Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: January 4th

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. - 1 Chronicles 29:14.

GOD is to be acknowledged as the Source of all our supplies. However abundant the streams, or varied the channels, with him is the “fountain of life.” The silver and the gold are his; and whatever we possess, from him we have received it all. He it is that “giveth power to get wealth.” And early prosperity lacketh its firmest support, its loveliest ornament, its sweetest relish, if there is not a full acknowledgment of the fact, that it is his blessing alone that “maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it.”

Is this acknowledgment constantly and heartily made by us? What should we think of an individual who, when relieved by a fellow-creature, and supported in affluence, whose necessities were not only attended to, but all his wishes anticipated; what should we think of such a dependant if he should never wait upon, or send to, his benefactor, never speak favourably of him to others, never think of him-but should take all the goodness shown to him as a matter of right rather than of kindness, and act as if he would have all around him to believe that it was of his own producing or purchasing? Could we expect the kindness shown to be continued? and must not his conduct appear hateful and abominable to every one who witnessed it? Yet, alas, how little God is owned by us! We are too prone to sacrifice to our own net, and burn incense to our own drag. We ascribe, too frequently, our success to our own wisdom, to the power of our own arm, or to the interest we have in the favour of our fellow-mortals; or we act as though it were a matter of chance. God is not in all our thoughts. Continued enjoyment seems to give us a kind of prescription, and to induce self-reliance, and forgetfulness of God.

In reference to the benefits so frequently and so constantly bestowed upon us, let us sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. Let us think of our duties, and compare our condition with that of others, and while we see that the “lines have fallen to us in pleasant places,” and that “we have a goodly heritage,” let us say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Romans 12:6.

GOD does not communicate the same favours to all, nor in the same degree. To some he gives more, to some less. Some he places in splendid stations, others are called to pass their days in obscurity. But to “every one is given grace according to the gift of Christ.”

There is a variety in all his works. If we look up we shall see “one star differeth from another star in glory;” if we survey the earth, we shall find hills and valleys, rivers and oceans. If we observe the natural body there is a diversity of parts, and these are very unequal, yet no one of them is needless oj useless. It is the same in the mystical body; there are many offices, but all cannot fill the same office. “Having, then,” says the apostle, “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; for as we have many members, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” So the apostle Peter says, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Grace again, manifold grace! “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracle of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Unto Christians at large is this grace given-“gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us”-that some should be employed in teaching poor children to read the Bible, and that others should “visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction;” to some it is given to subscribe to Bible and Missionary and Tract Societies, and to others to collect for them. Thus we see all may be graciously employed and honoured. And Newton, when he says that at God’s bidding some fly over earth and seas, adds finely, “They also serve thy will, and they require more grace who wait than those who fly.”

“For unto you it is given,” says the apostle, “in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”