Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matt.5:5A A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished one unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, `Here is your human race.' For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct. In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, `I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing'; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command. Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed. The atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink it with our mother's milk. Culture and education refine these things slightly but leave them basically untouched. A whole world of literature has been created to justify this kind of life as the only norm alone. And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever afflicted mortal flesh. Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows. His words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results of keen observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead, and His words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say `blessed' with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported by deeds mightier than any performed on this earth by any other man. It is wisdom for us to listen. As was often so with Jesus, He used this word `meek' in a brief crisp sentence, and not till some time later did He go on to explain it. In the same book of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our lives. `Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' (Matthew 11:28-30) Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never deliver us. The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own meekness, that is the rest. Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within. First, there is the burden of pride. The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace" The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them. Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, `Oh, so you have been overlooked" They have placed someone else before you" They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all" And now you feel hurt because the world is saying about you the very things you have been saying about yourself" Only yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the dust. Where is your consistency" Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men think.' The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto. He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His own values. He will be patient to wait for the day when everything will get its own price tag and real worth will come into its own. Then the righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is willing to wait for that day. In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle to defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness brings. Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of pretense. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison with those of another rich man. So-called `society' runs by a motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little better. Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing disease Jesus says, `Ye must become as little children.' For little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free. Another source of burden is artificially. I am sure that most people live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Traveled people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to describe some remote place where they have never been. This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this habit of pretense. `Courses' are offered in this or that field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not. Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then what we are will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are. The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else. To men and women everywhere Jesus says, `Come unto me, and I will give you rest.' The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong Son of God Himself. He calls it `my yoke,' and He walks at one end while we walk at the other. Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with another for place or prestige or position. I would be simple and artless as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I humble myself before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that through it I may find rest. Amen.

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

In the Pursuit of God - Meekness and Rest

I believe there is a positive warning in the gospels that a person's faith may stand in the revealed Bible text-and still be as dead as the proverbial door nail! Consider the prayer of our Lord in Matthew 11: "All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." There is more than a body of truth - and if we do not get through to the soul of truth, we have only a dead body on our hands. When the power of God moves in on the text and sets the sacrifice on fire, then you have genuine Christianity! We try to call that revival, but it is not revival at all. It is simply New Testament Christianity. People who thought they were saved get saved! People who have only believed in a code now have placed their faith and trust in Christ's person. It is not any deluxe edition of Christianity-it is simply New Testament Christianity having its place!

TRUTH HAS A SOUL

For Reading and Meditation:      Matthew 11:28-30Today we ask ourselves: What is there about this famous saying of Jesus which engenders good mental health? Mental health, after all, is more than a medical term. It is a concept that goes beyond the walls of a hospital or a doctor's clinic and applies also to the home, the church and the world of everyday living. Mental health is concerned with the dynamics of relationship and adjustment - the way we handle such things as anxiety, hostility and frustration. "Mental health," says one authority, "concerns itself with the everyday troubles of everyday people - helping them to solve their problems or face them bravely when they cannot be warded off." The statement of Jesus we are focusing on at the moment contributes to good mental health because it encourages us to be free from the attitude of demandingness - the attitude that says: "Things must go my way", "I ought to have some consideration", "People should respect my rights." One psychologist goes as far as to say that if we could eliminate the shoulds and the woulds from our vocabulary and our inner attitudes, we could become transformed people overnight. He was not referring, of course, to the moral compass which God has placed within us that cries out for obedience to that which is right ("I ought not to lie", "I should always do right", and so on) but to the attitude of demandingness that insists on having one's rights irrespective of any other considerations. One of the biggest causes of mental and emotional illness is the attitude of demandingness and over-concern. Do we wonder any longer why Christ congratulates the meek and promises them the earth? Blessed Lord Jesus, deliver me, I pray, from a spirit of demandingness that insists on having my rights rather than being willing to give them up for the sake of others. Help me to take Your yoke upon me and learn from You. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>2 Corinthians 10:1-18</li><li>2 Corinthians 11:18-21</li><li>Philippians 4:11-12</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Why could Paul be bold?</li><li>How did Paul highlight the difference between weakness and meekness?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"Take my yoke upon you ' for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (v. 29)

For Reading and Meditation:      James 3:1-18We continue meditating on the meaning of the word "meek" as used by Jesus in His third Beatitude. "Meekness," said one commentator, "is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others." If that is so, then meekness involves two things: (1) our attitudes towards ourselves, and (2) our attitudes toward others. The meek person is so sure of himself that he does not need to demand anything for himself. He does not see his rights as something to be rigidly held on to, but follows the spirit of Jesus as outlined in Philippians 2:6-7: "Who, although being essentially one with God ' did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself of all privileges ' and was born a human being" (Amplified Bible). That is the place to which you and I must come if we are to understand the principle of meekness. The Christian who is meek will not be over-sensitive about himself, or defensive; he realises that he has no rights at all and delights to leave everything in the hands of God. When he is called upon to suffer unjustly, he remembers the Word of the Lord that says, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay" (Romans 12:19), and trusts God to work out the situation in His own time and in His own way. The poet Browning put the same truth in these words: "He who keeps one end in view makes all things serve." When that one end is the purpose of God, then indeed - all things serve. O Father, instil into me such a spirit of meekness that such things as anger, impatience, irritation, distrust, suspicion and unbelief die within me. Help me to see that only meekness must survive. For Jesus' sake. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>1 Peter 2:18-25</li><li>Matthew 11:29</li><li>Matthew 26:52</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was Peter's exhortation?</li><li>Why was Jesus able to display meekness?</li></ul></div></div>

"' By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom." (v. 13, RSV)

For Reading and Meditation:      Romans 13:7-14We continue considering on the fact that the Beatitudes are the finest prescription for mental and spiritual health that has ever been given. It is helpful to keep in mind at this stage in our meditations that the Beatitudes are be-attitudes, not do-attitudes; the doing comes out of the being. Some ministers and commentators refer to them as "the beautiful attitudes" - a description I find greatly appealing. Our attitudes have a tremendous and powerful influence upon every part of our being - physical as well as emotional. A missionary from the Philippines tells how, during the war, he and his wife were ordered into prison camps by the Japanese, and were instructed that they could take with them all they could carry in their suitcases and no more. His wife, weighing just over 100 pounds, and not at all strong, carried a load of 200 pounds, mostly tinned food, a distance of five miles - a load neither of them could even lift after they arrived. Mannheim, a famous scientist, says that we normally use about one-eighth of our physical reserves, and that these reserves are only called upon when we employ the right attitudes. If our attitudes can help tap hidden physical reserves, then think of what our experience can be if we adopt the "beautiful attitudes" which our Lord expounds for us in His Sermon on the Mount. We can maximise our potential and multiply our effectiveness, not only in the physical area of our being, but in our mental and emotional areas also. Many doctors and scientists agree that it is not our arteries but our attitudes which have the biggest say in our personal well-being. Loving heavenly Father, help me to do as Your Word commands and "clothe myself with the Lord Jesus Christ". Show me how to have His attitudes - the "beautiful attitudes" - so that I might live fully and abundantly. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>1 Peter 2:21</li><li>Matthew 11:29</li><li>John 13:15</li><li>Hebrews 12:2</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus do besides expounding these attitudes?</li><li>How should our lives be?</li></ul></div></div>

"Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ '" (v. 14)

<div class="center-it mtb10">My yoke is easy, and My burden is light - Matthew 11:30 </div>If you want to rule yourselves let Christ rule you. Put your trust in Him; leave yourself in His hand; lay yourselves at His feet; rest upon His great sacrifice; look to Him for forgiveness; and then look to Him for marching orders, and for pure living, and for everything else. He will give power to your will, however feeble it was before, and susceptibility to your conscience that it never had when it was case-hardened by your love of evil, and you will be able to subdue the passions which would sweep you away and would laugh at all other control. Put the reins into His hands, and He will bridle and tame your wild desires. Submit to Him, and He will make you "lord of yourself, though not of lands " - man's noblest kingship. We are like some of those little Rajahs whose states adjoin our British possessions, who have trouble and difficulty with revolted subjects, and fall back upon the great neighbouring power, saying: "Come and help me; subdue my people for me, and I will put the territory into your hands." Go to Christ and say: "Lord! they have rebelled against me! These passions, these lusts, these follies, these weaknesses, these sinful habits of mine, they have rebelled against me! What am I to do with them? Do Thou come and bring peace into the land, and Thine shall be the authority." And He will come and loose you from your sins, and make you kings. And there is another realm over which we may rule; and that is, this bewitching and bewildering world of time and sense, with its phantasmagoria and its illusions and its lies, that draw us away from the real life and truth and blessedness. Do not let the world master you! It will, unless you have put yourself under Christ's control. He will make you king over all outward things, by enabling you to despise them in comparison with the sweetness which you find in Him, and so to get the highest good out of them. He will make you their lord by helping you to use all the things seen and temporal as means to reach a fuller possession of the things unseen and eternal. Their noblest use is to be the ladder by which we climb to reach the treasures which are above. They are meant to be symbols of the eternal, like painted windows through which our eye may travel to the light beyond, which gives them all their brilliancy. He rules the waves who, with a strong hand on the tiller, makes the currents serve to bear his barque to the harbor. And he rules outward things who bends and coerces them to be the servants of his spirit in its highest aspirations, and so turns them to their noblest use.

A daily readings for a year from the writings of the Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D., selected and arranged by the Rev. Geo. Coates.

Music For the Soul

 THE RULE OF CHRIST

Jesus calls you to His throne; He is there waiting to hear, relieve, and bless you. You are to go to Him just as you are, and receive from Him all you need.He will give you wisdom, to direct your steps; peace, to keep your hearts; strength, to do His will; righteousness, to justify your souls; and rest, unspeakably sweet. He is glorified in bestowing these blessings upon you. He calls you this MORNING, this MOMENT, to receive without money and without price. What a precious Saviour is Jesus! What a kind and tender Friend!Let us go boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. "Come," He says, "come to Me; go not to self, to the world, to the empty cisterns which creatures idolize; but come unto Me, and I will do for you exceeding abundantly, above all you can ask or think. Your sins I will pardon; your graces I will revive; your comforts I will restore; your holiness I will increase; your efforts to glorify Me I will crown with success; I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing."O how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that seek Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee, before the sons of men!Jesus, with Thy word complying, Firm our faith and hope shall be; On Thy faithfulness relying, We will cast our souls on Thee.

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

Come unto Me. - Matthew 11:28

THERE is no rest for the Christian in the world. There will be always something to disturb, perplex or distress him; it is an enemy's land. But Jesus says, "I will give you rest." He does so by enabling us to rely on His word, recognise His hand, submit to His will, and trust in His perfect work. He assures us that our sins are forgiven us; that our persons are safe in His keeping; that His presence shall always be with us; and that all things shall work together for the best. We can rest on His faithfulness; He has been tried, and found faithful. We can rest on His love, for it knows not the shadow of a turn. We can rest on His power, it is ever engaged on our behalf. We can rest on His covenant, it is ordered in all things and sure. We can rest on His blood; it speaks peace, pardon, and acceptance with God. We can rest at His feet; there we are safe, and can never be injured. We cannot rest on our graces, on our comforts, on our friends, or on our possessions; but we may rest on Jesus. We should rest on Him with unshaken confidence andIn the ark, the weary dove Found a welcome resting place; Thus my spirit longs to prove, Rest in Christ, the Ark of grace.

"I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 We who are saved find rest in Jesus. Those who are not saved will receive rest if they come to Him, for here He promises to "give" it. Nothing can be freer than a gift; let us gladly accept what He gladly gives. You are not to buy it, nor to borrow it, but to receive it as a gift. You labor under the lash of ambition, covetousness, lust, or anxiety: He will set you free from this iron bondage and give you rest. You are "laden," yes, "heavy laden" with sin, fear, care, remorse, fear of death; but if you come to Him He will unload you. He carried the crushing mass of our sin that we might no longer carry it. He made Himself the great Burden-bearer, that every laden one might cease from bowing down under the enormous pressure. Jesus gives rest. It is so. Will you believe it? Will you put it to the test? Will you do so at once? Come to Jesus by quitting every other hope, by thinking of Him, believing God's testimony about Him, and trusting everything with Him. If you thus come to Him the rest which He will give you will be deep, safe, holy, and everlasting. He gives a rest which develops into heaven, and He gives it this day to all who come to Him.

Another classic from the pen of C.H. Spurgeon that will challenge and inspire you on your daily path to Heaven.

Charles Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook

Rest Is a Gift

The cry of the Christian religion is the gentle word, "Come." The Jewish law harshly said, "Go, take heed unto thy steps as to the path in which thou shalt walk. Break the commandments, and thou shalt perish; keep them, and thou shalt live." The law was a dispensation of terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the gospel draws with bands of love. Jesus is the good Shepherd going before his sheep, bidding them follow him, and ever leading them onwards with the sweet word, "Come. " The law repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the distance which there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful chasm, and brings the sinner across it. From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into glory, the language of Christ to you will be, "Come, come unto me." As a mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by saying, "Come," even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you follow him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you shall hear his animating voice calling you after him all through life; while in the solemn hour of death, his sweet words with which he shall usher you into the heavenly world shall be-"Come, ye blessed of my Father. " Nay, further, this is not only Christ's cry to you, but, if you be a believer, this is your cry to Christ-"Come! come!" You will be longing for his second advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come Lord Jesus." You will be panting for nearer and closer communion with him. As his voice to you is "Come," your response to him will be, "Come, Lord, and abide with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my heart; reign there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to thy service. "

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"Come unto me." - Matthew 11:28

Morning Devotional

Here is an invitation. Some one invites you. Some one has thrown open his doors to you. The words convey a privilege - you have it now - the privilege of going to him. No difficulties exist with him. If you have a will to go, you may go. Ponder this fact, - whatever you do, wherever you go, you are nevertheless among the invited. He that invites you has cast many angels out of his presence because they were not worthy. The seraphim, of such exceeding might and majesty, are overwhelmed at his glory. His face shineth as the sun in its strength. John, that holy evangelist, fell at his feet as one dead. Yet he invites you - has a place for you - spreads a feast for you. He died upon the cross that you might have this invitation. And if you would know what that exceeding great cry was with which he gave up the ghost, know that it was this, " Come unto me! It is finished! thou mayest come!" How many of his providences were simply echoes of this cry. He bereft thee of dear friends; deprived thee of health; stripped thee of wealth; baffled thee in thy schemes; destroyed the world's illusions; that thou might hear this invitation, and come unto him. Come then at once. Come in earnest. Come in faith.

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

" Come unto me." - Matthew 11:28

In telling us this of himself, our Lord does not profess to tell us anything new, but simply to refer to a well-known fact. Everything in his life declared that he was meek and lowly of heart. Power, wisdom, generosity, love ― these things were not more largely revealed in his life, than were his meekness and lowliness of heart. For instance, in the choice of a position. He entered one of the lowest grades of society. He had intercourse indeed with men of all ranks; but he was always a man of the people. His intimate companions, his brethren, those among whom was his home, were fishermen, carpenters, tax-gatherers. The rich invited him to their tables sometimes, but it was either by way of condescension or curiosity. Observe the reception given him by Simon the Pharisee. Simon doubtless knew well the laws of courtesy, and punctually conformed to them in his intercourse with people of his own grade; but when Jesus the Nazarene was his guest, he set them aside; he gave him no water for his feet, embraced him not, and anointed not his head with oil; thinking it quite sufficient that this Galilean should have a place at his table. Christ voluntarily assumed a position in social life, where he would be looked down upon by men moving in the higher spheres. He was the friend of publicans and sinners. He chose to be a Nazarene, though the prejudice against Nazareth was so strong that men familiarly said, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" He was not merely lowly in life, but lowly in heart. Some rich men feel ill at ease in the society of men of inferior grades; they task themselves perhaps to be civil, kind, considerate; but they have a feeling that they are out of their element, and they shrink back with much comfort to themselves into their accustomed sphere. But Christ was consciously at home among his poor and illiterate companions. Their habits of thought, their mode of life, their topics of conversation, were not something strange to him. The utmost cordially characterized his manner, and stamped his lowliness as genuine. Learn of me; that is, be my disciples. The believer is one who is learning of Christ to be meek and lowly of heart. Does the notion of our own merit make it difficult for us to walk in " all meekness and lowliness?" Surely, our merit is hardly to be put in comparison with that of Christ. It may be, we are not so bad as some people; but Christ is the most meritorious being in the universe. Shall we rate ourselves above him? In the assemblies of men, let us beware how we take the higher place; for though we may think ourselves better than some that are there present, yet are we not better than Christ; and if we will but notice it, he takes the lower place. If reproaches are offered us, let us consider that greater reproaches are offered Christ, and he endures them. Almost all men are complaining of the burden laid upon them: they think that too much is imposed; every man would have his own yoke lightened in some respect. Now what makes the burden heavy is simply the unwilling spirit. Let us get from Christ a cheerfully submissive spirit; let us learn from him not to quarrel with our appointed lot; and, on the instant, by virtue of this inward change, our burden loses a vast deal of its weight. Christ had a burden that would have sunk him to a most speedy grave, if it had not been for his meekness and lowliness of heart. And if we are like him in these characteristics, it will make comparatively little difference what the burden laid upon us is; it will be found light. Again, the oppressive thing to most men is that they have to meet the responsibilities of life, alone. But Christ reveals himself to believers as bearing the yoke of life with them; their true yoke-fellow.

"Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." ― Matthew 11:29. 

Luke 6:20-26 Luke 16:19-31The Beatitudes are glimpses of heaven ; that is, the conditions they describe - are qualities which belong to the heavenly life. Those who live there are lowly, are meek, are pure in heart, hungering after righteousness, and are merciful. We cannot think of any people in heaven who are proud, resentful, or unmerciful, who thirst after worldly power or fame. To get the Beatitudes of the New Testament into our hearts and lives, even as beginnings, is to enter upon the heavenly life."Blessed are you who are poor - for yours is the kingdom of God." This beatitude is not pronounced on the poor in worldly circumstances; for one may be very poor - and yet very proud; or one may be rich in worldly goods - and yet be very poor in spirit. Nor is it on the poor in mind ; for mental poverty is not necessarily a state of blessedness; and ignorance certainly is not desirable. It is the poor in spirit, in disposition, on whom the beatitude is pronounced; that is, the lowly in heart, the humble, those who are conscious of their unworthiness.<div class="center-it mtb10">Humility is an attitude that bows reverently before God, and then holds its most divine gifts as not too good or too fine to be used in Christ's name in the service of the lowliest of God's creatures. The bible everywhere speaks it praises of humility. God dwells with the humble. Christ only once opens a window into His own heart, and through this window it is this picture that we see, "I am gentle and humble in heart" (Matthew 11:29). To be poor in spirit - is to be rich toward God; while pride of heart - is spiritual poverty. Humility is the key that opens the gate of prayer; while to the loud knocking of pride - there comes no answer. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are humble. They may wear no earthly crown - but a real crown of glory, unseen by men, rests even here upon their heads!</div>We are sure always of Christ's sympathy with the poor. He was Himself brought up in poverty. His mother could bring only the offering of the poor - when she brought her child to present Him to the Lord. In His public ministry, He said He had nowhere to lay His head. He rode on a borrowed donkey, on His triumphal entry. He slept in a borrowed grave, when He was dead. He understands poverty's conditions. He is the poor man's friend. Poverty itself is not a blessing; but the poor who love Christ and follow Him - have many blessings."Blessed are you who hunger now - for you will be satisfied." Hunger means dissatisfaction, craving, desire, yearning, longing. It strikes us somewhat strangely at first, that there should be a beatitude for dissatisfaction. We know that peace is promised to the Christian, and peace is calm repose and satisfied restfulness. The word "hunger" appears to suggest experiences incompatible with rest and peace. But when we think a little more deeply - we see that spiritual hunger must form a part of all true Christian experience. In all of life - hunger is a mark of health. It is so in physical life; the loss of appetite indicates disease. So a healthy mind is a hungry one; when one becomes satisfied with one's attainments - then one ceases to grow. The same is true in spiritual life; hunger is health. If we become satisfied with our faith, love, obedience, our communion with God, and our consecration to Christ - we are truly in a sad condition. We have ceased to grow. Often invalids die amid plenty, die of starvation, not because they can get no food - but because they have no appetite. There are many professing Christians who are starving their souls in the midst of abundance of spiritual provision, because they have no hunger. There is nothing for which we should pray more earnestly, than for spiritual longing ."Blessed are you that weep now - for you shall laugh." Weeping is not usually considered a blessed condition. We do not think of those having sorrow - as fortunate. We pity them, and think their condition most unenviable. Here, however, is a special beatitude for mourners. Probably Jesus meant particularly, those who are sorrowing on account of their sins. In all this world there is nothing so precious before God - as tears of contrition ; no diamonds or pearls shine with such brilliance in His sight! It was Jesus Himself who said that there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner that repents on their earth.Truly blessed, therefore, are those who grieve over their sins ; a holy light shines from heaven upon all such mourners. They are comforted - with God's pardon and peace .But the beatitude refers also to those who are in sorrow. Blessing is never nearer to us - than when we are in affliction. Someday we shall see that we have received our best things from heaven - not in the days of our joy and gladness - but in the time of trial and affliction. Tears are lenses through which our dim eyes see more deeply into heaven - and look more fully upon God's face than in any other way. Sorrows cleanse our heart of earthliness and fertilize our life. The days of pain really do far more for us - than the days of rejoicing. We grow best when clouds hang over us, because clouds bear rain, and rain refreshes."Blessed are you - when man shall hate you." We do not like to be hated. Nor can everybody who is hated take shelter under this beatitude. Many people deserve to be hated. It is only those who are hated for being and doing good - who can claim this blessing. If any of us are suffering in this way - here is comfort for us. There have been times in the history of the Church, and in the history of almost every great reform - when those who would be loyal and true could be so, only at the cost of losing their friends, often at the cost of property and reputation, even of personal liberty - sometimes of life itself. We must read down to the end of the verse, before we begin to congratulate ourselves, that the hatred we find in our neighbors toward us - is a mark of God's favor. "For the Son of man's sake," the verse reads."Woe unto you that are rich! For you have received your consolation." Evidently it is not very safe to be rich. It is not easy to be rich - and to be a godly Christian. Jesus said a great many words about the rich and about riches - which show that those who have wealth are in a perilous position. People would not think of a prosperous man, a man growing rich, as especially needing the prayers of a congregation. Yet perhaps this is the very man in all the community, who most needs to be remembered with prayer. Those who are rich or getting rich - would better look well to their spiritual state.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

Luke 6:20-26;Luke 16:19-31

Poverty and Riches

Mark 3:20-35One of the surest ways to hurt a man's reputation, is to give him a bad name. That was the course the scribes took with Jesus. They could not deny that He did very wonderful works, for there were the evidences - the demoniacs in their right mind - but they were determined to damage or destroy His influence over the people by starting this atrocious slander about Him. They whispered all around, that Jesus and Satan were in league, and that He received His power from Satan! "He has Beelzebub!" they said. The same tactics have since been employed many times. Men who are vigorously engaged in destroying the works of Satan - are accused of being themselves Satan's agents!When there is no way of defeating the earnestness or breaking the power of good men - vile tongues resort to slanderous speech. Base stories are started, or suspicions are breathed, or certain acts are misconstrued or misrepresented, or motives are misjudged. Such slanders fly on the wind, and the usefulness of many a godly Christian has been marred or altogether destroyed by them. Yet we must not be surprised if the world treats us - as it treated our Master. We may as well make up our mind to the fact, that if we are very earnest either in working for the lost or in fighting vice and wickedness, we shall be both misunderstood and misjudged. Some will say we are crazy, and others will say that we have a devil. The way to escape all such uncomfortable charges, is never to rise above the temperate point in Christian fervor, and never to break over the lines of eminent respectability in active Christian service. The devil does not worry over easy-going Christians, for he has little to fear from them. But when he finds a very earnest Christian, bold and uncompromising, he tries relentlessly to strike him down, or to render him harmless.Of the wonderful things that Jesus did, they said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons - He is driving out demons!" It will be noticed that even His enemies did not seek to deny that Jesus performed miracles; they only tried to account for His mighty works in a way that would blacken His name. Skeptics in these days who deny the miracles of Christ, should take note of this fact that even His worst enemies when He was in their very midst, did not attempt to deny them. They confessed that He produced miraculous works. The Pharisees and scribes confessed it. Herod confessed it, and in his remorse thought that John the Baptist must have risen from the dead. Not one of His opponents ever hinted a doubt concerning the fact of His miracles. Thus, when the theory of demoniac possession failed, they invented the theory of magic ; but they never denied the miracles themselves."How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand." That is the way Jesus swept away their slanderous charge. Satan surely would not join hands with Jesus in His work of tearing down Satan's kingdom. Satan would not be so foolish as to help Jesus cast out his tenants and agents. Satan's aim is to get possession of men, and when he had done this - he would not turn about and drive out the minor demons he had at so much pains got into men's hearts. We should look with great caution, even with suspicion, on professions of interest in the work of Christ, from bad men. They have some other motive than the true one. They mean not good - but evil, for the cause of Christ; hurt, not help, for Christ's Kingdom. Satan will never help Christ destroy the works of darkness."No one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house." Thus Christ declared His power over Satan, and gave a hint of what He will in the end accomplish. If He had not been stronger than Satan, He could never have entered his "house" or kingdom at all. Satan met Him at the door, at the time of His temptation, and resisted his entrance with all his power. But Christ was too strong for him and overcame him and entered. That was the beginning of Satan's downfall. At once our Lord began to "carry off his goods," to expel his emissaries from human lives, to rescue Satan's slaves from his clasp, to undo the terrible work he had done in the world.The work of Christianity in this world all these centuries, has been to "carry off the goods" of the "strong man's house"; and this work will go on until Satan's kingdom is entirely destroyed, the last vestige of his power swept away, and the last trace of the ruin wrought by him removed, and until the kingdom of Christ has filled the world. It ought to be a great comfort to us in our struggle with Satan - to know that Christ is stronger than he, and that we need but to flee to Him for shelter and help in danger. We ought to know, also, on whose side we are, in this world; for there are but two sides, Christ's and Satan's, and the sure doom of Satan and all his captives, is utter defeat and chains and eternal darkness. If we are on Satan's side, we cannot escape the ruin which is sure to overtake him and all his.<div class="center-it mtb10">"I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven." This is a wonderful saying. Mrs. Stowe, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, draws a picture of a slave, weary and worn, toiling in the sultry sun. One quotes to him the words, "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden - and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). "Them's good words," said the old slave; "but who says them?" All their value depended upon who said them. If it was only a man, there was little comfort in them. But it was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who said them; and therefore, they were of infinite value! The same thought applies to these words: "All the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven." They are good words - but who said them? It was the same Jesus; and therefore, they are true.</div>"But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." Learned men do not agree in their idea of what it is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. But no matter about the exact meaning of the words; they stand here as a warning against a terrible danger. They are like a red light hung over a most perilous rock in the midst of the sea. While we may not know just what constitutes the sin here warned against so solemnly - it certainly is our duty to keep as far from its edge as possible! And surely all willful and determined resistance to the influence of the Spirit, is a step toward this point of awful peril. This utterance of our Lord should lead us to treat with utmost reverence - every appeal, persuasion, or bidding of the Holy Spirit; never to resist - but always to yield and submit to His guidance. We have no other Friend in this world, who can guide us home. If we drive Him away from us - forever we shall be left in the darkness of eternal night. How long we may continue to reject Him and not go beyond the line that marks the limit of hope - we know not; but the very thought that there is such a line somewhere, ought to startle us into instant acceptance of the offered guidance."Whoever does God's will - is my brother and sister and mother." This seems too good to be true. To be the brother or the sister of Jesus - did you ever stop to try to think out what it means? Then, for every Christian to be taken by Christ into as close and tender a relationship as His own mother sustained to Him - did you ever try to think that out, remembering that you are the one taken into this loving fellowship? Thousands of women have wished that they could have had Mary's honor in being the mother of Jesus. Well, here it lies close to their hand. They cannot have her distinction in this world - but they can have a place just as near to the heart of Christ - as she has! How wonderful is divine grace! How astonishing it is that sinful creatures can be taken thus into the very family of God, and have all the privileges and joys of children of God! We cannot understand it - but let us believe it and think of it - until it fills our hearts with warmth and gladness. But we must not overlook the first part of this verse that tells us who are received into this close relationship. If we would be the brothers and sisters of Christ, we must obey the will of God.

Mark 3:20-35

Malignant Unbelief

Matthew 11:20-30"Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent." Matthew 11:20It seems strange to hear Jesus upbraiding. His words usually were most gracious and loving. Here, however, we hear Him speaking in tones of sharpness and severity. Yet the phase of His character which is now revealed is not inconsistent with other representations of Him in the Gospels. We must not think of Jesus as having no capacity for anger. He was all love - but love can be severe, even dreadful. While He was a friend of sinners and went to His cross to redeem the ungodly - yet He hated sin. He was just and holy.We should notice carefully, however, the reason for this upbraiding. It fell upon the cities in which Jesus had done most of His mighty works. These were not His first words to the people of these cities. There had been long months of loving ministry, with miracles of mercy, with words of grace, revealings of the Father-heart of God, and offers of eternal life - before He spoke the words of chiding we now hear Him speak. But the people of these favored cities had been unaffected by all this love. They had gone on in their sins, unrepentant. They had accepted Christ's gifts of love - but had not accepted Him as their Lord. They had taken His help, His kindness, the things He had done for them so lavishly - but they had rejected Him .The upbraiding of these cities was because after all that he had done for them, after all their spiritual opportunities and privileges, they had rejected Jesus. It was not impatience on His part that made Him severe. He had not grown weary loving, even without return. But the fact that the cities had received so much Divine favor, made their sin in rejecting Christ far greater.Tyre and Sidon, great commercial cities which had been denounced by the prophets for their sins, would have repented, Jesus said - if such Divine blessings as had been shown to Chorazin and Bethsaida had been given to them. Sodom was the great historical example of wickedness in the history of the world, and its destruction was a notable instance of judgment. But even Sodom would have repented, if it had received such calls and had enjoyed such privileges as had Capernaum. And Sodom's judgment would be more tolerable than that of Capernaum.There is something startling in what Jesus says here about the doom of these Galilean cities, and the reason for it. They had had high privileges, and had disregarded them. What then about the places in our own day which have had exceptional privileges and have not improved them? What about those who have been brought up in Christian homes, amid the most gracious influences, who have seen Christ continually and have known the beautiful things of His love from infancy - and after all have kept their hearts closed upon Him, refusing His love! The question with which we are really personally concerned is not with Chorazin or Capernaum, but ourselves, our privileges and what we are doing with them."More tolerable." So we would better have been born and brought up in some heathen land, never hearing of Christ - than to have had the highest Christian privileges, and then to have turned our back on the Savior of men. We may perish with Christ at our door. Christian privileges will not save us. The question after all is, "What are you doing with Christ?"The other part of our passage is in a different tone. Here we find mercy again in its most gracious mood. The invitation in the closing verses is better understood when we have studied the great words that precede it. "All things have been committed to me by my Father," said Jesus. All things had been put into His hands, all power, all mercy, all gifts, all life. This ought to be a great comfort to us, amid this world's mysteries and perplexities, when there are things which threaten to destroy us. It is Jesus Christ, the Christ of the gospel, in whose nail-marked hands are all our affairs.There can be no revealing of the Father, except as Jesus Christ wills to reveal Him. It is very important then to learn how He dispenses the revelation which is in His hand exclusively. Will He impart it only to a few great saints, to a little company of wise men, to certain rare spirits? The answer is in the gracious invitation which follows, "Come unto Me, all who that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Yet there is a distinct class of people to whom the gracious invitation is especially given, "all who that labor and are heavy laden." This does not mean the rich, the noble of birth, the high of rank, the wise the great among men. It includes the lowly, the oppressed, the over burdened, the weary, those who are in distress. Need is the only condition. There is no one anywhere who desires the blessings of love, of mercy, of grace, to whom this wonderful invitation is not given and who may not claim it and accept it with all confidence.<div class="center-it mtb10">Perhaps no other of Christ's words has given comfort to more people, than this promise of rest. It meets every heart's deepest longing. What is this rest? It is not cessation from work. Work is part of the constitution of human life. It is necessary to health, to happiness, even to existence. God works. "My Father works," said Jesus, "and I work" (see John 5:17). There is a curse on idleness.</div>It is rest of soul that Jesus promises. The life is at unrest. It is all jangled and can have no rest until it is brought into harmony. Sin is the cause of this universal human unrest, and rest can come only when forgiveness has come. And this is the first rest that is promised. Everyone who comes to Christ is forgiven.There are two rests promised. "I will give you rest." This rest comes at once. Every weary one who comes to Christ in penitence and with repentance - is forgiven, reconciled and restored to Divine favor.Then there is a rest which comes later and only through self-discipline and patient learning. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me… and you shall find rest." To take Christ's yoke on us is to take Him as our Master, to let Him rule our life. The thought of a yoke is suggestive of bondage and humiliation. But the yoke of Christ is nothing galling or dishonoring in it. "My yoke is easy," He says. He is a gentle taskmaster. He requires entire submission to His will. He will not share our subjection with any other master. We must take His yoke upon us willingly, cheerfully, without reserve. But His commandments are not grievous, His burden is light. Then we will find honor and blessing in it.A yoke implies two united, serving together, walking side by side under the same load. It is Christ's yoke we are to bear, which means that He shares it with us. His shoulder is under every load of ours. If we have a sorrow - it is His, too. In all our afflictions - He is afflicted. Thus it becomes a joy to take Christ's yoke. When He is our Master, we are free from all other masters. In bearing His yoke, we will find rest unto our souls. Our lives under His sway will be at peace.<div class="center-it mtb10">Another step in finding rest is to enter Christ's school. "Learn of Me," said the Master. We are only beginners when we first become Christians. A good man said, 'It takes a long time to learn to be kind - it takes a whole lifetime." He was right - it does take as many years as one lives, to learn the one little lesson of kindness. Paul said, and said it when he was well on in life, "I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11). We would suppose that such a wonderful man as Paul was, did not have to learn the lesson of contentment. We can scarcely think of him as ever fretting about his condition and circumstances. But evidently he did, and it was a long, difficult lesson for him to learn to be content anywhere, in any and every experience. Even Jesus Himself had to learn life's lessons. In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said that He learned obedience by the things that He suffered (see Hebrews 5:7-8).</div>All of Christian life is a school. We enter it when we first come to Christ. We begin at the lowest grade. We do not have to wait until we know a great deal before we begin to attend school. School is not for finished scholars - but for the most ignorant. We may come to Christ when we know almost nothing. He is a teacher and He wants us to become learners. Gentleness is a lesson which we are to learn. One young girl said, "I never can get over being jealous. I cannot bear to have my friends love anybody else. I want them to love only me." But she must learn the lesson of generosity in friendship. She must learn to want her friends to love others. It probably will take her a good while, the lesson will be a long one - but she must learn it because it is in Christ's curriculum for all His students, and no one can get His certificate of graduation without learning it.Patience is a lesson that has to be learned. An impatient person is not a complete Christian. Thoughtfulness is another necessary lesson. There are a great many thoughtless Christians. The poet tells us that evil is wrought by lack of thought - as well as lack of heart. Many people are always blundering in their relationship and fellowship with others. They say the wrong word, they do the wrong thing. They leave undone the things they ought to have done. They are always hurting other people's feelings, giving pain to gentle hearts. Yet it is all from thoughtlessness. "I didn't mean to offend him. I didn't mean to be unkind. I just never thought ." There are few lessons in Christian life that more people need to learn than this of thoughtfulness.We have to learn to trust. Worry is a sin. It is probably as great a sin as dishonesty or profanity or bad temper. Yet a good many Christian people worry at first, and one of the most important lessons in Christ's school, is to learn not to worry. Joy is a lesson to be learned. Peace is another. Humility is another. Praise is a great lesson. All of life is a school, and it is in learning these lessons - that Jesus says we shall find rest for your souls. Christ Himself is our teacher, and with Him we should never fail to learn, though it be only slowly. Then as we learn, our lives will grow continually more and more into quietness, peace and Christlikeness. All our questions will be in the faith that accepts God's will as holy and good - even when it is hardest.

Matthew 11:20-30

Warning and Invitation

John 20:19 John 20:21 John 20:26No other benediction that could fall upon the ears of men, could mean more than this: "Peace be unto you!" This is a restless, striving, struggling world. Nation wars with nation. Business interests are in antagonism with other business interests. There are race wars which sometimes seem utterly unappeasable until one or the other race has been exterminated. Then there are family feuds which sometimes go on for generations in deadly enmity. And there are personal quarrels, alienations, strifes, which separate friends. Besides all this, there is a restlessness in human hearts. Men are unhappy and not at peace in themselves. There is strife within the bosom of nearly everyone.<div class="center-it mtb10">No word Christ ever spoke caught more ears than when He said, "Come unto me ... and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), or "Peace be unto you!" His words answered a universal need and a universal yearning.</div>"Peace be unto you!" This was the first word the risen Christ spoke to His disciples as a body after He returned from the grave. This gives special significance to what He said. Three different times He spoke the same words, "Peace be unto you!" twice the evening of the day on which He rose, and once the following week. Yet, while He used precisely the same words, they had a different meaning each time, and were not merely a repetition.Look at the setting of the benediction as He first uttered it. It was evening. The disciples had sought the quiet and safety of the upper room for a meeting together. The doors were carefully shut, for fear of the Jews. The little company was in sore dread of those who had crucified their Master. "Jesus ... stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you! And when he said that, he showed unto them His hands and His side." Why did He show them His hands and His side? Because of the WOUNDS. He reminded them of His sufferings, through which alone peace could come to them.The second use of the words was a few minutes later. "Then Jesus said to them again, Peace be unto you!" Then He added, "As my Father has sent me, even so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive the Holy Spirit." Here the benediction of peace, is accompanied by the gift of the Spirit. There can be no true, deep peace in us - except when the Holy Spirit holds sway in our hearts.The third time the benediction was given: "A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.'" Here the purpose of the benediction was to help Thomas' slow faith.<div class="center-it mtb10">"Peace be unto you!" The spirit of Christianity is all in the direction of peace. There is a picture called "Peace" which is suggestive. It shows a cannon lying in a meadow, in the grass, with a lamb feeding beside it, nibbling at its very mouth. But while the picture is beautiful, it is incomplete. The cannon, which once was used in war, dealing death, is still a cannon, useless - but ready to be used again in the old way. The prophet suggests a more fitting and complete picture when he says in his vision of the redeemed nation, "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3). That is the kind of peace Christ would make. The sword shall no longer be a sword, though rusty and unused - but shall be made into a plowshare, doing its work for humanity. In the artist's picture would be truer to the spirit of Christianity, if the cannon were not merely lying in the meadow, with the lamb feeding quietly beside it - but instead was made into church bells to call the people to the house of God.</div>The peace which our Master would make is not merely the laying down of arms - but a peace which shall bring good to both nations and restore them to fellowship. Christian peace is not merely a drawn battle, with the old bitterness remaining. The bitterness must be swallowed up in love. If two have been estranged through misunderstanding, or by whatever cause, Christ's peace leads them together in a new friendship which forgets the past - and wipes out all traces of difference in a relationship of love."Peace I leave with you!" This was the Master's bequest to His friends. He did not leave them gold and silver. He did not entail great estates upon them. He had none of these to leave. In His life on earth, the birds were better off than He, for in the world His hands had made - He had nowhere to lay His head. When He died - He had no grave in which His body might rest, and would have been buried in the potter's field, amid criminals and outcasts, had not a noble friend rescued Him from that ignominy and lent Him a new rock-hewn tomb, for the three days and nights He slept. He was poor, and had no earthly inheritance to bequeath. But He left peace as a heritage. "Peace I leave with you!""MY peace I give unto you!" (14:27) It was not merely peace - but His own peace, that He bequeathed to His friends. "My peace"! Think what Christ's peace was. It was the peace that He had had in His heart and life all His days. You know how serenely He met all experiences. He never lost His quietness and composure in any circumstances. Life had no terrors for Him. His was not an easy life. Soon after His public ministry began, opposition began, developing into bitter enmity, with plottings and schemings for His death. But nothing disturbed Him. He was never fearful or alarmed. He knew what was before Him. The cross threw its dark shadows on His path - long before He reached it. But with unruffled peace He moved on toward it. "My peace I give unto you!" It is possible for Christ's followers to have the same peace the Master had. He bequeaths it to them - let them claim their inheritance. He gives it to them - let them accept the gift.But why is it that so many Christians do not have this peace ? What restless lives many of us live! Some of us scarcely ever have an hour of real peace. We fret at every trifle. We allow ourselves to be annoyed by the smallest things that do not go as we want them to go. We are full of discontents and complainings. We are envious at the prosperity of others. We vex ourselves over the things that are disagreeable in even the least way. We are continually dismayed by life's experiences. We are afraid to live - and afraid to die. Is that the best that Christ can do for us? Is that the full meaning of His words here, "Peace be unto you; Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you"? Is that all that our religion can do for us?No! Jesus meant just what He said. He means for us to have His peace. We may have it too. He shows us His hands and says, "Peace be unto you! I have purchased peace for you." He breathes on us His divine Spirit, and says, "Peace be unto you!" Let the peace of God into your heart today. You have had enough of restlessness, fret, anxiety and struggle. Let Christ's peace rule."Peace be unto you!" "My peace I give unto you!" When men have fought for their country, loyal patriots, and when the war is over, and the victory won, those who survive come home with wounds and scars, maimed and broken, and those who look upon them see the price of the peace which the country is enjoying. Let us not forget that the peace which Christ gives, cost Him suffering and shame and death. We have peace - because He went to His cross!In a gallery in Europe, two pictures hang side by side. One is of a sea swept by storms - great waves, black clouds, lightning bolts, and on the wild water wrecks of vessels, with human forms struggling or dead. The artists calls His picture, "Life".Hanging beside this picture is another, almost the same - a rough sea, billows, clouds, lightnings, wrecks, men struggling in the waters. In the center of this picture, however, a great rock rises up out of the wild sea, reaching above the highest waves, standing serene and firm in the midst of the storm. Then in the rock, far up, is a cleft of herbage and flowers growing, and as you look closely, you see in the midst of the herbage - a dove sitting quietly on her nest. The artist calls His picture "Peace."It represents the Christian's life. In the world there is tribulation. Peace does not come through the quieting of earth's storms. Christ does not make a little spot of calm for us, shutting off the storms. No! that rock rising above the waves tells the story.It is peace in the midst of the storm, in Christ. We have it in the hymn, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me; Let me hide myself in Thee!"The Christian has no promise of less sorrow than his worldly neighbor; or of an easier life, a life without struggle, pain, or buffeting. You remember how Christ got His peace - not by living in a little paradise - but in the enduring of all manner of suffering calmly and quietly. His peace was within. We must get our peace - on fields of struggle. It must come through Christ's victory over the world. It must be Christ's gift. It must be in our heart.President Eliot, of Harvard University, said this at the dedication of an art gallery: "The main object in every school should be, not to provide the children with means of earning a livelihood - but to show them how to live a happy and worthy life, inspired by noble ideals which will exalt and dignify both labor and leisure. To see beauty and to live it - is to possess large securities for such a life."To live only to get bread and clothes - is a groveling aim. To live only to make money, to get on in the world, is an unworthy aim for an immortal being. We live worthily - only when we live to grow into beautiful character and to do beautiful things of love. Peace is the highest mark of spiritual beauty.There is a German legend of the origin of the moss rose. One day the angel of the flowers, weary in his ministry in the heat of the sun, sought a place to rest - but found none. Turned from every door, he lay down under the shelter of a rose, and slept and was refreshed. He thanked the rose for the pleasure and comfort he had enjoyed in its shade, and then said that, to reward it, he would adorn it with a new charm. So soft, green moss grew around the stem, and those who looked at the flower saw the beautiful moss rose, loveliest of all the roses. So to those who are faithful to Christ, He gives a new charm, life's highest and most heavenly adornment, peace.We should be at peace with all men. If there is bitterness toward any human being, our peace is not Christ's peace. No matter what wrongs Jesus suffered, how unjustly or cruelly He was treated - He kept love in His heart. It is easy to cherish resentments. We like to say we have a right to he angry. Yes - but that is not the divine way. God forgives and forgets and loves on. Suppose God never forgave! Suppose He cherished resentments and refused to love us and to bless us! Let love heal all heart - hurts. If we think we have been treated wrongfully, let us forgive, and new beauty will come, instead of a scar. The storm made a great gash on the mountainside - but grass, moss and flowers came, and the mountain was never so beautiful before as now it became.<div class="center-it mtb10">We should have peace also in our own hearts. Why should we go on in the old restlessness and strife a day longer? Why should we worry so and fret - when Christ offers us His own serene peace? No matter what may come to us in any possible future, nothing will come which could break our peace, if only we are obedient and true to God. There will be mysteries, contradictions, perplexities, disappointments - but in all these a divine Hand will move - and nothing can fret us - if we are truly Christ's. "The peace of God ... shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).</div>

John 20:19;John 20:21;John 20:26

"Peace Be unto You!"

My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. (Matthew 
11:30)

Dear friends, if any truth has 
the effect of turning you in upon yourself, making you introspective, 
self-occupied in a spiritual way, that truth has been wrongly apprehended. You 
may assume the position of the most spiritual, but you are all wrong in your 
apprehension. This great work which Christ did in His Cross was never intended 
to make anybody miserable. Of course, that goes without saying; yet there are 
multitudes who are miserable after trusting the Lord, miserable over the sin 
question in their lives; and the number, I am afraid, is increasing. Always 
keep a very distinct and broad line between fuller revelation, deeper truth 
(whatever you may term it – all that going-on-to-full-growth realm of things) and 
this whole matter of introspection. 
Some people seem to think that 
to become more spiritual we must become more intense and tied-up and occupied 
with this whole matter of the spiritual life, and really they are the most 
unbearable people, the joy has gone out of them. I am certain of this, that 
nothing will ever come to you, however deep, however mighty, however tremendous, 
by revelation of the Holy Spirit, that will make you miserable. The 
revelation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit – and there is no other 
revelation – will never make a soul miserable. There is something wrong if a 
Christian is miserable on spiritual matters, and it is either failure to 
apprehend the one great, absolute reality that the victory was God’s and that He 
won it in Christ, fully and finally, and we are not called to share at all in 
that battle; or the truth which has come subsequently has been misapprehended 
and has become something that is a burden grievous to be borne. The Lord Jesus 
said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30).

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

The Battle Which is Not Yours

 The Lord’s Battle 

Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 NLT) 
What did He mean? The burden of the law was 
upon the people, indeed, it was a heavy burden for them. The Pharisees gave more 
than two thousand interpretations to the law of Moses, and said: "The law of 
Moses does not mean that you have only to keep ten commandments; it means that 
you have to keep two thousand." There was not a point in all their human life 
where this law was not applied and made their lives difficult. And all this was 
gathered up into the Sabbath: "You must not make your bed on the Sabbath! You 
must not carry your bed on the Sabbath! You must not poke your fire on the 
Sabbath! You must do nothing on the Sabbath – you may not even walk more than 
three miles." Two thousand regulations for their lives! The one thing that they 
were meeting every day, and especially on the Sabbath, was "You may not." 

"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). 
 What has happened? Jesus has appropriated the Sabbath to 
 Himself. It is no longer a day of the week – it is a divine Person. (If the 
 Seventh Day Adventists saw that, the whole of their system would go in five 
 minutes!) No, Jesus is God's Sabbath. He is the end of God's works, and in Him 
 God has entered into His rest. This is the "rest which remaineth for the 
 children of God" – not a day of the week or on the calendar, but a divine 
 Person, the Son of God. In Him we come to rest, and that which was our bondage 
 is now our servant. In Him, that against which we were always struggling is now 
 our victory. Oh yes, Jesus is the Sabbath, and if we live in Him we shall not 
 spoil the Sabbath. Every day should be a day of rest to our souls. Oh, this is 
 a mighty thing that the Lord Jesus has done!

Discipleship In The School Of Christ - Chapter 5

 Jesus Is Our Sabbath 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not 
 let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 NIV)
 
 There is another 
 word, which just means that which has escaped from slavery and is breathing 
 free air. That is a fine picture, a fine portrait for Overcomers – that which 
 has escaped from slavery and is breathing free air. I dare not stay to 
 interpret that. Some of us, even in our Christian lives and histories, know 
 what it is to escape from slavery. Oh, the old bondage of the Christian system 
 and order, expectation and demand, all the old rota and legality! – to be free 
 of it all! Not only to be raised with Christ, but to have the grave clothes 
 taken off and to be breathing the free air of the spiritually emancipated! 
 That is what this word calls a "remnant," and that is not something extra to 
 Christianity. It is exactly what you find at the beginning with the Church.
 
 
 The Lord had 
 cried in the midst of a burdened, tyrannized, religious nation – "Come unto 
 Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My 
 yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall 
 find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 
 11:28-30). What is the old yoke, the old burden, which has harassed and worn 
 these people so that they are weary to death, drawing out His compassionate 
 appeal – "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest"? It is the old yoke and 
 burden of legalistic religion, 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not': 'you must' 
 and 'you must not' – the whole system built up like that; a great burden. 
 "They bind heavy burdens," He said, "and grievous to be borne, and lay them on 
 men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with their finger" 
 (Matt. 23:4). And this word for "remnant" means such as have escaped slavery and 
 are breathing the free air. You find them in the beginning of the book of the 
 Acts. Overcomers are those who go back to the beginning in experience. They do 
 not take up something further which is deeper teaching or fuller light. It is 
 the primal freshness and fullness of Christ that Overcomers represent – 
 unfortunately, in contrast to the general situation.

Overcomer Testimony - Chapter 2

 The Portrait  of the Overcomer 

There still exists, therefore, a full and complete rest for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9 Phillips)
 I am sure it will 
 sound to many of you like going a long way back and going out into a very 
 broad realm when I say that we Christians are being constantly confronted with 
 and challenged by our Christianity. Many of us have not really entered into 
 Christianity yet. What do I mean? Well, for one thing, the very door into true 
 Christianity is the door of rest, the rest of faith. The very simple way in 
 which the Lord put it in His appeal was – "Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
 and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). That was to a 
 multitude, and those words are usually employed in Gospel messages to the 
 unsaved. The meaning of the Lord in using those words is given to us here in 
 the letter to the Hebrews, a very much deeper and fuller meaning than is 
 generally recognized in the usage of the simple invitation "Come unto Me... 
 and I will give you rest." There is something that we have to hear, to detect, 
 in the statement – "There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of 
 God" (Heb. 4:9; A.S.V.).
 
 You will not think me
 too elementary, for you know in your heart, as well as I
 do in mine, that this matter of heart rest, the rest of
 faith, is a live question continually, it is coming up
 all the time. One of the things which is lacking in so
 many of us is this rest, or, to put it the other way, the
 things which characterize us so much are fret, anxiety,
 uncertainty, and all those things which are just the
 opposite of calm assurance, quiet confidence, the spirit
 and attitude and atmosphere which says all the time,
 "Don't worry, don't fret, it is all right." One thing our
 great enemy is always trying to do is to disturb that,
 destroy that, rob us of that, churn us up, fret us, drive
 us, harass us, anything to rob us of our rest or to
 prevent us from entering into rest. It is the rest of
 faith, not just the rest of passivity, indifference, and 
 carelessness. There is all the difference between
 carelessness and carefreeness. There remaineth, there is
 still to be had, there still obtains, there still exists,
 there is still preserved a rest for the people of God –
 for the people of God.

The Rest and the Courage of Faith

 The Rest Of Faith 

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29 NIV)
 The great business of Christians is to learn 
 Christ. This is not just a subject to study. I want to ask you: What is the 
 greatest desire in your life? I wonder if it is the same as mine! The greatest 
 desire in my heart – and the longer I live the stronger it grows – is to 
 understand the Lord Jesus. There is so much that I do not understand about 
 Him. I am always coming up against problems about Him, and they are not 
 intellectual problems at all, but spiritual ones: problems of the heart. Why 
 did the Lord Jesus say and do certain things? Why is He dealing with me as He 
 is? He is always too deep for me, and I want to understand Him. It is the most 
 important thing in life to understand the Lord Jesus. Well, we are here that 
 He may bring us to some better understanding of Himself. The material of the 
 Word will not be new – it will be old and well-known Scripture. Perhaps we 
 think that we know the Gospel by John very well. Well, you may, but I do not. 
 I am discovering that this Gospel contains deeper truth and value than I know 
 anything about....
 
 
 The one business of
 disciples is to know Him, and to do what He called His
 disciples to do: "Take My yoke upon you, and
 learn of Me" (Matthew 11:29). Jesus came to
 bring heavenly knowledge in His own person, and in His
 person we come into heavenly knowledge. It is not just
 what He says: it is what He says He is. Every true teacher is 
 not one who says a lot of things, but one who, when he says things, 
 gives something of himself.

Discipleship In The School Of Christ - Chapter 1

 The Fullness Of Life (2) 

The true Jew is one who belongs to God in heart, a man whose circumcision is not just an outward physical affair but is a God-made sign upon the heart and soul, and results in a life lived not for the approval of man, but for the approval of God. (Romans 2:29 Phillips)

The Cross, as the instrument of spiritual 
circumcision, has to be applied to this self-life deeper and ever more deeply, 
because there seems to be no end to it. But that is the painful side, the dark 
side. What is happening on the other side? Is it not that room is being made for 
Christ? The real seed, the seed of Christ, is growing, becoming more and more 
manifest. The opposite of the characteristics which we have been considering – 
strength of intellect or emotion or will – is meekness. He said: “Take My yoke 
upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29). 
Pursue this right through, and you cannot fail to recognize that there was 
something radically different in the very depths of His being.
I have said that we cannot calculate the whole 
range of this self-principle, in its myriad forms of self-expression and 
self-occupation and self-attention and self-pity and self-consciousness and 
self-satisfaction. Even in our Christian life, in our devotion to the Lord, we 
are so happy that other people see how devoted we are, and how humble we are! 
And it is the self, the wretched – may I use the word? – the stinking self, 
coming up all the time. For a true child of God is oblivious of himself, has 
lost consciousness of himself in every way. If other people point out something 
good about them, they had not realized it, they were not aware of it. They are 
surprised that anyone could say anything good about them; they are not conscious 
of that. And on the other side, should people be critical and point out 
failings, well, they only say, “Yes, I know: I had that out with the Lord,” or 
“I have got that before the Lord right now. I am not deceiving myself about 
that.” This is the true child of Heaven.

The Israel of God - Chapter 5

 The True Jew 

They weary themselves to commit iniquity. § I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. § Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works. § Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. § “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “this is the refreshing.”

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 We who have believed do enter that rest. 

I [Moses] stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid. § There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth. § Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. § Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren. 

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. § If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. § Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. § Having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. § You are no longer a slave but a son. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. . . . For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.

 A bondservant of Jesus Christ. 

This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life. § Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. My yoke is easy and My burden is light. § If you love Me, keep My commandments. §  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. § Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. § Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. § I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. This is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another. § Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

 His commandments are not burdensome. 

The humble … shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. § Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. § The incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit … is very precious in the sight of God. § Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. Pursue … gentleness. § Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. § He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth. § Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return … but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.

 The fruit of the Spirit is . . . kindness. 

You cannot serve God and mammon. § When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. § Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. O Lord our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name. § I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.

 Having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. § All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. § Aaron held his peace. § It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him. Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you. § He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Evening Daily Light

 He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden. 

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. § Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. § Christ… suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. § Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.

 Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. 

Gideon said to them, “I would like to make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. So they answered, “We will gladly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder. . . . Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house. Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. § Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me. § Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. § Love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.

 Let us not become conceited. 

There remains … a rest for the people of God. § My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. § There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. § They … rest from their labors. The forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. § In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

 Shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? 

The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest … “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. § Rest in the Lord. § He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace. § We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ. I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

 He makes me to lie down in green pastures. 

When Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died. § Who can bear a broken spirit? Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people? § The Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, … to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. § Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Philip … preached Jesus to him. § He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

 The sorrow of the world produces death. 

<blockquote>
As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him" (<a id="verse_1632880695645143" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/2/7">Col. 2:7</a>).
</blockquote>We appreciate His benefits toward us, but are we appreciative - do we express to Him our appreciation?"Let us be very watchful that the inner life, communion with the Lord Jesus, be the true source of our activities.""The Lord Jesus longs for fellowship with us. He does not want patronage. It does not meet the desire of His heart to be followed, or admired, or gazed at, because of what He can do or give. He delights in a heart taught of the Spirit to appreciate His Person, for this glorifies and gratifies the Father. He retires from the gaze of an excited and tumultuous throng who would fain make Him a king, because they had eaten of the loaves and were filled; but He could turn with touching earnestness to the little band of disciples who still remained, and challenge their hearts with the question, 'Will ye also go away?'""Love could never be too near to its object. Nearness to the Lord Jesus is the instinct of divine life, as we see in the first question of the two disciples who followed Him, Where dwellest Thou?' Why is not this the first question now? Because there is not simple devotedness of heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.""There is nothing in all the world so precious to the Father as a heart that, in any measure, appreciates His Son.""Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (<a id="verse_1632880695391561" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Matthew/11/28">Matt. 11:28</a>).

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Personal Appreciation 

<blockquote>Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (<a id="verse_1632877361782296" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Matthew/11/28">Matt. 11:28</a>).</blockquote>Hard as it is for the believer to finally come to rest concerning his spiritual birth, it seems to be even more difficult for him to simply rest in the Lord Jesus for his life and service."There are two stages in the Christian life. The one in which, after conversion, a believer seeks to work what God would have him do. The second, in which, after many a painful failure, he ceases from his works, and enters the rest of God, there to find the power for work in allowing the Father to work in him."It is this rest from their own work which many Christians cannot understand. They think of it as a state of passive and selfish enjoyment, of still contemplation which leads to the neglect of the duties of life, and unfits us for that watchfulness and warfare to which Scripture calls. What an entire misunderstanding of God's call to rest!"Truly to rest in God is to yield oneself up to the highest activity. We work, because He worketh in us both to will and to do (<a id="verse_1632877361295823" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/2/13">Phil. 2:13</a>). As Paul says of himself, I labor, striving according to his working who worketh in me with might' (<a id="verse_1632877361626633" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/1/29">Col. 1:29</a>). Entering the rest of God is the ceasing from self-effort, and the yielding of oneself in the full surrender of faith to God's working." -A.M."Not only does the Lord Jesus live in us, but He becomes the motivating Object of our life as Christians. The law is no longer our motive or rule of life. It is entirely displaced by a Person, and that Person the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.' Henceforth the soul has a new center and source - it is no longer self-centered, but Christ-centered." -C.A.C."Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (<a id="verse_1632877361972031" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Matthew/11/29">Matt. 11:29</a>).

 Rest Via Struggle 

<blockquote>
"Come unto Me. . . and I will give you rest" (<a id="verse_1632878093621431" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Matthew/11/28">Matt. 11:28</a>).
</blockquote>We rest in the One upon whom the universe rests."I find when I sit down with people quietly to have a talk that they begin at once to speak of the trials of the way. And after that, if I say, Suppose we change the subject and talk of the things of God - then I find that they can talk of nothing but His mercies to themselves, but it is all His temporal benefits they talk of. And they go no higher than this. How few can say, The Father has shown me wonderful things lately about the Lord Jesus Christ." -J.B.S."In everything ye are enriched by Him' (<a id="verse_1632878093224230" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-Corinthians/1/5">1 Cor. 1:5</a>). The favor of the Father is given to us in His Beloved Son, and in everything we are enriched in Him. If we are not happy it is because we have lost sight of the favor given us in the Lord Jesus. In our foolishness we turn to the world or look into our own hearts, instead of keeping our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, the risen and exalted Man in whom the Father has given us His favor." -C.A.C."The Lord Jesus Christ, as Man, has glorified the Father on the earth. The Father rests in that; as Man having accomplished redemption, He has passed into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' It is the glorified Lord Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be."Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what the Father has revealed in His Word, and what are His thoughts about the Lord Jesus, in whom is His rest." -J.N.D."Take My yoke upon you. . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (<a id="verse_1632878093322669" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Matthew/11/29">Matt. 11:29</a>).

 Personal Repose 

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Matthew 11:29

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:30

 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English be started. It was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared (Tyndale, 1526). The Authorized Version, or King James Version, quickly became the standard for English-speaking Protestants. Its flowing language and prose rhythm has had a profound influence on the literature of the past 400 years. The King James Version present on the Bible Gateway matches the 1987 printing. The KJV is public domain in the United States.

OT: Masoretic Text, some LXX and Vulgate influence.
NT: Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text-type; some readings derived from the Vulgate.
Apocrypha: Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate.

Matthew 11:28-30 KJV

Matthew 11:28-30 KJV

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