Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: February 4th

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. - 2 Timothy 1:12.

WE here see what satisfaction the apostle derived from his acquaintance with the great Depositary himself:-“I know whom I have believed.” But we should remember that the knowledge of which the apostle speaks is not the knowledge which he had. of him before he believed in him. Then, indeed, he knew him, or his faith would have been folly, whereas it is “a reasonable service.” When the apostle first trusted in him, he saw that there was the greatest reason for it in the world. It is therefore necessary that we should know him; we may love, and may rejoice in, an unseen Saviour, but not in an unknown one. Dr. Owen remarks that “all the operations of the Spirit of God are commenced and carried on in the renewing of the mind.”

Why would any person trust in another without some previous knowledge? Would they intrust a very valuable jewel in the hands of a perfect stranger? or would a person walk across a very deep abyss before he knew whether the plank was sound or rotten? Therefore we read that “by his knowledge he shall justify many.” How is this? Some may inquire, Do we not everywhere read in the Scriptures that we are “justified by faith”? Surely; but “how can they believe on him of whom they have not heard?” Knowledge, therefore, we see, must precede every thing; and this was the case with the apostle.

But then this knowledge is derived entirely from testimony, and from the testimony of the Scriptures. There is a knowledge derived from experience also, and “he that believeth hath the witness in himself.” The believer knows these things from his own experience. “I know,” says he, “that my poor soul was oppressed with a burden too heavy for me to bear, and I could obtain no relief till I applied to the blood of sprinkling,” but by “believing I entered into rest.” I know that “without him I can do nothing,” and I know that “through his strengthening me I can do all things,” for I have made the trial of both. I know that “it is good for me to draw near to God,” for “a glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.” He is a tried friend and Saviour. I have often tried him, and the more I have tried him the more I find that he corresponds perfectly with all that is said of him in the blessed book. I know whom I have trusted, and were it to do again I would so trust in him again. I have repented many things, but the longer I live the less am I disposed to repent of this. My views have changed with regard to many questions.-Oh! how I have been deceived, how I have been imposed upon, how I have been befooled by trifles in many things! But this does not apply to my trust in the Redeemer; here I have full satisfaction in the review of what I then did.

The Christian has “tasted that the Lord is gracious;” and no wonder, therefore, having this knowledge, that he is concerned to bring others to enjoy it; no wonder that he speaks so much better on this subject than others,-“his heart teacheth his lips,” as Solomon says; no wonder that he speaks with earnestness, and with confidence, and with feeling, and commonly too with success, for he can say, as the first Christians did, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints. - Ephesians 3:8.

DISTINGUISHED and honored as the Apostle had been, he does not he have himself unseemly. He does not think of himself more highly than he ought to think. He is not puffed up. “I am less,” says he, “than the least of all saints.” Bad grammar, but good divinity. The fact is, his feelings were often too powerful for expression-his meaning too big for common utterance; and therefore he used old words, or coined new ones, in order to produce an appropriate impression. The designation, “saints,” means “holy ones;” it is therefore of holiness he is speaking, not of his condition, of his natural talents, of his learning, nor of his knowledge, but of his holiness. He does not say, I am the least of all writers: the least of all scholars: this would have been falsehood and affectation in him; but “I am less than the least of all holy ones;” and the reason of this distinction is this, that all other qualities and excellencies may be known in their subjects and in their effects, but not so of holiness.

Holiness resides essentially within, and consists principally in the state of the heart, and in the rectitude of our motives and principles. For a man is not the more or less holy according to the number of religious actions he performs. These may be done without any love to God in the performance of them. They may he done even from an improper motive. It is possible for a natural man to surpass a real Christian in many things that are materially good. But we are holy in proportion as our heart is right with God, and as our motives and principles are pure and heavenly. We cannot know what is in the heart of another, nor the degree of his motives and principles. If our conduct is better than his, his motives and principles may be superior to ours, and therefore in the view of God he may have more of moral and spiritual excellence.

It is thus we are to understand the admonition of the Apostle to the Philippians: “Let each esteem other better than himself.” This maxim will not apply universally; to use it in some cases would be folly; for a strong and healthy man to esteem a weak and sickly one as more able to do many things than himself, or for a rich man to esteem a poor man richer than himself, or a scholar to esteem an illiterate man wiser than himself. But it is otherwise with regard to holiness: there we should never presume in our own favour, but, with the Apostle, we should be disposed to consider ourselves “less than the least of all saints.”