Category: Devotion of the Day

GOD’S STIMULANT

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18

How this poor world seeks release and escape through drink but instead of happiness reaps a headache! God has provided a stimulant for His people in the power of the Holy Spirit. And there is no wretched “morning after” with a dark brown taste! “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22). The early Christians were accused of being full of new wine. They had the wine of heaven, of which all the wines of earth are but poor imitations.

And, mind you, the thought here is that of a stimulant, not a sedative. Unless something stirs us we are worthless. All the world’s excitements fail to afford a proper stimulus. And a lot of our modern religious “rousements” are but substitutes for the wine of the Spirit, often the old Adam whooping it up in church.

Every other wine runs easily to excess. Only the Christian filled with the Spirit has an adequate stimulant to carry him through these days.

COME BEFORE WINTER

Do thy diligence to come before winter.
II Timothy 4:21

“It is not good that the man should be alone.” Adam had God in the Garden of Eden, but he still needed Eve, and God knew it. We must have human companionship. Paul had no wife, so he turned to his friends, and to Timothy, his “beloved son” in particular. He urged first, “Do they diligence to come shortly unto me” (v.9); then he thought of approaching cold weather and of what it would add to his loneliness, so he repeats his request and says, “Come before winter.” It is a touching sidelight on a great soul, but human like us all.

Winter has a way of coming in varied forms, and blessed is the fellowship of a kindred soul. We have the Lord, but He Himself has recognized that we need the touch of a human hand. He Himself came down and lived among us as a man. We cannot see Him now, but blest be the tie that binds human hearts in Christian love. Most precious of earthly ties is husband and wife “in the Lord.” If Paul is denied a wife he had better find a Timothy. And may Timothy arrive before winter!