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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12).
Devotional
Observe to what cause he traces all departure from God—unbelief. This is the sin which, in another place, he exhorts the Christian to "lay aside," as "sin which clings so closely" (Heb. 12:1).
What is the easy sin which clings so closely in every child of God? Let any believer testify. Ask him to point to his most subtle, constant, powerful, and dangerous foe. Ask him what has the most easy access to his mind, what most catches up his feet and so hinders him in the race that is set before him. Ask him what has most easily and frequently defeated him. Ask what has brought the most distress to his soul and dishonor to God. He will unhesitatingly reply, "my own evil heart of unbelief." He may have constitutional weaknesses. He may be assailed by peculiar temptations. He may yield to "presumptuous sins" (Ps. 19:13); and these, in secret and close transaction with God, may cause him deep bitterness and humiliation of soul. But the sin which does so easily and so perpetually cling to him is the sin of unbelief, the root of all other sin.
For just as faith is the parent of all holiness, so also is unbelief the parent of all unholiness.
We have not known thee as we ought,
nor learned thy wisdom, grace and pow'r;
the things of earth have filled our thought,
and trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light thy truth to see,
and make us wise in knowing thee.
We have not feared thee as we ought,
nor bowed beneath thine awful eye,
nor guarded deed, and word, and thought,
remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know thee near,
and grant the grace of holy fear.
We have not loved thee as we ought,
nor cared that we are loved by thee;
thy presence we have coldly sought,
and feebly longed thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
to feel and know the love thou art.
We have not served thee as we ought;
alas! the duties left undone,
the work with little fervor wrought,
the battles lost or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
for thee to toil, for thee to fight.
When shall we know thee as we ought,
and fear and love and serve aright?
When shall we, out of trial brought,
be perfect in the land of light?
Lord, may we day by day prepare
to see thy face and serve thee there.
(Thomas Benson Pollock, 1889)
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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