April 22 Daily Devotional

Suffering for Christ

the Rev. David Freeman

"And it shall turn to you for a testimony."
"Luke 21: 13

Devotional

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Rather than deny His blessed name, thousands on thousands were mercilessly slain and tortured. Christians have been found ready to hazard the greatest sufferings rather than disown their Lord. They left this world in torments of body, but in soul they triumphed. To the last they declared their belief in the verities of the Gospel. What glorious words are these which fell from the lips of Polycarp, when summoned to deny Christ, "Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath done me no harm; how can I revile my King, who hath saved me?"

They could not renounce their King. What a testimony against our lukewarmness and unbelief! For how little will we deny Him! What little scorn, from an unbelieving world, it takes to make us hide our faces in shame because of Him. Do we say that He is our Savior and that we love Him? But not as they loved Him, surely. Theirs was a religion all in earnest. They died for it, they died by it. Christ was their all. Would not many a Christian church be thinned if to come to the Communion meant peril or death?

Often God lets the great and learned fall, to show us what is in man; and holds up the timid and feeble, to show us what is in God.

We now live in days of a mighty conflict between belief and paganism. Every suffering of disciples in former days of strife ought to rebuke and stimulate us. They despised this mortal life, and deliberately threw it away for the sake of another.

In a true religious experience Christ is above all; there is a deep concern for the things of God; God's service is the chief interest, and union with Christ is everything.

If to live is Christ and to die gain, then every trial will bring glory to God.

"Lift Up Your Heart" is a series of devotionals by the late Rev. David Freeman, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for most of his life. These devotionals, in fact, are part of the early history of our denomination. The first of them was published in The Presbyterian Guardian in 1935; the denomination now known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was officially formed in 1936. We believe that "the Word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8; see 1 Peter 1:25). Thus it is no surprise that meditations based on that Word have continued relevance today. Dr. Freeman's devotionals are proof of that fact.

David Freeman was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.B., 1928; Th.M. , 1930) and of Dropsie Univiersity (Ph.D., 1951). He served as pastor at Grace (later New Covenant) Presbyterian Church (OPC), Philadelphia, PA (1936-1946), Knox Presbyterian Church (OPC), Philadelphia, PA (1949-1962), and Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Fall River, MA (1962-1967). He authored many articles and (along with his son, David H. Freeman) is the author of the book A Philosophical Study of Religion, which appeared in 1964. He went to be with the Lord in 1984.

There is one change from the way the daily devotional was handled in the past with John Skilton's Think On These Things: New devotionals for the new series appear on weekdays only (Monday through Saturday. It is suggested that you use your pastor's sermon text(s) as the basis for your mediations on the Lord's Day.

We trust that you will find these devotionals, once again made available seventy years after they first appeared, to be a personal help in your own Christian walk today!

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