Day 2 - Monday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Daily Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Utmost for His Highest |

 Morning, October 28 Go To Evening Reading

"I have chosen you out of the world."

—John 15:19

Here, distinguishing grace and discriminating regard are made, for some are made the objects of divine affection. Feel free to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial. Those who doubt the doctrines of grace or cast them into the shade miss the richest clusters of Eshcol; they lose the wines on the lees well refined, the fat things full of marrow. There is no balm in Gilead comparable to it. If the honey in Jonathan's wood, when touched, enlightened the eyes, this is honey that will enlighten your heart to love and learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Eat, and fear not a surfeit; live upon this choice dainty, and fear not that it will be too delicate a diet. Meat from the King's table will hurt none of his courtiers. Desire to have your mind enlarged so that you may comprehend more and more the eternal, everlasting, discriminating love of God. When you have mounted as high as election, tarry on its sister mount, the covenant of grace. Covenant engagements are the munitions of stupendous rock behind which we lie entrenched; covenant engagements with the surety, Christ Jesus, are the quiet resting places of trembling spirits.

"His oath, his covenant, his blood,

Support me in the raging flood;

When every earthly prop gives way,

This is still all my strength, and I stay."

If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the travail of his soul, then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he told Michal that the election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 28

"His head is the most fine gold; his locks are bushy and black as a raven."

—Song of Solomon 5:11

Comparisons fail to set forth the Lord Jesus, but the spouse uses the best within her reach. By the head of heads, we may understand his deity, "for the head of Christ is God," and then the ingot of purest gold is the best conceivable metaphor, but all too poor to describe one so precious, so pure, so dear, so glorious. Jesus is not a grain of gold but a vast globe; a priceless mass of treasure such as earth and heaven cannot excel. The creatures are iron and clay; they all perish like wood, hay, and stubble, but the God'sever-living Head of creation will shine on forever and ever. In him is no mixture nor slightest taint of alloy. He is forever infinitely holy and altogether divine. The bushy locks depict his manly vigor. There is nothing effeminate in our Beloved. He is the most masculine of men. Bold as a lion, laborious as an ox, swift as an eagle. Every conceivable and inconceivable beauty is to be found in him, though once, he was despised and rejected by men.

"His head thHeadnest gold;

With secret sweet perfume,

His curled locks hang all as black

As any raven's plume."

The glory of his head isHead shorn away, he is eternally crowned with peerless majesty. The black hair indicates youthful freshness, for Jesus has the dew of his youth upon him. Others grow languid with age, but he is forever a Priest, as was Melchizedek; others come and go, but he abides as God upon his throne, a world without end. We will behold him tonight and adore him. Angels are gazing upon him—his redeemed must not turn away their eyes from him. Where else is there such a Beloved? O for an hour's fellowship with him! Away, ye intruding cares! Jesus draws me, and I run after him.

 C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

October 28: Respect

Daniel 5:1–6:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:12–28; Job 41:10–20

Instead of easing the burdens of our church leaders, we often add to them. The sometimes thankless job of ministry is weighed down by our taking and not giving, complaining, and squirming under authority.

From Paul's letters, we can see that church communities have remained relatively unchanged since the first century. In his letter to the believers in Thessalonica, Paul requests: "Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and rule over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them beyond all measure in love, because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves" (1 Thess 5:12).

This passage might convict us of our wrong attitude or lack of service. We might make a more significant effort to love and respect those in positions of authority. Or we could ease the load on our leaders by serving in our communities. But unless we address the disorder within our hearts, our efforts won't lead to the peace that Paul commands.

In Thessalonica, community members have had a problem with authority. After Paul urges them to "be at peace" (1 Thess 5:12), he tells them to "admonish the disorderly" (1 Thess 5:14). He demonstrates that the problem is more profound—it rests within the natural chaos of our own hearts. It's easy to find creative ways to be disorderly and compound this chaos—passive-aggressive behavior, defensiveness, or cynicism. Yet Paul says, "see to it that no one pays back evil for evil" (1 Thess 5:15).

The disorder of our hearts and minds needs to be transformed. Only when we are presented with an accurate picture of ourselves and an accurate picture of what God has done for us can we begin to understand the chaos in our hearts. Only when God rules our chaos can we be an agent of peace in our communities.

How can you relieve the burdens of leaders in your community? What needs to change about your attitude toward them?

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).

October 28

Justification by faith

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:10.

I am not saved by believing; I realize I am saved by believing. It is not repentance that saves me; repentance is the sign that I understand what God has done in Christ Jesus. The danger is to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause—It is my obedience that puts me right with God, my consecration. Never! I am put right with God because befChrist died ore all. When I turn to God and, by belief, accept what God reveals, I can take it instantly. The stupendous Atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God. By the supernatural miracle of God's grace, I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, not because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The spirit of God brings it with a breaking, all-over light, and I know, though I do not know how that I am saved.

The salvation of God does not stand on human logic; it stands on the sacrificial Death of Jesus. We can be born again because of the Atonement of Our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures, not by their repentance or belief, but by the marvelous work of God in Christ Jesus, which is before all experience. The impregnable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We have not to work out these things ourselves; they have been worked out by the Atonement: The supernatural becomes natural by the miracle of God; there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done—"It is finished."

 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

October 28

Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you

John 16:23

Prayer must be based on promise, but thank God, His promises are always broader than our prayers! Do not fear building inverted pyramids here, for Jesus Christ is the foundation.

Frances Ridley Havergal

 Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).