Morning Thoughts (For Every Day Of Life)
by J R Miller
June 1
It is finished. - John 19:30
Though the life of Jesus had been so short, He was quite ready to go when the end came. He had done each day the
work given to Him to do that day, and when the last hour of the last day came there was nothing that He had left
undone.
We ought to learn the lesson, and live as Jesus lived, so as to have every part of our work finished when the end
comes. But what was it that was finished, when Jesus bowed His head on the cross?
A famous picture represents Christ lifted up, and beneath Him an innumerable procession of the saints advancing
out of the darkness and coming into the light of His cross. There can be no doubt that He had such a vision of
redemption while He hung there, for we are told that He "endured the cross, despising the shame, because of
the joy set before Him."
"It is finished," was therefore a shout of victory as He completed His work of suffering. He went into
the grave, but not to stay there. He came again, a glorious conqueror; and because He lives, all His people shall
live also.
June 2
What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. - Acts 11:9
It is very hard to give up old beliefs. The Jews had always been taught, as part of their religion, that they must
keep themselves separate from the Gentiles. It was hard for them to believe that Peter had done right in accepting
the hospitality of a Roman. It was hard for Peter himself to become willing to visit Cornelius.
It required a special divine vision to convince him that the old law was changed, and that now everybody was to
be considered a brother.
We need to learn to keep mind and heart ever open to receive the truth, even when it sweeps away our old beliefs.
Peter, however, tells us what we should do. No distinction should be made any more among men, but to every one
the love of Christ should be offered. We can love and help some more easily than others. But when we see one who
needs us, we must never ask who it is. He is our neighbor, and we are to love him.
June 3
They, which were scattered… travelled, … preaching the word. - Acts 11:19
There was a pile of logs burning on the edge of some woods. The wind determined to put out the fire, and, gathering
itself into a tempest, violently assaulted it. The result was, the coals were carried through the woods, falling
among the dry leaves and underbrush.
Instead, therefore, of putting out the fire, the storm only scattered it everywhere, for every hot coal started
a new burning, and soon the whole forest was ablaze.
It was not in the minds of the first believers to take the gospel to the nations outside. Persecution was an effort
to put out the heavenly fire. Instead of this, however, it only drove the Christians into parts of the world. So
it happened that a thousand little churches were started.
The name of Barnabas shines brightly here. If he had been a narrow man he might have checked the work. But he was
a good man, full of love and of the Holy Spirit, and the work prospered.
June 4
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made …for him. - Acts 12:5
Some of His followers Christ wants to witness for Him by dying for Him. The ministry of James was short. It seems
strange to us that he was not spared to live longer, to tell others of his Master. But he did the work which had
been given him to do.
Others Christ wants to serve Him by living long for Him. Peter was delivered from Herod's hands that he might continue
to preach and be a blessing to many. No prison can hold a man when Christ wants him outside. Gates count for nothing
when God proposes to open them. It was prayer that opened Peter's prison.
The Christians met together and besought God for Peter's release. Their prayer was heard, and, while they were
still pleading, Peter knocked at the door. Sometimes the answers to our prayers surprise us. Peter's friends could
not believe it was him at the door, though they had been praying all night for his deliverance.
June 5
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. - Acts 13:2
The live church is always a missionary church. It is not content to have the gospel only for itself, but wants
others to have it, too. The church at Antioch was prosperous.
The people showed their love for Christ by sending money to Christians in Palestine who were suffering from famine.
They showed it further by sending missionaries. Barnabas and Saul were chosen for this mission. The Spirit named
the missionaries, and then the church ordained them and sent them out.
We have in this chapter a sad story of a young missionary helper who belonged to the party sent out from Antioch.
For a time he was faithful, while there was no danger and while they were in a civilized country. But when they
passed over into a wild region, among rough people, John Mark left the missionaries and returned home.
We should never abandon any work we begin for our Master. When it begins to cost, we should begin to rejoice.
June 6
The apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. - Acts 15:6
Religious contentions are often about matters of only minor importance. People agree on essential things and then
quarrel about things that do not matter.
It would save many strife's that do great harm if men would seek counsel in their differences and find a basis
of agreement. If a peaceful course had not been followed in this ancient case, the Christian Church would have
been rent in two, and no one can tell what the disastrous consequences would have been.
Christians should always be ready to yield their own preferences to prevent strife. "Blessed are the peacemakers."
There is a story of two monks who had never quarrelled. They began to think their life monotonous, and one of them
suggested that they quarrel. "Well, what shall we quarrel about?" "About this stone," was the
answer. "You say it is yours and I'll say it is mine." "This stone belongs to me," said the
first. "Very well - you may have it," was the reply.
June 7
Certain which went out from us have troubled you with words. - Acts 15:24
There are some people who are always troubling others with words, as "certain" had been doing at Antioch.
There are contentious persons still, who are never so much in their element as when they are picking a quarrel.
There are those who think they are fond of Bible study, but who really are fond only of quibbling over controverted
passages. Those who are set to instruct such Christians should deal with them most gently and patiently. The religion
of Christ never lays needless burdens on any disciples.
There are certain essential things, and these should be plainly set forth. Then there are things not essential,
and these should not be bound on the backs of the followers of Christ.
A distinguished clergyman says that the text, "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God," is the
greatest saying of the Old Testament. It presents in the simplest words the whole of what God requires. Surely
men need not require more of others than God does!
June 8
So Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus. - Acts 15:39
Only the generous interest of Barnabas in him gave John Mark his second chance. He had sadly failed in his first.
He started with Paul and Barnabas on their missionary tour, but returned home. He now wanted a chance to redeem
himself, and Paul would not take him again. Barnabas was his friend, however, and thus Mark got a new start and
became a worthy and useful man.
Barnabas seems to have been right, though this cost him the friendship of Paul. The two men quarrelled and separated.
But Mark was worth saving from his failure.
Paul did not mean to go into Europe, but other doors which he sought to enter were shut against him, and a divine
vision called him to the new continent. It was a beautiful beginning, there on the river bank, that Sabbath, when
Paul found a little company of women at their worship, and told them about Christ, and when at least one woman
opened her heart to Christ and her home to the missionaries.
June 9
When her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas. - Acts
16:19
When the gospel touches men's pockets it tests their character.
Paul did a noble work for this demented woman, but it unfitted her for being a source of profit to her masters.
They stirred up the people against the missionaries. The prison at Philippi was the scene of strange occurrences
that night. The missionaries were in the underground dungeon. Their bodies were sore from scourging. Their feet
were screwed fast on wooden clamps.
Yet at midnight the other prisoners heard songs in the lower prison. All their sufferings could not stop the joy
in the men's hearts.
The next strange thing was the conversion of the jailer. He cried out and asked what he must do to be saved. Paul
told him to believe on the Lord Jesus, and he should be saved. How do we know he was saved? We know it by the change
in the man. He was brutal and cruel before. Now we see him become gentle as a woman.
June 10
Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them. - Acts 17:2
Paul was a man of habits. "His custom was" always to attend church.
It is a fine thing to have such a "custom." Too many people grow careless about going to church. Those
who become Christ's friends should come out and join Christ's company.
Some people believe on Christ, but stay mixed up in the old company, and nobody knows that they are Christians.
That is not what Christ wants us to do.
Sometimes the true thing in time of persecution is to go away. The missionaries left Thessalonica by night. There
was no reason why they should stay longer. So they went on to Berea. We may never flee from our duty, but it may
sometimes be our duty to flee. The Bereans showed their nobility of character by receiving the words of Paul readily
and making inquiry to see if they were according to the Scriptures.
It is the mark of a narrow mind to refuse to examine what is said before rejecting it.
June 11
His spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. - Acts 17:16
A believer in God cannot look upon the world's treatment of holy things without sore pain.
Athens was a city of idols. There were more gods there than men - it was said. It was not easy to confess Christ
in Athens, amid such exhibitions of idolatry as were seen everywhere. Yet that was just the place the true God
should be proclaimed, and Paul was the only witness God had there.
It is not enough for us to speak for God only where His name is honoured, where all the people are, in a way, His
friends. If we do this and then shrink from mentioning His name where all are hostile, we have failed in loyalty.
Paul spoke words at Athens which the people had never heard before. He told of the one God in a place where hundreds
of gods were worshipped. He declared God as spiritual and unseen, where all the people worshipped statues they
could see.
June 12
Aquila,… lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla. - Acts 18:2
There is a Hand that directs our movements and shapes our lives. An old English poet wrote of what we call chance:
"It chanced - eternal God that chance did guide."
Aquila and Priscilla were brought to Corinth by a hardship. But if they had not been at Corinth they would not
have met Paul. They needed Paul and Paul needed them, so it was a blessed chance that brought them together. He
was working at Corinth, lonely and a bit discouraged. Then two friends joined him, and at once we read that he
preached with new earnestness.
A good friend is a mighty impulse in any man's life. Christ is always an encourager. Paul was again disheartened.
Then the Lord said to him, "Be not afraid, but speak, … for I am with thee." Paul took fresh courage
and preached with new power.
June 13
They took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. - Acts 18:26
We should know the whole gospel if we would do Christian work well.
Apollos was a Christian, and was earnest and eloquent, but he had gone in his knowledge of Christ only as far as
the Baptist's teaching. Priscilla and Aquila heard him preach, and saw the defect.
They saw that he did not know of Christ's death and resurrection. When they had taught him the whole gospel, he
became a powerful preacher.
About the best service we can do to most people we meet is to encourage them. More than half the men and women
we meet any day need encouragement. One of the worst sins we can commit against others is to be a discourager.
Perhaps the trouble with a good many Christians is the same that ailed the dozen men whom Paul found at Ephesus.
They had not even heard that the Spirit was given. We can have power in witnessing for Christ only when we are
filled with the Spirit.
June 14
There arose no small stir about that way. - Acts 19:23
Wherever the gospel goes it wakes up opposition. Especially when it touches men's business adversely does it excite
their worst passions.
Here it was the silversmith's business that was imperilled. The harangue of Demetrius shows that Paul's preaching
was of the right kind. Some preaching does not disturb sin nor alarm sinners. But Paul's stirred up those who heard
it. He denounced idols - said they were not gods. This frightened the silversmiths, for their chief business was
in making shrines of Diana.
A good test of a revival is when it touches the sins of a community, and draws people from them.
About the sanest man in Ephesus that day was the town clerk. He was a loyal believer in Diana, but he had sense
enough to know that it would be foolish to do any harm to the missionaries.
The preachers had said nothing against their goddess, they had only preached their own religion, and to harm them
would only bring trouble upon those who did it.
June 15
Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed. - Acts 20:1
Driven from one place, Paul only went to preach in another. No persecution ever quenched his zeal. A Hindu said
Christians were like certain fruit-trees - clubbing only brought down the fruit. This was true of Paul.
It ought to be true of every Christian. The more people oppose us and seek to injure us, the more love should be
revealed in our lives.
Paul's preaching might not have pleased some present-day congregations that insist on having abbreviated sermons.
On one occasion at least Paul kept his congregation a good deal over the thirty-minute standard. It was well past
midnight, and he would not have stopped then if something had not happened.
We can scarcely blame Eutychus for getting sleepy, and it must have made a great commotion when he fell. But even
this did no more than interrupt the preaching - it did not stop it, for Paul continued till daybreak, and then
they had the Lord's Supper before he left them.
June 16
I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. - Acts 20:26
It is a happy thing for a minister, or anybody, to be able to look back on years of life and work, and to find
nothing to regret - nothing done that were better not done.
Yet that is the way we should all live. Paul's review of his life shows a fine model of pastoral faithfulness.
He had been always with his people - not running away on all manner of excursions. He had loved his people - that
is the secret of ministerial success.
A man who does not love people cannot be a good pastor.
It is a great thing for any one to be able to say, "I am pure from the blood of all men." This implies
that we have done all we could do to show Christ to them.
Paul's farewell shows how deep an interest he had in the people he was leaving. It shows his faith, too, for he
commits them all to God, knowing that they would not be forgotten or overlooked when the pastor was gone.
June 17
Finding disciples, we tarried there seven days. - Acts 21:4
We get a lesson on wayside ministry.
Some people travel a good deal, stopping at certain places. If they are eager to be helpful to others, they can
find opportunities, to do much good in these pauses. When the ship called at Tyre, Paul improved the opportunity
to look up the Christians that were there.
Again at Ptolemais he saluted the brethren. It never will be known how much good he did to the Christians at these
places.
Paul's friends, when they learned what awaited him, begged him not to go on. He refused to listen to their pleadings,
but no doubt their appeals made it harder for him to go forward to do God's will.
Peter would have held Jesus from going on to death, but Jesus told him he was acting the part of Satan, tempting
Him. When our friends have a hard duty we should encourage them to loyalty, not to faintheartedness. The true follower
of Christ should be ready to endure any cost or sacrifice for the name of Christ.
June 18
When we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. - Acts 21:17
Wherever Christians meet they recognize in each other brothers.
Though strangers before, they greet one another as friends. The Jews welcomed Paul and rejoiced to hear of the
work among the Gentiles. But they knew there were many Jewish Christians who could not quite trust Paul. They thought
he was disloyal to his nation. But what they had heard about him was not true. He had never taught the Jewish Christians
to forsake Moses. Yet that is the way bigotry often does - it misstates the words of an opponent.
Sometimes, to remove false impressions, we have to do things it ought not to be necessary for us to do. Paul accepted
the advice of the leaders that he should make an exhibition of his loyalty to Jewish rites to prove to suspicious
people that he was really in sympathy with his own people.
It is right for us to seek to free ourselves from false charges when thereby we are promoting the good of the Church.
June 19
I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. - Acts 23:1
Conscience may lead us to do wrong. Paul acted conscientiously even when he was persecuting Christians. Conscience
needs divine instruction.
No doubt Paul had a right as a Christian to protest against the way the high priest smote him in the face. Still,
we cannot help feeling that Christ's bearing on His trial was nobler, and sets us a better example than Paul's.
He, when reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed all to Him who judgeth
righteously.
Paul's apologizing is an example we may follow safely if ever we are betrayed into hot-tempered speech or act.
It is always noble in a man to say, "I did wrong," or "I was mistaken," when he has given way
to any unchristian feeling. Some people are too proud ever to apologize.
Again we see Christ here as an encourager. Paul had had a depressing day. Then Jesus came to him with cheer, assuring
him that he should see Rome - a dream of many years.
June 20
When Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went… and told Paul. - Acts 23:16
Nothing is more sure than that God keeps guard on the lives of those who are carrying out His plans.
No bullet can strike down on the battlefield to-day the man for whom the Lord has work to-morrow. Paul had been
assured that he must witness for Christ at Rome. The next day there was a conspiracy to kill him. But his enemies
could not touch him. He was under divine protection.
Strange are the providences by which God carries out His purposes. We do not know anything about Paul's sister's
son - we have only one glimpse of him. Somehow this young man had heard of the conspiracy. He was brave enough
to run risks in getting word to Paul.
The human links are important in working out God's deliverance. We must always be ready to do our duty in helping
those who are in trouble. Our part may be the essential one, and our neglect may result in the failure of the whole
scheme.
June 21
I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation. - Acts 24:10
Courtesy is always a mark of noble character. We see it in Paul as he stands before Felix.
He compliments the governor - not in a fulsome way, but in fitting words.
We should study the art of pleasing others. Some people are brusque almost to rudeness. Manners are far more important
in life than most people imagine.
A great many things that are said against others start only in neighborhood gossip, or from a mere supposition.
That is the way this accusation against Paul started. Somebody saw him in the temple. Before this time, a Gentile,
Trophimus, had been seen with Paul on the street. Then it was said that Paul had this Gentile with him in the temple.
We need to be exceedingly careful never to say anything of another, which is not absolutely true. Inference, or
supposition, is not basis enough to start a charge upon.
The only safe way is always to live so carefully, so truthfully, so purely, that nothing any one may say of us
falsely may hurt us.
June 22
As he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgement to come, Felix trembled. - Acts 24:25
A poet represents the "woman who was a sinner" coming along the street when Jesus was in Simon's house.
His eye saw her and her old evil self-withered to nothingness.
So it was with Felix when Paul's words concerning righteousness, self-control, and judgement fell upon him. "Felix
was terrified." He could not stand those withering eyes and those searching words.
The course of Felix in sending away the preacher and postponing the matter is the course which men continually
take. It is a well-trodden pathway, and there always are many feet treading it.
"To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death."
June 23
When I found that he had… appealed unto Augustus, I have determined to send him. - Acts 25:25
Paul had been assured that he would witness for Christ at Rome. But the way to Rome was a long one for him. He
was kept in prison, and prevented from reaching his destination promptly. But we may be sure that no time was really
lost.
God's plans often move slowly, and if we try to hurry them we only do harm.
The Roman courts were the shelter divinely provided for Paul in those days. His appeal to C?r saved him. If he
had been in the hands of the Jews, he would have been killed. But Roman justice was a wall about him which shielded
him. Paul's mission was to go Rome as a missionary, and Rome carried him there.
God's hand moves in all the world's events. Paul's affairs filled a large place in men's thoughts in those days.
The Jews kept clamouring at the door of Festus for his death. But Festus found that they had no charge against
him worthy of attention. So Paul's appeal to Caesar protected him from his enemies.
June 24
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you. - Romans 1:8
Paul was a model pastor.
To begin with, he was unalterably devoted to Christ. Then he loved people with a love that was wondrously like
the love of Christ. Here he thanks God for the friends to whom he is writing, especially for their faith. Then
he appeals to God to witness to the sincerity of his interest in them, which led him unceasingly to make mention
of them in his prayers.
The prayer which at that time was in his heart was that he might be prospered in his desire to get them at Rome.
He longed to see them. The reason he thus so wished to see them shows a most lofty spiritual motive.
His desire was purely unselfish - "that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift." Here we have a high
ideal for all friendship.
We should always want to do our friends good. Every time we meet them we should wish to do something for them -
to give them some cheer, some comfort, to put a little new courage into their hearts.
June 25
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. - Romans 1:18
It is well that we sometimes have a glimpse of some of the possibilities of sin, that we may know what a terrible
thing it is.
Such a glimpse Paul gives us in our reading for to-day. There would not seem to be much in this fearful portrayal
to give us comfort or cheer. Yet the black picture has its suggestion of praise - this is the abyss from which
we have been saved by the grace of God. Some one illustrates the greatness of salvation by two visions.
First, he had a vision of the awful fruits of sin. "That," said his guide, "is what in the ages
of eternity you would have been, if you had gone on in sin, unredeemed."
Then he was shown the glories of the redeemed. He saw hosts of angels dwelling in ineffable glory, and beyond and
above these, in the far distance, he beheld beings transcendently radiant and glorious.
"That," said the guide, "is yourself ages hence. Behold the bliss and glory into which your Saviour
will bring you."
June 26
Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. - Romans 2:1
We are not judged according to our advantages, but by what we make of these advantages.
Indeed the more light we have the greater is our responsibility and the more will be required of us. If we sit
apart, in the comfort of our superior privileges, and judge those who have not our privileges and live unworthily,
we must beware, for in condemning others we condemn ourselves.
It is a good thing to be born in a Christian land and to be brought up in a Christian home, but if we do not live
according to our advantages, it would have been better for us if we had been born in a heathen land.
That was what Jesus said about the people in Capernaum and the other cities where He had lived and preached and
wrought, doing His works of love and grace. He said it would be more tolerable for Sodom than for those cities,
because having the privileges, they had rejected them.
We need to lay the lesson to heart, for we have Christ ever on our streets.
June 27
There is none righteous, no, not one. - Romans 3:10
A preacher writes that he was recently waited on by an officer of the church, of which he is a pastor, telling
him that in these days of intelligence and liberal thinking, it is better that a man shall not preach about sin.
This third chapter of Romans will be ruled out in that church and will not be considered suitable for reading in
the pulpit.
Nevertheless, the chapter is in the Bible, and it will not be obsolete for some time. If there had been no sin
there would have been no need for the redemption of Christ.
The background of the cross is the terrible fact of sin. "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of
God." The word "sin" means missing the mark.
The glory of God is yonder, on the shining mountain-top, and men are standing helpless at the foot of the mountain.
They never can climb the steep cliffs. They fall short of the glory of God. If there were no other way, not one
ever could reach glory. Sin leaves all men far off from hope.
June 28
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. - Romans 4:3
There is a way of reaching the mountain-top.
The best that the holiest man can do leaves him far short of the glory of God. But divine mercy comes down and
bridges over the chasm. Jesus said, "I am the way: …no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
There is a story of a boy and his little brother crossing a lake on the ice. They came to a crack, and the little
fellow could not get across. Then his brother laid himself down over the crack, making a bridge of his body, and
the little fellow crept over on him.
That is what Jesus did. Men could not cross the great chasm between sin and glory, and He laid His own body across
it, and on this "way" whosoever will may pass over and reach the Father and blessedness.
The word "justified" means that those who accept the redemption of Christ become as though they had not
sinned, so completely are their sins put away. All we have to do is to accept of Christ.
June 29
By the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. - Romans
5:18
All grace and good come to us through Jesus Christ. Through one man sin entered into the world. When Christ came
He gained the victory of life. So now, through Him, all that is holy, true, and good comes to all who accept Him.
There is no other one through whom we can get blessing. Without Christ even earth's sweetest joys have no power
to give us enduring happiness. But when we have Christ, everything is enriched. The world grows more beautiful.
The common blessings of the common days come from His hand and have new sweetness in them. Our daily bread is more
sacred by being His gift to us. Every flower we see by the wayside suggests to us some thought of Him.
But the best blessings that come through Christ are the things of grace, heavenly good things. These are eternal,
and we should never lose them. We need only to make sure that we accept Christ and His redemption, and then all
things shall be ours in Him.
June 30
Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. - Romans 6:11
It is a wonderful suggestion, as a scheme of life, that we shall reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin. A dead man
cannot sin.
A story is told of an old shoemaker who had been a wicked man. He had a terrible temper, and in his fits of anger
would throw his hammer, or a last, or anything within his reach, at the person who had excited his feeling. But
after his conversion he never got angry any more. "I am dead," he would say. "A dead man cannot
get into bad temper. A dead man cannot throw a hammer."
If we would train ourselves to be dead to all that is wrong, we should soon get away from many very unlovely things.
Then we should also reckon ourselves to be alive unto God.
It is not enough to suppress evil - we must also nourish whatever is good. It is not enough not to be bad-tempered;
we must become sweet in our spirit, and be gentle, forgiving, and kind. All the best possibilities in us should
be called out by the love of Christ in us.