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  "Counsel And Help"  

Daily Readings Selected from the Writings of J R Miller

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Counsel And Help was first published in 1907 by The Pilgrim Press, London.

JULY

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15
16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31

July 1

The New Creation

The new man is the Christian man. We see at once, however, that more than reformation is required. He is "created," and only God can create. We cannot change our own heart so that we shall have holy feelings, desires, and affections. We have a part in it, of course. God does not work on us as the sculptor works on the marble, hewing it into any shape he desires, without any consciousness or acquiescence or will in the stone. We are not blocks of marble; we are immortal beings, and, as such, all work on us is wrought through our own will, affections, and desires. We are exhorted to "put on the new man," as if it were altogether our work. As we obey God, His spirit will work in us, and produce the changed, which we could never of ourselves produce. We have also the pattern after which we are to fashion our new life – "after God."

July 2

Love Is The Law

"In love." Love is always to be the law of life. Love must decide all questions. Our liberty must never be so exercised that it will hurt our neighbour. Paul is talking of eating meat that had first been carried to an idol temple and then sold. He knew that the meat was not affected by this bit of superstition. But some weak people thought it had been defiled, and that it was a sin to eat it. "Better give up your meat," said Paul to the strong Christians, "than grieve your weak brethren." It is "liberty" to eat, regardless of your brother’s feelings; but it is "love" to deny yourself for his sake. There are "other people," and we must always think of them in living our own life.

It is astonishing, too, how thinking of them by the rule of love will cut into our plans for ourselves. At every point we are met by the question, "How will this affect the other people about me?" "Liberty!" Oh yes; but there is a higher law – love.

July 3

Christ's Pasture Fields

The Bible is Christ’s pasture land, and the pasture there is always good. Every chapter is a field of rich grace. There also are found trees of all kinds, with abundance of fruits. The fields of provision are also Christ’s pasture fields. In the common ways of life they find food waiting for them. We may trust Christ absolutely, because we know that wherever He leads us He is taking us to some bit of green grass. When the shepherd led his flock through the dark valley, it was to get into a bit of pasture on the other side. Sometimes Christ leads His people through sorrow, struggle, trial, loss, but it is always because this is the way to something good which He has in waiting for them.

July 4

No Friendship In Sin

Sin does not bind bonds of affection about human lives. Sinning together does not make people friends. A man spends all he has at a saloon, but when he has no more the saloon keeper into whose till he has emptied all does not become his friend, taking him into his house as a brother and providing for his wants.

When a man has gone down into the depths of dissipation with evil companions, and at last becomes conscious of his degradation, he will not seek help or comfort from those with whom he has sinned. When he is sick or dying, he will not send for a companion of his evil life to give him counsel or to tell him how to find the way home.

July 5

Working And Waiting

The way to be ready for Christ’s coming is not to sit down in idleness and wait and watch for His appearance in the clouds, but to keep at one’s work with diligence. A Christian woman was told by her physician that she could not live a great while, and that she might die any hour. She did not, however, drop her work and shut herself away; she went on with her usual duties, only with greater diligence than before. Many people in such a case would drop active tasks and spend the time remaining in Bible reading and prayer. But this woman’s way was better.

July 6

Resist Evil

It is a sad thing for any of us, if, instead of growing daily into a clearer, fuller likeness to Christ, our spiritual life is failing and the features of our Lord’s beauty are becoming dimmer and dimmer in us. People say: "I cannot help it; I cannot resist the incessant grind and pressure of the worldly life about me. I cannot keep my heart gentle and my spirit sweet amid all that is mean, unjust, selfish, unreasonable, and even cruel, about me." But while never easy, it is always possible to be more than conquerors over all these antagonistic influences, through Him that loved us.

July 7

Passing On Experiences

"When thou art converted," said the Master to Peter – "when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." His meaning was that a new power of personal helpfulness was to come to him through his sad experience which he should use in strengthening others to meet temptation. Then, when he had passes through that terrible night, when he had been lifted up again, when he had crept back to the feet of his risen Lord and had been forgiven and reinstated, he had double cause for gratitude – that he himself had been saved from hopeless wreck and restored, and, still more, that he was now a better man, prepared, in a higher sense than before, to be an apostle and a patient, helpful friend to others in similar trial.

July 8

Never Failing Mercy

We sin against God continually, and His mercy never fails. His love bears with all our neglect, forgetfulness, ingratitude, and disobedience, and never grows impatient with us. We live only by His forbearance. The wrongs He endures from us are infinite in comparison with the trivial grievances we must endure from our fellow men. When we think of this, can we grow impatient of the little irritations of daily fellowship? We are taught to pray ever day, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." How can we pray this petition sincerely, and continue to be exacting, resentful, revengeful, or even to be greatly pained by the unkind treatment of others?

July 9

The Other Side

A tourist writes of stopping at Giesbach to look at the wonders of its waterfalls. The party had to pass over one of the falls on a slender bridge through the drenching water, with the wild torrents dashing beneath. It was a trying experience. But once through, a glorious picture burst upon them. There were rainbows above, beneath, and circling on all sides. So the spray of sorrow falls now, and we may have to walk through floods and pitiless torrents, and all may seem a strange, inexplicable mystery. But there will come a time when we shall have passed through these shadows of grief, and when we shall stand amid the splendour of rainbows and on the shores of glory. Then we will understand, and see love in every pang and tear.

July 10

Life's Purpose

Our life is not in any sense our own. It purpose is not fulfilled unless it is lived to accomplish the end for which it was created and redeemed. We begin to study the Scriptures and to ask what the chief end of life is, and we have not to read between the lines to find the answer. Everything has been made with some design. Even a grain of sand has its uses. It helps build up the mountain, or it forms part of the great wall that holds the sea in its place, or it helps by its infinitesimal weight to balance the system of worlds. A drop of water has its purposes and uses. Creeping into the bosom of the drooping flower or sinking down to its roots, it revives it. It may help to quench the thirst of a dying soldier. It may paint a rainbow on the clouds. It may help to float great ships or add its little plash to the chorus of ocean’s majestic music. And if such minute things have their purpose, how grand must be the end for which each human life was made.

July 11

New Every Day

All life is new. There is not a step of it of which it may not be said to us: "You have not passed this way heretofore." Every new born child enters a world it has never been in before. Every day’s path is new to each one of us. We say our life is only dull routine. We rise each morning to go through the same round we went through yesterday. We walk along the same roads every day for years. Life seems to us to have no variety. Yet really each day is new and strange. We do not know what experiences it will bring to us, what joys or sorrows, what struggles, what responsibilities, what new revealings, what new duties. Each morning the voice of God whispers to us: "You have not passed this way heretofore; therefore keep your eye on your guide."

July 12

Our Neighbour

The Good Samaritan is our Lord’s answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" and the Good Samaritan’s neighbour was a bitter enemy, who, in other circumstances, would have spurned him from his presence. Other people may not be beautiful in their character, nor congenial in their habits, manners, modes of life, or disposition; they may even be unkind to us, unjust, unreasonable, in strict justice altogether undeserving of our favour; yet if we persist in being called Christians ourselves, we owe them the love that thinketh no evil, that seeketh not its own, that beareth all things, endureth all things, and never faileth. That is, we owe other people service. Serving goes with loving. We cannot love truly and not serve. Love without serving is but an empty sentiment, a poor mockery.

July 13

Hidden Faults

If we are living truly, we want to find every flaw or blemish, of whatever kind, there is in us. He is a coward who shrinks from the discovery of his own faults. We should be glad always to learn of any hidden unloveliness in ourselves. Someone says: "Count yourself richer that day you discover a new fault in yourself, – not richer because it is there, but richer because it is no longer a hidden fault; and if you have not yet found all your faults, pray to have them revealed to you, even if the revelation must come in a way that hurts your pride."

July 14

Radiant Christians

Christ wants His friends to be glad. There is an utter incongruity in a sad and mournful Christian life. By its very nature true religion is joyous. Our sins are forgiven. We are adopted into God’s family. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. The covenant of love arches its shelter over us all the while. All things in this world work together for our good, and then glory waits for us beyond death’s gate. With all this blessed heritage, why should we be mournful and sad? While we enjoy the smile of Christ, the consciousness of His love, the assurance of His forgiveness, and the hope of heaven and eternal life, what should make us sad? We should have radiant faces.

July 15

Complete Obedience

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Every word in this sentence is emphatic and intense in its meaning. "Whatsoever He Saith." There is no other one who has a right to command us. We belong to Christ because He has redeemed us. He is our only Lord and Master. "Whatsoever He saith." We may not choose some of His commands for obedience, and some for neglect, inattention, or rejection. We are not to do the pleasant things He bids us to do, and leave undone the things that are not according to our own taste and feeling. We are to do even the things that cost pain and personal sacrifice. It was thus that Jesus Himself did the will of His Father. That will took Him to His Cross; but He did not shrink from accepting it when He saw the way growing dark before Him, or when he felt the thorns under His feet, and the burdens increasing into crushing weight upon His shoulders. If we would walk in His steps, our obedience must be complete.

July 16

Imperfect Achievement

An old painter, after standing long in silent meditation before his canvas, with hands crossed meekly on his brest and his head bent reverently, said: "May God forgive me that I did not do it better." There are many of us who ought to have the same experience of penitence as we contemplate the things we have done. We should continually implore forgiveness for doing our work so poorly, for we are not doing our best. If only we would learn to put all the energy of our souls into each piece of work we do, we should make a radiant record for ourselves.

July 17

A Precious Friendship

That Christ should condescend thus to give to us sinful men His pure, divine friendship is the greatest wonder of the world; but there is no doubt of the fact. No human friendship can ever be half so close and intimate as that which the lowliest of us may enjoy with our Saviour. If we but realize our privileges, the enriching that will come to our lives through this glorious relationship will be better than all gold and gems.

July 18

Common Duties

Common duties are the steps that lead upward and heavenward. God lights only one step of the path at a time; but, as we take that step, the light falls on another, and so on and on, thus lighting the whole path for our feet, until we are led at last to the gate that opens into heaven. The way, therefore, to find out what God’s plan is for our life is to surrender ourselves to Him in simple consecration, and then take up, hour by hour, the plain duties He brings to our hand.

July 19

Stepping Stones

In every life there are mistakes and sins. The holiest do not live perfectly. The strongest are liable to fall in sudden and unexpected temptation. The wisest will commit grave errors and follies at the same time. We should know well in such cases how to deal with our sins. They must not be simply self-condoned, and left lying in the path behind us, while we hurry on; nor must they bring despair to our hearts as we sorrow over them; they must be sincerely and heartily repented of, and forgiveness for them sought at the feet of Him we have offended and grieved. Then we must rise from disaster and defeat stronger, purer, nobler, through Christ victorious over our own sins, and a conqueror over our own defeat.

July 20

Easygoing Religion

Some Christian people never have learned the deep joy of the Christian life, because they never have gone beneath the surface in loving Christ, and in consecration to Him. Our religion is too easygoing. We think we are fulfilling our duty if we attend church once a Sunday when the weather is clear, if we give a few cents a week to God’s cause, if we kneel morning and evening to say a little prayer. Yet these are only one-mile excursions in religion, and the blessing does not lie at the end of the little conventional mile – it lies farther on, at the end of the second mile.

July 21

Love's Debtors

We are debtors to all men – we owe love and love’s service to everyone. God sends us to carry blessing to each person we meet. It may be a lowly one who stands before us tomorrow, one who is unworthy, one who has sinned; it may be an enemy, one who yesterday wronged us, spoke bitter things of us, tried to injure us. No matter. We are sent from God with something for this very person, whoever or whatever he may be. The love of Christ in us says to this man, "I long to impart unto you some spiritual gift," and we dare not refuse this ministry of love to any being under heaven. Then we do no know how sorely he needs us, how hungry he is for love, in how great peril he is this very moment – sent to us perhaps as a refuge, that we may be the bosom of Christ to him, that he may be saved by a word, a look, a kindness, a prayer of ours.

July 22

Ministering To Others

When Christ put the thought of His mission into a sentence, it was: "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Not otherwise can we conceive of our mission as followers of Christ. We must follow Him in self denial and sacrifice, in the true laying of our life upon the altar of love. It is this that the world needs today – the life of Christ repeated in the lives of His people, in lowly services that shall fill the earth with the fragrance of love, and carry blessing into every nook and corner of it.

July 23

The Individuality Of Life

No one can live your life for you. Friends may help you by encouragement, by sympathy, by cheer, by affection’s warm inspirations, by counsel, by guidance; but, after all, in the innermost meaning of your life, you must live it yourself. No one can make your choices for you; you must make them for yourself. No one can have faith in God for you. No one can believe in Christ for you. No one can meet the obligations of the moral law for you. No one but yourself can get your sins forgiven. No one can do your duty for you. No one can meet your responsibility for you. A thousand other people all about you may be faithful to their trust; but if you fail in faithfulness, their faithfulness will not be of any avail for you. There is no vicariousness of this kind in life; you must live your own life.

July 24

Simple Goodness

After all, there are few ways in which most of us can do better service for Christ in this world than just by being good. Sir Walter Scott’s farewell to Lockhart contained wise counsel: "Be a good man, my dear." Cleverness shines more brightly in society; eloquence makes itself heard more widely, and elicits huzza from the throng; wealth yields a greater show of splendour, gives more worldly power for the time, and gets itself talked about by more people; conspicuous alms-giving is more praised of men – it has its reward; but plain simple goodness is likely to have as bright a crown and as high a place in heaven as any of her more showy sisters. It is certain, too, that nothing makes a deeper and more lasting impression on human lives; and this is the best test of the real value of living.

July 25

Good And Bad Gifts

The world offers attractive things, – pleasures, gains, promises of honour and delight. To the eye of sense these appear to be life’s best things. But too often they enfold bitterness and hurt, the fruit of evil. At the bottom of the cup are dregs of poison. On the other hand, the things that God gives appear sometimes unattractive, undesirable, and even repulsive. We shrink from accepting them. But they enfold, in their severe and unpromising form, the blessings of divine love.

July 26

God's Comforts

The reason many persons find so little comfort in their troubles is because they do not accept them as sent from God, nor expect to receive blessings from them. They think only of getting through them in the best way they can, and then of getting over them at length, as nature’s slow processes bring healing. But there is a better way. God’s comfort can keep the heart sweet and unhurt in the midst of the sorest trials, and bring the life through the darkest hours, shining in transfigured beauty.

July 27

Work And Growth

Work is the only means of growth. Instead of being a curse, as some would have us believe, work is a means of measureless good. Not to work is to keep always an undeveloped hand, or heart, or brain. The things which work may achieve are not half so important as that which work does in us. A genial writer has given us a new beatitude – "Blessed be drudgery!" and in a delightful essay proves that we owe to what we speak of ordinarily as drudgery the best things in our life and character.

July 28

Ripening Frosts

Some fruits do not ripen until the frosts come; some lives do not yield their richest and best character until the frosts of sorrow have fallen upon them. Many Christians go on through joyous days, amid prosperity, pure in motive, earnest in activity, yet not bringing forth the best fruits. By and by trouble comes, adversity, sorrow, loss, and under the keen frosts the fruit is ripened. After that they have a sweeter spirit, with more love for Christ, with deeper spirituality, and a larger measure of consecration.

July 29

Duty Transformed

We do not like the word duty; it seems to mean something hard and unpleasant. But when we accept it from our Master and take it up with love in our heart, it is transformed for us into something beautiful. A traveler in South Africa tells of picking up a rough pebble. As he turned it over in his hand his trained eye saw the gleaming of a diamond. Duty may have a rough, an unattractive crust, but he who accepts it and looks at it through eyes of love sees in it a service for Christ which will yield the heavenly treasure of peace and joy.

July 30

Christ Completing Lives

Weakness was not beautiful to the eye of Christ; it was something imperfect, faulty, lacking. It was something, too, which He sought to bring back to its true, normal state. He came not to destroy, but to fulfill, that is, to fill full. He rejected nothing because it was in ruin; He sought to build up the ruin into a temple of beauty. In a most wonderful way was this the mission of Jesus Christ. He came to a lost world to be its Saviour. He came to make the weak strong, the soiled white and clean, the outcast children of God.

July 31

The Reality Of Christ

You cannot see Christ, but you believe that He is true, loving, faithful, touched with sympathy when you suffer; that He knows all about you, and loves you with a love personal, deep, tender, strong, everlasting. You know, too, that He has all power, and that all His power is yours to support, keep, bless, deliver, protect, and save you. You know that He has all wisdom – wisdom that never errs, that never counsels rashly, indiscreetly, short-sighted – and that all this wisdom is for the guidance of your life, the ordering of your steps. As we think along these lines the unseen Christ becomes very real to us.

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