Day 3 - Tuesday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Daily Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Thoughts for His Highest | Thoughts for the Quiet Hour |

 Morning, January 7 Go To Evening Reading

“For me to live is Christ.”

—Philippians 1:21

The believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do so when God the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin and when, by grace, he was brought to see the dying Saviour making a propitiation for his guilt. From the moment of the new and celestial birth, the man begins to live to Christ. Jesus is to believers the one pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to part with all we have. He has so ultimately won our love that it beats alone for him; to his glory, we would live, and in defense of his gospel, we would die; he is the pattern of our life and the model after which we would sculpt our character. Paul’s words mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ—nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he ate, drank, and slept eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life of his life. As a professing Christian, can you say you live up to this idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live in Christ? Your business—are you doing it for Christ? Is it not done for self-aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, “Is that a mean reason?” For the Christian, it is. He professes to live for Christ; how can he live for another object without committing spiritual adultery? Many carry out this principle to some extent, but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for Christ as the apostle did? Yet, this alone is the life of a Christian—its source, sustenance, fashion, and end, all gathered up in one word—Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in thee and to thee. Let me be the bullock that stands between the plow and the altar, to work or be sacrificed, and let my motto be, “Ready for either.”

Go To Morning Reading Evening, January 7

“My sister, my spouse.”

—Song of Solomon 4:12

Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon, with intense affection, addresses his bride in the church. “My sister, one near me by ties of nature, partaker of the same sympathies. My spouse, nearest and dearest, united to me by the tenderest bands of love; my sweet companion, part of myself. My sister, by my Incarnation, makes me a bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by heavenly betrothal, in which I have espoused thee unto myself in righteousness. My sister, whom I knew of old, and over whom I watched from her earliest infancy; my spouse, taken from among the daughters, embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me forever. See how true it is that our royal Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for he dwells with manifest delight upon this two-fold relationship. We have the word “my” twice in our version as if Christ dwelt with rapture on his possession of his Church. “His delights were with the sons of men” because those sons of men were his own chosen ones. The Shepherd sought the sheep because they were his sheep; he had gone about “to seek and to save that which was lost” because that which was lost was his long before it was lost to itself or lost to him. The church is the exclusive portion of her Lord; none else may claim a partnership or pretend to share her love. Jesus, thy church delights to have it so! Let every believing soul drink solace out of these wells. Soul! Christ is near to thee in ties of relationship; Christ is dear to thee in bonds of marriage union, and thou art dear to him; behold he grasps both of thy hands with his own, saying, “My sister, my spouse.” Mark the two sacred holdfasts by which thy Lord gets such a double hold of thee that he neither can nor will ever let thee go. Be not, O beloved, slow to return the hallowed flame of his love.

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

January 7: A Time for Everything

Genesis 12–13, Matthew 10, Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Eccl 3:1).

The Bible’s most famous poem has inspired writers for generations yet has not been improved. In a few short, simple lines, the Preacher ponders the whole of life: birth, death, weeping, laughing, mourning, dancing, breaking down, and building up. The buoyancy and familiarity of the text could cause us to gloss over the poetic brilliance of “the matter[s] under heaven.” But when we get to “a time to hate” and “a time to kill,” the romance is—well, killed. Are all these emotions and events really ordained by God? The strength of the poem is in contrast and repetition. By laying the seasons side by side, the Preacher effectively captures the span and cycle of human life. He isn’t providing a list of experiences to check off our holistic life to-do list. Instead, he emphasizes an absolute need for reliance on God.

Although evil seems to wield power in our lives and in the lives of those around us, God is present. He is there when we experience delights, and He is present when tragedy and sin overwhelm us. When we experience the death of those we love, send a soldier off to war, or experience hate, we can know that God is still making Himself known to fallen people in a fallen world.

We must pray for the Spirit to help us judge the seasons and respond appropriately to Him—with wisdom like the Preacher advocates. We can live confidently because “He has put eternity into man’s heart” (Eccl 3:11). Nothing assures us more of this than His provision of a way out of life’s seasons through His Son.

What season of life are you currently in? How are you helping friends under challenging seasons? How are you celebrating with friends in joyful seasons? How can you bring the good news of Christ to bear in both situations?

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).

January 7th

Intimate with Jesus

Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known Me? John 14:9.

These words are neither spoken as a rebuke nor with surprise; Jesus is leading Philip on. The last One with whom we get intimate is Jesus. Before Pentecost, the disciples knew Jesus as the One who gave them the power to conquer demons and bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18–20 ). It was an extraordinary intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come—“I have called you friends.” Friendship is rare on earth. It means identity in thought, heart, and spirit. The whole discipline of life is to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His word, but do we know Him?

Jesus said—“It is expedient for you that I go away”—in that relationship so He might lead them on. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruitbearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ (John 15:1–4 ).

Once we become intimate with Jesus, we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, and we can pour without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is unhindered because He has satisfied the last abyss of his nature. The only impression left by such a life is that of all the time, the strong, calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those intimate with Him.

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

January 7

Now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light

Eph. 5:8

Our relationship with Jesus Christluence we exert in the world and creates the influence our influence reveals our relationship to Jesus Christ.

Selected

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