Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: May 29th

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. - 2 Timothy 1:12.

THE apostle’s expression here is the most wonderful thing in the world. Naturally, he was the most unlikely being upon earth to have used such language as this. Consider his education, his prejudices, his abhorrence of the Saviour, and his violence towards all who called on his name. We here see the specialty of the religion of Christ,-namely, that it brings confidence entirely free from all presumption. While others are floundering about in the mud and in the mire, the Christian is fixed upon a rock, and his goings are established, “and he has a song put into his mouth.”

He has not to stand on surmisings and conjecturings. A Christian has nothing to do with probabilities and with mere opinions. Do you think he should ever say, “In my opinion, Jesus Christ is more than human; in my opinion, he died for our sins and rose again for our justification”? Opinion! I stand upon the firmest foundation; I feel the most convincing assurance my sentiments are principles, my principles are facts, and nothing less. I know that my faith is not folly. “I know,” says the Christian, “my hope is no delusion; I know that my privileges are not fancies nor visions.”

Then, What think we of Christ? How does he appear to us now, viewed through the experience of the apostle? Can we think that Paul would have intrusted all this to one that he viewed as a mere man, a mere creature? Could the Saviour have received it, and was he able to take the charge of it securely forever? Why, when Providence puts into the arms of parents a single child, and says, “Take this child and nurse it for me,” their hearts sometimes tremble under it; and when a minister takes the charge of a single congregation, though it may be limited in number, how often is he ready to exclaim, “Who is sufficient for these things?” But we should remember that what Paul here did, all believers do, from the beginning to the end of the world. Millions and millions have committed themselves to the Saviour to be redeemed, to be justified, to be sanctified, to be comforted, to be kept. And can we think that a mere man, a mere creature, could undertake such an office? or, if he undertook it, would he be able adequately to accomplish it? I would not commit my soul or my body,-! would not trust the preservation of one of the limbs of the one, or the powers of the other, to be taken care of and blessed forever, to any man on earth, or to any angel in heaven.

Once more, let us commit our inferior concerns to him, since we have committed our higher ones. Surely he who has so ably conducted the greater is also entitled to manage the less; he will not indeed indulge all our wishes, but he stands engaged to supply all our wants. “Thy bread shall be given thee,” says he, “and thy water shall be sure.” There is no one thing that restrains the promise which he has made to us, but the goodness of the subject; for he has said, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Well, let us then trust our family, our business, our reputation, our health, our few remaining days, to him. Let us trust him for time, since we have trusted him for eternity. Oh, that one great act of confidence, when we surrendered up our eternal all into his hands,-oh, should not that have freed us from our other anxieties? so that we should have been able to say, with Dr. Watts,-

“Our cares,-we give you to the wind,

And shake you off like dust:

Well may we trust our all with him

With whom our souls we trust.”

The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. - Titus 2:13.

WHAT would our religion be, abstracted from the exalted sentiment, that “he gave himself for us,” or if these words were philosophized away? But Christians feel their power and their vitality. What an evidence have we here of the mighty doctrine of “the faith once delivered to the saints,” the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle, in speaking of “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” means that he is intended. This is undeniable, because of his appearance. The appearance is never in the Scriptures applied to the Father, but only to the Son; and the being who is to appear is the same being who gave himself for us to redeem us.

Nor is this all; the Apostle remarks- and what a proof again is this of his divinity-that our recovery is not only from him as the author, but terminates in him as the last end. He says, he gave himself for us to “purify unto himself a peculiar people.” In another place, it is said, “He hath redeemed us unto God by his blood.” Here then he does it to present us to himself a “glorious church.” He cleanses it and washes it by the washing of water, that he might present it to himself a “glorious church.” As in the old creation, so in the new; “all things are made by him and for him.” And we are here reminded of our obligations to him, that we may acknowledge not only our dependence on him now, but how much we owe him, and shall owe him for ever; that we may dedicate ourselves to his service, and ask, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

And, therefore, how valuable and worthy does the gospel appear. It infinitely suits our wants, and completely relieves them. It is a doctrine of godliness and grace. “It is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is, and the life which is to come.” It unites the glory of God and the happiness of man together; while it tranquilizes the conscience of the sinner, it heals his moral maladies, and makes him a new creature. Well may the gospel, which is so holy in its tendencies, so sublime in its doctrines, so adapted to make men individually and socially happy, be called the glory and excellency of God.

While we would be thankful for this inestimable blessing, let us be concerned for its wider diffusion. It is by this alone the present evil world will be morally changed. May we therefore pray that it may have free course, run, and be glorified, and that “His way may be known upon earth, and his saving health among all nations.” Amen.