Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Part 14

_We have known and believed the love that G.o.d hath to us. 1 John iv. 16._

The secret of walking closely with Christ, and working successfully for Him, is to fully realize that we are His beloved. Let us but feel that He has set His heart upon us, that He is watching us from those heavens with tender interest, that He is working out the mystery of our lives with solicitude and fondness, that He is following us day by day as a mother follows her babe in his first attempt to walk alone, that He has set His love upon us, and, in spite of ourselves, is working out for us His highest will and blessing, as far as we will let Him, and then nothing can discourage us. Our hearts will glow with responsive love.

Our faith will spring to meet His mighty promises, and our sacrifices shall become the very luxuries of love for one so dear. This was the secret of John's spirit. "We have known and believed the love that G.o.d hath to us." And the heart that has fully learned this has found the secret of unbounded faith and enthusiastic service.--_A. B. Simpson._

=June 19th.=

_Endure . . . as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Tim.

ii. 3._

Life is not victory, but battle. Be patient a little longer. By and by, each in his turn, we shall hear the sunset gun.--_Selected._

=June 20th.=

_Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Luke xiv. 27._

There is always the shadow of the cross resting upon the Christian's path. Is that a reason why you should avoid or not undertake the duty?

Have you made up your mind that you will follow your Master everywhere else, save when he ascends the path that leads to the cross? Is that your religion? The sooner you change it, the better. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is the religion of the cross, and unless we take up our cross, we can never follow Him.--_W. Hay Aitken._

=June 21st.=

_These . . . have turned the world upside down. Acts xvii. 6._

The serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world next to the might of G.o.d.--_Pascal._

=June 22nd.=

_What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. John xiii. 7._

G.o.d keeps a school for His children here on earth and one of His best teachers is Disappointment. My friend, when you and I reach our Father's house, we shall look back and see that the sharp-voiced, rough; visaged teacher, Disappointment, was one of the best guides to train us for it.

He gave us hard lessons; he often used the rod; he often led us into th.o.r.n.y paths; he sometimes stripped off a load of luxuries; but that only made us travel the freer and the faster on our heavenward way. He sometimes led us down into the valley of the death-shadow; but never did the promises read so sweetly as when spelled out by the eye of faith in that very valley. Nowhere did he lead us so often, or teach us such sacred lessons, as at the cross of Christ. Dear, old, rough-handed teacher! We will build a monument to thee yet, and crown it with garlands, and inscribe on it: _Blessed be the memory of Disappointment!_--_Theodore Cuyler._

=June 23rd.=

_As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. x.x.xiii.

25._

_I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil. iv. 13._

He will not impose upon you one needless burden. He will not exact more than He knows your strength will bear. He will ask no Peter to come to Him on the water, unless He impart at the same time strength and support on the unstable waves. He will not ask you to draw water if the well is too deep, or to withdraw the stone if too heavy. But neither at the same time will He admit as an impossibility that which, as a free and responsible agent, it is in your power to avert. He will not regard as your misfortune what is your crime.--_Macduff._

=June 24th.=

_Thy heart is not right in the sight of G.o.d. Acts viii. 21._

The worst of all mockeries is a religion that leaves the heart unchanged: a religion that has _everything_ but the love of Christ enshrined in the soul.--_F. Whitfield._

=June 25th.=

_The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Acts xiii.

2._

We have such a nice little quiet, shady corner in the vineyard, down among the tender grapes, with such easy little weedings and waterings to attend to. And then the Master comes and draws us out into the thick of the work, and puts us in a part of the field where we never should have thought of going, and puts larger tools into our hands, that we may do more at a stroke. And we know we are not sufficient for these things, and the very tools seem too heavy for us, and the glare too dazzling and the vines too tall. Ah! but would we dally, go back? He would not be in the shady corner with us now; for when He put us forth He went before us, and it is only by closer following that we can abide with Him.--_Frances Ridley Havergal._

=June 26th.=

_Small things. Zech. iv. 10._

It is the little words you speak, the little thoughts you think, the little things you do or leave undone, the little moments you waste or use wisely, the little temptations which you yield to or overcome--the little things of every day that are making or marring your future life.--_Selected._

=June 27th.=

_Be perfect, be of good comfort. 2 Cor. xiii. 11._

A glance at the words is enough to make us feel how contradictory they are. _Be perfect_--that is a word that strikes us with despair; at once we feel how far away we are from our own poor ideal, and alas! how much further from G.o.d's ideal concerning us. _Be of good comfort_--ah, that is very different! That seems to say, "Do not fret; do not fear. If you are not what you would be, you must be thankful for what you are."

Now the question is this--How can these two be reconciled?

It is only the religion of Jesus Christ that reconciles them. He stands in our midst, and with the right hand of His righteousness He pointeth us upward, and saith, "Be perfect." There is no resting-place short of that. Yet with the left hand of His love He doth encompa.s.s us, as He saith, "Soul, be of good comfort; for that is what I came to do for thee."--_Mark Guy Pea.r.s.e._

=June 28th.=

_Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matt. v. 48._

Seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit, let us aim at perfection. Let every day see some sin crucified, some battle fought, some good done, some victory won; let every fall be followed by a rise, and every step gained become, not a resting-place, but a new starting-point for further and higher progress.--_Guthrie._

=June 29th.=

_Sleep on now, and take your rest. Mark xiv. 41._

Never did that sacred opportunity to watch with Christ return to His disciples. Lost then, it was lost forever. And now when Jesus is still beholding the travail of His soul in the redemption of the world, if you fail to be with Him watching for souls as they that must give account, remember that the opportunity will never return. "Watch, therefore,"

says your Lord, "lest coming suddenly, He may find you sleeping."--_A.

J. Gordon._

=June 30th.=

_Let us not sleep, as do others. 1 Thess. v. 6._