the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
If any man serve me, him will my Father honour. - John 12:26.
SUCH a man will be sure to abase himself; he will “abhor himself, and repent in dust and ashes.” “He that exalteth himself,” says Christ, “shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Some of them may be vilified by the world, which lieth in wickedness; but what harm can the reproaches and revilings of man do unto us, if we have God’s smile and God’s commendation? We value honour, and we ought to value it according to the quarter from whence it comes.
The applause of a wicked man is real censure when it is derogatory to God’s honour. An Athenian philosopher turned round and said to his admirers, “What harm have I done, to deserve your applause?” An ingenious writer has observed, that to live in the esteem and affections of the really wise and good is like walking in an Eastern spice-grove. What then must it be to enjoy the favour of God? “Skin for skin,” said Satan, “all that a man hath, will he give for his life.” Life is the most precious of all things; but “his favour is life,” and his “loving-kindness is better than life.” And this assurance must be accomplished. “If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” My Father will honour him in life; he will correspond with him, he will visit him, he will distinguish him. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” They have more glory, they have more attendants, than any monarch upon earth; angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
What an honour does God put upon his people, in that he makes all his dispensations to exemplify the language of the prophet to King Asa!-“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him.” In times of public calamity how often has he induced profligate men to say, “Verily, there is a reward for the righteous”! God is their God now, and will be theirs in future and eternal ages. He does not wait till they reach home; he begins to immortalize them now in time. He owns them on this side the grave, and makes the dying chamber of the Christian to be the “very gate of heaven.”
Oh to be confessed before him, before an assembled world, and before his angels,-to hear him say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”!
Grace is poured into thy lips. - Psalms 45:2.
IN the Old Testament we find God commonly spoken of as “the Almighty,” “the everlasting God,” “the Lord of “Hosts;” but in these last days, when he hath spoken to us by his Son, we find him represented as “the Father,” the loving Father of the human race, dooming none of his offspring to endless misery but those who insist upon going there. The Saviour, when he prayed, said “Our Father:” he addressed him thus as the Father of all mercy, and the God of all grace.
What views does he give us of him, for instance, in the parable of the Prodigal Son. There we see that he is not an arbitrary and implacable tyrant, but an affectionate Father, offended and grieved, but willing to receive the returning Prodigal: yea, seeing him afar off, running to meet him, and falling upon his neck, and kissing him; and not only clothing, but adorning him; not only ordering a feast, but killing the fatted calf; in an ecstasy of pleasure saying, “Because this my son was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.” What, therefore, can be so delightful as to sit at the feet of this Teacher sent from God, and hear him talk of the extent and vastness of the paternal care and kindness of God-that he clothes the grass, that he adorns the lily, that he hears the ravens cry, that the “sparrow falls not to the ground without our heavenly Father’s” notice, that the “very hairs of our head are all numbered?” It was thus the only-begotten Son who dwelt in the bosom of the Father declared him, and in this respect never man spake like this man.
Grace was poured into his lips, and it was this grace that gave such a charm to his teaching, especially among the humbler and the afflicted ranks of mankind. “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” His authority was not the authority of the hammer breaking the rock in pieces, but the authority of spring melting the rigour of winter, bending the severity of the frost, and bringing out all into life and loveliness. Therefore we are told that “the poor have the gospel preached unto them,” and the common people heard him gladly.
They were now delivered from the dry, hard teaching of the Jewish doctors; they now found that grace had come down from heaven to earth, and after it they go. If he crosses the lake they go round by the land to meet him. If he passes the road they climb the tree; if they have knowledge that he is in the house, they enter it by the roof; if he preaches by the sea-side, he gets into a boat and they listen by the shore. Now the poor are told of riches within their reach. He informs the vulgar and mean of a kingdom that they might inherit, and to those that were weary and crushed beneath the tradition of the elders, and with the oppressions of the worldly, and with the sorrows of life, and the burden of guilt, he said, with a soft and gentle voice:
“Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
