Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: March 8th

Christ is all, and in all. - Colossians 3:11.

CHRIST is all in every thing. Such is the Greek, and so modern writers have rendered it; but in exemplifying this he “is all and in all” in the operations of divine grace. He “came into the world to save sinners;” this was his grand design, and he accomplished it himself. “He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him,” and “there is salvation in no other;” “for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” No man cometh unto the Father but by him. Do we speak of Redemption? Here he is,-“All and in all.” “He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” “Ye are bought with a price,” says the apostle; and this price is declared to be “the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.” “In him, therefore, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

Speak we of Justification? “By him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.” “In the Lord therefore shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.” “Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” The righteousness which they mention to God as their only plea, and to others as their only boast, is his righteousness; and there is not one of them but can say,-

“The best obedience of my hands

Dares not appear before thy throne;

But faith can answer thy demands

By pleading what my Lord hath done.”

Clothed in his righteousness and sprinkled with his blood, both the persons and services of believers are “accepted in the beloved,” and he is “all and in all” in our reconciliation to God. “He is our peace.” “He made peace by the blood of his cross.” Hence it is said, “The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.”

Speak we of Renovation? Here, too, he is “all and in all.” If we are Christians indeed, we are “new creatures in Christ Jesus.” It is the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which hath made us free from the law of sin and death.” Indeed, we are said to live in the Spirit, and are led by the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, and worship God in the Spirit; but it is the Spirit of Christ. He procured it for us upon the cross, and he communicates it to us from the throne, and it is expressly declared “that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.”

“’Tis by the merits of his death

Who hung upon the tree,

The Spirit is sent down to breathe

On such dry bones as we.”

Do we speak of Final Perseverance? We found our belief in this perseverance of the saints, upon their union with him who is the “same yesterday, today, and forever;” who is “able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by him,” for “he ever liveth to make intercession for us;” who has said, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” So that, whatever enemies may assail them, or whatever fraud or force they may employ, in all these things they shall be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Speak we of Glorification? Here he is “all and in all.” It is he who is with them in the valley, and by his rod and staff comforts them there; that will receive them to glory, as to their departing spirits after death; and it is he that will raise them up again at the last day; “when he will change their vile bodies and fashion them like unto his own glorious body;” and it is he who will acknowledge them as his before an assembled world:-“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.” And “they shall be forever with the Lord.”

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. - Proverbs 9:12.

AS religion makes us truly wise, to possess it is to gain the greatest advantage. Now this does not mean that heavenly wisdom will make a man cunning and selfish. The man of wisdom will be concerned to be useful. While religion is indeed personal, it is also social in its aspects and influences. It begins, and indeed must begin, with himself; but it must not end there. A Christian will be anxious, as he has opportunity, to do good to all men. Nor does it mean that he will not be beneficial to others as well as himself. As before his conversion he was a curse, so now he will prove a blessing.

Christians are “the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” They are the “repairers of the breach; the restorers of paths to dwell in.” Christians are the greatest benefactors of the human race. By their prayers and by their examples, by their influence and by their exertions, they “serve their generation according to the will of God.” The meaning of the expression, “thou shalt be wise for thyself,” first, is spoken of in reference to God. Our goodness extendeth not to him. Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? We must not, therefore, think much of our services in his cause; for when we have done all that is commanded of us, we must say we are unprofitable servants. That is, unprofitable to him, never to ourselves. And therefore we need not be afraid to come to him because we have no worthiness, and have nothing to bring; for he has said we are to come to him, not to communicate, but to receive.

Then it means, secondly, that though others may derive benefit from it, no one is or can be so enriched by it as the possessor of true wisdom. The fruit will fall principally into our own lap. It means that “godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come.” The temporal benefits of religion are great, but the Spiritual benefits are greater. And as to the eternal benefits to which it leads, and of which it is the earnest, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”