March 24 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Devotional

The church of God is equally one in the Holy Spirit. One Spirit regenerating all, fashioning all, teaching all, sealing all, comforting all, and dwelling in all. There are degrees of grace and "varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:4). That same Spirit—making all believers partakers of the same divine nature and then taking up his abode in each—must necessarily conform them in every essential quality, feature, and attribute of the Christian character.

Thus, the unity of the Church is an essential and a hidden unity. All the differences of opinion, and all the varieties of ceremonies, and all the multiplicity of sects into which she is broken and divided tend greatly to impair her strength and conceal her beauty. Nevertheless, she is yet essentially and indivisibly one. Her unity consists not in a uniformity of judgment, but better far than this, in the "unity of the Spirit."

Thus, no individual believer can with truth say that he possesses the Spirit exclusively, boasting of himself what other saints do not have. Nor can any one section of the Christian church lay claim to its being the only true church, and that salvation is found only within its pale. These lofty pretensions, these exclusive claims, this vainglory, this uncharitableness, are all demolished by one lightning touch of truth, even by that blessed declaration, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."

Jesus, with thy church abide,
be her Savior, Lord and Guide,
while on earth her faith is tried:
we beseech thee, hear us.

Make her life and doctrine pure;
grant her patience to endure,
trusting in thy promise sure:
we beseech thee, hear us.

May she one in doctrine be,
one in truth and charity,
winning all to faith in thee:
we beseech thee, hear us.

May she guide the poor and blind,
seek the lost until she find,
and the brokenhearted bind:
we beseech thee, hear us.

Save her love from growing cold,
make her watchmen strong and bold,
fence her round, thy peaceful fold:
we beseech thee, hear us.

May her lamp of truth be bright,
bid her bear aloft its light
through the realms of heathen night:
We beseech thee, hear us.

Arm her soldiers with the cross,
brave to suffer toil or loss,
counting earthly gain but dross:
we beseech thee, hear us.

May she holy triumphs win,
overthrow the hosts of sin,
gather all the nations in:
we beseech thee, hear us.

(Thomas Benson Pollock, 1871: alt. in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1875)

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.