April 13 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"... if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:13).

Devotional

"...if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body..." The believer is not a nothing in this work of mortification. In this matter he must necessarily possess a deep and personal interest. How many and precious are the considerations that bind him to the duty! His usefulness, his happiness, his sunny hope of heaven are all included in it.

The work of the Spirit is not, and never was designed to be, a substitute for the personal work of the believer. The Holy Spirit's influence, indispensable and sovereign though it is, does not release you from human and individual responsibility. "Work out your own salvation" (Phil. 2:12); "keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 21); "building yourselves up" (Jude 20) are exhortations which emphatically and distinctly recognize the requirement of personal effort and human responsibility.

The reasoning that summons you to defer the work of making war against your heart's corruptions and putting to death the deeds of the body until the Holy Spirit performs his part, argues an unhealthy Christianity. It betrays a kind of truce with sin. That must by no means be entertained, not even for a moment!

As, under the law, the father was compelled to accuse his stubborn and rebellious son (Deut. 21:18–21), so now under the gospel—even though it is a milder and more gentle economy—the believer is to throw the first stone at his corruptions. He is to take the initiative in the great work of mortifying and killing the cherished sin.

"...you put to death the deeds of the body..." Therefore, beware of dodging human responsibility in the name of God's influence; of evading the one under the pretense of exalting the other; of masking a spirit of slothfulness and indolence beneath an allegedly jealous regard for the honor of the Holy Spirit.

How narrow is the way of truth! How many diverging paths there are! And at each turn Satan stands disguised as an angel of light, quoting Scripture with all the aptness and eloquence of an apostle! But God will never release you from the obligation to "struggle against sin" (Heb. 12:4). "I discipline my body and keep it under control" (1 Cor. 9:27) was Paul's noble declaration.

Is no self-effort to be made to escape the abyss of habitual intoxication by tearing the ensnaring substance from the lips? Is no self-effort to be made to break away from the slavery of a companionship, the influence of which is rushing you to ruin and despair? Is no self-effort to be made to dethrone an unlawful habit, to resist a powerful temptation, to dissolve the spell that binds you to a dangerous enchantment, to disentangle the chain that binds you to a wrong and domineering inclination?

Oh, surely, God does not deal with you as a machine—but as a reasonable, moral, and accountable being. I drew you "with cords of kindness, with the bands of love" (Hos. 11:4). Therefore, O believer, mortification is a work to which you must address yourself, and that with prayerful and resolute earnestness.

Shall the believer dare to sin,
because his sin has been forgiven?
Shall sovereign grace which makes him clean,
be thus abused? Forbid it, Heaven!

Hard is that heart which does not melt,
and blind is that unholy eye,
which sees no evil in the guilt,
for which the Savior came to die.

O blessed Jesus, ne'er may those
for whom thy precious blood was shed,
give cause of triumph to thy foes,
but shrink from sin with holy dread.

(anonymous, from Gadsby's Hymns, #937)

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.