May 17 Daily Devotional

I thank God ... through Jesus Christ our Lord

Why is it that man ever chooses to sin? The answer is that man has fallen away from God, ... and his whole nature has be­come perverted and sinful. Man's whole bias is away from God.... He objects to the whole idea of God and the demands which God makes upon him.

Furthermore, man likes and covets the things which God prohibits and dislikes the things and the kind of life to which God calls him. These are no mere dogmatic statements. They are facts.... But all who are not Christian face the facts in such a superficial manner that their proposals with respect to them must of necessity fail.... [They ignore] the central problem, which is: Why should man ever desire the wrong? ...

Man's very nature is fallen. Man is wrong at the center of his being; and, therefore. everything is wrong.... What can be done for him? ... Can man change the whole bias of his life? Give him new clothing, provide him with a new house in new surroundings, entertain him with all that is best and most elevating, educate him and train his mind, enrich his soul with frequent doses of the finest culture ever known; do all and more, but still he will remain the same essential man....

Man needs a new nature. Whence can he obtain it? There is but one answer in Jesus Christ the Son of God. He came from Heaven and took upon Him human nature perfect and whole. He is God and man. In Him alone are the divine and the human united. And He offers to give us His own nature....

All who believe on Him, and receive Him, obtain this new nature.... Those who hated God now love Him and desire to know more and more about Him. Their supreme desire now is to please Him and to honor and to glorify Him.... And this in turn brings them into an entirely new relationship with their fellow men.

Loving the Lord their God first, they find themselves loving their neighbors as themselves.... A new society is only possible when we have new men; and Christ alone can produce new men.

The Plight of Man and the Power of God, pp. 87-9

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”

Comments on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A First Book of Daily Readings

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