April 12 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24).

Devotional

True mortification has its foundation in the life of God in the soul. A Spiritual—yes, a most Spiritual—work, it can only spring from a most Spiritual principle. It is a plant that is not indigenous to our fallen nature.

It cannot be in the principle of sin to mortify itself. Human nature possesses neither the desire nor the power to accomplish so holy an achievement. A dead faith, a blind zeal, or a superstitious devotion may prompt severe austerities. But actually to lay the axe close to the root of indwelling evil, actually to make war against the principle of sin in the heart (thus besieging and assaulting the very citadel itself), actually to discipline the body and keep it under control (1 Cor. 9:27) by a daily and a deadly conflict with its innate and desperately depraved propensities, is a work that transcends the highest reach of the most severe external austerities.

It consists in terminating the covenant with sin: "Take no part"—enter into no truce, make no agreement, form no union—"in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them" (Eph. 5:11). Say, "What have I to do with idols?" (Hos. 14:8).

The resources of sin must be cut off: "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Rom. 14:13). Relinquish whatever tends to and terminates in the sinful gratification of the flesh as frustrating the great aim of the Christian in mortifying the deeds of the body.

God's Word aptly sets forth mortification as a crucifixion: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh..." Death by the cross is certain, yet lingering. Our blessed Lord was suspended upon the tree from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. It was a slow lingering torture, yet it terminated in his giving up the ghost (Luke 23:46). The death of sin in the believer is similar to this. It is progressive and protracted; nevertheless, it is certain in the outcome. Nail after nail must pierce our corruptions, until the entire body of sin, each member thus transfixed, is crucified and slain.

Rise, my soul, to watch and pray,
from thy sleep awaken;
be not by the evil day
unawares o'ertaken.
for the foe,
well we know,
oft his harvest reapeth
while the Christian sleepeth.

Watch against the devil's snares
lest asleep he find thee;
for indeed no pains he spares
to deceive and blind thee.
Satan's prey
oft are they
who secure are sleeping
and no watch are keeping.

Watch! Let not the wicked world
with its pow'r defeat thee.
Watch lest with her pomp unfurled
she betray and cheat thee.
Watch and see
lest there be
faithless friends to charm thee,
who but seek to harm thee.

Watch against thyself, my soul,
lest with grace thou trifle;
let not self thy thoughts control
nor God's mercy stifle.
Pride and sin
lurk within
all thy hopes to scatter;
heed not when they flatter.

But while watching, also pray
to the Lord unceasing.
He will free thee, be thy stay,
strength and faith increasing.
O Lord, bless
in distress
and let nothing swerve me
from the will to serve thee.

Therefore let us watch and pray,
knowing he will hear us
as we see from day to day
dangers ever near us,
and the end
doth impend—
our redemption neareth
when our Lord appeareth.

(Johann B. Freystein, 1697; tr. by Catherine Winkworth, 1863; alt.)

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.