My Daily Meditation for the Circling YearJowett, John Henry
Religion
My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year
Jowett, John Henry
Calendars; Devotional exercises
And that because it was all temple! "Every place was hallowed ground."
There was no merely localized Presence, because the Presence was
universal. God was realized everywhere, and therefore the little
meeting-tent had vanished, and in place of the measurable tabernacle there
were the immeasurable and God-filled heavens.
Even here on earth I can measure my spiritual growth by the corresponding
enlargement of my temple. What is the size of my sanctuary? Am I moving
toward the time when nothing shall be particularly hallowed because all
will be sanctified? Are the six days of the week becoming increasingly
like the seventh, until people can see no difference between my Monday
manners and my Sunday mood? And how about places? Do I still speak of
"religion being religion," and "business being business," or is something
of the sanctuary getting into my shop, and is the exchange becoming a
side-chapel of the Temple?
"_And the Lamb is the light thereof._" When we have done with the local
temple we can dispose of its candles. When we pass out of the twilight
into the morning "the stars retire." The fore-gleams will change into the
wondrous glory of the ineffable day.
JULY The Twenty-sixth
_THE WELLS OF SALVATION_
JOHN iii. 1-21.
The springs of our redemption are found in infinite love. "God is love!"
Redemption was not inspired by anger, but by grace. We do not contemplate
an angry God, demanding a victim, but a compassionate Father making a
sacrifice. At one extreme of our golden text is eternal "love," and at the
other extreme is "eternal life." What if the two are one? Etymologically,
"love" and "life" are akin. What if they are only two names for the same
thing?
To "believe" in the love is to receive the life. For when I believe in a
person's love I open my doors to the lover. And to believe in the love of
God is to let the heavenly Lover in. And with love comes a wonderful
tropical air--light, and warmth, and air; and "all things become new!" It
is the letting in of the spring, and things which have been in wintry
bondage awake, and arise from their graves.
And so I "_enter into the kingdom of God_." I become a native of a new and
marvellous country. I begin to be acclimatized in the realm of the blest.
And I "_see_ the kingdom of God." Spiritual perceptions become mine, and I
gaze upon the mystic glories of the home of God.
JULY The Twenty-seventh
_THE WORK OF FAITH_
1 JOHN v. 1-13.
And so by belief _I find life_. I do not obtain the vitalizing air through
controversy, or clamour, or idle lamentation, but by opening the window!
Faith opens the door and window of the soul to the Son of God. It can be
done without tears, it can be done without sensationalism. "If any man
will open the door, I will come in." "And he that hath the Son hath the
life."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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