December 23 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1:21–22).

Devotional

Why are so many professing Christians in our day marked by spiritual darkness, small comfort and consolation, dwarfish piety, harassing doubts and fears, imperfect apprehensions of Jesus, feeble faith, a sickly, drooping state of the soul, the uncertainty of their full acceptance in Christ?

It has long been my solemn conviction that much of this may be traced to the absence of a deep experience of the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells believers. They rest satisfied with the faint impression in conversion. They content themselves with the dim views they had of Christ then. They settle for the feeble apprehension of their acceptance and adoption.

Is it any wonder that all their lives they are in bondage through slavish doubts and fears? Is it any wonder that that they never rise to the humble boldness, the unwavering confidence, the blest assurance, and the holy dignity of the sons of God? Oh no! They rest short of this blessing. They hang upon the door of the ark. They remain upon the border of the Promised Land. And not entering fully in, the effects are as I have described.

But, beloved reader, the richest ore is buried the deepest. The sweetest fruit is on the highest branches. The strongest light is near the sun. In other words, if you desire more knowledge of Christ, of your full pardon and complete acceptance by the Father—if you want to experience the guarantee of your inheritance—then you must be "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" (Phil. 3:13). You must "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Do not rest until you find a clear, immoveable, and holy assurance of your being in Christ. And this is only experienced by the working of the Spirit. And this is ordinarily experienced through the use of the means of grace. "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (Jas. 4:8).

Do not say that this is too immense a blessing, too high an attainment for one so small, so feeble, so obscure, so unworthy as you. Oh, do not thus accuse the grace of God! All his blessings are the bestowments of grace. And grace means free favor to the most unworthy.

There is not one lowly, weeping eye that looks upon this page, but may, by the gracious working of the Spirit, look up through Jesus to God as Father. Low views of self, deep consciousness of vileness, poverty of state or of spirit, are no objections with God. Rather, they are strong arguments that prevail with God as to why you should have his blessing. Only ask, only believe, only persevere, and you shall attain unto it.

Reader, you may reply, "I do want Christ. I secretly long for him. I desire him above all else." Is it so? Then take courage, and go to Jesus. Go to him simply. Go to him unhesitatingly. Go to him immediately. That desire is from him. Let it lead you to him. That secret longing is the work of his Spirit. And having begotten it, do you think that he will not honor it and welcome you when you come? Try him. Take his promise, "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (John 6:37), and plead it in wrestlings at the mercy-seat. See if he "will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need" (Mal. 3:10).

Go to him just as you are. If you cannot take to him a pure heart, take an impure one. If you cannot take to him a broken heart, take a whole one. If you cannot take to him a soft heart, take a hard one. Only go to him. The very act of going will be blessed to you.

And oh, such is the strength of his love, such is his yearning compassion and melting tenderness of heart for poor sinners, such is his ability and willingness to save, that he will no more cast you out than deny his own existence.

O precious Jesus! Set us as a seal upon your heart, and by your Spirit seal yourself upon our hearts. And give us, unworthy though we are, a place among those who are sealed.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King:
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic host proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King."

(Charles Wesley, 1739)

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.