June 21

Like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest. (Isaiah 57:20)

The only thing that can keep us from peace is sin. God turneth the way of the wicked upside down. There is no peace for the wicked, saith my God. They are like the troubled sea that cannot rest, casting up filth and mire all the while; but peace with God by faith in Jesus Christ—peace through the knowledge of forgiven sin, is like a rock; the waters go dashing and surging past, but it abides.

June 20

Take ye away the stone (John 11:39)

Before the act of raising Lazarus could be performed, the disciples had their part to do. Christ could have removed the stone with a word. It would have been very easy for Him to have commanded it to roll away, and it would have obeyed His voice, as the dead Lazarus did when He called him back to life.

But the Lord would have His children learn this lesson: that they have something to do toward raising the spiritually dead. The disciples had not only to take away the stone, but after Christ had raised Lazarus they had to “loose and let him go.”

June 19

Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor (2 Corinthians 8:9)

This poor world is groaning and sighing for sympathy—human sympathy. I am quite sure it was that in Christ’s life which touched the hearts of the common people. He made Himself one with them. He who was rich for our sakes became poor. He was born in the manger so that He might put Himself on a level with the lowest of the low.

June 18

I am the light of the world (John 8:12)

I heard of an infidel once who said, “Look at your convert; it is all moonshine.” The young convert replied to him, “I thank you for the compliment. We are perfectly willing to be called that. The moon borrows the light from the sun, and so we borrow ours from Christ.”

June 17

Blessed are ye when men . . . persecute you. (Matthew 5:11)

Listen to Paul in the jail at Philippi. “If God wants me to go to heaven by way of this prison,” he says, “it is all the same to me; rejoice and be exceeding glad, Silas. I thank God that I am accounted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ sake.”

And as they sang their praises to God, the other prisoners heard them; but, what was far more important, the Lord heard them, and the old prison shook. Talk about Alexander the Great making the world tremble with his armies. Here is a little tent-maker who makes the world tremble without any army!

June 16

Faith without works is dead. (James 2:20)

You may very often see dead fish floating with the stream, but you never saw dead fish swimming against it. Well, that is your false believer. Profession is just floating down the stream, but confession is swimming against it, no matter how strong the tide.

June 15

The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

The heir to some great estate, while a child, thinks more of a dollar in his pocket than all his inheritance. So even some professing Christians are more elated by a passing pleasure than they are by their title to eternal glory.