Devotion of the Day

CALLED TO GO

Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Isaiah 6:8

There are two sides to this stupendous proposition, His sending and our going. Some are called who do not go, like the son who promised to work in the vineyard but went not. Some go who are not sent: “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran” (Jer. 23:21).

What a supreme privilege that the God of the Universe can use us in His business – “Whom shall I send?” Yet He never compels us nor violates our freedom of will – “Who will go for us?” His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth looking for someone who will go – not someone who will merely sing about it or say, “Here am I, send somebody else.”

Never mind whether or not the mission will be a success. Isaiah was told that his hearers would not receive his message. We are not called to succeed, we are called to go.

And when we go He goes along!

Quote of the Day

The message of John the Baptist was “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). The Kingdom was coming then in the Person of the Saviour; it was a spiritual Kingdom, the reign of God in the hearts of men. The Kingdom is coming soon; it will be a visible Kingdom when the King returns and once again our message should be “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Christ’s message to the church for this hour is “Repent.” But who dares to call the average Sunday-morning congregation to repentance? Said Joseph Parker: “The man whose message is ‘Repent’ sets himself against his age and will be battered mercilessly by the age whose moral tone he challenges. There is but one end for such a man…off with his head! You had better not preach repentance until you have pledged your head to heaven.”