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Daily devotions for 01-08-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: The Iniquity of Holy Things
Evening Title: Christ or the World
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Morning: The Iniquity of Holy Things
"The iniquity of the holy things." --Exodus 28:38
What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a disclosure is made! It will
be humbling and
profitable for us to pause awhile and see this sad sight. The iniquities of our
public worship,
its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness, irreverence, wandering of heart and
forgetfulness
of God, what a full measure have we there! Our work for the Lord, its
emulation, selfishness,
carelessness, slackness, unbelief, what a mass of defilement is there! Our
private devotions, their laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity,
what a mountain of dead earth is there!
If we looked more carefully we should find this iniquity to be far greater than
appears at first
sight. Dr. Payson, writing to his brother, says, "My parish, as well as my
heart, very much
resembles the garden of the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many
of my desires for the melioration of both, proceed either from pride or vanity
or indolence.
I look at the weeds which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish
that they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may
walk out and say to myself, 'In what fine order is my garden kept!' This is
pride. Or, it may be that my neighbours may look over the wall and say, 'How
finely your garden flourishes!' This is vanity. Or I may wish for the
destruction of the weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is
indolence." So that even our desires after holiness may be polluted by ill
motives. Under the greenest sods worms hide themselves; we need not look long
to discover them. How cheering is the thought, that when the High Priest bore
the iniquity of the holy things he wore upon his brow the words, "HOLINESS TO
THE LORD:" and even so while Jesus bears our sin, He presents before His
Father's face not our unholiness, but his own holiness. O for grace to view our
great High Priest by the eye of faith!
Evening: Christ or the World
"Thy love is better than wine." --Song of Solomon 1:2
Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has
enjoyment as
others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad both in God's gifts
and God's works; but in all these separately, yea, and in all of them added
together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person
of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever yielded; he has
bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt could never bring forth.
Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted in communion with our
Beloved? In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better than husks for
swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one
mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a whole world full
of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the wheat? What is the sparkling paste
to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality? What is time's
mirth, in its best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in His most despised estate?
If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our highest,
purest, and most
enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of
the Paradise of
God. No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God which was digged
with the soldier's spear. All earthly bliss is of the earth earthy, but the
comforts of Christ's presence are like Himself, heavenly. We can review our
communion with Jesus, and find no regrets of emptiness therein; there are no
dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this ointment. The joy of the Lord is
solid and enduring. Vanity hath not looked upon it, but discretion and prudence
testify that it abideth the test of years, and is in time and in eternity
worthy to be called "the only true delight." For nourishment, consolation,
exhilaration, and refreshment, no wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us
drink to the full this evening.
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Daily devotions for 01-07-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Christ is Our Life
Evening Title: Our Ties to Christ
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Morning: Christ is Our Life
"For me to live is Christ." --Philippians 1:21
The believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do so when God the Holy
Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by grace he was brought to see the dying
Saviour making a propitiation for his guilt. From the moment of the new and
celestial birth the man begins to live to Christ.
Jesus is to believers the one pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to
part with all that we have. He has so completely won our love, that it beats
alone for Him; to His glory we
would live, and in defence of His gospel we would die; He is the pattern of our
life, and the model after which we would sculpture our character.
Paul's words mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim and end of
his life was
Christ--nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he
did eat, and drink,
and sleep eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the
heart of his
heart, the life of his life.
Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this idea? Can you
honestly say that for you to live is Christ? Your business--are you doing it
for Christ? Is it not done for
self-aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, "Is that a mean
reason?" For the
Christian it is. He professes to live for Christ; how can he live for another
object without
committing a spiritual adultery? Many there are who carry out this principle in
some measure; but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for
Christ as the apostle did? Yet, this
alone is the true life of a Christian--its source, its sustenance, its fashion,
its end, all
gathered up in one word--Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself,
praying to live
only in Thee and to Thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the
plough and the
altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, "Ready for either."
Evening: Our Ties to Christ
"My sister, my spouse." --Song of Solomon 4:12
Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon with intense affection
addresses His bride the church. "My sister, one near to me by ties of nature,
partaker of the same sympathies.
My spouse, nearest and dearest, united to me by the tenderest bands of love; my
sweet companion, part of my own self. My sister, by my Incarnation, which makes
me bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by heavenly betrothal,
in which I have espoused thee unto myself in righteousness. My sister, whom I
knew of old, and over whom I watched from her earliest infancy; my spouse,
taken from among the daughters, embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me
for ever.
See how true it is that our royal Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for He dwells
with manifest
delight upon this two-fold relationship. We have the word "my" twice in our
version; as if Christ
dwelt with rapture on His possession of His Church. "His delights were with the
sons of men,"
because those sons of men were His own chosen ones. He, the Shepherd, sought
the sheep, because they were His sheep; He has gone about "to seek and to save
that which was lost," because that which was lost was His long before it was
lost to itself or lost to Him. The church is the exclusive portion of her Lord;
none else may claim a partnership, or pretend to share her love. Jesus, thy
church delights to have it so!
Let every believing soul drink solace out of these wells. Soul! Christ is near
to thee in ties
of relationship; Christ is dear to thee in bonds of marriage union, and thou
art dear to Him;
behold He grasps both of thy hands with both His own, aying, "My sister, my
spouse." Mark the two sacred holdfasts by which thy Lord gets such a double
hold of thee that He neither can nor will ever let thee go. Be not, O beloved,
slow to return the hallowed flame of His love.
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Daily devotions for 01-09-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Our God
Evening Title: Serve With Gladness
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Morning: Our God
"I will be their God." --Jeremiah 31:33
Christian! here is all thou canst require. To make thee happy thou wantest
something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this enough? If thou canst pour
this promise into thy cup, wilt thou not say, with David, "My cup runneth over;
I have more than heart can wish"? When this is fulfilled, "I am thy God," art
thou not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death, but He who
filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our wishes who can measure? but
the
immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it. I ask thee if thou art
not complete when God is thine? Dost thou want anything but God? Is not His
all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail? But thou
wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight.
Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the
Maker of Heaven. Not all the music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from
living strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, "I will be their
God."
Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of delight; come, bathe thy
spirit in it; swim an
age, and thou shalt find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shalt
find no
bottom. "I will be their God." If this do not make thine eyes sparkle, and thy
heart beat high
with bliss, then assuredly thy soul is not in a healthy state. But thou wantest
more than present delights--thou cravest something concerning which thou mayest
exercise hope; and what more canst thou hope for than the fulfillment of this
great promise, "I will be their God"? This is the masterpiece of all the
promises; its enjoyment makes a heaven below, and will make a heaven above.
Dwell in the light of thy Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with His
love. Get out the marrow and fatness which this portion yields thee. Live up to
thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy.
Evening: Serve With Gladness
"Serve the Lord with gladness." --Psalm 100:2
Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a
sad
countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving Him at
all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no
slaves to grace His throne; He is the Lord of the empire of love, and would
have His servants dressed in the livery of joy. The angels of God serve Him
with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their
ranks. That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord
looketh at the heart, and if He seeth that we serve Him from force, and not
because we love Him, He will reject our offering. Service coupled with
cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful willingness
from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his sincerity. If a man be
driven to battle, he is no patriot; but he who marches into the fray with
flashing eye and beaming face, singing, "It is sweet for one's country to die,"
proves himself to be sincere in his patriotism. Cheerfulness is the support of
our strength; in the joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of
difficulties. It is to our service what oil is to
the wheels of a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and
accidents occur; and if there be not a holy cheerfulness to oil our wheels, our
spirits will be clogged with
weariness. The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience
is his element; he can sing.
"Make me to walk in Thy commands, 'Tis a delightful road."
Reader, let us put this question--do you serve the Lord with gladness? Let us
show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it
is to us a delight and a joy!
Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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