Category: Devotion of the Day

Sanctified for Others

For their sakes I sanctify myself.
John 17:19.

There is a sense in which we, too, must sanctify ourselves for the sake of others. We live in a sin-sick world infested and infected by the microbes of evil. We live in a satanic world order, and as the physician seeks to save the patient while he fights the disease we must love the souls of men but contend with the sinful powers that beset them. Surgeons and nurses must keep fit and clean, and so must we who bear the vessels of the Lord. We must keep strong by the food of the Word, by resting in the Lord, by exercising unto godliness. If we develop points of infection they must be dealt with. Any habit or interest that lowers our resistance to evil must be abandoned. The offending eye or hand must be plucked out or cut off, for sometimes spiritual surgery is indicated. “Habits of life though harmless they seem” must be dropped if they get between the soul and the Saviour so that His blessed face is not seen.

For God’s sake, for the sake of others, for our own sakes, let us sanctify ourselves.”

The daily devotions are from Day by Day by Vance Havner. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953.

From Hearing to Seeing

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee.
Job 42:5.

Job was a good man already. He feared God and eschewed evil, and God called him “my servant Job” and said of him, “There is none like him in the earth.” Job had heard and had believed. That is good enough to start with. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Moreover, Job had lived an exemplary life.

But, like many who have come that far, he needed to see God, not in a vision or manifestation to the sense but in a personal, overwhelming, humbling, pride-shattering consciousness of the very presence of God Himself.

Through the ages, such an experience, though wide and diverse in its patterns, has marked the men God has used most. Too many have heard and believed and lived but have not seen. God brings us to where we can say, “But now mine eye seeth thee!””

The daily devotions are from Day by Day by Vance Havner. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953.