Love Not The World

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." - 1 John 2:15

Once there was a painting exhibition. One of the paintings pointed allegorically to a Christian. In the picture there were lying around all kinds of toys which a child loved. Yet that child did not seem to notice any of them; his eyes instead were fixed upon the window before him, and also his hands were stretched forward. Viewing the painting from a distance would suggest nothing at all, but a closer look revealed a beautiful tiny pigeon perched on the window sill. And the caption beneath the painting indicated in so many words that for the sake of wanting that pretty little pigeon the child forsook all the toys. And thus the moral of the picture became obvious: that in order to possess the more excellent thing one must leave the other things. God has not demanded that we cast away anything; He instead puts before us the more excellent. For the sake of possessing the more excellent, we naturally will forsake many lesser things.

The Lord My Portion (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)

Read the Scriptures: 1 John 2

Broken by God

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." - Habakkuk 3:18

When the Galilean boy brought his bread to Jesus, what did Jesus do with it? He broke it. God will always break what is offered to Him. He breaks what He takes, then blesses and uses it to meet men's needs.

Is not this true to your experience and mine? You give yourself to the Lord, and at once everything goes so badly wrong that you are tempted to find fault with His ways. To persist in such an attitude is to be broken, yes indeed, but to what purpose? You have gone too far for the world to use you, but you have not gone far enough for God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian. Do we want Him to use us? Then day by day let us go on giving to Him, not finding fault with His methods, but accepting His handling of us with praise and expectation.

A Table In The Wilderness (by Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Habakkuk 3; Matthew 4:13-21

Bring in the Light

"And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not." - John 1:5

There is a great danger today of concentrating attention on questions of dark things and making them the subject of conversation. We invite darkness by discussing it, seeking to deal with it, or even thinking about it. The Christian must learn in this to set aside everything that is negative and be occupied with the positive.

Darkness cannot be driven out of the world, but light can swallow it up. The reverse is never true. There is no such thing as darkness swallowing up light. Light is light wherever it is, even under a bushel. Let me repeat: here even in this dark world, light is light. All the world's darkness cannot extinguish it, but must itself retreat before even the glow of a tiny candle. When you meet darkness, it is absurd to dispel it. Just bring in the light.

The Joyful Heart (by Watchman Nee)

Read the Scriptures: John 1:1-5

Behold the Lamb of God

"He looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God!" - John 1:36

When John first announced Christ as the Lamb of God, he added: "which taketh away the sin of the world" (verse 29), thus emphasizing His redeeming work. The second time he did so, however, he simply said: "Behold the Lamb of God!"

Here the accent was not so much on the work as on the Person. Real appreciation means that people are precious to us for their own sakes. We come to love them more for what they are than for what they have done. So it should be with our appreciation of Christ. We thank the Lord for His gifts, but we praise Him for His worth. Christ on the Cross calls forth from us our amazed thanskgiving; Christ on the throne our praise. We behold what He has done and we are profoundly grateful; we behold who He is and we adore.

A Table In The Wilderness (by Watchman Nee)

Read the Scriptures: John 1:29-37