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Friday, October 6, 2023

day no. 16,419: as long as we call even a mite our own, we cannot call salvation ours

Let our debts be what they may,

However great, or small;

As soon as we have naught to pay,

Our Lord forgives us all.

'Tis perfect poverty alone,

That sets the soul at large;

While we can call one mite our own,

We have no full discharge.

— Joseph Hart, Mercy Is Welcome News Indeed

The only thing you must have in order to be saved is the one thing most people refuse to have: nothing. Nothing is more difficult to muster than nothing. Especially when so much is at stake.

It is only natural to want to bring something to the table. To receive favor without merit is humiliating. So much so, in fact, that only humility can do it. But even then, it is easy to be proud of one's humility. Humility is not the something you use to catch grace, it is the word for having nothing to catch with. Grace is given at the expense of the Giver and the benefit of the receiver. Only empty hands can catch it. The mitts of merit will never catch divine favor, but the bare-handed can avoid catching hell.

Achievements will not get you hired in Heaven.

Only those with blank resumes need apply.

Thursday, October 5, 2023

day no. 16,418: the Lord thwarts the designs of the devil

"Whereas the Lord was there." — Ezekiel 35:10

"Edom's princes saw the whole country left desolate, and counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great difficulty in their way--quite unknown to them--'The Lord was there;' and in his presence lay the special security of the chosen land. Whatever may be the machinations and devices of the enemies of God's people, there is still the same effectual barrier to thwart their design. The saints are God's heritage, and he is in the midst of them, and will protect his own. What comfort this assurance yields us in our troubles and spiritual conflicts! We are constantly opposed, and yet perpetually preserved! How often Satan shoots his arrows against our faith, but our faith defies the power of hell's fiery darts; they are not only turned aside, but they are quenched upon its shield, for 'the Lord is there.'" — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The enemy cannot overtake territory occupied by the Lord. It is invincible. Victory cannot be obtained when your mark is your Maker. He cannot be overwhelmed or caught off guard. He cannot be outgunned or over matched. Wherever He occupies a place, its presence is assured to be preserved.

The machinations and devices of the devil are quenched by His Spirit. They are not merely diverted or ricocheted away. A bouncing bullet can cause collateral damage, but God so absorbs the blows of Beelzebub as to render them inert. They are powerless.

The Lord thwarts the designs of the devil. They cannot succeed. They cannot outsmart or out maneuver Him. The devil cannot corrupt anything beyond God's ability to restore or create anything beyond His ability to eradicate.

The saints are God's heritage and He will defend them.

Fear not, for where He is we are safe.

Psalm 124

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,

now may Israel say;

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,

when men rose up against us:

Then they had swallowed us up quick,

when their wrath was kindled against us:

Then the waters had overwhelmed us,

the stream had gone over our soul:

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

Blessed be the LORD,

who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers:

the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

day no. 16,417: sidestepping the sin of soft hitting

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Run like you’re trying to win.

That means competing according to the rules and running as fast as you can.

Box like you’re trying to win.

That means fighting according to the rules and hitting as hard as you can.

"The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly." — Theodore Roosevelt

A soft hit is a lack of assiduity incarnate.

If you know why you are doing something, then do it with all your might. If you don't know why you're doing it, don't do it at all.

Soft hitting has enough conviction to do something, but not enough to do it well or with consequence. If you believe something seriously, act in accordance with assiduity. If something is not to be taken seriously, don't get sucked into acting half-heartedly. Either hit as hard as you can or don't hit, but don’t give in to the sin of soft hitting.

This reminds me of a quote that has stuck with me from the movie, Luther (2003), "If you decide to fight, you also have to decide to win."

This might require a punchier approach than you’re used to, but in fairness, if you're in a punching match, that's kind of the point.

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.

The Christian life is like a spear, it is best expressed when it gets to the point.

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

day no. 16,416: enough is as good as a feast

And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. — 2 Kings 25:30

"Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy." — C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Enough is as good as a feast.

You cannot satisfy tomorrow's hunger or eat tomorrow's calories.

You cannot warm tomorrow's toes or blow tomorrow's nose.

Our daily portion is all we need.

We never need tomorrow's needs.

Lamentations 3:22-23

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, Because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is thy faithfulness.

God gives grace daily.

He serves fresh mercy every day.

We could not store it.

We could never have too much.

We could never have more than we need.

Matthew 6:11

Give us this day our daily bread.

Sufficient for the day is the need He requires us to request.

Matthew 6:34

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Enough is as good as a feast. The one who has enough has no less than the one who has more than he needs. The one with enough doesn't need any more and the one with too much cannot eat the leftovers.

Monday, October 2, 2023