, utterly unconscious of his presence. As far as we know, ants have no faculties by which they can receive human communications.
But if a man could incarnate himself in the body of an ant, and could go among them, living an ant's life and speaking their language, he could make himself intelligible to them at once.
Incarnation is always necessary when a higher form of life would communicate with a lower.
Christ revealed God by what he was, by what he did, and by what he said. From the cradle to the grave, every moment of his life was a revelation of God. We must go to him then for our knowledge of God, and we must refuse to believe anything concerning God that is not revealed to us in Christ. All other revelations are partial and therefore not wholly true. Only in Christ do we see God as he is; for Christ is declared to be the "express image" of God.
'b The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
(Ps 111:10) The fear that the psalmist refers to is fear that stems from love, not from fright. It is the fear of grieving or wounding the heart of a loved one; it is not the fear of consequences to ourselves but rather of inflicting sorrow on someone else. It is a fear which can exist only in connection with the highest and tenderest forms of love, for all lower forms of affection are indifferent to it and cannot even comprehend it. Therefore, I believe that it is only the one who has passed through the death
February / 27 to self described in Job, and has learned the life of trust so evident in the Psalms, who can understand this sweet and constraining "fear of the Lord." Others may perhaps be afraid of him, but only these can fear him. Others may dread his anger, but only these alone can fear his grief. Only these know that he can be grieved, for they alone know how he loves. It is because his love for us is so deep and so tender that we are able to grieve him, for no other affection or passion of the soul can be grieved but love. None can truly fear him, therefore, who do not know something of his love, and none can, I believe, truly follow him who do not know this sweet constraining fear. For his voice is so gentle and low, and his will comes to us so much more often in the form of suggestion rather than in that of command, that unless our love makes us fear the slightest neglect of his sweet requirements, or the least deviation from his will, we shall often overlook them and miss them altogether. No wonder that we are told here that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." For he alone is wise who follows the Lord wherever he leads, and such a following is the outcome only of this lovely fear.
I Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen. (Jn 3:11)
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night to ask him how the things he was saying could possibly be true, Jesus told him that they were still true, regardless of whether he understood them or not. No one who believes in Christ at all, can doubt that he knew God; and no one can question whether or not we ought to receive his testimony. Jesus has assured us over and over that he knew what he was talking about and that what he said was to be received as the absolute truth, because he had come down from heaven and therefore knew about heavenly things.
None of us would dare openly to question the truth of this; and yet a great many of God's children utterly ignore Christ's testimony and choose instead to listen to the testimony of their own doubting hearts, which tells them it is impossible that God
28 / Daily He Leads Me could be as loving in his care for us, or as tender towards our weakness and foolishness, or as ready to forgive our sins, as Christ has revealed him to be. Yet Jesus declares of himself over and over that he was a living manifestation of the Father. In all he said and did he assures us that he was simply saying and doing that which the Father would have said and done had he acted directly out of heaven from his heavenly throne.
In the face of such unqualified assertions as these, out of the lips of our Lord himself, it becomes, not only our privilege, but our duty to cast out of our conception of God every element that disagrees with the revelation made by Jesus Christ.
J As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. (Is 66:13) Notice the "as" and "so" in this passage; "as one whom his mother comforts so I will comfort you." It is real comfort that is meant here, the sort of comfort that the child feels when it is dandled on its mother's knees and carried in her arms. And yet how many of us have really believed that God's comforting is actually as tender and true as a mother's comforting, or even half or a quarter as real? Instead of thinking of ourselves as being
"dandled" on his knees and hugged to his heart, have we not rather been inclined to look upon God as a stern, unbending judge, holding us at a distance, demanding our respectful homage, critical of our slightest faults? Is it any wonder that our religion, instead of making us comfortable, has made us thoroughly uncomfortable? Who could help being uncomfortable in the presence of such a judge?
But I rejoice to say that that stern judge is not there. He does not exist. The God who does exist is a God who is like a mother, a God who says to us as plainly as words can say it, "as one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you." iL This is my comfort in my affliction / that thy promise gives me life. (Ps 119:50)
February / 29 You may ask whether the Divine Comforter does not sometimes reprove us for our sins and whether we can get any comfort out of this. In my opinion this is exactly one of the places where the comfort comes in. For what sort of creatures should we be, if we had no Divine Teacher always at hand to show us our faults and awaken in us a desire to get rid of them?
If 1am walking along the street with a very disfiguring hole in the back of my dress of which I am in ignorance, it is certainly a very great comfort to me to have a kind friend who will tell me of it. Similarly, it is indeed a comfort to know that there is always abiding with me a divine, all-seeing Comforter, who will reprove me for all my faults and will not let me go on in a fatal unconsciousness of them. Emerson says it is far more to a man's interest that he should see his own faults, than that any one else should see them. A moment's thought will convince us that this is true and will make us thankful for the Comforter who reveals them to us.
I Therefore, behold, I will allure her, / and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. (Hos 2:14)
We find ourselves in a "wilderness" of disappointment and of suffering, and we wonder why the God who loves us should have allowed it. But he knows that it is only in that very wilderness that we can hear and receive the tender words he has to pour out upon us. We must feel the need of comfort before we can listen to the words of comfort. And God knows that it is infinitely better and happier for us to need his comforts and receive them than to be without them. The consolations of God mean the substituting of a far higher and better thing than the things we lose to get them. The things we lose are earthly things; those God substitutes are heavenly. Paul said he counted all things as loss if he might but win Christ; and, if we have even the faintest glimpse of what winning Christ means, we will say so too. qh 5 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Mt 5:4)
30 / Daily He Leads Me While it is easy for us to accept the truth of this word when we are happy and do not need comforting, we find it almost impossible to believe the moment tragedy or difficulty strikes.
Unconsciously, we reverse the words of the Bible so that they say, 'Blessed are they that rejoice, for they, and they only, shall be comforted." It is very strange how often in our secret hearts we alter the word a little, making the meaning exactly opposite of the original; or else we put in so many "ifs" and "buts" that we take the whole point out of what is said. Consider, for instance, those beautiful words, "God who comforts those that are cast down" and ask yourselves whether you have never been tempted to make it read, "God who forsakes those who are cast down," or, "God who overlooks those who are cast down'; or "God who will comfort those who are cast down if they show themselves worthy of comfort"; and whether, consequently, instead of being comforted, you have not been plunged into misery and despair.
The psalmist tells us that God will "comfort us on every side," and what an all-embracing bit of comfort this is—on every side.
Yet, in times of special trial, how many Christians secretly read this as though it said, "God will comfort us on every side except just the side where our trials lie." But God says every side, and it is only unbelief that leads us to make an exception.
I 6 Can a woman forget her sucking child,/ that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb: / Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Is 49:15)
You may ask how you are to get hold of divine comfort. My answer is that you must take it. God's comfort is being continually and abundantly given, but unless you will accept it, you cannot have it. Unless you will believe that he has not forgotten you, you will act as though he has.
Divine comfort does not come to us in any mysterious or arbitrary way. It comes as the result of a divine method. The indwelling Comforter reminds us of comforting things concerning our Lord, and, if we believe them, we are comforted by them.
A text is brought to our mind, or the verse of a hymn, or some
February / 31 thought concerning the love of Christ and his tender care for us.
If we receive the suggestion in simple faith, we cannot help being comforted. But if we refuse to listen to the voice of our
Comforter and insist instead on listening to the voice of discouragement or despair, no comfort can by any possibility reach our souls.
(TF el 7. For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; / therefore I have set my face like a flint, /
Nand I Know that I shall not be put to shame. (Is 50:7) We must make up our minds to believe every single word of comfort God has ever spoken, and we must refuse utterly to listen to any iscomfort spoken by our own hearts or PE iaierectanceWemnst ct olrdaces ikea Hint believe in the Divine Comforter under each and every sorrow I-Say, "set our faces like a flint,' because, when everything around us seems out of sorts, it is not always easy to believe
God's words of comfort.
We must put our willinto this matter of sad etar untae Ge egcto patos will inte allecther
Be ear onic nRirulie We must'chnes: in be comtorce RMR COT Viste Get ie ie eee ip Though the fig tree do not blossom,/ nor fruit be on the vines. ... yet I will rejoice in the Lord,/1 will joy in the God of my salvation. (Hb 3:17-18] We are made to find our joy in the Lord, and we cannot find rest short of it. All God's od's dealings with us, therefore, are are shaped to this end; and he is is often obliged to deprive us of all joy in everything else, in order to force us to find our joy only in him. It is all very well, perhaps, to rejoice in his promises, or to rejoice in the revelations he may have granted us, or in the experiences we may have realized. But to rejoice in the Promiser himself— without _ promises, experiences, or tevelations—this_ is the which EN ee disturb.
32 / Daily He Leads Me I 9 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (Ps 23:1) You may have repeated these words hundreds of times. But have you ever really believed it to be an actual fact? Have you felt safe and happy and free from care, as a sheep must feel when under the care of a good shepherd? Or have you felt yourself to be like a poor forlorn sheep without a shepherd, or with an unfaithful, inefficient shepherd, who does not supply your needs, and who leaves you in times of danger and darkness?
I beg of you to answer this question honestly in your own souls. If you feel more like the forlorn sheep, how can you reconcile your condition with the statement the Lord is your
Shepherd, and therefore you shall not want? You say, he is your Shepherd, and yet you complain that you do want. Who has made the mistake? You or the Lord?
But here, perhaps, you will meet me with the words, "Oh, no, I do not blame the Lord, but I am so weak and foolish and ignorant, that Iam not worthy of his care." But do you not know that sheep are always weak, and helpless, and silly; and that the very reason they are compelled to have a shepherd to care for them is just because they are so unable to take care of themselves? Their welfare and their safety, therefore, do not in the least depend upon their own strength, nor upon their own wisdom, nor upon anything in themselves, but wholly and entirely upon the care of their shepherd. If you are a sheep, your welfare must depend altogether upon your Shepherd and not at all upon yourself. v4 0 I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. {1 Kgs 22:17) We all understand the reponsibility of the shepherd in the case of sheep; but the moment we transfer the figure to our religion, we at once shift all the responsibility from the Shepherd's shoulders and lay it upon the sheep. We demand of the poor human sheep the wisdom, and care, and power to provide, that can only belong to the Divine Shepherd and be
February / 33 met by him; and of course the poor human sheep fail.
I freely confess there is a difference between sheep and ourselves: they have neither the intelligence nor the power to withdraw themselves from the care of their shepherd, while we have. Silly as sheep are, we well know that no sheep could be so silly that it refuses the care of the shepherd. We are so much wiser than sheep, in our own estimation, that we think the sort of trust that sheep exercise will not do for us; and, in our superior intelligence, we presume to take matters into our own hands, and so shut ourselves out from the Shepherd's care.
I entreat you to face this matter honestly. For not only your own welfare and comfort are dependent upon your right apprehension of this blessed relation, but also the glory of your
Shepherd is at stake. Have you ever thought of the grief and dishonor this sad condition of yours brings upon him? The credit of a shepherd depends upon the condition of his flock.
Now, the Lord makes statements about himself as a Good Shepherd. He is telling the universe, the world, and the church,
"lam the Good Shepherd", and if they ask, "Where are the sheep? [ What condition are they in?' can he point to us as being a credit
—~ fmm _ to his care? The universe is looking on to see what the Lord Jesus | _ Christ is able to make of us and what kind of sheep we are, | whether we are well fed, and healthy, and happy. Their verdict / concerning him will largely depend upon what they see in us.
=——* 2] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who | doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord. (Jas 1:6-8) It is of no use to fight against this inevitable law. As well might the architect try to work in opposition to the law of gravitation and undertake to build his house from the top downwards, as for the Christian to try to accomplish anything in the spiritual realm by means of doubt. It simply cannot be done; and the sooner Christians know this the better for them.
34 / Daily He Leads Me How much can be done by faith may remain an open question, perhaps, but it is a settled matter that nothing can be done by doubt.
G Faith is, I believe, the vital principle of the spiritual life, just as truly as breath seems to be the vital principle of the bodily life; a we can no more live spiritually without faith than we can
\live our bodily life without breath. o) Y Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24)
To.gmucify, means to put to death, not to keep alive in misery.
But so obscured has the whole subject become to the children of God, that I believe a great many feel as if they were crucifying self when they are simply seating self on a pinnacle and are tormenting it and making it miserable. We will undergo the most painful self-sacrifices, and call it "taking up the cross," and will find great satisfaction in it; and all the time we will fail to understand that the true cross consists in counting the flesh, or the "old man," as an utterly worthless thing, fit only to be put to death. There is a subtle enjoyment in torturing the outward self, if only the interior self-life may be fed thereby. A man will make himself a fakir, if it is only self that does it, so that self can share in the glory. The flesh of man likes to have some credit; it cannot bear to be counted as dead and therefore ignored; and in all religions of legality it has a chance. This explains, I am sure, why there is so much legality among Christians. But did we read the scriptures correctly, we should see that the carnal mind, i.e, the fleshly mind (as it is literally translated}, cannot serve God nor enter into his kingdom, no matter how much we may try by all sorts of asceticism to make it fit. i) But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14}
By being crucified to the world, Paul meant that he was dead to it. He did not mean that he was still alive to it and was being
February / 35 made to suffer because he must give it up. He was absolutely dead to it, so that it no longer had any attractions for him. To be dead to a thing must mean n that the thing has no power to attract. This i is precisely what is meant in the Bible by "taking up the cross." It is to become so dead to the world (that is, the lower plane of living) that its power to tempt is gone. It is to have our affections so set on things above, that merely earthly things have lost their charm. wy Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor 9:7) To my mind, grudging service is no more acceptable to God than it would be to us; and such an idea of the "cross" as this, seems to mea very poor and low substitute for the glorious truth of our death with Christ and our resurrection into the triumphant spiritual life hid with Christ in God. Surely, if we are born of God, we must love the things God loves and hate the things he hates; and if we are one with Christ, it is out of the question that hat we should chafe against his will or find his service hard! Is it a sign of the e highest sort of union between a husband and wife when the one finds it a great trial to please the other? Ou
Ought it not rather to be a joy to do so? How much more is this true as regards ¢ our relations with Christ? 5
Ys No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abidés in him, and he 'cannot sin because he is born of Patina ool...
That part of us which is born of God, the spiritual man in us, cannot sin, because it is holy in its very nature or essence. If we sin, therefore, it must be because we have permitted that in us which is born of the flesh to have some life and have submitted ourselves, i.e., our personality, more or less to its control. Not only would I say this concerning sin, but I would also say it concerning that shrinking from and dislike of God's will which so many Christians think constitutes the cross. The spiritual
36 / Daily He Leads Me man in us cannot dislike God's will, for in the very nature of things that which is born of God must love the will of God. That which shrinks therefore and suffers, must be the_self-life: and the self-life we are commanded to crucify and deny (Mk 8:34-35).
"To deny anything means that you do not recognize its will; but it means to deny the very existence of self and to live only in that part of our nature that loves God's will and delights to do it. tO do it. oy) It cannot be gotten for gold, / and silver cannot be weighed as its price... . the price of wisdom is above pearls. (Jb 28:15, 18} Ow.
The relation of knowledge to wisdom is extremely important.
Knowledge is the indispensable foundation of reason and judgment, and without the necessary ideas, wise conclusions cannot be formed. A man is oien unable to-determine what is right without zhé "Sn BF chow ledge aiie aul ie ones person cannot act wisely except by instinct or accident. Knowledge exist may exist without wisdom, but wisdom cannot exist without knowledge. The minds of many persons are Filled with know : edge of very little value, and it is well known that extensive coexist with untnithfulness, dishonesty, and so on. But wisdom and immorality cannot coexist inthe same person.
"Wisdom," according to Lamarck, "consists in the observation of a certain number of rules or virtues—viz., love of truth in all decorum in all actions; a wise reserve in unessential wants; indulgence, toleration, humanity, goodwill towards all men; love" of tho=public bood:"contempe Tor Welleneae a Litidat™ severity towards oneself which preserves us from that multitude of artificial wants enslaving those who give up to them; eecietaiee eee
February / 37 then, public institutions, civil authorities, laws, and morality."
2 7A As a father pities his children,/ so the Lord pities those who fear him. / For he knows our frame; / he remembers that we are dust. (Ps 103:13-14)
' But you say, "What about the other names of God, do they not convey other and more terrifying ideas?" They only do so because this blessed name of Father is not added to them. This name must underlie every other name by which he has ever been known. Has he been called a Judge? Yes, but he is a Father
Judge, one who judges as a loving father would. Is he a King? Yes, but he is a King who is at the same time the Father of his subjects, and who rules ffiem with a father's tenderness. Is he a Lawgiver? Yes, but he is a Lawgiver who gives laws as a father would, remembering the weakness and ignorance of his helpless children.
Never, never must we think of God i s "our Father." All other attributes with which we endow him in Qur Father. our conception must be based upon and limited by this one.
What a good father could not do, God, who is our Father, cannot do either, and what a good father ought to do, God, who is our
Father, is absolutely sure to do.
) Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Lk 12:32) It is not only that our Heavenly Father is willing to give us good things. He is far more than willing. There is no grudging in his giving: it is his "good pleasure" to give; he likes to do it. He wants to give you the kingdom far more than you want to have it. Why then should we ask him for things in such fear and trembling, and why should we torment ourselves with anxiety lest he should fail to grant what we need?
We are told that we are of the "household of God." The
38 / Daily He Leads Me principle is announced in the Bible, that if any man fails to _ provide for his own household, he has "denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." Since then we are of the "household of God," this principle applies to him, and if he should fail to provide for us, his own words would condemn him. I say this reverently, but I want to say it emphatically, for so few people seem to have realized it.
Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.
(1 Pt 5:7) If God is our Father, the only thing we can do with doubts, and fears, and anxious thoughts, is to cast them all behind our backs forever and have nothing more to do with them. We can do this.
We can give up our doubts just as we would urge a drunkard to give up his drink. We can take a pledge against doubting, just as we try to induce the drunkard to take a pledge against drinking. r doubts are an actual sin against God ILonce we realize that our doubts are an actual sin against God and imply a question of bia trustworthiness.we will becas er to, renounce them.
We may have cherished our doubts heretofore in one so unworthy; but if we now see that God is in truth our our Father's love and our Father's care. ene ene pre A
March Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can! not do with you as this potter has done: says the Latd.
Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel." (Jer 18:5-6) "If we realize that we are God's workmanship and not our own, we will lie still in his hands and will abandon ourselves to his working.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air." (Gn 1:26)
40 / Daily He Leads Me - Of course this did not mean a likeness of person or body, but likeness of character and nature; that is, we are "to be perfect as he is perfect," in the same sort of perfection, not as to degree of course, but as to quality. We cannot see God to know what we are to be like; but we see him incarnated in Christ, who is declared to be the "express image" of God; and thus we can look upon and consider the image to which we are to be conformed.
We can never understand a complicated machine until we know its maker's purpose regarding it. How did he mean it to work? What was it intended to accomplish? How has he arranged for it to run? When we walk through an exhibition of machinery we ask continually, as we stop to look at one machine after another, "What is this for?' "What is that for?" We are sure, when we see a machine, that the maker intended it to accomplish some special end; and we cannot imagine any man being so stupid as to make a machine that is not meant to accomplish anything.
~ Our Divine Maker, therefore, has made us for a purpose, and we must seek to understand that purpose.
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
, Every machine of man's making is intended to operate by f some definite sort of power: manpower, water power, or some other method. In every case the machine is made for its own power and will not operate for any other.
| ) We are made to go by Holy Spirit power, and we cannot go j right without it.
\ _ Ifwe try to work ourselves by our own power we shall utterly ( fail, for we have no natural powers that can control spiritual
' forces. Only the powers that belong to the spiritual nature can (. have dominion over these.
Se — 4 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit! / Or whither shall I flee from thy presencet/ If | ascend to heaven, thou art there! /
If 1 make my bed in Sheol, thou art there! (Ps 139:7-8)