atter of
palate. Some people love the Word of the Lord; to others the reading of it
is a dreary task. To some the Bible is like a vineyard; to others it is
like a dry and tasteless meal. One takes the word of the Master, and it is
"as honey to the mouth"; to another the same word is as unwelcome as a
bitter drug. It is all a matter of palate.

But what is a man to do who has got a perverted palate, and who calls
sweet things bitter and bitter things sweet? He must get a new mouth! And
where is he to get it? Not by any ministry of his own creation; his own
endeavours will be impotent. A healthy moral palate depends upon the
purity of the heart. Our spiritual discernments are all determined by the
state of the soul. If the heart be pure, the mouth will be clean, and we
shall love God's law. If the soul-appetite be healthy, God's words will be
sweet unto our taste. And so does the good Lord give us new palates by
giving us new hearts. "Create within us clean hearts, O God, and renew
right spirits within us."

MAY The Fifth

_HEALTHY LISTENING_

"_Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only._"
--JAMES i. 21-27.

When we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our
hearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may
attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume
that some magical efficacy belongs to the mere reading of the word. And
all this is perverse and delusive. No listening is healthy which is not
mentally referred to obedience. We are to listen _with a view to
obedience_, with our eyes upon the very road where the obedient feet will
travel. That is to say, we are to listen with purpose, as though we were
Ambassadors receiving instructions from the King concerning some momentous
mission. Yes, we must listen with an eye on the road.

"Doing" makes a new thing of "hearing." The statute obeyed becomes a song.
The commandment is found to be a beatitude. The decree discloses riches of
grace. The hidden things of God are not discovered until we are treading
the path of obedience. "And it came to pass that as he went he received
his sight." In the way of obedience the blind man found a new world. God
has wonderful treasures for the dutiful. The faithful discover the "hidden
manna."

MAY The Sixth

_THE PERFECTING OF LOVE_

"_Herein is our love made perfect._"
--1 JOHN iv. 11-21.

How? By dwelling in God and God in us. Love is not a man