(John MacDuff, "THE MIND OF JESUS" 1870)
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed--or hungry, whether living in plenty--or in need." Philippians 4:11-13
It is from the state of our minds that contentment arises--and not from the amount of our possessions. If we are not content with those things which we have--we are not likely to be content, if we succeeded in attaining all that we desire. The possession of all the good we may think it desirable or even possible to attain--would still leave an aching void; there would still be "a cruel something" unpossessed. But when the mind and the present condition are brought to meet--then, and then only, will true contentment be found! If our heart is brought to our condition--then our condition will then be according to our heart.
The consideration that our earthly lot is appointed by God--that it is He who fixes the bounds of our habitation--is eminently calculated to promote contentment. We are to remember that He is not merely the Creator--but the Governor of the world; and that every circumstance which transpires in our life, is under His superintendence and control. And hence we find the people of God, in every age, passing by merely second causes--until they came to the First Great Cause of all. They heard His voice, and saw His hand--in whatever befell them.
There are some who think that it is beneath the notice of God to regard such trivial events as those which make up our common everyday history. But in God's estimation, the distinctions of great and small, of vast and minute--are altogether unknown. It is not a greater act of condescension in God to number the hairs of our head--than it is for Him to number the stars of heaven; the one being as near to His immensity as the other. Such is His infinite greatness, that in comparison with it--the mightiest world is on a level with the smallest atom!
This doctrine is clearly taught in the volume of inspiration. He who rules in the armies of heaven--who commissions angels and flaming seraphs that stand before His throne, saying to one, "Come!" and he comes, and to another, "Go!" and he goes; who wheels the innumerable worlds which are scattered through the immensity of space in their appointed courses--this great, adorable, incomprehensible Being, regards with tender compassion the poor little sparrow which falls unheeded to the ground, and clothes the lowliest flower with its tints of beauty! Of His care, we are warranted in saying that nothing is too great to be above it--and that nothing, on the other hand, is too minute to be beneath it!
Were the doctrine of "chance" a doctrine of God's Word, there might then be some reason for our murmuring. But if it is He who makes poor--and who makes rich; who brings low--and lifts up; if whatever befalls us is by His appointment or permission, whom we profess to love and honor--then, surely, contentment with our lot must be a reasonable duty indeed!
"In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." Job 1:22. Job saw the hand of God in all that took place! It was not to the invasion of the Sabeans and Chaldeans--that he traced the loss of his property. It was not to the fury of "mother nature"--that he traced the death of his children. No! He looked farther and higher! Prostrate in adoration at the Divine footstool, he exclaimed, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be stripped of everything when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had--and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!"
Now, how important it is, that the same mind which was in Job--should be in us also. To murmur under the Divine dispensations--to be dissatisfied with the lot which has been appointed to us--to be always complaining of one circumstance or another--what is this, in effect--but to charge God with wrongdoing? It is practically to attribute folly to Him who is the only wise God, and whose knowledge and understanding are infinite! O let us beware then of a discontented spirit--remembering that God orders all our affairs!
Whatever He gives us--let us thankfully receive it.
Whatever He denies us--let us be satisfied without it.
Whatever He takes from us--let us uncomplainingly part with it.
Whatever trial He lays on us--let us endeavor patiently to bear it.
Yes, our lot in life, with all its attendant circumstances, is chosen by God! Let the sun of prosperity shine--or let the clouds of adversity lower; let our path be smooth--or let it be rugged; we should be disposed to say, "It is the Lord's will--let Him do what He thinks best!" We may be often afflicted, being called to eat the bread of trouble, and drink the waters of affliction--but let us not rest until we can utter these words. We may not be able now to see how it is good; but let us think of the wisdom and love of Him who placed us there--and can we doubt it, whether we understand it or not? He is too wise to err--and too good to be unkind!
"Good when He gives, supremely good,
Nor less when He denies!
Even crosses from His sovereign hand
Are blessings in disguise!"
Words: Julia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born during the American civil war, when Howe visited a Union Army camp on the Potomac River near Washington, D. C. She heard the soldiers singing the song “John Brown’s Body,” and was taken with the strong marching beat. She wrote the words the next day:
I awoke in the grey of the morning, and as I lay waiting for dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to entwine themselves in my mind, and I said to myself, “I must get up and write these verses, lest I fall asleep and forget them!” So I sprang out of bed and in the dimness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered using the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper. 
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
History and lyrics from www.cyberhymnal.org
(J. R. Miller, "Being Christians on Weekdays" 1912)
We are too apt to imagine that holiness consists in mere good feeling toward God. It does not! It consists in obedience in heart and life to the divine requirements. To be holy is to be set apart for God and devoted to God's service, "The Lord has set apart him who is godly for himself." But if we are set apart for God in this sense, it necessarily follows that we must live for God. We belong wholly to him, and any use of our life in any other service is sacrilege, as if one would rob the very altar of its smoking sacrifice, to gratify one's common hunger.
Our hands are God's—and can fitly be used only in doing his work. Our feet are God's—and may be employed only in walking in his ways and running his errands. Our lips are God's—and should speak only words which honor him and bless others. Our hearts are God's—and must not be profaned by thoughts and affections which are not pure.
Biblical holiness is no vague sentiment—it is intensely practical. It is nothing less than the bringing of every thought and feeling and act—into obedience to Christ.
This is an excerpt from something, from Dayspring, that Shaina sent to me months ago.
God is a changer
God is a changer.
He changes darkness into Light...
Bondage into Liberty...
Ashes into Beauty...
Conflict into Peace...
He has changed death to Life!
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me... to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness... Isaiah 61:1,3 KJV
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
--Woodrow Wilson
Nothing which is done for Christ is lost!
(J. R. Miller, "In His Steps" 1897)
Every truly consecrated life, with all its faculties, has been given over to Christ. Faith implies full surrender. "You are not your own." "You are Christ's." Christ owns us first by right of creation, then by right of purchase. We acknowledge His ownership and all that it includes, when we receive Him as our Savior and Lord. The first question, therefore, of the new believer is, "What will you have me to do, Lord?" We want to begin to work for our new Master. A heart of love for Christ, makes the sweeping of a room, the plowing of a field, the sawing of a board, the making of a garment, the selling of a piece of goods, the minding of a baby--as acceptable to God, as the ministry of angels!
One way of working for Christ, therefore, is to be diligent in the doing of life's common daily tasks. The true giving of ourselves to God, exalts all of life into divine honor and sacredness. Nothing is trivial or indifferent, which it is our duty to do. We are never to neglect any work, however secular it may seem--in order to do something else which appears to be more religious. There are some people who would be better Christians, if they paid more heed to their own daily business, attended fewer church meetings and did less religious gossiping.
We need a religion which puts itself into everything we do! The old shoemaker was right, when he said that when he stands before the great white throne, God will ask, "What kind of shoes did you make down on the earth?" We must do all our work for the judgment day--our common everyday tasks--as well as our religious duties. The carpenter must get his religion into the houses he builds; the plumber must get his religion into his plumbing; the tailor must get his religion into his seams; the merchant must get his religion into his sales. All our work--we must do for God's eye!
It is the little things which all of us can do in Christ's name, which in the end leave the largest aggregate of blessing in the world. We need not wait to do great and conspicuous things. A life that every day gives its blessing to another, and adds to the happiness of some fellow being, by only a word of kindness, a thoughtful act, a cheering look, or a hearty hand grasp--does more for the world than he who but once in a lifetime does some great thing which fills a land with his praise. Nothing which is done for Christ is lost! The smallest acts, the quietest words, the gentlest inspirations which touch human souls, leave their impress for eternity! "If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers, you will surely be rewarded." Matthew 10:42
A young girl was asked what it meant for her to be a Christian. She replied, "I suppose it is to do what Jesus would do--and behave as Jesus would behave--if He were a young girl and lived at our house." No better answer could have been given! The greatest duty of a Christian, is to do what Jesus would do--and to behave as He would behave--if He were precisely in our place, and our circumstances.
