Part 10 (1/2)

Faith goes out on this invincible reliance. It is ”the a.s.surance of things hoped for.” And by faith it inherits these things and is rich and strong in their possession.

MARCH The First

_OVERCHARGING THE HEART_

LUKE xxi. 25-36.

Here is a great peril. Our hearts may be ”_overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares_.” Our mode of living may send our spirits to sleep. Yes, we may so ill-use our bodies that the watchman sleeps at his post! We can over-eat, and dim our moral sight. A man's daily meals have vital relations.h.i.+p with his vision of the Lord. If I would have a clear spirit I must not overburden the flesh.

And therefore am I bidden to ”_take heed_” to myself. I must exercise common sense, the most important of all the senses. I must put a bridle upon my appet.i.te, and hold it in subjection to my Lord.

And I must ”_watch_!” The devil is surpa.s.singly cunning, and, if he can, he will mix an opiate even with the sacramental wine. He will lure me among the winsome poppies, and put me into a perilous sleep.

And I must ”_pray_!” I have a great and glorious Defender! Let me humbly yet confidently use Him, and I shall be delivered from the snares of appet.i.te, and from the benumbing influence of all excess.

MARCH The Second

_THE POWER OF THE CROSS_

JOHN x. 11-18.

”I lay down my life.” In that supreme sacrifice all other sacrifices turn pale. In the power of that sacrifice the blackest guilt finds forgiveness.

Its energies seek out the ruined and desolate life with glorious offer of renewal. When the Lord laid down His life the entire race found a new beginning. Our hope is born at the Cross. It is there that ”the burden of our sin rolls away.” In His night we find daybreak. When He said, ”It is finished,” our soul could sing, ”Life is begun.”

And so pilgrims gather at the Cross. Songs are heard there, the ”sweetest ever sung by mortal tongues.” And the power of the Cross never wanes. Its glorious grace reaches the soul to-day as in the earliest days. It inspires the despairing heart. It transforms the mind. It remakes the tissues of the will. There is no shattered power that the power of the Cross cannot restore. ”We are complete in Him.”

”In the Cross of Christ I glory, Towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime.”

MARCH The Third

_PREPARING FOR THE BRIDE_

JOHN xiv. 1-14.

Our Lord has prepared a place. It is the Bridegroom ”getting the house ready” for the bride. And, therefore, the preparations are not made grudgingly and with slow reluctance. Everything is of the best, and done with the swift delight of love. ”Come, for all things are now ready.”

And our Lord will fetch His bride to the prepared place. ”I am the way.”

We become so wrapt up in Him that nothing else counts. I once travelled through the Black Country with a fascinating friend, and I never saw it!