Overthrow

Overthrow Down the birth canal of faith Copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo ON, 2020

Went Up That Hill

by James Tissot

Breezing along for years Doing the things instructed Noble parents’ examples And the words formed

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A community themselves: Hope, Saviour, Flock, Pilgrim Red bows, green boughs Purple and gold sashes And the music – Wesley, Newton, Watts, Handel.

Seemed as if we had it all.

Self-assured.

But then some setbacks Challenges to decency Regrettable stumbling.

And images of those other words: Selfish, heartless, judgment, failure Repentance.

And not to be passed by Roadblocks of pain and guilt.

But there He was The Galilean of boundless help.

Come my way and gazing

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Straight at me.

No secrets now; no play-acting No sterile religion.

But Words of Life Begetting Life.

Cleansing the dark vocabulary Shouldering me through the valley.

Smiling with encouraging zeal.

Just as the old man from that galley ship had said: ‘Taught my heart to fear And then my fears relieved.’

Grace gifted clean and constant.

Hallelujah.

In and Out?

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall g ​ o in and out​, and find pasture. (John 10: 9)

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The “in” part I have understood. Into salvation and understanding; into rescue and security; into rich fellowship with the Shepherd and the other sheep; into the assurance of the hope in Glory; into an agenda that is not my own.

But that going out part? I have heard it said out of training and into the living of it; out of security into the bumps and grinds of real living; out of the mountain-top experience and into the demon-plagued valley; out of the cloistered Jewish community and into a wide world of Gentiles and heathens.

What about out of fellowship with the Shepherd and into infatuation with some aspect of the world? Yes this does happen. The common story of the shepherd does include his searching out and finding the wayward sheep, and returning him to the flock. More than once.

Have I been wayward. Of course!

Has He found some way to show me the futility of such a position? Have I come back even more appreciative? Have I been motivated by the experience to speak even more enthusiastically of His grace to others? Have I grown in the thankful and reverent (fearful) heart? Have I developed a more sensitive ear to His whispered leading?

We are also told in the tenth chapter of John that the sheep know His voice, and will follow none other. I might go on to say that the sheep know each other’s voice, or perhaps the resonance of Christ’s in each other.

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And we hear the Good Shepherd say ​“I lay down my life for the sheep”.

What keeping power is there in that statement? What breaking of our own willfulness? What love creating the strongest of adhesives?

The Essential Abiding

Apart From Me Ye Can Do Nothing​ – John 15.5

In everything the life of the branch is to be the exact counterpart of that of the Vine. Of Himself Jesus had said: “The Son can do nothing of himself.” As the outcome of that entire dependence, He could add: “All that the Father doeth, doeth the Son also likewise.” As Son He did not 5

receive His life from the Father once for all, but moment by moment. His life was a continual waiting on the Father for all He was to do. And so Christ says of His disciples: “Ye can do nothing apart from me.” He means it literally. To everyone who wants to live the true disciple life, to bring forth fruit and glorify God, the message comes: You can do nothing. What had been said: “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit,” is here enforced by the simplest and strongest of arguments: “Abiding in Me is indispensable, for, you know it, of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life.”

A deep conviction of the truth of this word lies at the very root of a strong spiritual life. As little as I created myself, as little as I could raise a man from the dead, can I give myself the divine life. As little as I can give it myself, can I maintain or increase it: every motion is the work of God through Christ and His Spirit. It is as a man believes this, that he will take up that position of entire and continual dependence which is the very essence of the life of faith. With the spiritual eye he sees Christ every moment supplying grace for every breathing and every deepening of the spiritual life. His whole heart says Amen to the word: You can do nothing. And just because he does so, he can also say: “I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me.” The sense of helplessness, and the abiding to which it compels, leads to true fruitfulness and diligence in good works.

Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Power in Humility on J​ une 13, 2009

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The Vicar of Christ, the man in the Seat of Peter, the Pope had made special allowances for an audience with Francis of Assisi. He was curious to examine this poor monk and to test his heart.

Walking some distance ahead of the retinue, the two passed by an endless succession of statues, fine art, ornaments, glass-works, frescoes and opulent construction.

The Pope turned to Francis at one point with a half-smile and said, "So, I guess that it can no longer be said of us that silver and gold have we none." (Acts 3: 1-10)

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"No, Your Eminence," Francis replied,"neither can you say, in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk."

God has established the principle that humility comes before spiritual power or leadership. Consider the passage from Hebrews 5:

8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

9And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Consider also Isaiah 57:

15For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

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The person who has been shown his sin and limitation will waste no more time trusting in self, but will rush to the counsel and strength of the Lord. He has undergone suffering and stretching, and has acquired empathy for the difficulties of others, because he has gone down similar paths. Like David, he can rehearse a personal history of rescues from the lion and bear. His God has proved Himself able. The approaching Goliath will also fall down. The battle is the Lord's. It has cost him to acquire this spiritual currency of holy audacity.

Such currency will work to the comfort and salvation of others.

2 Corinthians 1: 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

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So my friends, when you come to "the knothole" or the dark tunnel and squeeze through, trusting in your loving Heavenly Father, you may expect enlarged opportunities. Be on the look-out for them. Take what you have to the streets, schools and work-places. Be a servant who knows his place, but who also recognizes the power delegated to him by the Master.

DEVOTIONAL​ F ​ RIEND ISAIAH​ S ​ PIRITUAL CURRENCY​ S ​ T. FRANCIS

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