Category: Devotion of the Day

PLEASURES FOREVERMORE

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.
Romans 11:33

Paul is overwhelmed by the magnitude of his theme. And well may any believer go into raptures over the treasure we have in Christ Jesus in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, by whom all things consist. Should there ever be a dull moment when every moment, any moment, affords time to know Him, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings? How can any preacher ever run out of sermons, with all this to ponder and preach? We shall be exploring the depths of it through all eternity. Shame on us that we take it for granted and get used to it here!

Here is a fountain that will never run dry, a treasure that can never be used up, a wealth that can never be exhausted. All other pursuits and quests and interests pale, but the riches of God in Christ Jesus will thrill us forever. Hallelujah!

THE SUPREME OBJECTIVE

When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
John 21:18

Jesus is speaking to Peter, and the explanation follows: “This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God.” What a picture, not only of impetuous, headstrong Peter but of us all in our early days when we did our own will and walked in our own way! We girded ourselves and walked where we wished and prided ourselves that we lived our own lives.

But the man who meets Jesus and submits to His sway comes to the day, blundering and stumbling as badly as Peter ever did, when he submits to what he does not choose for himself, even to death itself. And why? “This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God.” Our sole business, whether by life or by death, is just that, to glorify God. And when we discover that and do it, we have arrived.