Morning, March 26 Go To Evening Reading
“Jesus said unto them, If ye seek me, let these go their way.”
—John 18:8
Mark, my soul, the care Jesus manifested even in his hour of trial towards the sheep of his hand! The ruling passion is strong in death. He resigns himself to the enemy but interposes a word of power to free his disciples. As to himself, like a sheep before her shearers, he is dumb and opened not his mouth, but for his disciples’ sake, he speaks with almighty energy. Herein is love, constant, self-forgetting, faithful love. But is there not far more here than is to be found upon the surface? Have we not the very soul and spirit of the atonement in these words? The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and pleads that they must go free. The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom he stands a substitute should go their way. Amid Egypt’s bondage, that voice rings as a word of power, “Let these go their way.” Out of slavery of sin and Satan, the redeemed must come. In every cell of the dungeons of Despair, the sound is echoed, “Let these go their way,” and forth come Despondency and Much-afraid. Satan hears the well-known voice and lifts his foot from the neck of the fallen, and Death hears it, and the grave opens her gates to let the dead arise. Their way is one of progress, holiness, triumph, and glory; none shall dare to stay in it. No lion shall be on their way, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon. “The hind of the morning” has drawn the cruel hunters upon himself, and now the most timid roes and hinds of the field may graze at perfect peace among the lilies of his loves. The thunder-cloud has burst over the Cross of Calvary, and the pilgrims of Zion shall never be smitten by the bolts of vengeance. Come, my heart, rejoice in the immunity which thy Redeemer has secured thee, and bless his name all the day and every day.
Go To Morning Reading Evening, March 26
“When he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
—Mark 8:38
If we have been partakers with Jesus in his shame, we shall be sharers with him in the luster which shall surround him when he appears again in glory. Art thou, beloved one, with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to him? Then thou art today with him in his shame; thou hast taken up his cross, and gone with him without the camp bearing his reproach; thou shalt doubtless be with him when the cross is exchanged for the crown. But judge thyself this evening; for if thou art not with him in the regeneration, neither shalt thou be with him when he shall come in his glory. If you start back from the black side of communion, you should not understand its bright, happy period when the King shall come and all his holy angels with him. What! are angels with him? And yet he took not up angels—he took up the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels with him? Come, my soul, if thou art his own beloved, thou canst not be far from him. If his friends and neighbors are called together to see his glory, what do you think if thou art married to him? Shalt thou be distant? Though it is a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that heart which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted thee into the union. Has he not said to you, O my soul, “I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, judgment, and lovingkindness?” Have his lips not said, “I am married unto thee, and my delight is in thee?” If the angels, who are but friends and neighbors, shall be with him, itertain that his is abundantly cown beloved Hephzibah, who is all his delight, shall be near him and sit at his right hand. Here is a morning star of hope for thee, of such exceeding brilliance that it may light up the darkest and most desolate experience.
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
March 26: Grace and Favor
Numbers 30:1–16; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13:13; Psalm 25:1–22
Usually, when we seek someone’s goodwill, we emphasize our own winning traits or accomplishments. Our supervisor, significant other, or family members are barraged with a list of our actions to get the other to respond in kind. Often, this results in a tug-of-war mentality, basing all we deserve on what we give.
But our relationship with God doesn’t follow these rules. God’s mercy isn’t based on what we’ve done but entirely on His goodness. The psalmist, realizing this, turns all of his attention to God’s mercy in Psa 25: “Remember your compassion, O Yahweh, and your acts of loyal love, because they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions. According to your loyal love, remember me if you will, for the sake of your goodness, O Yahweh” (Psa 25:6–7).
In this individual lament, the psalmist reaches out to Yahweh with a cry for forgiveness and guidance. Instead of justifying his actions to obtain Yahweh’s favor, the psalmist focuses on God’s works and faithfulness in the past. What he deserves isn’t what he gets—something he is thankful for.
God’s abundant graciousness extends far from heaven down to earth, where Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins. We can’t be thankful enough for that great act of mercy. It’s a reason for humility and thankfulness, as the psalmist expresses, and an act of faithfulness to us that we can never return. His mercy should completely transform our concept of what we deserve; it should alter us so much that we treat those around us not with expectations of who they should be for us but with grace and love, as God treated us.
How are you extending God’s grace to the people around you?
Rebecca Van Noord
John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).
March 26th
Vision by personal purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8.
Purity is not innocence; it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity. Life with God may be proper, and the inner purity remains unsullied, yet every now and again, the bloom on the outside may be sullied. God does not shield us from this possibility because, in this way, we realize the necessity of maintaining the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired to the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character—the pure in heart see God.
God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with different points of view; these are apt to sully. The inner sanctuary must be kept right with God, and the outer courts must also be brought perfectly with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately, and the outer court is sullied. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must scorn to do or to think, some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.
A practical way of keeping personal purity unsullied about other people is to say to yourself—That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).
March 26
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do
John 17:4
Was the Master's work indeed done? Was not its heaviest task yet to come? He had not yet met the dread hour of death. Why did He say that His work was done? He knew that the battle ended when the will was given. He was only in the garden's shadows, but to conquer these shadows was already to conquer all. He who has willed to die has already triumphed over death. All that remains to Him is but the outer husk, the shell.
The cup our Father gives us to drink is a cup for the will. Once the heart accepts it, it is easy for the lips to drain it. The cup is presented not on the heights of Calvary but in the shadows of Gethsemane; the act is accessible after the choice. The real battlefield is in the silence of the spirit. Conquer there, and thou art crowned.
George Matheson
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
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