From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
1 Corinthians 9:22
I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Paul's great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save.
Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he would have men renewed
in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been
aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our ways, for of
what avail will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralized men if
they appear before God unsaved? Blood-red will our skirts be if through life we
have sought inferior objects, and forgotten that men needed to be saved. Paul
knew the ruin of man's natural state, and did not try to educate him, but to
save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and did not talk of refining them, but of
saving from the wrath to come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up
with untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and beseeching men
to be reconciled to God. His prayers were importunate and his labours
incessant. To save souls was his consuming passion, his ambition, his calling.
He became a servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within him
if he preached not the gospel. He laid aside his preferences to prevent
prejudice; he submitted his will in things indifferent, and if men would but
receive the gospel, he raised no questions about forms or ceremonies: the
gospel was the one all-important business with him. If he might save some he
would be content. This was the crown for which he strove, the sole and
sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials. Dear reader, have you
and I lived to win souls at this noble rate? Are we possessed with the same
all-absorbing desire? If not, why not? Jesus died for sinners, cannot we live
for them? Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek not His
honour in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would saturate us through and
through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.
Matthew 5:18-20
(18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (19)
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall
teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. (20) For I say unto you, That except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The letter of the law that the Pharisees tried to keep was not
enough—especially for us. We have to exceed the letter of the law. Here, Jesus
was so specific about the continuance of the law from the Old Covenant to the
New that He referred to the smallest punctuation and pronunciation marks
contained in the written law, the "jot and tittle."
Most modern theology discards the letter in favor of the spirit, but one
extreme is as bad as the other. The true Christian needs both the written
letter of the law as well as its spirit to keep it properly.
To keep God's law properly, we have to learn to recognize the spirit of
the law. The spirit of the law means God's original intent or purpose behind
each law.
When God designed the Sabbath, for example, He intended it to be a
blessing to human beings. He designed it to be a refreshing rest and an
opportunity both to recuperate physically after six days of work and to draw
close to Him in love and to worship Him, as well as to deepen love for the
brethren through fellowship and outgoing concern.
Jesus knew the spirit of the Sabbath commandment. Therefore, He knew that
the split second of divine effort involved in healing was a valid use of time
on the Sabbath ( Matthew 12:10-12). Because of Jesus' insight into the divine
purpose behind the Sabbath, He freed the crippled worshipper of his burden. He
experienced a wonderful and exciting blessing because Jesus understood the
spirit of the law. God's law is always a blessing to those who recognize the
spirit of the law.
Martin G. Collins
From The Law's Purpose and Intent
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daily devotional
Evening...
Psalm 68:10
Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor.
All God's gifts are prepared gifts laid up in store for wants foreseen. He
anticipates our needs; and out of the fulness which He has treasured up in
Christ Jesus, He provides of His goodness for the poor. You may trust Him for
all the necessities that can occur, for He has infallibly foreknown every one
of them. He can say of us in all conditions, "I knew that thou wouldst be this
and that." A man goes a journey across the desert, and when he has made a day's
advance, and pitched his tent, he discovers that he wants many comforts and
necessaries which he has not brought in his baggage. "Ah!" says he, "I did not
foresee this: if I had this journey to go again, I should bring these things
with me, so necessary to my comfort." But God has marked with prescient eye all
the requirements of His poor wandering children, and when those needs occur,
supplies are ready. It is goodness which He has prepared for the poor in heart,
goodness and goodness only. "My grace is sufficient for thee." "As thy days, so
shall thy strength be." Reader, is your heart heavy this evening? God knew it
would be; the comfort which your heart wants is treasured in the sweet
assurance of the text. You are poor and needy, but He has thought upon you, and
has the exact blessing which you require in store for you. Plead the promise,
believe it and obtain its fulfillment. Do you feel that you never were so
consciously vile as you are now? Behold, the crimson fountain is open still,
with all its former efficacy, to wash your sin away. Never shall you come into
such a position that Christ cannot aid you. No pinch shall ever arrive in your
spiritual affairs in which Jesus Christ shall not be equal to the emergency,
for your history has all been foreknown and provided for in Jesus.
James 3:11-12
(11) Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
(12) Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so
can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
In examining ourselves, perhaps the critical question is, "How much salt
can be in the water before it tastes salty?" If our words hurt or cut others
down only on occasion, does that make us guilty of all that James describes?
How much confidence would we have in the kitchen faucet if we never knew
whether we would receive salt water or fresh water from it? Would we fill a
glass and drink it down or carefully test it each time?
When I was in school, a common practical joke was to dump salt in
someone's milk or water, watch him unsuspectingly drink it down and chortle
gleefully when the shock emerged on his face as he discovered what he had just
consumed. When it happened to me, it was indeed a shock! No matter how many
times I had watched it done to another, or participated in doing it, or how
hard I laughed at another's "getting it," when my turn for a "salting" took
place, it was totally unexpected and entirely unpleasant.
It happens like this in our relationships. We expect to trust one
another, and we expect the "waters" of our words to be refreshing, to be
pleasant, to be loving and positive. When we are hit with the "salt"—words
spoken in anger, gossip, merciless criticism, or caustic sarcasm toward us when
we may need some kinder attention—it is always a shock and always leaves us
feeling distaste in our mouths and betrayal in our hearts.
All of us are capable of all these kinds of communication. We have to ask
ourselves: Do I send both fresh and bitter water from my mouth? Does my tongue
produce both figs and olives?
Brian Wulf
From Are You Sharp-Tongued? (Part One)
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