Category: Devotion of the Day

Devotion of the Day

AN HOLY MAN OF GOD

I perceive that this is an holy man of God.
II Kings 4:9

How many of us modern prophets, do you suppose, ever convey such an impression to the Shunammites of today? The words “holy” and “holiness” have been joked about, and to not a few a holy man means a queer fanatic with long hair, robe, and sandals. But we are in dire need of some “holy men of God” who may be out of style with earth but are in step with heaven. The modern variety of religious go-getter may dazzle us with brilliance and efficiency, but he does not make us think first either of holiness or God.

Said McCheyne: “Men return again and again to the few who have mastered the spiritual secret, whose life has been hid with Christ in God. These are of the old-time religion, hung to the nails of the cross.”

We are weary of the success and happiness school. We need holy men of God who are in touch with Headquarters, who remind us of another world than this.

Devotion of the Day

FRIENDS OF GOD

And he was called the friend of God.
James 2:23

Of all the preachers and teachers and religious folk of our day, how few impress us that they know God! Able and successful, earnest and aggressive, we find in them much that is good. But can we not count on our fingers those who have gone far into the deeper things of the Spirit, who have learned those precious secrets of intimacy with God? To how few could we go in an hour of deepest trouble, to how few dare we tell our inmost problems!

This age of Phenobarbital and psychoses does not lend itself to a closer walk with God. The price is great nowadays, and he who chooses to be God’s friend may be overlooked in the worship of celebrities. But in our better and needier moments we turn from heroes to seek some lowly soul who has learned those rare lessons of the school of Enoch who walked with God. Our efficient American Christianity is too busy putting things over to be interested in the quiet, slow saints who take time to be holy instead of just singing about it.

Give us more friends of God!