Morning “He arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty

days and forty nights.” / 1 Kings 19:8

 All the strength supplied to us by our gracious God is meant for service, not

for wantonness or boasting. When the prophet Elijah found the cake baked on

the coals, and the cruse of water placed at his head, as he lay under the

juniper tree, he was no gentleman to be gratified with dainty fare that he

might stretch himself at his ease; far otherwise, he was commissioned to go

forty days and forty nights in the strength of it, journeying towards Horeb,

the mount of God. When the Master invited the disciples to “Come and dine”

with him, after the feast was concluded he said to Peter, “Feed my sheep”;

further adding, “Follow me.” Even thus it is with us; we eat the bread of

heaven, that we may expend our strength in the Master’s service. We come to

the passover, and eat of the paschal lamb with loins girt, and staff in hand,

so as to start off at once when we have satisfied our hunger. Some Christians

are for living on Christ, but are not so anxious to live for Christ. Earth

should be a preparation for heaven; and heaven is the place where saints feast

most and work most. They sit down at the table of our Lord, and they serve him

day and night in his temple. They eat of heavenly food and render perfect

service. Believer, in the strength you daily gain from Christ labour for him.

Some of us have yet to learn much concerning the design of our Lord in giving

us his grace. We are not to retain the precious grains of truth as the

Egyptian mummy held the wheat for ages, without giving it an opportunity to

grow: we must sow it and water it. Why does the Lord send down the rain upon

the thirsty earth, and give the genial sunshine? Is it not that these may all

help the fruits of the earth to yield food for man? Even so the Lord feeds and

refreshes our souls that we may afterwards use our renewed strength in the

promotion of his glory.

 

Evening “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” / Mark 16:16

 Mr. MacDonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St. Kilda how a man must

be saved. An old man replied, “We shall be saved if we repent, and forsake our

sins, and turn to God.” “Yes,” said a middle-aged female, “and with a true

heart too.” “Aye,” rejoined a third, “and with prayer”; and, added a fourth,

“It must be the prayer of the heart.” “And we must be diligent too,” said a

fifth, “in keeping the commandments.” Thus, each having contributed his mite,

feeling that a very decent creed had been made up, they all looked and

listened for the preacher’s approbation, but they had aroused his deepest

pity. The carnal mind always maps out for itself a way in which self can work

and become great, but the Lord’s way is quite the reverse. Believing and being

baptized are no matters of merit to be gloried in–they are so simple that

boasting is excluded, and free grace bears the palm. It may be that the reader

is unsaved–what is the reason? Do you think the way of salvation as laid down

in the text to be dubious? How can that be when God has pledged his own word

for its certainty? Do you think it too easy? Why, then, do you not attend to

it? Its ease leaves those without excuse who neglect it. To believe is simply

to trust, to depend, to rely upon Christ Jesus. To be baptized is to submit to

the ordinance which our Lord fulfilled at Jordan, to which the converted ones

submitted at Pentecost, to which the jailer yielded obedience the very night

of his conversion. The outward sign saves not, but it sets forth to us our

death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus, and, like the Lord’s Supper, is

not to be neglected. Reader, do you believe in Jesus? Then, dear friend,

dismiss your fears, you shall be saved. Are you still an unbeliever, then

remember there is but one door, and if you will not enter by it you will

perish in your sins.