February 5 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Devotional

Oh, if only the church of Christ would realize this truth—if only each individual believer would realize it—that simpler, closer, more experiential contact with Jesus would essentially strengthen the tone of inward spirituality and comfort!

The great secret of all comfort in seasons of affliction is to take your affliction, as it comes, straightforwardly to Christ. And the great secret of all holiness is to take your corruption, as it rises, straightforwardly to Christ.

It is this leaning upon Jesus for all you need, this going to Christ under all circumstances, and in all seasons, that makes your life as a child of God happy and holy. There is no other path for you to walk in. The moment you turn from Jesus you become like a boat loosed from its moorings, driven from billow to billow at the mercy of the winds. Christ must be all in all to you—friends, comforts, church privileges, ordinances, means of grace—nothing must take the place of Jesus.

Why does the Lord so frequently discipline your soul? Why does he remove friends? Why does he impair your comforts? Why does he rob you of church privileges? Why does he withdraw blessing from the means of grace? Oh why, except to open a way through which he himself might enter you and convince your lonely, bereaved, and desolate heart that he is a substitute for everything, while nothing can ever be a substitute for him. All these things are means to an end, while he alone is the end in himself.

He will have the supreme affection of his saints! They shall find their all in him! And to this end he sends afflictions, crosses, and disappointments—to wean them from their idols and draw them to himself.

Jesus, thou Joy of loving hearts,
thou Fount of life, thou Light of men,
from the best bliss that earth imparts
we turn unfilled to thee again.

Thy truth unchanged has ever stood;
thou savest those that on thee call;
to them that seek thee, thou art good;
to them that find thee, all in all.

We taste thee, O thou living Bread,
and long to feast upon thee still;
we drink of thee, the Fountainhead,
and thirst our souls from thee to fill.

Our restless spirits yearn for thee,
where'er our changeful lot is cast;
glad when thy gracious smile we see,
blest when our faith can hold thee fast.

O Jesus, ever with us stay,
make all our moments calm and bright;
chase the dark night of sin away,
shed o'er the world thy holy light.

(Bernard of Clairvaux, ca. 1150; arr. and tr. Ray Palmer, 1858)

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 2025.