Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: May 2nd

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. - Matthew 6:33.

RELIGION should be our supreme concern. A man who feels the infinite importance attached to the soul and eternity will be praying to the Lord, “Give me a token for good;” “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation;” “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour thou bearest unto thy people;” “Oh, visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, and glory with thine inheritance.” And religion. should be our immediate concern. Our eternal happiness depends upon our relation to it and our interest in it. This life is our only opportunity to attain it, and this season is not only short, but uncertain. With some, while they have hesitated and lingered, the opportunity has been irrecoverably lost; therefore we are urged to “seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near.” And for our encouragement, the Scriptures have assured us that we shall not, cannot, seek in vain.

All things are now ready. He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;” and, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” The things which we so earnestly seek after, concerning which we may think how happy we should feel if we could make them our own, are perishing in their using; they afford no satisfaction in the enjoyment. These things cannot profit us in the day of wrath, nor deliver us from death; and yet these are the things for which we are in danger of envying the men of the world, who have their portion in this life. Is it not time for us to grow wiser, and to regulate our desires and pursuits by the judgment of God, which is always according to truth? If we search the Scriptures we shall find that they, and they alone, are wise, safe, and happy, who, while many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” can say, “Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased;” who, while they are seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, find that these things also are added thereunto.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive. - John 16:24.

SOME suppose that in this Scripture our Lord gave a gentle rebuke to his disciples for their contractedness in their prayers. As if he had said, Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name compared with what you might, with what you ought to have asked. But it is an intimation of their ignorance as to the proper mode of prayer; for as the Apostle says, “At this time the way to the holiest was not fully made manifest.” It had been typified and prefigured from the beginning, but the disciples themselves did not understand the thing designed. Hitherto they had not expressly prayed in his name, neither did it seem necessary while he was with them. But now, says he, “If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it.” “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will do it for you.” Now ask, and ask in my name.

Nothing can be more decisive, more expressive than the declarations of Scripture concerning the nature and availableness, and only availableness, of our Saviour’s mediation. “We have boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus.” We come unto God by him. “Through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” “I am the way; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” And be it observed that our asking in his name is not, as the Socinians explain it asking by his authority; but it means that we are to pray through his mediation; imploring blessings for his sake-pleading his incarnation, his sacrifice, his intercession. Abel was heard and accepted because of the excellency of his sacrifice. Under the law no penitent was ever pardoned in any other way, for without the shedding of blood there never was any remission.

We learn, therefore, from hence, that our prayers to be available must be Christian, to be Christian they must be in his name; that is, we must be sensible not only of our unworthiness, but of our guilt, not only of our wants, but of our desert; not only renouncing our own sufficiency, but our own righteousness, submitting ourselves unto the righteousness of God, acquiescing in this mode, placing all our dependence upon it, and even glorying in it. Without this, if we seek we shall have not, “because we ask amiss.”