THE RESISTLESS MAGNET
Matthew 2:1-12
What drawing power Jesus had, and has! Away from the Far East he drew these thoughtful men, on a long, tedious journey, through strange lands, without any guidebooks, but with the unerring starry guide. And he hasn’t changed. He still draws men, from East and West and every other point of the mariner’s compass, and from every point and angle of the compass of need and difficulty. Let’s hold Jesus up. Men’ll come to him. They can’t help it.
CAN YOU SING?
Luke 2:25-35
Simeon had been taking vocal lessons and practicing for a long time. He had the Master-musician for his teacher—the Holy Spirit. His ear was trained by careful listening. Expert listening is really skilled silence. He had caught the true keynote and could sing it, and sing it accurately, without flatting or sharping or sliding, hitting every note clear and true. We need more singing of this sort. And the singing-school is still open.
THE DECISIVE TEST
Luke 2:8-20
It was the thing to do, what these shepherds did—go to see for themselves. The personal test is the decisive test. It is the thing: go to Jesus direct and find out for yourself. Of course, they hadn’t far to go. Neither have we. Get into a quiet corner, with the door shut, and the Book open, the knees and will bent, and you’ll find out for yourself the reality of Jesus for your life and your problems.
Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life?
THE NEW CENTER OF GRAVITY
Luke 2:1-7
The promise has become a person. Prophecy has taken human form. The old pages are full of someone coming. In these newer leaves he has come, actually come. With all the humanness of a mother’s expectancy become a thrilling experience, of a father’s protecting care, of a babe’s wondrous face and presence, aye, of cramped quarters and a world busily, noisily hurrying by unnoticing, unappreciative, He has come who yet will be the world’s center of spirit gravity.
GOD WILL DO IT
Isaiah 9:2-7
Every promise of God’s is a prophecy of what he means to do, and what he surely will do. Sin may delay but cannot prevent God’s plans working out. In one of the darkest hours of Israel’s story, and the world’s, there shines out boldly, clearly, in striking contrast with the gloom all around, this exquisite promise of what God meant to do for the world. So our dark hour shall know bright gleams of light if we’ll keep our face Godward.
NEEDS REPRINTING
Genesis 50:1-13
The family is the controlling unit of life in the Orient. There the family tie is the strongest of all ties. Here in the Western Hemisphere individual initiative—everyone free to swing out for himself—is the controlling characteristic. Both Orient and Occident go to not-good extremes in this. A wholesome blend of both is the normal thing. We need to strengthen’ wholesomely our family loyalties. The Fifth Commandment needs reprinting with big type in American life.
