At The Feet Of Jesus!

As we know Martha wherever we see her - by her diligent, eager serving...

So we know Mary by her posture at the feet of Jesus.

Only three times she is seen in the Gospel story...and each time she is at her usual place.

First, we find her sitting at Christ's feet as a learner, eagerly listening to His words.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.  Luke 10:39

At the feet of Jesus is the place of discipleship...

Where one learns the lessons the Master has to teach...

Where one's soul receives the blessings He has to give.

Every believer should learn the lesson that there can be no beautiful Christian character for him...

No sweet influence pouring out from his life...

No blessed ministry giving comfort and joy to others...

Unless he first sits at Christ's feet as a learner.

He must receive before he can give.

This is a vital principle in Christian life.

We can give out to others only what God has first given to us.

You see a beautiful rose bathed in the summer sunshine and pouring forth its sweetness...

I would have my life like the rose! you say. Yes, but where did the rose get its loveliness and its fragrance?

Down out of the sky, did it not?

It looked up and opened its heart and the sun poured his warm beams into the flower's bosom.

Out of the air at night came the gentle dew and crept into the flower's folds, and the beauty burst out and the sweetness flowed forth.

Would you have your life like the rose?

You must commune with Christ.

Your heart must receive the warmth of His love.

You must take His words into your soul.

He must fill you with His own blessed life.

All you can bring to Christ is your own emptiness...

The emptiness of penitence, of humility, of a thirsty soul.

A poet speaks of Mary's eyes as "homes of silent prayer."

Her eyes of prayer told of a great heart-hunger.

She did not talk in Christ's presence.

She had nothing to say.

She wanted Him to speak to her.

And any word He spoke went down deep into her heart and became a blessing there, pouring its sweet influence through all her life.

Here we get the first lesson from Mary.

You must sit at Christ's feet as a learner, as a receiver.

Let Him teach you.

Let Him pour His own life and love into your heart.

The first thing is, not what you shall do for Christ but what Christ shall do for you...

Not what you shall give to Him but what you shall receive from Him.

Keep all the windows of your soul open toward Him, that the light from His face may shine into the very depths of your being.

Take His words into your heart and ponder them with love and prayer...until they fill you with their own life and spirit.

Says Henry Drummond: "Ten minutes spent in Christ's presence every day, yes, two minutes, if it is face to face and heart to heart...Will make all things different.

Throughout the whole day, your actions, down to the last detail, will do homage to that early vision." 

~J. R. Miller~

 

Catch The Little Foxes!

Son 2:15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

Resolve at once, by God's help, to break off every known sin, however small. 

Look within, each one of you.

Examine your own hearts.

Do you see there any habit which you know is wrong in the sight of God?

If you do, resolve at once to cast it off!

Nothing darkens the eyes of the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely as an allowed sin. 

It may be a little one...but it is not any less dangerous.

A small leak will sink a great ship.

A small spark will kindle a great fire.

In the same way, a little allowed sin will ruin an immortal soul.

Take my advice, and never spare a little sin!

Israel was commanded to kill every Canaanite, both great and small.

Act on the same principle and show no mercy to little sins.

You can be sure that no wicked man ever meant to be so wicked at his first beginnings.

But he began with allowing himself some little sins, and that led on to something greater...

And that in time produced something greater still...

And thus he became the miserable being that he now is.

Brethren, resist sin in its beginnings.

Some sins may look small and insignificant, but mind what I say - resist them, make no compromise...

Let no sin lodge quietly and undisturbed in your heart.

Remember the Apostle's words, "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough!" 1 Corinthians 5:6.

Many a man could tell you with sorrow and shame, that he traces his ruin to the point I speak of - to giving way to sin in its beginnings.

He began habits of deception and dishonesty in little things and they grew on him.

Step by step, he has gone on from bad to worse - until he has done things that at one time he would have thought impossible.

At last he has lost his character...

Lost his peace...

And almost lost his soul...

He allowed a gap in the wall of his conscience, because it seemed a little one...

And once allowed, that gap grew larger every day, until in time the whole wall came down!

Whatever the world may like to think there are no little sins! 

All habits are formed by a succession of little acts, and the first little act is of mighty consequence.

The ax in the fable, only begged the trees to let him have one little piece of wood to make a handle and he would never trouble them any more.

He got it, and then he soon cut them all down! 

The devil only wants to get the wedge of a little allowed sin into your heart...and you will soon be all his own.

It is a wise saying, "There is nothing small between us and God...for God is an infinite God." 

There are two ways of coming down from the top of a ladder...

One is to jump down and the other is to come down by the steps.

Both will lead you to the bottom.

Just so, there are two ways of going to Hell. 

One is to walk into it with your eyes open...few people do that.

The other is to go down by the steps of little sins...and that way is only too common.

Put up with a few little sins and you will soon tolerate a few more.

Even a heathen could say, "Who was ever content with only one sin?" 

If you put up with little sins, then your path in life will be worse and worse every year.

Jeremy Taylor very clearly described the progress of sin in a man: 

First sin startles him...

Then it becomes pleasing...

Then it becomes easy...

Then it becomes delightful...

Then it becomes frequent,,,

Then it becomes habitual...

Then it becomes a way of life...

Then the man feels no guilt...

Then he becomes obstinate...

And then he is damned! 

Friends, if you don't want to come to this, remember the rule I give you this day... 

Resolve at once to break off every known sin. 

~J. C. Ryle~

Delayed

Gen 15:12  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
 
Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
 
Gen 15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.  

An assured part of God's pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. 

A delay in Abram's own lifetime that seemed to put God's pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram's descendants. 

But it was only a delay: they "came out with great substance." The pledge was redeemed.

God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering...

But through it all stands God's pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. 

The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; 

Let me praise Him for them today...

And let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart.

~C. G. Trumbull~

Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded In agony of heart these many years?
      
Does faith begin to fail?

Is hope departing?

And think you all in vain those falling tears?

Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer...
 
You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Nay do not say ungranted;

Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.

The work began when first your prayer was uttered,

And God will finish what He has begun.

If you will keep the incense burning there, His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet?

Faith cannot be unanswered, Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock; 

Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted...
 
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
      
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer...
 
And cries, "It shall be done"sometime, somewhere.

~Miss Ophelia G. Browning~

Drifting Caused By The Rising Of The Tide Or Change Of Circumstances

Act 27:15  And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.
     
Again, we must not forget that boats may drift because of the rising of the tide. 

One has had that experience on summer holidays. 

You draw the rowboat high up on the shore, and you leave it there, thinking it is safe. 

But the night is the night of a spring tide, and concurring with the tide there blows a gale. 

And in the morning you go to get the boat, only to find that it is gone...

The spring tide has come and set it drifting. 

That is often how young people go drifting. 

Youth is the spring tide of life. 

Passions awake, tempestuous and turbulent...

New thought and knowledge lap around the gunwale. 

And lives that once were safe, beached in the securities of childhood, go drifting like ships upon the sea. 

That often happens when a lad goes to college out of an orthodox and godly home. 

He enters a new world of thought and gains a new conception of the universe. 

And the ship that was so safe once amid the unquestioning pieties of home, finds itself drifting on the deeps. 

Spring tide has come, and spring tide is of God. 

God is in the flow as in the ebb. 

Lives that drift like that can be recaptured. 

There is One who is out to seek and save.

I find a perennial and profound significance in a Savior who could walk upon the sea. 

Drifting stops when He is taken aboard.

~George H. Morrison~
     

Causes of Drifting: Internal Breakdown

Act 27:15  And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. 

It is interesting to remember some of the causes that make vessels drift. 

Often it is a breakdown in the engine room.

So long as the engines are in perfect order the vessel holds to its appointed course. 

But let the shaft snap, as sometimes happens, and immediately the ship begins to drift. 

And as it is with ships, so is it not infrequently with lives...

They drift because of interior breakdown.

It may be a breakdown in morality, though no one knows anything about it yet. 

It may be a breakdown in the will, for the will is the shaft of life. 

It may be a breakdown in some sweet and simple piety like that of prayer in the secret place - and the ship goes drifting on the sea. 

There is a story of an officer in the Great War who went drifting and was finally cashiered. 

He came back again to his old home and entered the little bedroom of his boyhood. 

Then, turning to his mother, "Mother," he said, "the whole thing began when I stopped praying as a lad beside that bed."

~George H. Morrison~


     

Wait Quietly

                                                     

Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.  

Abraham was long tried, but he was richly rewarded. 

The Lord tried him by delaying to fulfill His promise. 

Satan tried him by temptation...

Men tried him by jealousy, distrust, and opposition; 

Sarah tried him by her peevishness. 

But he patiently endured. 

He did not question God's veracity...

Nor limit His power...

Nor doubt His faithfulness...

Nor grieve His love...

But he bowed to Divine Sovereignty...

Submitted to Infinite Wisdom...

And was silent under delays, waiting the Lord's time. 

And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

God's promises cannot fail of their accomplishment. 

Patient waiters cannot be disappointed.

Believing expectation shall be realized.

Beloved, Abraham's conduct condemns a hasty spirit...

Reproves a murmuring one...

Commends a patient one...

And encourages quiet submission to God's will and way. 

Remember, Abraham was tried...

He patiently waited...

He received the promise...

And was satisfied. 

Imitate his example, and you will share the same blessing.

~Selected~

The Diamonds Of Heaven!

Act 9:11  And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. 

The moment Saul began to pray - the Lord heard him. 

Here is comfort for the distressed, but praying soul. 

Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted one bends his knee...but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears. 

Yet that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God and treasured in the lachrymatory of heaven. 

You put all my tears into Your bottle, implies that they are caught as they flow!

The suppliant, who can only groan out his words, will be well understood by the Most High God.

He may only look up with misty eye; but prayer is the falling of a tear! 

Tears are the diamonds of heaven !

Sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's court, and are numbered with the most sublime strains which reach the majesty on high! 

Do not think that your prayer, however weak or trembling will be unregarded. 

Our God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it. 

He does not forget the cry of the humble.

True, He does not regard proud looks and lofty words. 

He has no concern for the pomp and pageantry of kings. 

He does not listen to the swell of martial music. 

He has no regard for the triumph and pride of man. 

But wherever there is a heart full with godly sorrow...
 

Or a lip quivering with agony... 

Or a deep groan...
 

Or a penitential sigh...

The heart of Jehovah is open! 

He marks that prayer down in the registry of His memory! 

He puts our prayers, like rose leaves - between the pages of His book of remembrance...

And when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom!

~Charles Spurgeon~