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March 25 Daily Devotional

Morning Thoughts for Today;
or, Daily Walking with God

Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)

Bible Verse

"For the love of Christ constrains us." (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Devotional

Love is the great influential principle of the gospel. The religion of Jesus is preeminently a religion of motive. It excludes every compulsory principle. It exhibits before the mind certain great and powerful motives by which it leads captive the understanding, the will, and the affections; and by which it enlists them all in the active service of Christ.

And so the law of Christianity is not the law of coercion, but of love. This is the grand lever, the great influential motive, "the love of Christ constrains us." This was the apostle's declaration, and this was his governing motive. And the constraining love of Christ is to be the governing motive—the influential principle—of every believer. Apart from the constraining influence of Christ's love in the heart, there cannot possibly be a willing, prompt, and holy obedience to his commandments. A conviction of duty and the influence of fear may sometimes urge forward the soul, but only love can prompt a loving and holy obedience.

And all obedience that springs from an inferior motive is not the obedience that the gospel of Jesus inculcates. The relation in which the believer stands to God under the new covenant dispensation is not that of a slave to his master, but rather of a child to its father. "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son" (Gal. 4:–7).

With this new and spiritual relation, we look for a new and spiritual motive, and we find it in that single but comprehensive word—love. And our Lord has declared it just so: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments ... If anyone loves me, he will keep my word ... whoever does not love me, does not keep my words" (Jn. 14:15, 23, 24).

It is, then, only where this love is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit that we may expect to find the fruit of obedience. Swayed by this divine principle, you the believer labor not for life, but from life; you the believer not for acceptance, but from acceptance. A holy, self-denying, cross-bearing life is not the drudgery of a slave, but the filial, loving obedience of a child. It springs from love to the person and gratitude for the work of Jesus. It is the blessed effect of the Spirit of adoption in the heart.

Under the constraining influence of this principle, how easy becomes every cross for Jesus! How light every burden! How pleasant every yoke! Duties become privileges, difficulties vanish, fears are quelled, pride is humbled, and delay is rebuked.

More love to thee, O Christ,
more love to thee!
Hear thou the prayer I make
on bended knee;
this is my earnest plea,
more love, O Christ, to thee,
more love to thee,
more love to thee.

Once earthly joy I craved,
sought peace and rest;
now thee alone I seek;
give what is best:
this all my prayer shall be,
more love, O Christ, to thee,
more love to thee,
more love to thee.

Let sorrow do its work,
send grief and pain;
sweet are thy messengers,
sweet their refrain
when they can sing with me,
more love, O Christ, to thee,
more love to thee,
more love to thee.

Then shall my latest breath
whisper thy praise;
this be the parting cry
my heart shall raise,
this still its prayer shall be,
more love, O Christ, to thee,
more love to thee,
more love to thee.

(Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, 1869)


Be sure to read the "Preface" by Octavius Winslow and "A Note from the Editor" by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as "God's Words for Worship" and "Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants") for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.

 

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