Reverence and Awe

» Today's reading at Blue Letter Bible

Morning:...Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." - Luke 11:27, 28

This morning we have a nice exhortation to greet our devotion time:

But He said, "More than that, blessed [are] those who hear the word of God and keep it!" - [Luke 11:28 NKJV]

It would be easy to stray from our place at the feet of our Lord, and start imagining, as did the disciples, which one was in some measure the most blessed, or greatest.

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. - [Luke 22:24 NKJV]

How vain can be our ambition! And how quickly Spurgeon strikes at the heart of the matter: our merits are Christ's merits, as our loving Father in heaven bestows on us the merits of Christ, as we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise [Ephesians 1:13], and are being transformed into the image of Christ by the Spirit of Christ [2 Cor 3:18].

Spurgeon strikes home this point with two cogent illustrations:

Psa 25:14 NKJV - The secret of the LORD [is] with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.

As Spurgeon says, all that Mary knew we may also discover.

For the LORD God [is] a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good [thing] will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. - [Psalms 84:11 NKJV]

Spurgeon's second related point is Jesus's promise that positionally, we are now His friends, not His servants:

[Jhn 15:15 NKJV] - No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Can we not be greatly comforted by this? And in our joy, will we still brag of our own merits? I think not!

Evening:"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said . . . Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods." - Daniel 3:16, 18

With our hope in Christ, we are encouragd to emulate the boldness of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah before the fiery furnace.

Be not guided by the will-o'-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority. Follow the right at all hazards. When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honour to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle. See whether He will be your debtor! See if He doth not even in this life prove His word that "Godliness, with contentment, is great gain," and that they who "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, shall have all these things added unto them."

John says it best:

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. - [1 John 3:2-3 NKJV]

Do you have this hope of Christ in you? Do you have the hope of seeing Him one day in glory? If not, do you know where to seek this hope?

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. - [Romans 15:4 NKJV]

Labels: Devotional, Morning and Evening, Spurgeon