FROM HAND TO MOUTH
Exodus 16:14-24
Nobody likes to live from hand to mouth; it seems beggarly. These wilderness folk did. They couldn’t help themselves. There was no other way. When you sift down into the thing, so do we! Yes, we all live literally from hand to mouth. But then it’s God’s hand to oar mouths. If God cut us off for one day, where should we be! Think into it a bit. How grateful we should be for such a faithful God!
THE GET-SPIRIT
Mark 10:35-45
Most men spend most of their waking hours getting. So they provide bread and bed. But if this necessity gets into control, the spirit of a man’s life is getting. That means a dead sea. Every stream turns in. He may give; and yet the get-spirit be in control. Jesus, too. spent most of his human years getting, earning a livelihood; but the controlling spirit was to give, even to his life. We may be like him.
THE RESISTLESS MAGNET
Mark 6:32-44
The crowds drew Jesus down from his Father’s house, into close touch with their sore need. Into keenest suffering and sacrifice for their sakes, they drew him. Men’s need tugged constantly at Jesus’ great heart. Whatever thing they needed he gave, and gave it freely, yet always thoughtfully. He came not to get but to give. And he still gives as men need. And so does the Jesus-man, as the Spirit guides. It’s a sure mark.
MOVING IN BY GETTING OUT
Romans 10:6-15
Jesus let all the way in, and then let all the way out—that’s the message for all the world. His blood cleanses, his presence changes heart and habits. Then he pushes his way out through the new light in the eye, the new gentleness of the tongue, the new earnestness of the life, out through word and gold and ready feet. His coming in brings life. His getting out makes you know better that he’s in.
PERSONAL FRAGRANCE
Acts 1:6-8; Acts 2:1-4
Someone comes in when the door swings wide to Jesus. We call that someone the “Holy Spirit.” He kindles a soft but intense fire inside. You find yourself instinctively doing things for others, and telling them of Jesus. And as you do there’s a something—a gentle, winsome, burning something—that wings its way into people’s hearts like morning sunlight into a room. The word used for it is “power.” But the thing is more than the word ever tells.
