Every Day Light

[Judy Harder]

October 3

Mature -- only in love
Ephesians 4:7-16
"... speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him ..." (v.15)

We are seeing that love is the first outcome of the Spirit within, and if this is lacking, everything is lacking.
The first indication of the fact that we are growing spiritually is that we are growing in love. If we grow in love, then we grow -- period. Without growing in love, we cannot grow in God, for His essential nature is love.

Our passage today, in the Moffatt translation, tells us that we are to "hold by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him." There is only one way to grow up wholly into Him, and that is "by our love." We remain immature if we are immature in love. If the love is ingrown and focused on itself then the result is an immature personality. If the love is selectively applied to certain groups, again the result is an immature personality.

We are mature to the extent that we can love. Indeed all other growth, without growth in love, is what someone has described as "sucker love -- growth that bears no fruit." J. B. Phillips' translation of 1 Corinthians 8:1 puts it this way: "While knowledge may make a man look big, it is only love that can make him grow to his full stature." There is a great emphasis on getting knowledge in today's Church. A lecturer in a leading British theological college recently wrote: "Know the facts of the faith and that will redeem you." I know many Christians who are good at giving facts in relation to the faith but not so good at giving love. Knowledge looks big, but it is just big barrenness unless love is behind it.

Prayer:

O Father, I sense that You are bringing me to the very crux of things. Hold me to it, for unless I grow in love then I do not grow in You. Help me, dear Father. Amen.

For Further Study
Eph. 3:1-19; 1 John 4:16; Jude v.21
1. What are we to be rooted in?
2. What was Paul's desire for the Ephesians?

[Judy Harder]

October 4

What compels you?
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
"For Christ's love compels us ..." (v.14)

What exactly does Scripture mean when it uses the word "love"? In English, the word "love" has a variety of meanings. It is used for the mighty passion that moves in the heart of God but it is used also to describe such things as the flutterings of the adolescent heart in spring, an extramarital affair, or a homosexual relationship. The one word "love" has to be spread over a multiplicity of diverse meanings. The Greek language is much richer in this respect. It has four words for love. One is eros, meaning love between the sexes. Another is philia, meaning affectionate human love. Then there is the word storge, meaning family love. The most powerful word for love, however, is agape, which means unconditional love -- the love that surges in the heart of God. When Paul says, "the fruit of the Spirit is love," the word he uses for love is agape. He means that the love we are expected to experience and demonstrate when we are indwelt by the Spirit is not just love in general, but love of a specific kind -- the love which we see exemplified in Jesus.
In the text before us today, Paul says: "For Christ's love compels us." This cuts deep. It is possible to be compelled by the love of achievement, of success, of a cause, of a fight. What compels you -- the love of a cause or the love of Christ? The enemies of the early Christians complained that "these followers of Jesus love each other even before they are acquainted." They did. They couldn't help it, for the very nature of the faith they had embraced was love.

Prayer:

Father, as I look into my heart in these few moments to see what controls me, help me to come out with the same answer as the apostle Paul -- "the love of Christ." Pour Your love in so that I may pour it out to others. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

For Further Study
1 Pet. 1:1-9; John 15:13; 1 John 3:16
1. What is the ultimate expression of love?
2. What was Peter's testimony of the scattered strangers?


 

[Judy Harder]

October 5

Love cannot fail
John 13:1-17
"Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." (v.1)

The love which flows in our hearts when we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit is not a general love but a specific one -- the love of Christ. This love dulls the edge of disappointment and enables us to be invulnerable to many things, not least a lack of appreciation. The poet was thinking of this high degree of love when he wrote: Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! It is an ever fixed mark,That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

Let's follow this thought through a little more deeply. The nine ingredients of the fruit of the Spirit were all exemplified in Jesus' life on earth, and it is the present purpose of the Holy Spirit to engraft them into us as we abide in Christ and maintain a close, day-by-day relationship with Him. When we do this, the very first evidence will be that of agape love. This is not a give-and-take kind of love, a love that is reciprocal; it is a love that descends from above and is showered on the deserving and the undeserving, the agreeable and the disagreeable. Christians who dwell deeply in God find that they are changed from people who just love occasionally, when it is convenient, to people whose controlling purpose is love. Love becomes the organizing motive and power in their lives. Such love "never fails," for it always finds a way of expressing itself -- and when it expresses itself, it is itself the success.

Prayer:

O Father, I see that in expressing love, I become more loving even if the other person doesn't accept my love. I cannot fail in love even if love seems to fail in accomplishing the desired end. I am so thankful. Amen.

For Further Study
1 Thess. 3:1-12; John 13:35; 15:12
1. What is the hallmark of the true disciple?
2. What was Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians?

[Judy Harder]

October 6

Love must be realized
Luke 23:32-46
"And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him ..." (v.33, NKJV)

How can we ensure that the love which surges in the heart of God surges also in us? We must not strain to love, but allow the love of God to love within us. Dr. W. E. Sangster, the famous Methodist preacher, said that those who best manifest God's love are those who have had a blinding realization of the love of God and whose own love flames in response.
If that is true, then how do we come to have a blinding realization of the love of God? We must go to Calvary. Here the heart of God is unveiled. We may have become used to the phrase "God is love" and after a while it is no more exciting than saying that the sun gives light -- it is simply part of the order of things. There is no wonder in it and no realization either. Then, one day, we stand at the foot of the Cross and the Spirit illuminates the love of God to our hearts in such a way that the scales fall away and we look into the eyes of the world's most aggressive Lover. The thing we knew all our lives -- namely, that God is love -- now takes hold of us and for the first time we realize it.

Have you ever had a moment in your life when you have been blinded by the love of God? If not, this may be the reason why love does not surge in you and through you. Stand at the foot of the Cross today and ask God to give you a blinding revelation of His love. You have known it for so long -- now realize it.

Prayer:

O Father, how can I realize it unless You reveal it to me? As I sit in contemplation before Calvary, let Your love take hold of me afresh. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

For Further Study
Isa. 53; Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20; Gal. 6:14
1. What have we received through the Cross?
2. Read Isaiah 53 in several different translations.

[Judy Harder]

October 7

God -- the aggressive Lover
1 John 4:7-21
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us ..." (v.10)

When we perceive how much God loves us, an amazing effect is produced in our personalities -- we begin to love like Him. We cannot help it. Love -- agape love -- is not the fruit of labor; it is a response. When we stand at the foot of Calvary, the place where the love of God is fully focused and caught up, the scales drop from our eyes and our own love flames in response. We love Him because He first loved us.
Teresa of Avila tells how one day, going into her private room, she noticed a picture of our Lord being scourged before His crucifixion. She must have seen it hundreds of times, but in that moment of revelation she saw it as she had never seen it before. She saw God suffering -- suffering for love and suffering for her. The revelation sent her to her knees sobbing in pain and wonder, and when she arose, she was a changed woman. The revelation of Calvary's love was the great divide in her life. She said that she arose with a sense of "unpayable debt" and went out to share God's realized love with others.

Don't try to manufacture love. Linger in the shadow of the Cross. The love of God finds its most burning expression there. Meditate on it. Contemplate it. Remember that heaven knows no higher strategy for begetting love in mortal hearts than by granting us a vision of how much we are loved, a vision strong enough to evoke a response in our hearts -- and by that answering love begotten in us by the Holy Spirit, we are freed and purged and saved.

Prayer:

Gracious Father, I see that before I can love, I must comprehend how much I am loved. Help me be aware that in my heart I have the most aggressive Lover in the universe. I am eternally grateful. Amen.

For Further Study
Rom. 5:1-8; Jer. 31:3; Eph. 2:4-5; 1 John 3:1
1. How has God demonstrated His love for us?
2. What kind of love is God's love?

[Judy Harder]

October 8

Always a reason to rejoice
Psalm 105:1-15
"Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice." (v.3)

The second fruit of the Spirit is joy. It is no mere accident that "joy" follows the first, love. Joy is a by-product of love. If you concentrate on getting joy, it will elude you. But if you concentrate on getting love, then joy will seek you out -- you will be automatically joyful.
The nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit are not natural attributes, but supernatural ones. You cannot manufacture them -- they just appear in our lives as we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way within us. I know many Christians who find it difficult to embrace the fact that the fruit of the Spirit is joy. They not only don't expect joy -- they don't want it. One grim Christian said to me once: "At the heart of our faith is a Cross. This means we ought to be spending our time weeping, not laughing."Well, it is true that there is a Cross at the heart of the Christian faith, and that following Christ involves some rigorous self-denials, but it does not alter -- and cannot alter -- the fact that the fruit of the Spirit is joy. We cannot deny that there is a good deal of suffering in Christianity, but beneath the suffering is a joy that will, if we allow it, burst upward through everything. I am bound to say that if there is no joy, there is no Christianity, for Christianity is inherent joy. The empty tomb takes away our empty gloom. We have an Easter morning in our faith, and that means there is always a reason to rejoice.

Prayer:

Father, I am so thankful that Your Holy Spirit applies redemption right to the roots of my being. Thus I can be glad even when I am sad. Thank You, dear Father. Amen.

For Further Study
Luke 10:17-22, 15:4-6; Heb. 12:2
1. How did Christ relate joy to the Cross?
2. What brings joy to His heart?

[Judy Harder]

October 9

Joy -- always there
Psalm 30:1-12
"... Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." (v.5)

Joy is a central characteristic of the Christian -- and yet so many know nothing of it. They are under the lash of duty, and not unabashed delight. They are artificial, not artesian. Someone once described such Christians as "creaking in body and soul as they limp along the highway toward glory." They walk the road to glory but they are certainly not walking the glory road.
The word "joy" (Greek: chara) is a strong and robust word. It is not resignation wearing a wan smile. It means a joy that is exuberant and overflowing. The summons to rejoice is sounded no less than seventy times in the New Testament and the word chara occurs close on sixty times. The New Testament is a book of joy. Dr. William Barclay says that joy is the distinguishing atmosphere of the Christian life. He wrote: "We may put it this way -- whatever the ingredients of Christian experience and in whatever proportions they are mixed together, joy is one of them."Even in the first year after the death of my wife, I was wonderfully conscious of Christ's joy quietly breaking through the layers of my sadness and grief. Joy is always present in the heart of a Christian. It may not always be felt or recognized -- but it is always there. And eventually it will break the surface, no matter what our situation or our circumstances. I have always maintained that joy is an inevitable part of the Christian life. Now I am sure. Oh, so very sure.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for reminding me that when joy has its roots in You, then its fruits will eventually appear -- no matter what happens. Eternal honor and praise be to Your wonderful Name. Amen.

For Further Study
Psa. 126:1-6; 16:11; Neh. 8:10
1. What does joy bring to our beings?
2. How are tears linked with joy?

[Judy Harder]

October 10

Joy -- more than pleasure
John 16:17-33
"... I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." (v.22)

One of the reasons why so many Christians do not experience the delights of spiritual joy is because they do not expect to. A woman who came into the experience of Christian conversion: "Strange, but I never associated joy with God before." How sad that many do not expect their faith to make them basically and fully joyful now. They think that joy is reserved for the hereafter. Our Lord pointed out to the disciples that it was for the present.
We can better understand this supernatural joy if we distinguish it from the pleasures of life with which it is sometimes confused. Spiritual or supernatural joy is quite different from pleasure or happiness. A worldling can experience pleasure and happiness but he cannot experience supernatural joy. Indeed, worldly people often pride themselves in knowing how to experience pleasure. Yet pleasure and Christian joy cannot be equated. Look with me at some of the differences. Pleasure depends on circumstances. It requires a measure of health and wealth. It demands that the life conditions be kindly and thus it can be stolen from us by things like lack of money -- or even a toothache. Christian joy is completely independent of circumstances. It is there in the believer even when "strength and health and friends" are gone; when circumstances are not only unkind but savage. Out of all the miracles I have witnessed in my life, none is more wonderful than the miracle of seeing Christ's exuberant joy burst forth in those who are caught up in pain or persecution. The springs of Christian joy are deep within and can exist, no matter what the circumstances.

Prayer:

O Father, how can I thank You enough for imparting into my sadness Your unconquerable gladness. No matter what happens -- all is well with my soul. I am so grateful. Amen.

For Further Study
Acts 5:12-42, 16:23-25; 2 Cor. 6:10
1. How did the apostles respond to persecution?
2. How did Paul express it?

[Judy Harder]

October 11



Changing pleasures
Hebrews 13:1-16
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (v.

We said yesterday that pleasure and Christian joy cannot be equated because pleasure depends on circumstances -- Christian joy does not. Another difference is this -- pleasures come and go. Look back over your life for a moment and think of the changing things that have given you pleasure over the years. Perhaps, when you were a child, it was a bicycle that brought you pleasure. Or a football. Or a doll. Then when you entered your teens, it was something else. A relationship, perhaps -- or a sport. In later years, the things that gave you pleasure changed again. The theatre, books, an armchair ... the things that give us pleasure change with changing years. But the joy of God is constant.
Yet another difference between pleasure and joy is this -- pleasure satiates. It is easy to have too much. And when the point of satiety is passed, a sense of revulsion sets in. The things for which we crave become repulsive to us. Joy, however, never satiates. A Christian says: "We have enough, yet not too much to long for more." A final difference between pleasure and joy is that pleasure always remains superficial. It is like a Christmas party in a home where there is no true understanding of Christmas -- a party, but a party without purpose; a coronation, but no monarch. Joy, however, is deep. It bubbles beneath the personality, no matter what the circumstances. Joy, supernatural joy, is true bliss.

Prayer:

Gracious Father, fill me with this joy as I go out to face the world today. For the world is sad and I must not add to its gloom. Help me to radiate Your joy wherever I go. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

For Further Study
Hab. 3; Heb. 10:34; 1 Pet. 4:12-13
1. What was Habakkuk's testimony?
2. Why could he say this?

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, October 12, 2010   

Enjoy yourself?
Psalm 105:26-45
"He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy." (v.43)

A minister tells of standing outside his church one Sunday evening, shaking hands with the worshippers as they dispersed. It had been a joyous evening when God had come very close to His people and the awesome hush of His presence was upon them as they made their way home. A crowded motor coach, returning with revellers from the seaside and held up by the traffic, stopped outside the church. Some of the occupants, flushed with drink, put their heads out of the windows and shouted to those who were leaving the church: "Why don't you learn to enjoy yourself?" The preacher said: "Two ways of life met there for an instant. The coach moved on with the question hanging in the air: 'Why don't you enjoy yourself?' "Little did the men who shouted that question realize that it is those who think they are artists in enjoying themselves who signally fail. The Christian has more joy to the square inch than others have to the square mile. And it is pure, unalloyed joy without a kick-back in it. No Christian who has spent time in the presence of God in a church or among his fellow Christians the night before ever gets up in the morning and says: "Oh dear, I wish I hadn't been a Christian last night. My head is aching from the effects of spending time in the presence of God and among my fellow Christians. Why ever did I do it?" Christian joy is the kind that gives enjoyment without a hangover. It is a kick without a kick-back. Bliss, perfect bliss is the prerogative only of the people of God.
Prayer:

Father, I sense that Your joy is a joy that will outlast all earthly joys. I will still be singing when the sounds and pleasures of earth are silent and gone. Thank You, dear Father. Amen.

For Further Study
Isa. 61:1-10; Psa. 126:2; Ezra 6:22
1. How did Isaiah express his joy?
2. How will unbelievers respond when they see true joy?