Every Day Light

[Judy Harder]

November 7

Two divergent views
Galatians 2:11-21
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me .." (v.20)

Paul tells us about his "secret" death in the passage before us today. In the main, there are two divergent views on this passage. One view is that Paul is referring here to the teaching he expounded in Romans 6 -- that when Christ died at Calvary, we all "died" in Him, but because He came back from the dead we must now apply ourselves to appropriating that resurrection power and allow it to work in us to overcome self and sin. They say Paul's statement about being "crucified with Christ" has reference to that. Others take the view that Paul is referring to a specific experience in his life, following his conversion, when his "old man" (the carnal nature) "died" to self-interest and self-concern. Thus, the "old man" being crucified, the Christ-man rises in his stead.
Personally I see truth in both these views. Sanctification is a process but it can also be a crisis. Many Christians can testify, as did George Muller, that even though they were applying the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in their lives day by day, there came a moment or a period when they experienced a critical putting to death of the ego. Not everyone, it seems, is brought by the Spirit to experience sanctification as a crisis, but it is significant that most of the saints whose lives are marked by a high degree of holiness testify to such an experience. Let your heart be open to God on this matter today and listen to what He might say to you. Perhaps this could be the day on which you die a "secret death."

Prayer:

My Father and my God, I choose what You choose. If today You choose to lead me into a deeper understanding of how to "die" to my self-interest, then I choose to follow. Guide me, my Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

For Further Study
Rom. 6; Gal. 5:24; 1 Pet. 2:24
1. What are we dead to?
2. How is this worked

[Judy Harder]

November 8

Pharisaism in overalls
Luke 18:9-14
"... I thank you that I am not like other men ..." (v.11)

The fruit of the Spirit is not something that is achieved or manufactured, but something that is experienced as we abide in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to produce in us the lineaments of Christ's character.
Many people have equated the sanctified life with keeping an ethical code, but the ethical code is not the source of sanctification but the result of it. If the path of ethical achievement is achieved by self-effort alone, then the person who achieves it comes to have pride in his achievement and falls prey to the sin of Pharisaism. Those who keep the ethical code by self-effort have a taut will and, though they might not realize it, they lapse into the sin of independence -- depending on themselves and not on God. People who struggle to exude goodness have a metallic ring about them -- they appear stern and rigid and have about them the atmosphere of a moral athlete. Those whose goodness is not imposed, but exposed from their deep relationship with the Lord, are sweetly human and exude the character of Christ.

A similar error is made by those who say they have been "doing good turns all their lives." Someone has said that this type of attitude is "the sin of Pharisaism in overalls." Self is very much at the center. It is tainted, not because the "good turns" are evil, but because they are prompted by the self-regarding principle -- I am doing them in my own way for my ends. How deeply this disease of self-interest takes hold on us! It is in you and it is in me. Recognizing it, however, is the first step toward curing it.

Prayer:

O Father, I see that when I strut through life in an attitude of arrogance and pride, I soon stumble. But when I surrender, I succeed. Help me to keep this perspective -- today and every day. Amen.

For Further Study
Col. 1:1-27; Eph. 3:16-19; John 17:23
1. What is "the hope of glory"?
2. What was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians?

[Judy Harder]

November 9

The disease of self-interest
Romans 13:8-14
"... love is the fulfilment of the law." (v.10)

Because the disease of self-interest is so difficult to recognize, it might be helpful to focus on examples of ordinary things done or said by decent people which are, nevertheless, indicative of the ease with which we slip into self-interest.
A man whose mother died just as he was due to go on holiday and was therefore obliged to stay at home until the funeral was over said to the minister who tried to comfort him: "I will miss my mother greatly ... but I've lost nearly half my holiday." In the weeks prior to my wife's death, a man came up to me and said: "How is your wife?" Before I had time to reply, he launched into a fifteen-minute explanation of how his wife had been up all night with toothache.

During the terrifying days of World War II, a retired schoolmistress living in a rural area sent a letter to someone in London saying: "If only you knew what we are going through here. Every night we hear enemy planes going over loaded with bombs. Last week one of them dropped its bombs at random and our pantry window was cracked." The person she was writing to had not known what it was to sleep in her own bed for three months -- having had to spend every night in an air raid shelter.

These illustrations are representative of the kind of thing we hear or might say ourselves almost every day. And if we did not say it, then we might think it -- and that is just as bad.

Prayer:

O God, deliver me, I pray, from this tendency that I have to become deeply engrossed with myself. Help me to grow in You, so that my first thought is not for myself but for others. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

For Further Study
Num. 11:1-5; Isa. 5:8; Matt. 27:3
1. Why did the children of Israel complain?
2. What motivated Judas?

[Judy Harder]

November 10

"Her first thought"
1 Peter 3:18-4:8
"... because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin." (4:1)

So often in life, our first thought is for ourselves. We are self-centered. Everything has an immediate self-reference. We are more upset over our own dead dog than a neighbor's dead child. And so deeply ingrained is our self-preoccupation that, left to ourselves, we would have to fillet our personalities to get rid of it. Yet there are multitudes walking the earth whose first thoughts are not for themselves but for the Lord and for others.
How has this happened? It has happened because the fruit of the Spirit was growing within them -- and especially the fruit of goodness. Take Catherine Booth, for example. When the great woman first learned the deadly nature of the disease that was to kill her slowly through two years of great pain, she knelt at the side of her husband and said: "Do you know what was my first thought? That I should not be there to nurse you at your last hour." Her first thought! A minister I once visited and who had been struck down with polio said to me: "But who will care for my people?" It was not of himself he was thinking -- but of others.

The self-forgetfulness of both Catherine Booth and the minister who was laid aside by sickness was not something that was manufactured but something that had been produced in them by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Their translucence can only be explained in one way -- they had died to themselves. The center of their lives had shifted from self to Christ and thus the fruit of goodness had blossomed within them.

Prayer:

O Father, dwell so deeply in me by Your Holy Spirit that I will be lifted out of myself into Yourself. I would die unto You and thus live -- now and forever. Amen.

For Further Study
Matt. 25:31-46; Prov. 19:17; Ezek. 34:4
1. How can we minister to Christ?
2. Why will some be sent to eternal punishment?

[Judy Harder]

November 11

Surrendering to goodness
John 15:1-11
"If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit ..." (v.5)

Although, as we have seen, goodness is a fruit that is difficult to define, we come close to seeing its meaning when we think of it in terms of essential goodness -- goodness in the inner parts. It is not something that is imposed but something that is exposed; it moves, not from without to within but from within to without. It is not self-achieved. Supernatural goodness is pure goodness -- a goodness which unconsciously proclaims itself. Christians in whom goodness is growing will not "use" others as many use their friends -- they will love them for themselves alone. They will not mentally fit people into their scheme -- for they have no schemes.
I think it would be true to say that goodness is there to some degree in all Christians who are in daily touch with the Lord and are growing in Him -- but in those who have known what it is to die to self, it is there in overflowing measure. They exude goodness. John Wallace, a Scotsman and the principal of the college where I received my training for the ministry, used to say: "Goodness, the fruit of the Spirit, is more 'felt' than 'telt'. It is not so much actions as attitudes, not so much talking as walking."I believe myself that God never gets closer to a sinner -- or, for that matter, an unsurrendered Christian -- than when He calls to that person through the life of someone in whom the fruit of goodness is ripe. So in yearning for this fruit of the Spirit, remember, it comes not by straining to be good but by surrendering to goodness.

Prayer:

O God, I see that goodness is not some extraneous thing introduced from without; it is something that rises from within. Teach me how to stop struggling and start surrendering. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

For Further Study
Matt. 5:1-16; 1 Pet. 2:12; Col. 1:10
1. What will cause the unbeliever to glorify God?
2. What was Paul's prayer for the Colossians?

[Judy Harder]

November 12

The ultimate test of character
Psalm 51:1-19
"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ..." (v.6)

We examine now the seventh fruit of the Spirit -- faithfulness or fidelity. Faithfulness (Greek: pistis) is the quality of reliability or trust-worthiness which makes a person someone on whom we can utterly rely and whose word we can utterly accept.
It has been said that the ultimate test of a person's character is: Are there any circumstances in which that person will lie? If so, then that person's character is blemished. I know a Christian worker who puts in hours of service and who would work his fingers to the bone for anyone in need but, sadly, he cannot always speak the truth. That basic falsity cancels out much of the value of his accomplishments.

In a Third World country, where the leaders of churches are obliged to declare their property on their tax returns, one church owned a valuable gold cross. So that they would not have to pay so much tax, they decided to devalue the cross on their tax return and place its value at only a fraction of its real worth. One day the cross was stolen and cut up into small pieces. When the pieces were eventually recovered by the police, the church leaders went to court to prove they belonged to them. The judge called for a valuation of the gold and when told it was of very high value, he judged that the cross did not belong to the church as the stolen cross was of much higher value than the one listed on the church's tax return. So the gold was confiscated by the police. Those church leaders lost not only a cross -- they lost their character.

Prayer:

Father, impress upon me that not only do You desire truth in my inner parts but You have designed my being to function on truth. Unless I live in the truth and by the truth, I violate the structure of my being. Help me, dear Lord. Amen.

For Further Study
Eph. 4:1-25; Prov. 12:19; Lev. 19:11; Col. 3:9
1. What are we to put away?
2. What will be established forever?

[Judy Harder]

 

Every Day Light

Friday, November 13, 2009 

November 13

Riches with a capital "R"
Luke 16:1-13
"... if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" (v.11)

We must not think that because faithfulness is listed among the last three qualities on Paul's list, it is of lesser importance. So important is it that Jesus says in our passage today: "He who is faithful with a trifle is also faithful with a large trust, and he who is dishonest with a trifle is also dishonest with a large trust" (v.10, Moffatt).
I have often said to myself: there is a young man with a great future in the things of God. Yet time and again, I have seen them fail in their fidelity to small obligations, and I have then said to myself: unless there are great changes, that person will end up like the children of Israel in the wilderness -- going around in circles. Look again at what Jesus said, this time in the Moffatt translation: "If you are not faithful with dishonest mammon, how can you ever be trusted with true Riches?" Here the basic principles are laid down. If you are not faithful in the trifling, you will not be faithful in the tremendous. If you are not faithful with the material (mammon), how can you expect to be entrusted with the spiritual -- Otrue RichesO?Notice how Moffatt spells the word "riches" with a capital "R." Why is this? Because spiritual richness is a richness that is so rich you just have to spell it with a capital "R." But Jesus says one more thing: "If you are not faithful with what belongs to another, how can you ever be given what is your own?" Those who are not faithful with other people's possessions finish up with nothing of their own.

Prayer:

Father, I am conscious that day by day You let me be tested with the little. Help me to be faithful there so that I can be trusted to handle a lot. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

For Further Study
Matt. 25:14-30; 21:43; Song of Songs 1:6
1. What did the master say to the first two servants?
2. What was the confession of the writer of the Song of Songs?

[Judy Harder]

November 14

"Lies have short legs"
Luke 12:1-12
"There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." (v.2)

Both the universe and ourselves are made for truth and honesty, and both the universe and ourselves are alien to untruth and dishonesty. The universe is made for the same thing as we are -- namely righteousness. Not only the face of the Lord, but the face of the universe is set against those who live below its standards.
I know that this may sound somewhat hollow in an age which appears to thrive on dishonesty and corruption, but I stand by it nevertheless. The universe is not built for the success of dishonesty and corruption. A lie breaks itself upon the moral universe, perhaps not today, not tomorrow -- but certainly at some point in the future. The Tamils of South India have a saying: "The life of the cleverest lie is only eight days." The Germans have a saying: "Lies have short legs." During the Second World War, they adapted that saying to, "Lies have one leg." That was because Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister, had one short leg. A passionate antagonist of Communism is reported to have said: "In our fight against Communism we are handicapped by our decency and honesty." Since when was honesty and decency a handicap? It is indecency and dishonesty that are handicaps; they bring us into bondage -- inwardly and outwardly. Governments, organizations and institutions which practice dishonesty will be broken from within. History has proved that. The Roman Empire collapsed, not from without but from within -- broken upon the rock of its own corruption. Believe me, no one gets away with anything in a moral universe. No one.

Prayer:

Gracious Father, I don't want my moral joints to creak with dishonesty, so dwell deeply within me by Your Spirit and lubricate them with the oil of Your honesty. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

For Further Study
1 Cor. 4:1-5; Num. 32:23; Eccl. 12:14
1. What will happen when the Lord comes?
2. What can we be sure of?

[Judy Harder]

November 15

Doomed to drudgery
Acts 5:1-11
"... 'How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?' ..." (v.9)

The seventh fruit of the Spirit -- faithfulness -- is often sadly lacking in God's children. There are professing Christians who seem to think that things like tax evasion or making telephone calls from their office without permission are issues that have no direct bearing on their Christian life.
A minister watched a woman make a long-distance call from an airport pay-phone. Afterwards she told him: "I made a person-to-person call to myself at home and of course was told I was not there. This let my family know that I had arrived safely and there was no need to pay for the call, as I didn't get through to myself." She thought she was clever but she was just a clever fool, for calling herself up in this way just started a series of calls to herself on the inside of herself -- calls that would lead to even more serious moral violations. She sold herself -- cheap.

In Madras in India they tell the story of a farmer who, when selling milk to his customers, had to drive his cow and its calf from door to door. Why did he have to trudge in the hot sun day after day? There was a simple reason -- he could not be trusted. The housewives knew that he would water down the milk and so they made him milk the cow in front of their eyes. His dishonesty doomed him to drudgery. Dishonesty always does this. It may not bring drudgery on the outside but it most certainly brings drudgery on the inside. The worst thing about dishonesty is to be the person who is dishonest.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for reminding me that no dishonesty is worth the price I will have to pay for it -- inner conflict and unhappiness. Help me to be honest with You and also with myself. Amen.

For Further Study
Matt. 23:1-25; Prov. 11:1; 21:6; Hos. 12:7
1. What did Jesus say of the Pharisees?
2. What is the Lord's delight?

[Judy Harder]

November 16

The cement of society
Matthew 5:13-20
"You are the salt of the earth ..." (v.13)

One thing is becoming crystal clear as we continue meditating on faithfulness and fidelity -- nobody gets away with anything in a moral universe if that "anything" is dishonest and untrue. The whole history of humanity is a commentary on this. Remember the first lie uttered by Satan -- "You shall not surely die"? He keeps on repeating that well-worn but discredited lie to every member of Adam's race. Something dies in us the moment we are dishonest -- not the least, our self-respect. Death eats away at our hearts the moment dishonesty is let in. We are not so much punished for sin as by sin. I came across a statement in a book in which the writer said: "There are two major principles for getting and keeping political power: (1) let nothing, least of all truth and honor, interfere with success; (2) be honest and trustworthy in the little things, but boldly dishonest in the large ones." What would be the result of someone getting political power by following those two principles? I will tell you. Like blind Samson, they would pull down the pillars of society around their heads and the heads of others also.
It is the ten righteous men who spare the Sodoms of this world. Fidelity is the cement that holds society together; take it away and it destroys itself. I may be stretching imagination too far by saying this, but in my opinion the Christian presence, especially as it represents fidelity, holds the world on its course. Civilization would have disintegrated long ago were it not for the moral and Christian character that flows out of the Church into the world.

Prayer:

Father, help me to be one who holds the world together by my character. And let the hallmark of my character be fidelity to truth and righteousness. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

For Further Study
Mark 9:38-50; 1 Thess. 1:8; Heb. 11:4
1. When is salt useless?
2. For what did Paul commend the Thessalonians?