Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: December 10th

Be clothed with humility. - 1 Peter 5:5.

HOWEVER grace may have distinguished and enriched its possessors, if they have an inheritance now, they know they were poor enough once; if now they are clothed with the garments of salvation, they know that once they were naked and in a state of utter spiritual destitution; if they are now nigh, they have been “made nigh by the blood of Christ,” for they were once “far off;” if they are now pardoned, they were once condemned; if they are now renewed in the spirit of their minds, they were once carnally-minded. Christians, therefore, above all others, should not be proud, but humble.

Hence says the prophet to the Jews, “Look to the rock from whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye were digged.” And Christians should not only be humble, but grateful, calling daily upon their soul, and all that is within them, to bless and praise God’s holy name.

There are three dresses mentioned in Scripture in which Christians appear to great advantage; and it may be difficult to determine which becomes them best. One of these is the dress here mentioned by Peter,-the dress of humility. And another is what Jeremiah calls the “garments of praise,” in which also the Christian looks very fair and comely; for, as David says, “praise is comely;” it is becoming in us to be thankful, for we cannot appear to greater advantage than in these garments of praise, and in being “clothed with humility.” Arrayed in these, we shall “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” But there is still another dress in which the Christian appears to advantage, and that is zeal. Isaiah speaks of putting on “zeal as a cloak,”-a beautiful garment.

Oh, how well a Christian looks in this, when he is not only humble, and thankful in his own soul, but when he is concerned that others may partake with him, -when he invites them, when he calls upon them, to come forward and hear what God has done for his soul! Oh, may we be distinguished more and more by it, and say, with the first Christians, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. - Revelation 3:21.

IN what a glorious manner does the “Captain of our salvation,” who was “made perfect through sufferings that he might bring many sons unto glory,” discharge the office he has assumed. Another commander must depend very much on report, he cannot see in the engagement all the combatants, but only a few of them; but as to our Captain, his eye is everywhere, and though much of the Spiritual warfare is carried on in secret, and many a battle is fought and won in the house without the knowledge of any individual even there but the Christian himself, yet nothing ever escapes the eye of our Commander, and he will be sure not to forget it; he will remember it all for good.

Now if the Duke of Wellington some years ago had taken a soldier and introduced him to the king, in the presence of all the peers of the realm, saying, I bear testimony to the good behaviour of this man in the camp and in the field, to his prowess and skill in the day of battle, and I implore of your majesty some token of the royal favour, can we imagine that he would be refused? Well, our Saviour says, “He that confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father and his holy angels. Here, says he, is one who was often “faint, yet pursuing;” here is one who had only a “little strength,” but he did not deny my name; here is one who was not ashamed of my cross, but went forth without the camp, bearing my reproach, and saying, “I should be magnified in his body, whether it be by life or by death.”

And what is the reward he will bestow upon him? Is it money? Is it an estate? Is it an office? Speaking to his faithful disciples, when many had gone away, he said, “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.” “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” A throne is incommunicable; a sovereign may dispose of part of his riches, or his power, or his glory, and even his authority, but the throne is solely his own. He may admit counsellors into his cabinet, and nobles to his table, and favourites to his friendship, but he will suffer none to sit with him on his throne.

And therefore when Pharaoh appointed Joseph viceroy over all Egypt, and said to him every man should bow, “Only,” said he, “in the throne will I be greater than thou.” But this is the language of the Captain of the host of the Lord: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”