The Lily

" He shall grow as the Lily , and cast forth His roots as Lebanon . His branches shall spread and His beauty shall be as the olive tree , and his smell as Lebanon ."   This is the effect of the dew . It brings about a transformation so rich that it needs various figures to set forth its many -sided completeness .
 We have first the beauty of the lily . "He shall grow as the lily ." Various features of the growth of the lily might , no doubt , be mentioned by way of the comparison . The lily grows quickly ; it often flourishes in the lowly valley ; and sometimes it springs up in the midst of thorns . But the outstanding point of resemblance is the fact that the lily grows in the beauty of a stainless purity -
    " White , radiant , spotless , exquisitely pure ."
And the Lord will so heal His backsliding child that the whiteness of his soul will rival that lustrous beauty . "Wash me ," said David , " and I shall be whiter than the snow ."; and when God resstored David's soul He answered his prayer . This is a wonderful promise , and it is sometimes hard to realise that it can be true - that the man who fell by his iniquity , and thereby soiled the white robe of his profession and disfigured his comeliness , should be restored to shine with a purity whose fitting symbol is the immaculate whiteness of the lily . But this is the miracle effected by the restoring grace of God .  Alexander Stewart

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Muckle Kate Not a very ordinary name! But then, Muckle Kate, or Big Kate, or Kate-Mhor, or Kate of Lochcarron was not a very ordinary woman! The actual day of her salvation is difficult to trace to its sunrising, but being such a glorious day as it was, we simply wish to relate something of what shone forth in the redeemed life of that "ill-looking woman without any beauty in the sight of God or man." Muckle Kate was born and lived in Lochcarron in the county of Ross-shire. By the time she had lived her life to its eighty-fifth year she had well-earned the reputation of having committed every known sin against the Law of God with the exception murder. Speaking after the manner of men, if it took "Grace Abounding" to save a hardened sinner like John Bunyan, it was going to take "Grace Much More Abounding" to save Muckle Kate. However, Grace is Sovereign and cannot be thwarted when God sends it on the errand of salvation, and even the method used in bri
Read more
  Severance from Christ is death   to the Church. A Christless Church is a headless trunk. We may retain the doctrine and ethic of the New Testament, but, nevertheless, amputation of the Head means death. Even a partial severance of connection involves paraylsis - loss of spiritual power and loss of spiritual feeling. II.  INTERNALLY, THE CHURCH IS THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST. It is filled with Christ. He is not only the Head above it; he is the life within it. He does not only teach, bless, command, and lead from without; he inspires his people and lives in his Church. Christ fills " all  in all;"  i.e.  the Spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth is in the whole universe, inspiring all creation and all providence with wisdom and goodness, purity and grace. The same Spirit is in the Church. As yet, unhappily, the Church is not filled with Christ. Though Christ is received into the heart of Christians, every door within is not yet flung open to the gracious Guest. But in the perfect
Read more

Church discipline

Once from the pulpit, at an ordination of elders, the late Rev. M. M'Cheyne made the following declaration. "When I first entered upon the work of the ministry among you, I was exceedingly ignorant of the vast importance of church discipline. I thought that my great, and almost only, work was to pray and preach. I saw your souls to be so precious, and the time so short, that I devoted all my time and care and strength to labour in word and doctrine. When cases of discipline were brought before me and the elders, I regarded them with something like abhorrence. It was a duty I shrank from; and I may truly say it nearly drove me from the work of the ministry among you altogether. But it pleased God, who teaches His servants in another way than man teaches, to bless some of the cases of discipline to the manifest and undeniable conversion of the souls of those under our care; and from that hour a new light broke in upon my mind, and I saw that if preaching be an ordinance of Chri
Read more