“When the tide is low, every little shrimp has a puddle of his own; but when the tide comes in, every shrimp is caught up in the flood. Out of the farm country all the fences are visible in the winter time; but at harvest time the fences are hidden in the abundance of grain. When revival comes, every little shrimp rises out of his puddle, and all our dividing fences are lost in the harvest of blessing.
Devotion of the Day
ABIDING AND OBEYING
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.
John 15:10
This is only one of many verses that connect fellowship with Christ with obedience to Him. We are His friends if we do His commandments. If we do God’s will we are Jesus’ brother and sister. He that has and keeps His commandments, he it is that loves the Lord.
We are prone to make much of abiding, not much of obeying. We bask in the blessedness of being His friends, dwelling in Him, being hid with Christ in God. But Jesus always joins this holy estate with practical obedience. We hang up promises as mottoes but we are not so fond of commandments. Contemplation and adoration and mysticism have their place, but the friend of Jesus is the man who does what Christ commands him. To be sure, His commandment is that we love one another, but that includes a lot of other commandments and is as practical as the Thirteenth Chapter of First Corinthians.
A lot of people sing, “Oh, How I Love Jesus,” who are not keeping His commandments. And He said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words.”