Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: February 14th

Having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. - 1 Thessalonians 1:6.

THE apostle alludes to the persecutions which these primitive believers met with from Jews and heathens, and of which we have some account in the Acts of the Apostles. This magnified their reception of the gospel, for they received it when they were exposed to losses, to imprisonments, to sufferings, and even to death. We know little of persecution; none of it is sanctioned in our happy country by law: but then we well know that law cannot remove the enmity of the human heart. There are many wives, and children, and servants, and workmen, and tradesmen, who hear the word under various menaces, and some privations, and some ill treatment, as far as it can proceed without being actionable. And “the tongue can no man tame.” Reproach is a species of persecution.

The Ishmaels will ‘mock the Isaacs; and as it was then, so is it now: “he that is born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit;” and “if any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution.” But we must remember that there may be much affliction when there is no persecution. Oh, how many a private sufferer is there whose heart “knows his own bitterness”! Yes; there are many now who “receive the word in much affliction,” personal and relative.

Observe, they receive the word, not only “in much affliction,” but with “joy of the Holy Ghost.” Not a carnal joy, not a worldly joy, but that joy which is the fruit of the Spirit; that joy which much affliction cannot hinder,-the “joy of the Holy Ghost.”

Observe, Paul’s religion made him suffer, but it did not deprive him of pleasure; yea, he says, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” When he and Silas had been scourged, and thrust into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks, at midnight they not only prayed but sang praises to God in the prison. “And,” says Paul, “not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.”

So we see peace in the Saviour, and tribulation in the world, are very compatible with each other. There must be, therefore, something in Christianity which is very congenial with joy, otherwise these things could not be true; and they are true. It brings us “glad tidings of great joy, which are for all people.” Thus it was originally understood and embraced. The Thessalonians received the word “in much affliction,” yet with joy “in the Holy Ghost.” Ah! they were then “filled with all joy and peace in believing.”

Nor is the gospel changed; the Saviour is the same now as he was then. There is the same efficacy in his blood, and completeness in his righteousness, and power in his arm, and love in his heart. If, therefore, we do not understand and receive the truth in the same manner as the Thessalonians had received it, there must be a mistake somewhere. “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord.”

That your joy may be full. - John 16:24.

WITH many Christians their joy is feeble, stinted, and ever varying. Yet there is a fulness of this joy-a twofold fulness- there is an absolute fulness of this joy. This is reserved for the believer, in another world, when he “shall be presented before the throne of his glory with exceeding joy.” “In thy presence,” says the Psalmist, “is fulness of ‘joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” The other is comparative, and this is attainable here. The Apostle prayed on behalf of the Romans, that they might be “filled with all joy and peace in believing;” and here the Saviour intimates that the completion of this joy is very desirable. It is so on three grounds.

First, As the ornament and recommender of religion. There is nothing adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour, or that recommends religion to those around us, more than this joy; we should therefore be careful to showmen that there is a reality, an excellency, and a blessedness in religion.

Secondly, This joy is an assistant in duty. “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Sorrow is depressive and unnerving, joy is emboldening, impulsive and communicative. If this joy abounded, we should be less ashamed and afraid of confessing what we believe in the heart. How it enlivens duty and feeds zeal! This joy is like oil to the wick of a lamp, and like wind to the sail of a ship: it sets all, and keeps all, in motion. It weans the believer’s heart from the world by finding a substitute infinitely richer and sweeter-

“As, by the light of open day,

The stars are all conceal’d,

So earthly pleasures fade away

When Jesus is reveal’d.”

Thirdly, This full joy is a supporter in the hour of affliction. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.” What could have been more distressing than the situation of the church in the days of Habakkuk? “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:” yet, says she, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”