God was in the Manger

Recently we read these quotes (below) from "God is in the Manger", a compilation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Advent Christmas writings. But thanks be to God! Jesus Christ did not stay in the manger. He has been from the manger to the cross, and has risen victorious to the right hand of the Father, and the knowledge of His Lordship will fill the earth far as the curse is found, and His unshakable Kingdom shall have no end. Christmas is a promise fulfilled, and we can be sure that all His other exceedingly great promises will be faithfully kept as well.

While we live in between the Already and the Not Yet, pain is real. But we find comfort that His pain was real too. In all our trials, He was born to be our Friend. Behold our King in a lowly manger! In His name all things will be set right one day, the path to misery will be closed for good, and tears will be wiped away. In our lives, we will be troubled, but fear not, for He has overcome the world. So we can sing, even in a minor key, "Rejoice."


This letter from an imprisoned Bonhoeffer to his fiancee is achingly beautiful, and something to ponder often during Advent and beyond.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Be brave, my dearest Maria, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide. We shall both experience a few dark hours -- why should we disguise that from each other? We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity. We are being subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to understand. And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives."

-ak

I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded of this more often than not. From the compilation of Puritan devotionals, Voices of the Past.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31

This life is not to be valued but as it yields opportunities to glorify
God. We were not sent into the world to live for ourselves, but
for God. If we could make ourselves, then we could live for ourselves.
If we could be our own first cause, then we might be our own end.
But God made us for himself, and sent us into the world for himself.
It is not our duty to glorify God in heaven only, but also here on
earth in the midst of difficulties and temptations. No one is sent into
the world to be idle, or to bring forth fruit to themselves, but God’s
glory must be our chief work and aim while we are here upon earth.
We must not promote merely our own interests. Every man, besides
his general calling, has his own work and course of service where he
might glorify and honour God; ‘I glorified you on earth, having accomplished
the work that you gave me to do’ (John 17:4). In a great
house one has one employment, one another: so God has designed
for every man the work he has to do; some in one calling, and some
in another; but all have their service and work given them for God’s
glory. Every morning we should revive the sense of this upon our
hearts. This day I am going to live with God. When a Christian leaves
home in the morning, he must remember he is at Christ’s disposal;
he is not to do as he pleases, but to be guided by rule, and for God’s
glory. Not only in our duties or immediate conversation with God,
but in our sports, business, and recreation. What is it to do things in
the name of Christ?—But to do it according to Christ’s will and command!
In discharge of this work, we must do it all for God’s glory. We
can do nothing without him. If we have anything to do for God, we
must do it in his own strength, in every word and every deed.

10 January
Thomas Manton, Works, i:81-82

Hardy Grace

I was reading in J.C. Ryle's book Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots a while ago, and I came across this paragraph that struck me, and I copied it down in a little black Moleskine. I just reread it there, and thought you should read it too . . .

"Hundreds of hermits have buried themselves in some wilderness, and thousands of men and women have shut themselves up within the walls of monasteries and convents, under the vain idea that by so doing they would escape sin and become imminently holy. They have forgotten that no bolts and bars can keep out the devil, and that, wherever we go, we carry that root of all evil, our own hearts. To become a monk or nun, or to join a house of mercy, is not the high road to sanctification. True holiness does not make a Christian evade difficulties, but face and overcome them. Christ would have His people show that His grace is not a mere hothouse plant, which can only thrive under shelter, but a strong, hardy thing which can flourish in every relation of life... It is not the man who hides himself in a cave, but the man who glorifies God as master or servant, parent or child, in the family and in the street, in business and trade, who is the scriptural type of a sanctified man."

- J.C.Ryle, from Holiness

(John 17:15)

-ak PS For extra credit, watch The Village.

Looking Unto Jesus

Here is an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional; he has so much wisdom to offer, conviction to dole out, encouragement and insight to share. For the record, this is from the morning devotional from June 28th, which is also my birthday. :) This is such a good reminder to stop "navel-gazing" and start "Savior-gazing," and find rest and assurance by solely LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the author and perfecter of our faith.

"It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that 'Christ is all in all.'

Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith.

We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.”

Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee."

“My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness:

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”