Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: June 14th

Only believe. - Luke 8:50.

WHAT the Saviour said to the ruler of the synagogue he says to us. “Ah,” some may be ready to say, “this is easily said, and the Christian life upon this principle must be a very easy concern.” But these are very much mistaken: there is nothing to which we are so naturally averse as this. A legal bias is natural to man; and the reason is, that originally we were placed under a covenant of works, in which doing was every thing, while the gospel places us under a covenant of grace, where believing is every thing. Little, therefore, did the Jews imagine, when they said to our Saviour, “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?” little did they imagine they should have such a reply as he gave them. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” And hence says the Apostle John, “This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.” And hence said Paul and Silas to the awakened jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

It is by the exercise of a living faith on the Son of God that we obtain relief for our souls at first from the dreadful condition of bondage to Satan, and that we are brought into “the glorious liberty of the sons of God;” and all our supplies of comfort and support in every after-period and condition must be of faith in the very same way; for, as the apostle tells the Romans, we can only be “filled with all joy and peace in believing.” We have reason, therefore, to infer that faith is not a very common thing,-I was going to say, even among believers themselves; and Mr. Newton somewhere exclaims, in one of his letters, “What unbelieving believers are the best of us!” Surely there is very little of this principle even in many Christians, if we may judge from the small degree of their joy in Christ. Surely “if they believed” they would be established, and “the consolations of God” would not be “small with them.” Surely if their faith was more clear in its discernments, more firm in its holdings of the promises of God, more simple and entire in its reliances on the Mediator, more lively and powerful in its actings, it would draw them away from those gloomy fears and those anxious suspicions which now dwell upon their comfort, like so many moths “fretting a garment.”

What is the reason that one Christian rejoices so much more than another? Has he a firmer foundation to build upon? No. All these things are the same in themselves, and therefore the same in their relation to us. But the thing is that some Christians make more use of the Saviour by faith than do others. The well is the very same, but they have nothing to draw with, or they have a very small and leaky vessel. The same feast is spread before them; but, as Hosea says, “the yoke is not taken from their jaws,” and therefore they cannot partake of it. But, says our Lord, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

“Believing, we rejoice

To see the curse removed;

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,

And sing bis bleeding love.”

He that is not with me is against me. - Matthew 12:30.

THERE is nothing which shows the real character of men more than their attractions and aversions. Who are the objects of our choice and preference? With whom do we most readily and pleasingly associate? There is an old adage just in point: “Tell me a man’s company, and I will tell you his character.” Congeniality is the inducement and the bond of union. To be against some persons would expose us to general indignation. Who would like to be opposed to a Thornton, a Howard, a Wilberforce, a Leighton, a Fenelon? But here we have “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.” What a picture of Christ have the four gospels given us.

After looking at this, we might ask, Is there any being in the world odious enough to be against him? He is possessed of all excellencies. All the excellencies found in creatures, separately and imperfectly, are found in him, combined and complete: all that was innocent in Adam when in Paradise; all that was tender in Joseph, meek in Moses, patient in Job, and all that was zealous in Paul; all that is good in the Spirits of just men made perfect; all that is wise in the innumerable company of angels; and even the aggregate would be no more than a drop to the ocean or a ray to the sun. To be against him is therefore to be against all truth, and righteousness, and peace; against the glory of God and the happiness of mankind. Nothing is more unreasonable, vile, and shameful, than to oppose a Benefactor and Friend who has laid us under peculiar obligation, upon whom we had no claim, and who has yet spared no expense, no pain, in order to serve us. “O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world,” what do we owe thee? To thee we owe the bread we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe.

If we are allowed to remain in the land of the living, it is owing to thy intercession on our behalf; if we have been redeemed, it is with thy precious blood; and if we have entertained a hope of a better world, thou hast altogether inspired it. The Saviour asks, and he has a right to ask, “For which of these good works do ye stone me? Is it because “he remembered us in our low estate?” because, for our sakes, “though he was rich, he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich?” Is it because “he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, and died that we might live, that any are against him?

Against Him? Be against the benefactor who plunged into the flood to save us from drowning! Be against him who generously paid our debt, and released us from the confinement of the dungeon, and restored us to the bosom of our family! Be against the father who has laboured to train us up and provide for us! Be against the mother who bare us, and at her bosom fed us! and we should be a thousand times less infamous than we should be if we are against him.

The Apostle Paul was not revengeful; he was the most compassionate man alive; and yet, when he came to reflect on the case, he made no scruple to say, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha!”