March 17 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other" (Luke 23:12).

Devotional

How striking and solemn! Pilate and Herod stood in the attitude of the deadliest hate to each other. But now they become friends! What strange but mighty power thus suddenly subdued their animosity? What turned their hatred into love? What mystic chain drew and bound together these hostile rulers? Their mutual and deep enmity against Jesus!

Believers in Christ! The enemies of our glorious Redeemer, inspired by a natural and related feeling of hatred, are induced to forget their private quarrels and combine their differences in a common confederation to crush the Son of God, the object of their mutual hostility. If that is so, should not the friends of the Redeemer, constrained by that divine principle of love that dwells in the hearts of all who are born of God, smother their resentments, bury their hostilities, and draw more closely together in one holy, vigorous, and determined alliance to exalt the Son of God, the glorious and precious Object of their mutual affection? Oh, if Jesus is the bond of union to those who hate him, how much more should he be the bond of union to those who love him!

Beneath the cross of Jesus, how the redeemed children of the one family should mourn over, confess, abhor, and renounce all unholy jealousy, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and all lovelessness. And how they should unhesitatingly and cordially recognize as such all who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity, thus making every effort "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3).

¹ I was glad to hear them saying,
"Let's go to the LORD's own house!"
² Now at last our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.

³ See, Jerus'lem, like a city
well-constructed, close and strong.
⁴ That is where the tribes assemble,
tribes which to the LORD belong.

They go up to thank the LORD's Name
just as for them God decreed.
⁵ There he set the thrones for judgment,
thrones of David's royal Seed.

⁶ Pray for Jerusalem's safety:
"May your friends securely dwell;
⁷ Peace within your walls continue,
strength within your citadel."

⁸ For the sake of friends and brothers,
I will say, "Peace be in you."
⁹ For the sake of our GOD's temple,
I will ever seek your good.

(Psalm 122, LEW, 2006;
Tune: Galilee ["Jesus Calls Us"])

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.