Day 6 - Friday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Daiy Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Utmost for His Highest | Thoughts for the Quiet Hour |

 Morning, April 4. Go To Evening Reading

“For he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

—2 Corinthians 5:21

Mourning Christian! Why weepest thou? Art thou mourning over thine own corruptions? Look to thy perfect Lord, and remember, thou art complete in him; thou art in God’s sight as perfect as if thou hadst never sinned; nay, more than that, the Lord our Righteousness hath put a divine garment upon thee, so that thou hast more than the righteousness of man—thou hast the righteousness of God. O thou who art mourning because of inbred sin and depravity, remember, none of thy sins can condemn thee. Thou hast learned to hate sin; but thou hast learned also to know that sin is not thine—it was laid upon Christ’s head. Thy standing is not in thyself—it is in Christ; thine acceptance is not in thyself, but in thy Lord; thou art as much accepted of God to-day, with all thy sinfulness, as thou wilt be when thou standest before his throne, free from all corruption. O, I beseech thee, lay hold on this precious thought, perfection in Christ! For thou art “complete in him.” With thy Saviour’s garment on, thou art holy as the Holy one. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Christian, let thy heart rejoice, for thou art “accepted in the beloved”—what hast thou to fear? Let thy face ever wear a smile; live near thy Master; live in the suburbs of the Celestial City; for soon, when thy time has come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and reign at his right hand; and all this because the divine Lord “was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Go To Morning Reading Evening, April 4

“Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”

—Isaiah 2:3

It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is well for us to cut down these thorns and briers, for heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest; and where shall we find a better sickle with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? In the valleys of Switzerland, many of the inhabitants are deformed, and all wear a sickly appearance, for the atmosphere is charged with miasma, and is close and stagnant. Still, up yonder, on the mountain, you find a hardy race who breathe the clear fresh air as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. The dwellers in the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and the fever mists, and inhale the bracing element upon the hills. I invite you this evening to go on such an adventure of climbing. May the Spirit of God assist us in leaving the mists of fear, the fevers of anxiety, and all the ills that gather in this valley of earth and ascending the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God, the Holy Spirit, cut the cords that keep us here below and assist us in mounting! We sit too often like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would, perhaps, if it came really to the test, be loath to have it snapped. May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, attain the top of the mountain, there to indulge in communion with the Most High.

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

April 4: Forgive, Forget, and Comfort

Deuteronomy 5:1–6:25; 2 Corinthians 2:1–11; Psalm 33

There is a subtle type of grudge that festers. When we extend Forgiveness, the challenge isn’t necessarily in the moment of reconciliation. It’s extending that moment and letting it permeate the interactions that follow.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul doesn’t just ask the Corinthians to forgive. He asks them for much more: “So then, you should rather forgive and comfort him lest this person be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Therefore, I urge you to confirm your love for him. For this reason, I also wrote that I could know your proven character, whether you are obedient in everything” (2 Cor 2:7–9).

Patronizing superiority suits our selfish desires, but grudging Forgiveness doesn’t heal a community. Paul calls the Corinthian church to much more. He wants them to live sacrificially. That’s why, when Paul calls for the offender in Corinth to be reprimanded, he addresses explicitly those affected by the sin. The solution was intentional, ongoing Forgiveness, and an outpouring of love. He then reminded the Corinthians of Christ’s sacrifice, which they didn’t deserve (see Col 3:13). Forgiveness is undeserved—a reminder we all need.

Are you holding a grudge against someone, perhaps even someone you’ve already forgiven? How can you let go of your resentment and extend the love shown to 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).

April 4

Those borders of distrust

Behold, the hour cometh, … that ye shall be scattered. John 16:32.

Jesus is not rebuking the disciples; their faith was genuine but disturbed; it was not at work in actual things. The disciples were scattered to their own interests, alive to interests that never were in Jesus Christ. After we have been ideally related to God in sanctification, our faith has to be worked out in actuality. We shall be scattered, not into work, but into inner desolations and made to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is not that we choose it, but that God engineers our circumstances to bring us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is bolstered by feelings and blessings. When we get there, no matter where God places us or what the inner desolations are, we can praise God that all is well. That is faith being worked out in actuality.

“… and shall leave Me alone.” Have we left Jesus alone by the scattering of His providence? Because we do not see God in our circumstances? Darkness comes by the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do as He likes with us, prepared to be separated from conscious blessings? Until Jesus Christ is Lord, we all have ends of our own to serve; our faith is genuine but not permanent. God is never in a hurry; if we wait, we shall see that God is pointing out that we have not been interested in Him, but only in His blessings. The sense of God’s blessing is elemental.

“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Spiritual grit is what we need.

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