If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

      Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!" Romans 12:2

      And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness." 2 Corinthians 3:18

      The character of every true believer is being transformed. If Christ dwells in you, He will produce in you the same kind of life which He himself lived when He was on the earth. This change does not come in its completeness, or instantaneously the moment one believes in Christ. But it does begin then.

      Life is large. Life's lessons are many and hard to learn! Paul was an old man when he said, "I have learned, in whatever state I am, therein to be content." It had taken him many years to learn this lesson of contentment.

      Likewise, it takes us years to get life's lessons learned. But nothing is clearer, than that a believer's life-mission --is to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. There is to be a transformation of character. Holiness must become the every-day dress of the Christian. We are called to be saints, even in this sinful world.

      So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe!" Philippians 2:15
      

      Everyone has sorrow. Being a Christian does not exempt anyone from grief. But faith in Christ brings a transformation of sorrow. Not only are we taught to endure the sorrows that come to us patiently and submissively--but we are assured that there is a blessing in them for us, if we accept them with love and trust.

      One of the deepest truths taught in the Bible--is that earthly sorrow has a mission in the sanctifying of life. "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. God disciplines us for our good--that we may share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10-11

      We dread pain! And yet the person who has not experienced pain--has not yet touched the deepest and most precious meanings of life. There are things we never can learn--except in the school of pain! There are heights of life we never can attain--except in the bitterness of sorrow. There are joys we never can have--until we have walked in the dark ways of sorrow. Not to have sorrow, in some form, is to miss one of life's holiest opportunities. We get our best things--out of affliction! "I have refined you in the furnace of suffering!" Isaiah 48:10
      

      Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better." Luke 10:42

      Paul prayed that his friends "may be able to discern what is best." Philippians 1:10.

      We must be always making choices in this world. We cannot take up everything that lies in our path--and we ought to choose the best things. Even among 'right things' there is room for choice, for some right things are better than others.

      There are many Christians, however, who do not habitually choose the best things--but second-rate things. They labor for the food that perishes--when they might labor for the food that endures unto everlasting life. Even in their prayers, they ask for temporal blessings, when they might ask for spiritual treasures!

      They are like "the man with the muck-rake", in Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress'--who only looks 'down' and drags his rake among the weeds and worthless rubbish--while over his head are crowns which he might take into his hands! They are like Esau, who sold his valuable birthright, for some lentil stew. They toil for this world's vain things--when they might have been laying up treasures in heaven!

      We only have one life to live--and we ought therefore to do the best we possibly can with it. We pass through this world only once--and we ought to gather up and take with us the things that will truly enrich us--things we can keep forever!

      It is not worth our while, to toil and moil, and strive and struggle--to do things that will leave no lasting results when our life is done--while there are things we can do which have eternal significance!

      Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things!" Colossians 3:1-2
      

      The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!" Deuteronomy 33:27

      There are some choice thoughts in the figure of 'God's embracing arm'.

      One thought is protection. A father puts his arm around his child when it is in danger. Just so, God protects His children. Temptations beset us on every hand. Many people think of 'dying' with dread, fearing to meet it. But life has far more perils than death! It is easy to die--when one has truly lived for Christ; it is only entering into eternal joy and blessedness. But it is hard to live. At every point there are perils. We need protection. Here we have it, "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!"

      Another suggestion is affection. The father's arm around the child, means love. The child is held in the bosom, near the heart. John lay on Christ's bosom. The shepherd gathers the lambs with his arms and carries them in his bosom. This picture of God embracing His children with His arm, tells of His love for them. It tells also of intimacy, and closeness of relation. The bosom is the children's place.

      There is yet a tenderer phase of the thought here. It is especially in the time of danger or suffering, that the mother carries the child in her arms. She takes it up when it has fallen and hurt itself, and comforts it by enfolding it in her arms. When it is sick, she presses it to her bosom.

      We have here, a picture of the special sympathy and tenderness of our heavenly Father for His children--when they are in pain or in trouble. This is one of the blessings of suffering--it gets us to the inner place of divine affection, nearest to the Father's heart! God draws us nearest--when we are in trouble or in pain!

      The arm is also the symbol of strength. A mother's arm may be physically frail--but love makes it strong. The arm of God is strong--it is omnipotent. It supports worlds! When that divine arm encircles one of His feeble children--all the power of the universe cannot tear it away!

      Every true human friend is more or less a strength to us. Yet the finest, securest human strength--is only a little fragment of the divine strength. "Trust in the Lord always--for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength!" Isaiah 26:4. This is omnipotence! Here is an arm that never can be broken, and out of its clasp we never can be torn!

      Another thought concerning the everlasting arms, is endurance. There might be protection, affection, and strength--and yet the blessings might not last. We have all these in human love--but human arms grow weary--even in love's embrace. But the arms of God are everlasting. They shall never grow weary. It is everlastingness, which is the highest blessedness of divine affection and care!

      Here is something that lasts, which knows no separation, which never unclasps. The arms of God are everlasting. Neither death nor life can separate. The mountains shall depart, crumble, vanish--but God's kindness shall never depart from His beloved child!

      There is a very sacred thought in the word 'underneath'. A father tried to save his child in the waves, clasping his arms around the beloved form. But his arms were too weak, and the child slipped from them, sank away in the dark waters, and perished. But the arms of God are underneath His children--and none can sink out of His embrace! His arms are always 'underneath'.

      The waves of sorrow are very deep--but still and forever underneath the deepest floods--are the everlasting arms. We cannot sink below them. If we lie down in sickness, the everlasting arms are underneath us. If human friendships are stripped off, and we stand alone in our bereavement, still we are not alone. Underneath are the everlasting arms. God remains--and God suffices.

      Then, when death comes, and every earthly thing is gone from beneath us, and every hand unclasps from ours, and every face of love fades from our eyes, and we sink away into what seems darkness--it will be only into the everlasting arms! To every true Christian, death is only departing from earth's weariness and pain--to forever nest in the bosom of Christ!

      If we realized that the eternal God is our refuge, and that the everlasting arms are truly underneath us--our joy would not fluctuate as it does, nor our zeal be so fitful. We need a deeper repose in Christ, a more trustful settling down upon Him and upon His atoning work. Then nothing could disturb our confidence, nothing could chill our ardor, nothing could hinder our consecration. Then in sorrow we would rejoice, in temptation we would be victorious, and in all of life we would be Christ-like and strong!
      

      May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should--how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is! May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it!" Ephesians 3:18-19

      Think of the length of the love of Christ--in its wonderful forgiveness, its infinite patience, its mercy that endures forever.

      Human mercy is usually very short. There are evil chapters in your 'life story', which you would not for the world, uncover to the eye of even your gentlest friend! "He would detest me!" you say, "if he knew these things about me!"

      There are evil thoughts in your inner life--feelings, emotions, desires, lusts, imaginations, jealousies, envyings--which you would not dare to lay open to your neighbor's gaze! "He would loathe me!" you say, "if he knew these things about me!"

      Yet Christ sees all, knows all--and still He loves. He loves unto the uttermost. His mercy endures forever. His patience never fails. When the love of Christ clasps a human life--its clasp is for eternal years! He says to each of His children, "I have loved you with an everlasting love!" "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you!"

      We may think also of the depth of Christ's love. How shall we fathom it? Human love is often a stream so shallow--that it cannot cover even the minor faults and the trivial mistakes of its object. But the love of Christ is so deep--that it covers everything, hides completely out of sight, the multitude of our sins, and buries them forever in its unfathomable abysses!

      May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should--how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is! May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it!" Ephesians 3:18-19
      

      A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession!' Jesus did not answer her a word!" Matthew 15:22

      We are apt to forget that the aim of God with us, is . . .
      not to flood us with tenderness all the time,
      not to keep our path always strewn with flowers,
      not to continually give us everything we want,
      not to save us from all manner of suffering.

      No! God's aim with us, is . . .
      to make something of us,
      to build up strong and noble character in us,
      to mature qualities of grace and beauty in us,
      to make us more like Christ!
      To do this--He must ofttimes deny us what we ask for, and must seem indifferent to our cries. "Jesus did not answer her a word!"

      There are 'sentimental ideas of God' prevalent, which are dishonoring to Him. There are those who imagine that God's love means tenderness that cannot cause pain. They think that He cannot look a moment on suffering, without relieving it; that He must instantly hear and answer every cry for the removal of trouble.

      Not such a God--is the God of the Bible! When suffering is the best thing for us--He is not too sympathetic to let us suffer--until the work of suffering is accomplished in us. He is not too kind to be silent to our prayers--when it is better that He should be silent for a time, to allow . . .
      faith to grow strong,
      self-confidence to be swept away, and
      the evil in us--to be burned out in the furnace of pain!

      There is a danger with all of us--our tenderness lacks strength. We cannot tolerate to see people suffer, and so we hasten to give relief--before the ministry of suffering is accomplished. We think of our mission to others, as being only 'to make life easier for them'. We are continually lifting away burdens, which it were better to have left resting longer on our friend's shoulder! We are eager to make life easy for our children--when it were better if it had been left hard.

      We must learn that God does not deal with us in this 'sentimental' way. He is not too tender to see us suffer--if more suffering is needed to work in us the discipline that will make us like Christ!

      Here we have the key of many of the 'mysteries of Providence'. Life is not easy for us--and God does not intend it to be easy!

      Suppose for a moment, that God immediately gave us everything we ask for--and immediately removed every little pain, trouble, difficulty, and hardness that we seek to have removed; what would be the result on us? How selfish it would make us! We would become weak, unable to endure suffering, to bear trial, to carry burdens, or to struggle. We would be only children always--and would never rise into manly strength. God's over-kindness to us--would pamper in us all the worst elements of our nature, and would make us only poor driveling creatures!

      On the other hand, however, God's wise and firm treatment of us, teaches us the great lessons which make us strong with the strength of Christ Himself.
      He teaches us to yield our own will to Him.
      He develops in us--patience, faith, love, hope and peace.
      He trains us to endure hardness--that we may grow heroic, courageous and strong.

      It is well for us to make careful note of this--that in all God's delays when we pray--His aim is some good in us.

      Perhaps we are willful, asking only for our own way--and must learn to say, "May Your will be done."

      Perhaps we are weak, unable to bear pain or to endure adversity or loss--and we must be trained and disciplined into strength.

      Perhaps our desires are only for earthly good, not for heavenly blessings--and we must be taught the transitory character of all worldly things, and led to desire things which are eternal.

      Perhaps we are impatient--and must be taught to wait for God. We are like children in our eager restlessness--and need to learn self-restraint.

      At the least, we may always know that silence is not refusal--that God hears and cares, and that when our faith has learned its lessons--He will answer in blessing!

      The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives." Hebrews 12:6

      God disciplines us for our good--that we may share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10
      

      As your days--so shall your strength be!" Deuteronomy 33:25

      One of the secrets of happy and beautiful life, is to live one day at a time. Really, we never have anything to do any day--but the bit of God's will for that day. If we do that well--we have absolutely nothing else to do.

      Time is given to us in days. It was so from the beginning. This breaking up of time into little daily portions means a great deal more than we are accustomed to think. For one thing, it illustrates the gentleness and goodness of God. It would have made life intolerably burdensome if a year, instead of a day--had been the unit of division. It would have been hard to carry a heavy load, to endure a great sorrow, or to keep on at a hard duty--for such a long stretch of time. How dreary our common task-work would be--if there were no breaks in it, if we had to keep our hand to the plough for a whole year! We never could go on with our struggles, our battles, our suffering--if night did not mercifully settle down with its darkness, and bid us rest and renew our strength.

      We do not understand how great a mercy there is for us in the briefness of our short days. If they were even twice as long as they are--life would be intolerable! Many a time when the sun goes down--we feel that we could scarcely have gone another step. We would have fainted in defeat--if the summons to rest had not come just when it did.

      We see the graciousness of the divine thoughtfulness in giving us time in periods of little days, which we can easily get through with--and not in great years, in which we would faint and fall by the way. It makes it possible for us to go on through all the long years and not to be overwrought, for we never have given to us at any one time--more than we can do between the morning and the evening.

      If we learn well the lesson of living just one day at a time, without anxiety for either yesterday or tomorrow, we shall have found one of the great secrets of Christian peace. That is the way God teaches us to live. That is the lesson both of the Bible and of nature. If we learn it, it will cure us of all anxiety; it will save us from all feverish haste; it will enable us to live sweetly in any experience.

      Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
      

      When, on my bed, I think of You, I meditate on You during the night watches." Psalm 63:6

      It is a law of life--that our thoughts build our character.

      If we meditate on the purity, the holiness, the goodness, the love, the righteousness, of Christ--these qualities will print themselves upon our own hearts.