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Daily devotions for 06-11-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Live to the Lord
Evening Title: Jesus is the Word
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Morning: Live to the Lord
"We live unto the Lord." --Romans 14:8
If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at the moment of
conversion. It
was not absolutely necessary for our preparation for immortality that we should
tarry here. It is possible for a man to be taken to heaven, and to be found
meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, though he has
but just believed in Jesus. It is true that our sanctification is a long and
continued process, and we shall not be perfected till we lay aside our bodies
and enter within the veil; but nevertheless, had the Lord so willed it, He
might have changed us from imperfection to perfection, and have taken us to
heaven at once.
Why then are we here? Would God keep His children out of paradise a single
moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on
the battle-field when one charge might give them the victory? Why are His
children still wandering hither and thither through a maze, when a solitary
word from His lips would bring them into the centre of their hopes in heaven?
The answer is--they are here that they may "live unto the Lord," and may bring
others to know His love.
We remain on earth as sowers to scatter good seed; as ploughmen to break up the
fallow ground; as heralds publishing salvation. We are here as the "salt of the
earth," to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our
daily life. We are here as workers for Him, and as "workers together with Him."
Let us see that our life answereth its end. Let us live earnest, useful, holy
lives, to "the praise of the glory of His grace." Meanwhile we long to be with
Him, and daily sing--
"My heart is with Him on His throne,
And ill can brook delay;
Each moment listening for the voice,
'Rise up, and come away.'"
Evening: Jesus is the Word
"They are they which testify of Me." --John 5:39
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the Bible.
He is the constant theme of its sacred pages; from first to last they testify
of Him. At the
creation we at once discern Him as one of the sacred Trinity; we catch a
glimpse of Him in the promise of the woman's seed; we see Him typified in the
ark of Noah; we walk with Abraham, as He sees Messiah's day; we dwell in the
tents of Isaac and Jacob, feeding upon the gracious promise; we hear the
venerable Israel talking of Shiloh; and in the numerous types of the law, we
find the Redeemer abundantly foreshadowed.
Prophets and kings, priests and preachers, all look one way--they all stand as
the cherubs did over the ark, desiring to look within, and to read the mystery
of God's great propitiation.
Still more manifestly in the New Testament we find our Lord the one pervading
subject. It is not an ingot here and there, or dust of gold thinly scattered,
but here you stand upon a solid floor of gold; for the whole substance of the
New Testament is Jesus crucified, and even its closing sentence is bejewelled
with the Redeemer's name. We should always read Scripture in this light; we
should consider the word to be as a mirror into which Christ looks down from
heaven; and then we, looking into it, see His face reflected as in a
glass--darkly, it is true, but still in such a way as to be a blessed
preparation for seeing Him as we shall see Him face to face.
This volume contains Jesus Christ's letters to us, perfumed by His love. These
pages are the garments of our King, and they all smell of myrrh, and aloes, and
cassia. Scripture is the royal chariot in which Jesus rides, and it is paved
with love for the daughters of Jerusalem.
The Scriptures are the swaddling bands of the holy child Jesus; unroll them and
you find your Saviour. The quintessence of the word of God is Christ.
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Morning, June 12
"Looking unto Jesus."- Hebrews 12:2
It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but
Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make
us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, "Your sins are too great
for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able
to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a
wavering hold of Jesus." All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never
find comfort or assurance by looking within.
But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we
are nothing, but that "Christ is all in all."
Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee-it is Christ;
it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee-it is Christ; it is not even faith
in Christ, though that be the
instrument-it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy
hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope,
but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the
author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at
our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are,
that gives rest to the soul.
If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by
"looking unto Jesus. " Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his
sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind;
when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look
to him.
Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after
him, and he will never fail thee.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."
Evening, June 12
"But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." - Exodus 7:12
This incident is an instructive emblem of the sure victory of the divine
handiwork over all opposition. Whenever a divine principle is cast into the
heart, though the devil may fashion a counterfeit, and produce swarms of
opponents, as sure as ever God is in the work, it will swallow up all its foes.
If God's grace takes possession of a man, the world's magicians may throw down
all their rods; and every rod may be as cunning and poisonous as a serpent, but
Aaron's rod will swallow up their rods.
The sweet attractions of the cross will woo and win the man's heart, and he who
lived only for this deceitful earth will now have an eye for the upper spheres,
and a wing to mount into celestial heights. When grace has won the day the
worldling seeks the world to come. The same fact is to be observed in the life
of the believer.
What multitudes of foes has our faith had to meet! Our old sins-the devil threw
them down before us, and they turned to serpents. What hosts of them! Ah, but
the cross of Jesus destroys them all. Faith in Christ makes short work of all
our sins.
Then the devil has launched forth another host of serpents in the form of
worldly trials, temptations, unbelief; but faith in Jesus is more than a match
for them, and overcomes them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the
faithful service of God! With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties are
surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are honours. But if
religion is thus a consuming passion in the heart, then it
follows that there are many persons who profess religion but have it not; for
what they have will not bear this test.
Examine yourself, my reader, on this point. Aaron's rod proved its heaven-given
power. Is your religion doing so? If Christ be anything he must be everything.
O rest not till love and faith in Jesus be the master passions of your soul!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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