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A Call To Discipleship
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January 29—Morning Devotion
"If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door posts; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever."—Exodus 21:5-6 How sweet is scripture explained by scripture! Jesus saith, when sacrifice and offering under the law were both unprofitable, "Mine ears hast thou opened;" or, as it might have been rendered, "Mine ears hast thou digged." Ps. 40:6. And elsewhere, "The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious." Isa. 50:5. The apostle to the Hebrews decidedly explains this in…
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January 28—Morning Devotion
"As having nothing, and yet possessing all things."—2 Corinthians 6:10 My soul, hast thou learnt this holy science? There are three blessed lessons the Holy Ghost teacheth on this ground. As, first, the believer is thoroughly emptied of himself. Art thou thus taught of God? Hast thou been led to see, to feel, to know, to be convinced that, after all thine attainments, after all thy long standing in the school of Jesus, thou hast nothing, canst do nothing, art worse than nothing, and, literally, hast no more in thyself now to recommend thee to Jesus, than the first moment thou didst hear of his name? This is to have nothing; this is to be poor in spirit. Secondly , dost thou possess all things…
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January 26—Morning Devotion
"And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?"—Luke 24:32 Ought not the disciples of Jesus to do now, as the disciples of Jesus did then? What but of Jesus should we speak of by the way? Methinks the Lord's people, and especially when coming from the Lord's house, should be distinguished from the frothy conversation of mere carnal worshippers. I would, by talking of Jesus, invite him to mingle with us, and open to our understandings the scriptures. I would therefore sometimes ask one and another, when returning from the house or the table of the Lord, how went the matter with your soul…
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Sabbath-Breaking: A Crime Worthy Of Death?
In Numbers chapter 15 an incident is recounted from Israel’s wilderness wandering. It concerns a man who gathered sticks on the sabbath day, and the high cost of his actions. Today, in Britain, we have completely erased capital punishment from the list of possible sentences for wrongdoing. The ultimate act of retribution, the death penalty, is no longer available to judges even for the most heinous of crimes. Sabbath breaking But in Old Testament Israel this was not the case. There were numerous crimes such as murder, adultery and idolatry that earned the punishment of death. However, there were also other crimes such as disobedience towards parents, gluttony, and sabbath-breaking that equally brought down the wrath of the executioner. In our modern culture in which…
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January 17—Morning Devotion
"My beloved standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice"—Song of Solomon 2:9 It might be truly said, that it was behind the wall of our nature the Lord Jesus stood, when, by taking a body of flesh, he veiled the glories of his Godhead, during the days of his humanity. And may it not be as truly said, that it is still, as from behind a wall, all the gracious discoveries he now makes of himself are manifested to his people? For what from the dulness of our perception, the unbelief, and the sins and infirmities of our nature, the most we see of our Jesus is but as through a glass darkly. But yet, my soul,…
