Morning, March 28 Go To Evening Reading
“The love of Christ which passeth knowledge.”
—Ephesians 3:19
The love of Christ in its sweetness, fulness, greatness, and faithfulness passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found that shall describe his matchless, unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath. Well, might the poet say,
“O love, thou fathomless abyss!”
This love of Christ is measureless and fathomless; none can attain it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand his previous glory in its height of majesty and his incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When enthroned in the highest heavens, he was very God of very God; by him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over all, blessed forever. Who can tell his height of glory, then? And who, on the other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for him who was the Son of God, but to suffer such unparalleled agony—to endure a death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love! and indeed, it is love that “passeth knowledge.” O let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.
Go To Morning Reading Evening, March 28
“I will accept you with your sweet savor.”
—Ezekiel 20:41
The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savor to the Highest. Whether we speak of Christ's active or passive righteousness, there is an equal fragrance. There was a sweet savor in his active life by which he honored the law of God and made every precept glitter like a precious jewel in the pure setting of his own person. Such, too, was his passive obedience, when he endured with unmurmuring submission, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at length sweat significant drops of blood in Gethsemane, gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked out the hair, and was fastened to the cruel wood, that he might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two things are sweet before the Highest, and for the sake of his doing and his dying, his substitutionary sufferings, and his vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts us. What a preciousness must be in him to overcome our want of preciousness! What a sweet savor to put away our ill savor! What a cleansing power in his blood to take away sin like ours! And what glory in his righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures accepted in the Beloved! Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance since it is in him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance of Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ, but you cannot be unaccepted when you have received his merit.
Notwithstanding all your doubts, fears, and sins, Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you and yourself, he sees no sin when he looks at you through Christ. You are always accepted in Christ, blessed and dear to the Father’s heart. Therefore, lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the merit of the Saviour coming up this evening, before the sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise go up also.
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
March 28: Risk: Oversold and Underplayed
Numbers 32:1–42; 1 Corinthians 14:26–15:11; Psalm 27:1–14
The fears of the psalmist are not our fears today, and the fact that they aren’t should bother us. The psalmist remarks, “Do not give me over to the desire of my enemies because false witnesses have arisen against me, and each breathing out violence. Surely I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living” (Psa 27:12–13). How many of us have legitimate enemies because of our faith? And how many of us experience violence because of the way we believe?
There are many problems with Christianity today, but one of the most pervasive is the lack of willingness to take significant risks for Jesus. Likewise, there is unbelief in God’s incredible ability to overcome all that we face.
We may say that we affirm God’s power to beat all odds, but we don’t face the odds as if that were true. If we did, there would be far more world-changing Christians than there are. Instead, most Christians, at least in the Western world, are comfortable with a faith that generally allows them to live a life of comfort rather than being stretched for God’s causes. And when I use “them,” I mean that as “we.” We struggle with this as a people and as individuals.
Our fear of taking risks for Jesus is directly connected to our lack of knowledge about what to do when they come along. The psalmist tells us, “Wait for Yahweh. Be strong and let your heart show strength, and wait for Yahweh” (Psa 27:14). Notice that the psalmist tells us to wait for Yahweh twice. Only something of grand importance would a poet state twice. Strength is found in Yahweh and should be shown in how we live.
How can you take more risks for God? What are you waiting on, and how are you praying about that?
John D. Barry
John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).
March 28th
Isn’t there some misunderstanding?
Let us go into Judea. His disciples say unto Him,… Goest Thou thither again? John 11:7–8.
I may need clarification on what Jesus Christ says, but it is dangerous to say that He was mistaken in what He said. It is never right to think that my obedience to the word of God will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor in place of what He is plainly impelling me to do is never right, althoughom a genuine desire to prevent Him from it may arise frbeing put to open shame. I know when the proposition comes from God because of its quiet persistence. When I have to weigh the pros and cons, doubt and debate come in; I am bringing in an element that is not of God, and I conclude that the suggestion was incorrect. Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ, but how many are faithful to Him? Loyalty to Jesus means stepping out where I see nothing (cf. Matt. 14:29); loyalty to my notions means I clear the ground first with my intelligence. Faith is not intelligent understanding; faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way.
Are you debating whether to take a step in faith in Jesus or to wait until you can see how to do the thing yourself? Obey Him with glad, reckless joy. When He says something, and you begin to debate, it is because you have a conception of His honor that is not His. Are you loyal to Jesus or faithful to your notion of Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise with conceptions that never came from Him? “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.”
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).
March 28
God saw the light as good, and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen. 1:4
No sooner is there a good thing in the world than a division is necessary. Light and darkness have no communion; God has divided them; let us not confound them. Sons of light must not have fellowship with deeds, doctrines, or deceits of darkness. The children of the day must be sober, honest, and bold in their Lord’s work, leaving the works of darkness to those who shall dwell in it forever.
By our distinct separation from the world, we should divide the light from the darkness. In judgment, action, hearing, teaching, and association, we must discern between the precious and the vile and maintain the great distinction the Lord made upon the world’s first day.
O Lord Jesus, be Thou our light throughout this day, for Thy light is the light of men.
Spurgeon
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
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