My Daily Meditation for the Circling YearJowett, John Henry
Religion
My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year
Jowett, John Henry
Calendars; Devotional exercises
"_Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do,
do all to the glory of God._"
--1 CORINTHIANS x. 23-33.
And so all my days would constitute a vast temple, and life would be a
constant worship. This is surely the science and art of holy living--to
relate everything to the Infinite. When I take my common meal and relate
it to "the glory of God," the common meal becomes a sacramental feast.
When my labour is joined "unto the Lord," the sacred wedding turns my
workshop into a church. When I link the country lane to the Saviour, I am
walking in the Garden of Eden, and paradise is restored.
The fact of the matter is, we never see anything truly until we see it in
the light of the glory of God. Set a dull duty in that light and it shines
like a diamond. Set a bit of drudgery in that light and it becomes
transfigured like the wing of a starling when the sunshine falls upon it.
Everything is seen amiss until we see it in the glory! And, therefore, it
is my wisdom to set everything in that light, and to do all to the glory
of God.
DECEMBER The Thirteenth
_THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE_
"_Put difference between the holy and the unholy._"
--LEVITICUS x. 1-10.
The peril of our day is that so many of these differences are growing
faint. The holy merges into the unholy, and we can scarcely see the
dividing line. Black merges into white through manifold shades of grey.
Falsehood slopes into truth through cunning expediences and white lies.
Lust merges into purity through conviviality and geniality and
good-fellowship. So is one thing losing itself in another, and vivid moral
distinctions are being obscured and effaced.
There is only one way to keep these native contrasts in vivid relief, and
that is by living in the unsullied light of God's holy presence. "In Thy
light shall we see light." Things are seen in their true colours only when
we bring them before the great white throne. Fabrics seen in the gas-light
reveal quite other shades when we bring them into the light of day. We
must not make our distinctions in the gas-light of worldly standard and
expediency; we must take them into His presence before whose radiance even
the angels veil their faces, and we shall see things as they are, and we
shall know "the difference between the holy and the profane."
DECEMBER The Fourteenth
_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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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