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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death" (Philippians 1:20).
Devotional
You will not be without a Christ when you most need him. He, who has been with you all your earthly pilgrimage, will be with you to its very last step.
The Shepherd who has guided you through the wilderness will not leave you just as you emerge from it into the Promised Land. The Pilot who has conducted you across the stormy sea will not abandon the ship just as it enters the haven of rest. The Captain who has conquered for you and in you will not forsake you just on the eve of the final conflict and the certain victory. Oh no! Jesus will be with you to the last.
Do not be painfully anxious about a dying hour. Let all your concern be how you may best glorify him in your life. He will glorify himself in your death. All grace, all strength, all glory is laid up for you against that moment. And when it comes—and not until then—Jesus will unlock the treasury and bring it forth.
But oh, to live to him! To be able to say, "To me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Strive for this. Whatever opposes it, take it to his grace, lay it beneath, yes, fasten it to his cross. Oh! let Christ be everything to you in life. Then will he be everything to you in death.
Christ, of all my hopes the ground,
Christ, the spring of all my joy,
still in thee may I be found,
still for thee my pow'rs employ.
Let thy love my heart inflame;
keep thy fear before my sight;
be thy praise my highest aim;
be thy smile my chief delight.
Fountain of o'erflowing grace,
freely from thy fullness give;
till I close my earthly race,
may I prove it "Christ to live."
Firmly trusting in thy blood,
nothing shall my heart confound;
safely I shall pass the flood,
safely reach Immanuel's ground.
Thus, O thus, an entrance give
to the land of cloudless sky;
having known it "Christ to live,"
let me know it "gain to die."
(Ralph Wardlaw, 1817)
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 2025.
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