Letting go is twice possessing,
Would you double every blessing,
Pass it on.

FEBRUARY 2.

"And whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And
whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. xx. 26,
27).

Slave is the literal meaning of the word, _doulos_.

The first word used for service is _diakanos_, which means a minister to
others in any usual way or work: but the word _doulos_ means a bond slave,
and the Lord here plainly teaches us that the highest service is that of a
bond slave.

He Himself made Himself the servant of all, and he who would come nearest
to Him and stand closest to Him at last, must likewise learn the spirit of
the ministry that has utterly renounced selfish rights and claims forever.

It is quite possible to be entirely loyal to the Lord Jesus, and yet for
Jesus' sake, a servant ourselves, and under the authority of those who are
over us in the Lord.

The _doulos_ spirit is the spirit of self-renunciation and glad submission
to proper authority, service utterly disinterested, yielding our own
preferences and interests unreservedly for the glory of the Master and the
sake of our brethren. Lord, clothe us with humility and make us wholly
Thine.

FEBRUARY 3.

"He went out, not knowing whither He went" (Heb. xi. 8).

It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning.
In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw
no path upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were
marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a
great chalk line upon the sea; and when we came within twenty miles of
land we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three
thousand miles ahead.

How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had
taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by
the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith
looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or
earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into
utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way,
and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth
this day, not knowing but trusting.

FEBRUARY 4.

"Lo, I am with you alway" (Matt. xxviii. 20).

This living Christ is not the person that was, bu