January 26 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1 John 4:11). We must not think of love as an uncontrollable, unpredictable emotion. We are commanded to love, and this would be quite impossible if love were some elusive, sporadic sensation, coming as unaccountably as a common cold. Love…
January 25 “God is love.” (I John 4:8). The coming of Christ brought a new word for love into the Greek language—agape. There was already a word for friendship (philia) and one for passionate love (eros), but there was none to express the kind of love which God showed in giving His only begotten Son…
January 24 “Don’t worry over anything whatever.” (Phil. 4:6, Phillips) There is so much that a person could worry about—the possibility of cancer, heart trouble or a multitude of other diseases; foods that are supposedly harmful, accidental death, a communist takeover, nuclear war, runaway inflation, an uncertain future, the grim outlook for children growing up…
January 23 “Seekest thou great things for thyself; seek them not.”(Jer. 45:5) There is a subtle temptation, even in Christian service, to become great, to see one’s name in the magazines or hear it over the radio. But it is a great snare. It robs Christ of glory. It robs ourselves of peace and joy.…
January 22 “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.” (Num. 23:21) The hireling prophet, Balaam, spoke a remarkable truth when he said that the all-seeing God could not see sin in His people, Israel. What was true of Israel then is wonderfully true of the believer today. As…
January 21 “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” (1 Sam. 16:14) There are verses in the Bible that seem to assign evil actions to God. For example, when Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and…
January 20 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb. 10:17) God’s ability to forget sins that have been covered by the blood of Christ is one of the most soul-satisfying truths in Scripture. It is a great wonder when we read, “As far as the east is from the west, so…
January 19 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Without the assurance of this verse, it would be practically impossible to go on in the Christian life. As we grow in grace, we have a deepening awareness…
January 18 “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight…” (John 18:36) The fact that Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world is enough to keep me out of the world’s politics. If I participate in politics, then I am casting a vote of…
January 17 “With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” (Eph. 6:7) Paul’s instructions to slaves (Eph. 6:5-8) are freighted with meaning for all who profess to be servants of Jesus Christ. They show, first of all, that any honorable work, no matter how menial it is, can be done…