by J R Miller
August 1
As ye abound in everything, … see that ye abound in this grace also. - 2 Corinthians 8:7
The giving of money has no unimportant place in religion.
It was distinctly said in the Old Testament that the bringing in of tithes and offerings would ensure the pouring out of the Divine Spirit. Jesus made it plain that His friends must be ready to lay their money at His feet at His call.
The members of the first Christian Church showed the most beautiful generosity toward the poor of their number, the rich selling their property and giving the proceeds to the apostles to supply the need of those who lacked.
In our reading to-day we have the lesson taught very plainly.
The Master began it. Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich. Giving is a grace, which may not be left out of the Christian life. The strong must help the weak.
The love of God does not dwell in that man who, with plenty of his own, sees his brother have need and shutteth his heart's compassion against him.
August 2
Touching the ministering to the saints. - 2 Corinthians 9:1
Judas said that Mary was wasting her ointment when she poured it upon the head and feet of the Master. Jesus, however, defended Mary, saying she had wrought a good on Him.
Some people think that giving money to benevolent objects is wasting it. Paul shows us that what we give to God is never wasted. He uses the illustration of the seed when one sows in a field. It is not wasted - it grows up into a harvest.
Our reaping shall be in proportion to our sowing. If we sow sparingly, we shall reap also sparingly. But if we sow bountifully, we shall rep also bountifully.
Miserliness is far away from the spirit of Christ. He who detects such a disposition ever beginning in him should instantly get it crowded out.
There is a story of a Christian man, one of whose ships was delayed. He began to grow anxious about the possible loss, and he was so grieved with himself that he at once took the value of the missing ship and gave it to some sacred cause.
August 3
We dare not make ourselves of the number …that commend themselves. - 2 Corinthians 10:12
We have nothing of our own to glory in.
Glorying in one's self is self-conceit, and self-conceit is never beautiful - it is always unlovely. Even if a man's high estimate of himself is correct, it is not a beautiful thing in him that he should glory in his goodness, or his power, or his wisdom.
We are in the habit of saying that when one knows he is bright, his brightness is dimmed. When a pretty child knows she is handsome, her air of self-consciousness mars the beauty.
When Moses came down from communing with God on the mount, his face was shining. The people saw the luster on his countenance, but the record says, "Moses wist not that his face shone." The truest greatness is never aware of itself.
It is said of certain persons in heaven that the name of Christ is on their foreheads - on their foreheads, where all others can see it, but where they cannot see it themselves.
Let us not glory in ourselves. "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
August 4
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. - 2 Corinthians 11:30
The patriot soldier's best credentials are his wounds and scars. They are not disfigurements of which he is ashamed, but marks of honor, of which he is proud.
An English soldier referred to his scars as his decorations. Paul speaks of his sufferings and persecutions and of the losses and trials he had endured as a minister as the credentials of his service, and as marks of honor and distinction. He even glories in them. "If I must need glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness."
In another of his epistles Paul speaks of these memorials of suffering and endurance as "marks of Jesus," which he bore branded on his body.
We are not at all accustomed to think in this way of the costs of our Christian discipleship. We are apt to complain of the things we have to suffer.
But if we suffer for Christ, we may count ourselves honoured. Jesus said, "Blessed are ye when men shall… persecute you."
August 5
My strength is made perfect in weakness. - 2 Corinthians 12:9
It is comforting to think how fully our lives are in the hands of Christ, not only for protection, but also for spiritual discipline.
The experience of Paul described in this chapter shows this is a striking way. He had a remarkable vision, being caught up to the third heaven. The danger now was that he should be exalted overmuch, because of the privilege he had enjoyed. To prevent this, there was given to him a "thorn in the flesh," to buffet him and to keep him humble.
This "thorn" was a messenger of Satan, and yet was used in his spiritual discipline.
He pleaded to have it taken away, but the request was not granted, because it was necessary to him. Instead of removing the thorn, however, the Lord assured him of the grace needed to enable him to endure. When he saw the meaning of it all and heard the divine promise, he began to rejoice in his weaknesses, since because of these he would have larger measures of the strength of Christ.
August 6
I seek not yours, but you. - 2 Corinthians 12:14
The desire of all true friendship is not to get, but to give, not to be served, but to serve.
In all Paul's letters we find that he is eager to do people good, never having the desire to be profited by them. We have this in these words, "I seek not yours, but you." He would not be a burden to them.
It was not the part of children to lay up for their parents, but for parents to lay up for their children, and he was to them as a father. He would most gladly spend and be spent for their spiritual welfare.
Paul's interest in them was not fully appreciated, for the more he loved them the less did they love him. But this did not affect his care for them - he still loved them, and was very eager to do them good. He sought not theirs, but them.
This little sentence tells the whole story of true friendship. It is the true minister's motto. It should be every man's desire for his neighbor. It is always love's motto - "Not yours, but you."
August 7
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you. - Galatians 1:6
That which counts for most in Christian life is steadfastness, holding on through all discouragements, all hindrances.
Some people make a brilliant start, and then lose their enthusiasm. That means to have been the trouble with the Galatians. Paul says, "I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from Him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel."
In another of his epistles he begins by thanking God for those to whom he was writing for their faithfulness, their loyalty, their devotion to the truth. But he begins this epistle by marvelling at the lack of seriousness and of steadfastness in the Galatians.
When certain persons desired to become Christ's followers, He said to them, "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed." It is the continuance with Christ as believers and as His followers that proves our discipleship.
We should have our feet on the rock and should cleave to Christ, whatever the pressure may be. It is a great thing to be fixed and stable.
August 8
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. - Galatians 2:20
The true Christian life is a re-incarnation of Christ. That is the way Paul puts it in the closing verses of our chapter. He had been crucified with Christ. Yet he was not dead. Rather, he was dead, and another lived in his place. "It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me."
The man who lived in this house by the side of the road died recently and his house was left empty. But it did not long remain empty. Immediately another man moved in, a man with different tastes and habitudes. Everything is changed in and about the place. Roughness, bitterness, and selfishness have given way to refinement, sweetness, and love.
Within the house are peace, song, and affection. Outside, sweet flowers pour their fragrance on the air. This is a wonderful picture of what takes place when a bad man becomes a Christian.
The new life is Christ living in the man, and where Christ lives all is beauty and blessing. The old wilderness becomes a rose garden. Sin gives way to holiness.
August 9
Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. - Galatians 3:26
There is a great deal of struggling for honor and place in this world. Men think if they can get a few million dollars they have reached distinction. Or they think if they can get a high office they have won one of earth's best prizes.
There are some also who spend their life in trying to get recognition in society. How pitiful all this must appear to those who look down from heaven upon this earth!
Paul shows us here what is really the highest rank to which man can attain. He says, "Ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus." To be a son of God is immeasurably higher than being in the most aristocratic circles. To be an heir of God is to be infinitely richer than to be the owner of millions.
When the disciples asked who was greatest, they were thinking only of earthly standards. To be like a little child is to be great. To serve others is the heavenliest occupation to which anyone can out his hands. To be Christ-like is glory.
August 10
Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? - Galatians 4:16
Paul did not have a very comfortable time with his Galatian Christians. It was not easy to get along with them. He was frequently required to be severe with them. They were not dependable in their moods toward him.
To-day they would give their lives for him, to-morrow they were angry at him. "Ye received me as an angel of God. …I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me." Then the next sentence reads: "Am I become your enemy, by telling you the truth?" They could not bear correction.
It is beautiful, however, to note Paul's mood towards them. He continued faithful in his friendship, always seeking to do them good.
Thus only can we be true helpers of others. We must love them, not only when they love us, but also when they are offended at us for our faithfulness. That is the way Christ loves us and teaches us. He is always considerate and patient, and never wearies in helping us.
August 11
We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. - Galatians 5:5
One of the dangers of religious life is dependence on forms. People think that when they are keeping up certain rounds of service, certain ceremonies, they are meeting all the requirements of religion.
Thus, in our Lord's Day, there were those who were punctilious in their observance of the rites of their church, yet whom Jesus condemned unsparingly because their hearts were wrong.
Paul makes it plain that not forms, but life; make one a Christian. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor un-circumcision; but faith working through love." The question was not whether a man had conformed to the requirements of the Jewish law, or had not, but whether he believed on Jesus Christ, and whether his life was according to the law of love.
We need to remember this in the testing of our own lives. It is not the particular church we belong to, and the religious ceremonies we observe, by which our spiritual state is determined, but our inner and outer life.
August 12
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. - Galatians 5:25
The best way to get evil out of our hearts is to let good in.
We have it in Paul's counsel: "Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." If the Spirit leads us, it will be toward more and more of Christ; for He will kindle in our hearts more love for the Saviour, and we shall become more and more deeply interested in the work of Christ.
The result will be that we shall care less and less for the world.
Dr. Chalmers preached a sermon on these words of Paul's, calling it "The expulsive Power of a New Affliction." A great love for Christ in a heart will expel all other loves that are not holy and pure. The evil things that are to be expelled are named in this same chapter.
It is a terribly black list. The only way to keep them out is to get so filled with the things in the white list, that there will be no room for the evil things of the black list. Light drives out darkness. Love expels hate. Holiness displaces sin.
August 13
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2
There are two words here about burdens. We are told to bear one another's burdens.
This is the law of love - called here the law of Christ. That is the way Christ Himself does, and that is also His law for us.
No one is a Christian who is not at least learning to live in this way. That is love's way. Everyone we meet has some burden, some need, and we are to seek to be the helper of everyone in some way.
The other word seems to be just the reverse. "Each man shall bear his own burden."
After all that we can do for others, each one has to live his own life, has to carry his own load. We cannot choose for any other, we cannot repent for another, we cannot believe for another. The gentlest, most loving mother cannot bear her child's pain, cannot do her child's duty, cannot get her child's sins forgiven.
In the parable the wise virgins could not share their oil with the foolish. This was not disobligingness - it is the law of life, that each must bear his own burden.
August 14
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. - Ephesians 1:4
This is not a world of chance - it is our Father's world.
Events do not happen without any order or any direction. No one can sanely doubt that there is a great divine plan running through the ages, which includes all things and subordinates all forces and all experiences to itself.
Our Scripture passage is full of this great thought. "He chose us in Him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy." "Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ." "Foreordained according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will."
We need not trouble ourselves to try to understand these great words, with their tremendous reach of meaning. We may say, however, at least, that they assure us of a divine thought for men, a divine love, a divine purpose of mercy, dating from this infinite past and running through the ages.
And this truth assures us of our eternal safety in Christ our Redeemer.
August 15
All the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple. - Ephesians 2:21
The Church is a glorious spiritual temple. Christ Himself is the corner stone.
Nothing is built safely in this world, which does not rest on Christ. All these centuries' believers in Christ have been built into the walls, which are rising continually. The temple is not yet completed, and will not be until the last to accept Christ is built into it.
Every one of us is a block on this mystic wall. Large stones and small are used. The smallest is just as important as the largest. If left out, there would be a place left empty where there ought to have been a stone. Each one has his place in the temple. Then, in turn, each of us becomes a foundation for others to build on.
We must be sure that those who rest on us, thrust us, depend on us, shall never be disappointed. The other day it was seen that the stones in a building were breaking. At one spot there had been a rotten stone, and it had crumbled and the stones over it had shrunk.
We must be good stones that never will crumble.
August 16
Be careful for nothing. - Philippians 4:6
How to learn not to worry is one of the lessons everyone should master.
Worry is a terribly wasteful experience. It uses up the strength we need for our duty. It unfits us for doing our work well. It is dishonoring to God, for He has promised to care for us, if only we do His will faithfully. Then it is utterly fruitless, for it does not take away the things it frets over.
The Bible gives many lessons on the subject, but none that makes plainer just how we are to eliminate worrying from our life than what Paul here tells us to do.
First of all, we are simply not to worry. "In nothing be anxious." There is no room for exceptions, special circumstances, and all that. We are not to be anxious about anything.
What then shall we do with the matters that we are disposed to worry over? Put them into the hands of God in prayer, and leave them there. If we do this the peace of God will guard our hearts, our thoughts, from all anxiety. It will be a great deal to us in every way to learn this lesson.
August 17
We… do not cease to pray for you. - Colossians 1:9
Some people pray for their friends, but ask only for things of lower or less important - that they may have good health, that they may get on well in worldly affairs, that they may prosper socially.
These are proper enough blessings to ask for our friends, but they are not the first things.
Paul, in praying for his friends, asks for them the highest and greatest things. He requests that they may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding; that they may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing; that they may bear fruit in every good work; that they may increase in the knowledge of God; and that they may be strengthened with all power unto all patience and long-suffering with joy.
Could we do better than to pray Paul's prayer for our friends? These are blessings, which we know they need, and which God is willing to give them.
We need never fear that in asking for such things we are seeking for blessings that will perish in the using.
August 18
Who… fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. - Colossians 1:24
This is a strange saying of Paul's in our reading to-day - that he must fill up on his part the afflictions of Christ.
Was Christ's sacrifice insufficient for the redemption of the world? Was His work incomplete? Do others have to suffer also to fill up a lack in His atonement? No; on His cross He said, "It is finished." He paid the whole price.
What Paul meant was that while Christ had made a full and glorious redemption, His followers must enter into His experiences in order to present the benefits of His redemption.
We can make men believe in the love of Christ only by loving as He loved. We can show them the cross truly only in our own lives.
Christ gave Himself once to redeem the world; now we, His followers, must give ourselves to make His redemption real to the world. When we ask Christ to have compassion on men, His answer is: "I have had compassion - My part is finished. Now do you have compassion and reach and save men?"
August 19
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. - Colossians 3:1
Every Christian life should have the upward look. If we believe on Christ we are one with Him, dying in Him. So Paul says: "If then ye were raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is."
Becoming a Christian, then, makes us a citizen of heaven. We live yet in this world, but our home is above, where Christ is. Heaven's joys should be our joys. Heaven's life should be our life.
"Your life is hid with Christ in God." This means that we are sheltered in Christ. It means that we are sheltered in Christ. It means also our life has its sources of strength, of nourishment, of help, in Christ.
Our hearts and eyes should be drawn away therefore from things earthly to things heavenly. We ought to live for things above. We ought to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.
While we stay here for a while, we are going on to heaven, where we shall live forever.
August 20
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. - Colossians 3:17
If we belong to Christ in heaven, we must make our lives here on earth correspond with the life of heaven.
Our prayer is, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." So we are to mortify, or make dead, all the things in our lives that are not right, or that are not done in heaven. this includes all desires and all acts and dispositions that are not white and clean.
We are to be in this world, walking in the midst of its evil, and are yet to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. The list of things we are to put away is a frightful one. It does not seem possible that we ever shall incline to do these things, and yet we are always in danger of doing them.
There are things also which we are to "put on," and these are all beautiful things - a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness; we should write off the list and keep it where we may see it continually.
August 21
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt. - Colossians 4:6
The New Testament has a great deal to say about speech.
Jesus spoke of men's words - idle words which have to be accounted for in the judgement, contemptuous words which bring upon him who uses them severe condemnation, words which test life - by which one is either justified or condemned.
Paul, too, refers to speech.
Here we have a very suggestive exhortation on the subject. Our speech should always be with grace. Grace means fitting, beautiful. We should learn to speak so that our tones of voice and our manner of speech shall be winning and attractive.
Grace means also something under divine influence. We should speak words permeated with love and inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Jenny Lind said she always sang with God. A Christian should always speak to God, to please Him. Our speech should be "seasoned with salt." Salt purifies.
Our words should be pure and cleansing - loving, gentle, helpful, inspiring.
August 22
I Paul have written it with mine own hand. - Philemon 19
This is one of Paul's prison epistles.
A prison is not an ideal place for usefulness. Yet no years of the apostle's life were more fruitful of good than when he was a prisoner. He wrote letters to the churches he could not visit, and to individuals he wished to help, and these letters not only carried blessings to those to whom they were first written, but they have been carrying blessings ever since to countless lives.
This letter was written in behalf of a slave, a runaway, who had come under Paul's influence at Rome and had been converted. The slave was going back to his old master, and the apostle wrote a letter to bespeak the man's kindly interest in his slave.
We may write letters of congratulations when one has had some happiness; some new honor conferred, or has won some new success. We may be write letters of sympathy to the sorrowing, or cheer to the discouraged, of thanks for kindness.
It is good to have a pen with a golden nib, and to use it for the Master.
August 23
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. - Mark 11:9
Jesus was the people's idol that day.
Did He suppose that now at the last they were going to accept Him as their Messiah? No: He knew it was only the outburst of an hour, and that this triumphal pageant was but the first stage of His last journey to His cross.
As He heard the song, "Hosanna to the Son of David," there was a deep undertone ringing in His ear:
"Ride on, ride on in majesty,
I lowly pomp ride on to die."
The triumphal ride was our Lord's final declaration of His Messiahship. He fulfilled an ancient prophecy, and thus clearly announced that He was the King foretold.
We cannot but think of the fickleness of earthly enthusiasm.
Five days later Jesus was led in another procession to His cross. A picture by Tintoretto gives the scene of the Crucifixion, after all was over. The crosses stand empty, the people are gone. In the background an ass is nibbling some withered palm leaves.
August 24
Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in Thy glory. - Mark 10:37
When we ask to be near Christ and to honor Him, we do not know what we are seeking.
James and John were sincere in their love for Jesus and their interest in His kingdom, but they were ignorant of the nature of that kingdom. They had earthly ideas of it, and in asking for the highest places they were thinking of official rank. Still, they were sincere when Jesus asked them if they were able to pay the price.
They said truthfully, "We are able." And they proved their word true. As the true meaning of the kingdom was made known to them afterwards, they did not falter, but drank the cup and accepted the baptism.
We think only of pleasure as we devote ourselves to Christ and begin to follow Him. We say we are ready for whatever the Master may have for us to do or to suffer. We do not know what we are pledging, but we need not hesitate.
Anything of sacrifice or suffering for Him will be gain and glory in the end.
August 25
Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name… he shall not lose his reward. - Mark 9:41
Jesus set up three monuments in His Gospels.
One was to the widow who gave the two mites. Another was to the woman who anointed His head and feet, the story of whose deed is enshrined in the Gospels. The other is the one referred to here - the person who gives the cup of cold water to a disciple in the Master's name.
It is not great things that make men great in heaven's sight - it is the love that is in what they do. The least act of kindness done in Christ's name is greater than the building of a city for personal glory.
Jesus loved children. He is always the children's friend. He tells us that no crime is greater than causing a little child to stumble. Heaven is always on the children's side. The cry of a wronged child is heard in heaven. The children's angels have special and immediate access into God's presence at all times.
Whoever else may have to wait God's pleasure any day, children are always admitted promptly.
August 26
Is a candle brought to be put under a… bed? - Mark 4:21
Christ wants His followers to let their light shine. He does not want them to hide it away, but to hold it where it will brighten the world.
We are to be the world's light, to lighten the darkness. Goodness is light. Kindness is light. Christ himself is the Light of the world, and all who love Him become little lights which He kindles and which shine with something of His brightness. He wishes us to be like lamps, our light shining wherever we are.
Grace begins in the heart in small and quiet ways, but grows in beauty, strength, and usefulness. The little leaven hidden in the lump works out till all is leavened.
Jesus is Master over the waves and winds. The wild storm had no terror for Him. He slept through it all because the peace of God was in His heart. When He was wakened He quieted the wind and stilled the waves by a word.
We need not be afraid in any storm, for Christ can control it and can keep us from being hurt by it.
August 27
The sower soweth the word. - Mark 4:14
What comes of all the sermons? The parable of the Sower helps us to answer.
Only on one kind of soil did the seed sown come to anything, while that sown on three other kinds of ground failed to produce any harvest.
It is the same with the good seed of God's Word.
Some of it never gets into the heart at all. Birds pick it off as soon as it falls. Some of it starts well enough, but has not root sufficient to hold it amid temptation or persecution. Some of the good seed gets a deep rooting, and would yield a fine harvest, preoccupying it, so that the wheat is choked out.
Love of money, love of pleasure, the frets of life, and other things, crowd out the growing grain, so that none of it can ever come to ripeness.
We should seek to be good soil, that the word sown in our hearts may grow and yield fruits of righteousness. The words of God are heavenly seeds, and where they grow, plants from heaven's gardens are produced.
August 28
The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. - Mark 2:28
Jesus remembered the Sabbath day, and kept it holy.
But He did not put Himself under the burdensome rules and regulations, which His people followed. He taught them that the Sabbath was to be man's friend, not his taskmaster.
In His own observance of the day, He attended the church services and took every opportunity to speak His Father's words to those who were present. He went on with His ministry of kindness and helpfulness on the Sabbath, just as on other days - healing the sick, casting out demons, delivering those who were in trouble.
If we follow the example of Jesus, the Sabbath will be a blessing to us and not a burden.
Some people find it a day of wearisome-ness. But if they loved Christ in such a real way as to find delight in His company and in His work, the day would prove to be one of pleasure to them.
Its purpose is to prepare us physically, mentally, and spiritually for the life and work of the week-days that follow.
August 29
Jesus perceived in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves. - Mark 2:8
Christ sees into people's lives and knows all that is going on in them. He saw faith in the men who brought their friend to Him that he might be healed. Then He saw into the man's own life, its past and its present, and knew that the paralysis was not his worst trouble, that he needed more to have his sins forgiven than to have his sickness cured.
He also read the thoughts of the scribes. They reasoned in their hearts, and Jesus knew their thoughts. Then He saw in the publican the qualities which fitted him for being an apostle.
It should be both a restraint and an encouragement for us to think that Christ knows all of us - the most secret things, that we can hide nothing from Him. It should make us most careful how we live.
Then it should be an inspiration to us, encouraging us always to be faithful. He knows when we try, though we fail. He knows when we are sincere, though in our weakness we do wrong. He knows that Peter loved Him, though he had denied Him.
August 30
It was determined that we should sail into Italy. - Acts 27:1
God has many ways of getting His servants to their work. Now, missionaries are usually sent by mission boards. Paul went to his field at the cost of Rome.
We may safely leave ourselves in God's hands and let Him both give us our work and guide us to it. Though a landsman, and also a prisoner, Paul seems to have known more about what it was safe to do and what unsafe than any other man on the ship.
It must have been through divine enlightening that he admonished the centurion of the danger of the voyage, urging him not to leave Crete.
Paul had good reason for exhorting the ship's company to be of good cheer.
On that storm-tossed vessel he was in communication with Heaven. An angel of God had assured him that night that he must stand before C?r. Therefore he could not perish in the sea. Moreover, in answer to his prayers, all his companions would be spared, too.
God's hand rules the storms, and we may always trust in His love and care.
August 31
My manner of life from my youth… know all the Jews. - Acts 26:4
It is a great thing when a man can confidently appeal to his own past. Paul could challenge his enemies to find anything against him from his youth up. The only way we can be ready to make such appeal is to watch all our years, from the youngest.
It is a great thing when a man has a religion about which he is sure. Too many people's religion is vague. Paul knew Him whom he trusted. He knew that He was the Messiah, the Saviour, and told Agrippa why he knew it, and why he had given his life to witnessing for Christ to all men.
Some people talk in these days as if the thought of the raising of the dead is incredible. Paul did not think it an incredible belief. God has all power - can He not bring up from death those who have died? If He can create from nothing, can He not bring back the dead?
Jesus gave Paul no time for grief over his terrible mistake. "Arise, and stand upon thy feet!" He was to show his penitence not in tears, but by service.
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