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Bowen's Daily Meditations
Devotional: May 27th

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"Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." - Revelation 3:11.

Hold fast what thou hast, because it is only for a little while that thou must hold it under the pressure of adverse circumstances; and hold it fast because everlasting victory and dominion and blessedness shall reward thy fidelity. So might a captain speak to a little band assaulted by a mighty host, when in the distance a relieving force is seen approaching; a nation’s destiny depends upon their holding their own.

It is only for a little while, because the day of our salvation is now nearer than we believed; and because we have learned to wait. Delays that once were agonizing now pass with much less severity over our disciplined natures. We have learned obedience by the things we have suffered.

He, the plunderer, who goeth about seeking to despoil men of the gifts that God has bestowed on them through Christ, obtains his success chiefly by persuading men that in relinquishing or neglecting this and that spiritual gift, they are doing nothing to jeopardize their crown. A man yields up something of his energy, his watchfulness, his prayerfulness, self-denial, humility or love, because he manages to persuade himself that his title to glory, honor, and immortality, is safe enough, independently of the vacillations of his spiritual life. It is therefore for the Christian to keep carefully in mind, that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. The example of Paul is admirable here. If any man might think that he had got beyond the reach of being a castaway, it was Paul. Well, he had; he had assurance of his indestructible interest in Christ; but he never allowed himself to feel that he had got beyond the need of keeping his body under, of running not uncertainly, of fighting not as one that beateth the air, lest he himself should be a castaway. His assurance was connected with the witness of the Spirit within him, the Spirit that led him habitually to count all things but loss that he might win more and more of Christ, more and more of Christ’s likeness.

Christ will keep that which we have committed unto him; and we must keep that which he has committed unto us. None shall pluck us out of his hand; we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; we are kept by the good Shepherd, because we keep within the hearing of his voice and follow him.

The consciousness of sin often causes men to relax their hold of Christ’s salvation. They have been overtaken by temptation, have fallen into some snare, have yielded their heart to some seductive vanity ; and when they come to themselves, then confidence in Christ is fearfully shaken, and it will be well if they let him not go altogether. Let them then hear his voice saying, Hold fast what thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Thy sin starts up with assumed indignation, pretending to have a great zeal for God, and says, "Is it not enough that thy path was sin till thou enteredst the gates of the kingdom, but wilt thou within the very borders of the kingdom, sow the dragon’s teeth of sin?" But fall not back; drag thy sin to Christ, and there accuse both it and thyself, and call upon Christ to avenge himself on thy recreant nature by sanctifying it and clothing it with the armor of righteousness.

We can only hold fast what we have, by constantly using it. If we have a measure of love, we must daily study the means of manifesting it. It is easily recovered from yesterday but not from the day before. If we have joy, we must persevere in rejoicing; every day must have its spiritual joy. Our peace too, we must daily see to it that it is with us. So with long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Each day is to be considered a stage, and we must ascertain regularly that none of our treasures have been left behind. Christians are ready to think, until they have learned the contrary, that their graces are safe when they are slumbering; but their slumber is fatal. Whatever we would retain we must keep it near our consciousness; our will, our memory, our understanding, all must be conversant with it.

Look into the diary of such a man as Jonathan Edwards, to know how he held fast to what he had, that no man should take his crown. Look at these admirable resolutions, and at the admirable obedience he rendered to them, and see how high his estimate of every gracious communication from his Lord, how strenuously he battled for the preservation of it.

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