October 18 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 22:1-14:

¹And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
²The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
³And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
⁴Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
⁵But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
⁶And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
⁷But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
⁸Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
⁹Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
¹⁰So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.

Devotional

Man was not created an independent being. He was created to love and to serve God his Creator, and to live with him in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify him. Satan caused man to transgress God's command, and thus he brought him into bondage of sin and made a slave of him. And Satan is a hard taskmaster. He deceives man with earthly riches, called mammon, and man, trusting in them, loses his own soul.

Now man serves either God or mammon. He cannot serve both. He is either a child of God, or he is of his father, the devil. He either puts his trust in uncertain riches, or in the living God. There can be no compromise. James says, "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

Do we want to be the enemies of God? God Forbid! There­fore "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

Prayer

O God our Father, we must deplore before Thee that we are often so worldly minded, and that the things of this world still have so much attraction for us. We pray, impress upon us the truth, that whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for Christ's sake shall find it. May we then find our chief delight in Christ our Saviour. Make us heartily willing and ready to live unto him. Forbid that we should compromise with the world, that we should ever be ashamed of our Saviour, and bring reproach upon his name. But may we ever be ready, as long as we live, to bear witness to the truths of Thy Word, to Thy name's honor and glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: 1 Tim. 6:17; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17.

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