the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
John Gossner's Treasury
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. Jeremiah 9:23-24. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalms 103:1.
Men as a rule use all that is in them for their own service. They use all the faculties and powers of body and soul for their own good, for their self-preservation and advancement, for their own pleasure, glory, and interest; they think that they can do nothing better. They are under the law of their members, the law of selfishness, and they keep strictly the commandment: Thou shalt love thyself with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. If this commandment were God’s commandment, the world would be full of excellent saints and perfect Christians. But it is not God’s commandment. The commandment of God strikes at this self-exaltation, and at this self-worship and says, He who does not hate himself and love the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his strength, is not a disciple of Christ. When the wise, intelligent and learned man glories in his wisdom, makes use of it for his own glory, and for his own gain only, he insults God and makes himself a god. When he who is strong and mighty glories in his might or which is the same, uses it for himself only, he opposes God, drives Him from the throne in his heart, and places himself there. When he who is rich glories in his wealth, uses it for himself only, and regards all that he has as his own possession, and not as something which is entrusted to his stewardship, and for which he is to give an account to God, then he is his own god, and will at last receive the reward of mammon: he will perish together with his idols. He who would glory without becoming vain in his glory, let him glory in that he knows God, that he himself is nothing, and that God is all; that he only exists for God and by God. Let everything within you and upon you praise the Lord; let all that is within you seek to glorify the Lord only, of whom, by whom, and to whom all things are.
O bless the Lord, my soul!
Let all within me join,
And aid my tongue to bless His name,
Whose favors are divine.
