e received the bulb but not the soil!
But is this God's way of dealing with His people? I will read on if
perchance I may find the gift of the soil.

"He that abideth in Me ... the same bringeth forth much fruit." That is
the gift I seek. For the keeping of His commandments the Lord provides
Himself. I am not called upon to raise fruits out of the soil of my own
will, out of my own infirmity of aspiration or desire. I can rest
everything in God! I can "abide in Him," and I may have the holy energies
of the Godhead to produce in me the fruits of a holy and obedient life.
The good Lord provides both the bulb and the soil.

It is the tragedy of life that we forget this, and seek to make a soil-bed
of our own. And thus do we suffer the calamity of fruitless labour, the
heavy drudgery of tasks beyond our strength. "Come unto Me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

FEBRUARY The Thirteenth

_GRUDGES_

"_Thou shalt not bear any grudge._"
--LEVITICUS xix. 11-18.

How searching is that demand upon the soul! My forgiveness of my brother
is to be complete. No sullenness is to remain, no sulky temper which so
easily gives birth to thunder and lightning. There is to be no painful
aloofness, no assumption of a superiority which rains contempt upon the
offender. When I forgive, I am not to carry any powder forward on the
journey. I am to empty out all my explosives, all my ammunition of anger
and revenge. I am not to "bear any grudge."

I cannot meet this demand. It is altogether beyond me. I might utter words
of forgiveness, but I cannot reveal a clear, bright, blue sky without a
touch of storm brewing anywhere. But the Lord of grace can do it for me.
He can change my weather. He can create a new climate. He can "renew a
right spirit within me," and in that holy atmosphere nothing shall live
which seeks to poison and destroy. Grudges shall die "like cloud-spots in
the dawn." Revenge, that awful creation of the unclean, feverish soul,
shall give place to goodwill, the strong genial presence which makes its
home in the new heart.

FEBRUARY The Fourteenth

_IMPERFECT CONSECRATION_

MATTHEW xix. 16-22.

The rich young ruler consecrated a part, but was unwilling to consecrate
the whole. He hallowed the inch but not the mile. He would go part of the
way, but not to the end. And the peril is upon us all. We give ourselves
to the Lord, but we reserve some liberties. We offer Him ou