February 14 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Devotional

"In this is love!" as though John would say, "and nowhere else but here!"

That God should punish the innocent for the guilty; that he should exact the blood of his Son to cancel the guilt of his rebels; that he should lay an infinite weight of wrath on his soul in order to lay an infinite weight of love on ours; that he should sacrifice his life of priceless value for ours—worthless, forfeited, and doomed; that he should not only give his Son, but should bruise him, put him to grief, afflict him, should make his soul an offering for sin; that the "Lord of Glory" should become a "man of sorrows", the Lord of Life should die, and the Heir of all things should be "as him who serves."

Oh depth of love unfathomable! Oh height of love unsearchable! Oh length and breadth of love unmeasurable! Oh love of God, which surpasses all knowledge!

When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ my God:
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down:
did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

(Isaac Watts, 1707, text of 1709)

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.