September 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:2).

Devotional

The world, and the love of the world, and conformity to the world, may please and assist the life of sense. But it opposes and will retard the life of faith. The flesh and the Spirit, darkness and light, sin and holiness, are not more opposed in their natures than are a vigorous life of faith and a sinful love of the world.

O, professor of the gospel! Guard against the world. It is your great bane. Watch against conformity to it in your dress. Watch against conformity to it in your mode of living. Watch against conformity to it in the education of your children. Watch against conformity to it in the principles, motives, and policy that govern you. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by any known inconsistency of conduct, any sinful conformity to the world, any inordinate pursuit of its wealth, its honors, its pleasures, its friendships, and its great things.

Pray against the sin of covetousness, that canker-worm that feeds at the root of so many souls. Pray against the love of dress, that sin that diverts the mind of so many professors from the simplicity of Christ, and takes the eye off from the true adornment. Pray against a thirst for light and trifling entertainment, that strange and sinful inconsistency of so many, the certain tendency of which is to starve the life of God in the soul by engendering a distaste for healthy spiritual food—for the Word of God, for holy meditation, and for communion and fellowship with God. Yes, pray against the spirit of worldly, sinful conformity in everything, that the Holy Spirit may not be grieved and that Christ may not be dishonored and crucified afresh in and through you.

It is to be feared that much of the professed Christianity of our day is of a compromising character. The spirit that marks so many is, "What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?" (Matt. 26:15). There is a betraying of Christ before the world—a bartering of Christianity for the world's good opinion, the world's places of honor, and the world's compensation. The world, the flesh, and Satan are ever on the alert to frame a bargain with a Christian professor for his religion. "What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?" is the eager inquiry of many. Oh, awful state! Oh, fearful deception! Oh, fatal delusion!

O reader! Are you a professing Christian? Then guard against the least compromise of your principles, the least betrayal of Jesus, the first step in an inconsistency of walk. Above all, pray and watch against a worldly Christianity—a Christianity that wears a fair exterior, as far as it is composed of attendance upon sanctuary services and sacraments and religious institutions, but which excludes from it the cross of the meek and lowly Lamb of God—a Christianity which loves the world and the things of the world, "makes a good impression outwardly" (Gal. 6:12 NIV), speaks well of Christ, and yet betrays him with a kiss. Do not let this be the model of your religion. The world is the sworn enemy of your Savior. Do not let it be your friend. No! Come out of it, and be you separate.

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 2011.