Daily Devotionals

Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God

Devotional: November 5th

As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.- 1 Peter 1:15.

Legal hearts turn evangelical exhortations into legal commands. So children of faith are brought back again from the land of promise to the house of bondage. Not more absurd to exhort a dead corpse to exert itself to perform actions of life in order to get life, than to suppose a believer destitute of the life of holiness, and excite him to holy actions in order to procure it. Zeal for holiness, without knowledge of the true nature of it, is unscriptural ignorance. Every believer in Jesus is holy. As being a member of the first Adam, he partakes of the life of sin and the spirit of unholiness; but being united to Jesus, Christ is his life. He partakes of the life of holiness and the spirit of holiness. This is evidenced by the outward holiness of his life.

Therefore exhortations to excite such to a holy conversation, are as necessary as they are frequent. Art thou a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus? What inestimable honor is this! It should be thy daily care and constant concern to walk worthy of this high and honorable vocation. It degrades thy birth to stoop to gratify base lusts; it demeans thy character to take up in the least with the slavery of sin and drudgery of Satan. It was good advice a heathen gave a prince, lest he should learn evil from bad company, "Always remember thou art a king’s son." So ever remember, O Christian, thou art a son of the KING OF KINGS. Thy Father is holy; study to be like him; aim to resemble him in thy daily walk. This day thou wilt be exposed to the snares of sin and temptations to evil; they ever beset thee. Remember thy calling, it is to holiness of life; think of the end of it, happiness in glory. It sounds as harsh in one’s ears to hear of a wicked Christian as to hear of a dark sun. But beware of making an idol of thy own holiness. We read of Pygmalion, who had got an image so lively that he took it for a real person, and fell in love with it. This seems to be the case with some; they are more taken up with, talk more about, and seem more in love with an image they have made of their own holiness and perfection, than of the glorious righteousness of Jesus. Yea, they so esteem their own holiness, that they think it is to effect for them more than Christ’s righteousness hath, even secure and make effectual their own salvation. Thus the imputed righteousness of Christ is cashiered out of their faith and affection, to make way for their pretended holiness. This is the very essence of a Pharisee. But "being made free from sin (the power of pride within, as well as of sin without) ye become servants of God, ye have your FRUIT unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."- Romans 6:22.

Therefore will I look unto the LORD: I will wait for the GOD of my salvation: My GOD will hear me. Micah 7:7.

Here is a soul exclaiming against the very worst of foes. “A man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” Under such experience, behold and imitate the conduct before us. Here are two acts of the mind, and the cry of faith. (1st.) I will look. The Lord is the object looked to. Blessed be the Spirit, he opens our eyes to see him, and our hearts to believe his love to us and care for us. Then we know the voice of Christ and obey it. He says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved,” (Isaiah 45:22.) Whenever distressed with enemies from within and without, sin, Satan, or the world, here is our warrant, to look unto the Lord. He assures us of salvation from them. We shall find and feel these enemies, to the end of life. Therefore looking unto the Lord, is to be the constant work of life. O the special mercy to have such a Lord to look to! Shame to us, that we look no more to him. Happy for us when we look to him only. We are sure of comfort from him, and safety by him, from all the power, malice, and fraud of every enemy. But I see enemies beset me. I am not saved from them. I grow impatient. Unbelief prevails. Doubts and fears arise. Here is the remedy. (2d.) “I will wait.” Time will prove God’s truths, Satan’s lying suggestions, and the groundless suspicions of my own heart. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” (Isaiah 28:16.) It is, “the God of my salvation,” I wait upon, and wait for. “My times are in his hand,” (Psalms 31:15.) Every promise has its season for accomplishment. Every providence its hour. Every vision its appointed time. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1.) O this waiting faith honours the Lord’s word greatly. It has the Lord’s word for its support. The Lord honours it. Behold his absolute precious promise to us. “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” (Isaiah 40:31.) But this was not silent looking, and dumb waiting. For, (3d.) Here is the cry of faith. “My God will hear me.” O the preciousness of faith! it claims the Lord, and makes a special appropriation of him. My God. Vile and sinful as I am: wretched and miserable as sin has made me: however beset and distressed with foes within, and enemies without, yet, O my soul, thou hast a covenant God in Christ to look to, wait for, and call upon. He will hear me. I am sure of it. For he put it into my heart to cry to him.

To look and wait upon the Lord,

Our priv’lege is most sweet,

For God his presence will afford,

And will with comforts greet.