_THE SACRED USE OF LIBERTY_

"_Take heed lest this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling-block._"

--1 CORINTHIANS viii. 8-13.

That is a very solemn warning. My liberty may trip someone into bondage.

If life were an affair of one my liberty might be wholesome; but it is an affair of many, and my liberty may be destructive to my fellows. I am not only responsible for my life, but for its influence. When a thing has been lived there is still the example to deal with. If orange peel be thrown upon the pavement, that is not the end of the feast. The man who slips over the peel is a factor in the incident, and my responsibility covers him.

I am, therefore, to consider both my deeds and their influence. How does my life trend when it touches my brother? In what way does he move because of the impact of my example? Towards liberty or towards license? To the swamps of transgression or to the fields of holiness? These are determining questions, and I must not seek to escape or ignore them. My brother is a vital part of my life. I must never shut him out of my sight.

How is he influenced by my example? "If meat make my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth."

DECEMBER The Fifteenth

_WHAT IS MY TENDENCY?_

"_Whether we live, we live unto_...."

--ROMANS xiv. 7-21.

Unto what? In what direction are we living? Whither are we going? How do we complete the sentence? "We live unto _money_!" That is how many would be compelled to finish the record. Money is their goal, and their goal determines their tendency. "We live unto _pleasure_!" Such would be another popular company. "We live unto _fame_!" That would be the banner of another regiment. "We live unto _ease_!" Thus would men and women describe their quests. "Unto" what? That is the searching question which probes life to its innermost desire.

"For whether we live, we live _unto the Lord_." That was the apostle's unfailing tendency, increasing in its momentum every day. He crashed through obstacles in his glorious quest. He sought the Lord through everything and in everything. When new circ.u.mstances confronted him, his first question was this--"Where is Christ in all this?" He found the right way across every trackless moor by simply seeking Christ.

DECEMBER The Sixteenth

_THE GREATEST WONDERS_

HEBREWS xi. 30-40.

The greatest wonders are not in Nature but in grace. A regenerated soul is a greater marvel than the marvel of the spring-time. A transfigured face is a deeper mystery than a sun-lit garden. To rear graces in a life once scorched and blasted by sin is more wonderful than to grow flowers on a cinder-heap. If we want to see the realm of surpa.s.sing wonders we must look into a soul that has been born again and is now in vital union with the living Christ. Even the angels watch the sight with ever-deepening awe and praise.

As the spiritual is the home of wonders, so also is it the field of brightest exploits. It is not what men have done by the sword that counts in the esteem of heaven--such deeds mean little or nothing; it is what they have done "by faith." Weak, frail men and women have put their faith in G.o.d, and have done the impossible! Faith unites the weakling with almightiness! Faith makes a lonely soul one with "the spirits of just men made perfect," and with them he shares "the power and the glory" of the eternal G.o.d.

DECEMBER The Seventeenth

_G.o.d'S PRESENCE OUR DEFENCE_

EXODUS xv. 11-18.

When we invent little devices to protect us against the evil one, he laughs at our petty presumption. It is like unto a child erecting sand ramparts against an incoming sea. The only thing that makes the devil fear is the presence of G.o.d. Our money can do nothing. Our culture can do nothing. Our social status can do nothing. Only G.o.d can deal with devils.

"By the greatness of Thine arm they shall be still as a stone." When Thou art with me "I will fear no evil"; the fear shall be with my foes.

It is, therefore, the divine in anything which endows it with a strong defence. If the holy G.o.d dwells in our culture, then our culture becomes like an invulnerable fort. If G.o.d abides in our recreations, then our very sports are armed against our foes. If "the joy of the Lord" is in our festivity, then our very merriment is proof against the invasion of the world. When the Lord is in us, fear dwells in the opposite camp.

"Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be shaken in the heart of the seas."

DECEMBER The Eighteenth

_THE SINNER'S GUEST_

"_He is gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner._"

--LUKE xix. 1-10.

It was hurled as an accusation; it has been treasured as a garland. It was first said in contempt; it is repeated in adoration. It was thought to reveal His earthliness; it is now seen to unveil His glory. Our Saviour seeks the home of the sinner. The Best desires to be the guest of the worst. He spreads His kindnesses for the outcasts, and He offers His friendship to the exile on the loneliest road. He waits to befriend the defeated, the poor folk with aching consciences and broken wills. He loves to go to souls that have lost their power of flight, like birds with broken wings, which can only flutter in the unclean road. He went to Zacchaeus.

Yes, the Lord went to be "guest with a man that is a sinner," and He changed the sinner into a saint. The worldling found wings. The stone became flesh. Gentle emotions began to stir in a heart hardened by heedlessness and sin. Rest.i.tution took the place of greed. The home of the sinner became the temple of the Lord. "To-day is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham."

DECEMBER The Nineteenth

_THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS_

"_A light to lighten the Gentiles._"

--LUKE ii. 25-40.

That was the wonder of wonders. Hitherto the light had been supposed to be for Israel alone; and now a heavenly splendour was to fall upon the Gentiles. Hitherto the light had been thought of as a lamp, illuming a single place; now it was to be a sun, shedding its glory upon a world. The "people that sat in darkness" are now to see "a great light." New regions are to be occupied; there is to be daybreak everywhere! "The Sun of Righteousness is arisen, with healing in His wings."

"To lighten the Gentiles!" And thus the heavenly beams have come to thee and me, to Europe and America, and to all the nations of the earth. The amazing privilege is our personal inheritance. We are born to glorious rights in Christ Jesus. But a wealthy heir may neglect this inheritance.

We may have the light and neglect our garden. We may have all the favours of a blessed clime, and yet our life may be like a wilderness. The Gentiles may have the light, and may yet be children of the darkness. It is ours to believe in the light that our lives may become "light in the Lord."

DECEMBER The Twentieth

_THE COMING OF THE LORD_

JOHN i. 1-14.

My Lord came as "_the word_." He came as the expression of the mind of the eternal G.o.d. Ordinary words could not have carried the "good news."

Ordinary language was an altogether inadequate vessel for this new wine.