Daily Devotionals

Devotional: January 25th

"And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." - Revelation 2:26.

One of the resolutions made by that eminently devoted and successful combatant for Christ, President Edwards, was to the following effect: " Resolved, so to live and strive as I would do if I knew that only one man of this generation were to be saved, and I were fully determined to be that man."

This seems to be much the same spirit that breathed in the words of Paul: " Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. I therefore so run; so fight I." The principle of emulation is abundantly appealed to in the Bible; but there is no selfishness in the emulation that is evoked by its magnificent promises. The Christian is assured that his gain, so far from being the loss of others, will be their gain also; and the greater his gain, the more will his path be strewn with blessings for others. What he is called to overcome is self; he is to wage war with this hydra-headed monster, this protean enemy who is no sooner defeated under one form than he appears under another; and the promises of God are all that they need to be in order that the soldier of Christ may have the utmost possible incitements and encouragements in the prosecution of this strife.

The prize that animates the conquering Christian to undertake new conquests, is in kind like that which animated our Lord himself, namely, the power to bless a sin-cursed world. The highest attainments to be made by any servant of Christ here below, are to be made under the constraining influence of an intense desire to glorify Christ in the salvation of men. It is as we have this spirit, that we have the spirit of Christ. We are to be stimulated in our hungering and thirsting after righteousness, not only by the weariness of our own unrighteousness, but by the thought of the unrighteousness of others; not only by the desire for peace and joy and conscious purity, but by an ardent and sustained aspiration to do our utmost (Christ’s utmost in us) for the recovery of a fallen world.

There are two errors that follow even the few Christians that go furthest in the divine life. One is this: - They are very eager to bring men to Christ, but neglect to obtain for themselves experience of a higher and more thorough work of sanctification. That love of Christ which they know, they abundantly proclaim, and are rewarded in so doing; but there are depths in Christ’s love which they are neglecting to explore. In exploring these it would not follow that some of their use fulness would be sacrificed. The contrary would be the result.

The second error is that of those who give themselves too exclusively to the cultivation of the interior life. They ardently desire personal holiness. Their soul is a watered garden; and they propose, when all the plants shall be fruitful and beauteous, to open the gates that others may come in and participate in their treasures’; but in the meantime they almost forget the world without. They are in danger of falling under the power of an insidious form of spiritual selfishness. In the Lord Jesus, see the most uninterrupted communion with God, and the most unrestrained communion with men. He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, at the same time that he was going about doing good. To be like him, is the highest of all prizes. We seek to be holy as he is holy, that we may be useful as he was.

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