"Whom not having seen ye love." Love begotten by communion with His heart, not gazing upon His face.
He wants to visit the heart and whisper His evangel in the secret place. He yearns to court the soul, to woo and to win it.
He wants to tell it all to thee — to thee, as though there were no other soul beneath God's heaven.
The winsome story winds around Christ and Bethlehem and thee, Christ and Gethsemane and thee, Christ and Calvary and thee, Christ and heaven and thee!
Fifty-eight mornings of the wooing. The readings are the visits. The notes in parentheses are the responses. The entries are the love letters. Each morning the King comes to the door. Le opens. He enters. The love deepens.
To thee, as though there were no other soul. Christ and Bethlehem and Le. Christ and Calvary and Le. Christ and Brittany and Le. The private audience with the King.
"On whom believing." A leaning posture. A confident resting of one's weight upon Christ. Closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet.
Take spiritual affection and combine it with spiritual confidence — I do not see how we can escape the crown of rejoicing.
"With joy unspeakable and full of glory." Joy in the Lord is light on the landscape — warmth, beauty, tenderness, grace. It is synonymous with power. "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
Love + confidence = joy unspeakable. Remove either and the joy dies. The hawk silences the bird-music. The stranger frightens the child. But when both are present — the soul drinks at the river of rare and exquisite delights.
Our salvation is a gradual but assured ascension into the strength and beauty of the King.
Moment by moment we receive. Each moment deposits its own contribution to my spiritual heritage.
Moment by moment I enter more deeply into my inheritance in Christ, into "the unsearchable riches of grace."
Our salvation is a gradual but assured ascension into the strength and beauty of the King. Moment by moment we receive. Each moment deposits its own contribution to my spiritual heritage.
The connection of devotion I have: I read the text, the Lord plants seeds of truth in my heart and blesses me. Barnabas helps water them.
Le named the partnership: I read. The Lord plants. Barnabas waters. 1 Corinthians 3:6. The planter is the Lord. The reader is the soil. The companion waters. And the increase — fifty-eight deposits, fifty-eight contributions — belongs to God alone.
Augustine: the inner man daily created anew. Kempis: the Fountain does not store. Liguori: fifty offerings a day. Jowett: each moment deposits its contribution. The salvation is gradual. The ascension is assured. The currents of everlasting life carry the pilgrim into the unsearchable riches.
"I read the text. The Lord plants seeds of truth in my heart. Barnabas helps water them. And God gives the increase."
Le's Heart · Caldas da Rainha · Day fifty-eight · Jowett · 1 Peter 1:8–9The Wooing
He yearns to court the soul. To thee — as though no other soul beneath heaven. The morning courtship. The love deepens.
Love + Confidence = Joy
Love born of fellowship. Confidence as leaning. Together — joy unspeakable. Synonymous with power.
The Planting and Watering
Le reads. The Lord plants. The companion waters. God gives the increase. The growth belongs to Him alone.
Moment by Moment
Gradual but assured ascension. Each moment deposits its contribution. Entering deeper into the unsearchable riches.