Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: March 14th

Wherein ye greatly rejoice. - 1 Peter 1:6.

IN what? This is the question, and it is answered,-“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice.” What then are we to do with all this? Leaving other particulars, we only observe two things.

First, The Christian’s joy is not unfounded. There is a sufficient ground for it. It is not the picture of imagination; it is not the vision of enthusiasm; it is not the dream of fanaticism; it is not the expectation of folly. No, it is well grounded. The whole of the religion of Jesus is a reasonable service; and the Christian is able to give “a reason for the hope that is in him;” at least he has a reason, though he may not always be able to express it properly and satisfactorily. Is there, then, not a cause? Let us therefore look back again on the preceding verses, and see whether there is not enough to excite and more than justify the Christian’s joy.

Observe, Secondly, That as this joy is not groundless, so it is founded principally upon spiritual and eternal things. For all the things here referred to are of the same nature. There is not one thing here mentioned, however otherwise valuable, that appertains to his outward condition. Not that a Christian is to be regardless of these outward blessings and comforts. The Christian does not undervalue, he feels the importance of them as long as he is here. But, after all, what is time to eternity? What is the body to the soul?

“To thee we owe our life and friends,

Our health and safe abode;

Thanks to thy name for meaner things,

But they are not my God.”

“Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor,

And, with thee, rich, take what thou wilt away.”

Yes, the Christian can say,-

“Were I possessor of the earth,

And call’d the stars my own,

Without thy graces and thyself

I were a wretch undone.”

Let us, therefore, call to our remembrance, that when the disciples returned from a preaching-tour, and said to the Saviour, “Lord, the very devils are subject to us through thy word,” “I know it,” says he; “I saw Satan falling from heaven;” “but,” adds he, “in this rejoice not”-that is, in your external gifts and miraculous achievements-“in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Yes, “he is the freeman,” as Cowper says, “whom the truth makes free.”

We are never to think that we prosper, unless our souls prosper; we are never to think that we are rich, unless we are “rich towards God;” never to think that we are blessed, unless we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ;” or think that we are authorized greatly to rejoice, unless we are able to say with some humble hope, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, revealed in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, reserved through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” “Wherein,” says the apostle, addressing believers, “ye greatly rejoice.”

Wilt thou be made whole? - John 5:6.

WHAT answer have we returned or are disposed to give to this question? for we are now as capable as was the impotent man of answering this question, and Christians are daily and hourly answering it; and we can testify our readiness to be cured in four ways. First, By our inquiry after the way and means of recovery, saying, “What must I do to be saved?” The Scriptures will be searched now to find the only thing which they were principally designed to make known, namely, a dying, risen Saviour.

Secondly, We show our willingness to be cured by our applying to the great Physician, resorting to his footstool, and crying “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.”

Thirdly, Our readiness to be cured is proved by our submission to his prescriptions, without murmuring or complaint. When the man of God had prescribed for the cure of Naaman, Naaman was wroth, and went away and said, “Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.” So he thought, but it did not become him to think but to acquiesce. “But,” said he, “are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel; may I not bathe in them and be clean?” So he turned away in a rage, and had nearly missed his cure. How different was it with the poor blind man, when Jesus made clay and anointed his eyes, and said unto him, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash;” he did not question but believed: he went and washed, and received his sight.

And this is the disposition of every awakened and convinced sinner-every one who is willing to be healed by the Saviour; he will say: “If by any means, Lord prescribe, I submit, however mysterious to my reason, however humiliating to the pride of my heart, to whatever provision or sacrifice thou requirest; Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He wishes not merely that the disease may be checked, but that he may be free from the very principle, from the very cause of the malady. He desires to be entirely whole.

And, Fourthly, The willingness to be cured will also appear in the eagerness with which we shall sometimes look after convalesence. We know how much is at stake-our eternal life. O, with what anxiety do we ask, “And shall I be cured, or must I after all perish under this fatal disease of sin?” And O, what pleasure we shall experience if we discern any sign, however small, of recovery-any little appetite we have after the provision of God’s house, any little strength, any little ability to walk if not to run in the way of God’s commandments.

How this will encourage our souls. Am I thus desirous to be made whole?