December 28 Daily Devotional

Bible Readings:

Micah 6:8, New King James Version:
⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good;
   And what does the LORD require of you
   But to do justly,
   To love mercy,
   And to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 89:14, NKJV:
¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
   Mercy and truth go before Your face.

Psalm 145:1-21, NKJV:
¹I will extol You, my God, O King;
   And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
²Every day I will bless You,
   And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
   And His greatness is unsearchable.
⁴One generation shall praise Your works to another,
   And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
   And on Your wondrous works.
⁶Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
   And I will declare Your greatness.
⁷They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
   And shall sing of Your righteousness.
⁸The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,
   Slow to anger and great in mercy.
⁹The LORD is good to all,
   And His tender mercies are over all His works.
¹⁰All Your works shall praise You, O LORD,
   And Your saints shall bless You.
¹¹They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
   And talk of Your power,
¹²To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
   And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
¹³Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
   And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
¹⁴The LORD upholds all who fall,
   And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
   And You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶You open Your hand
   And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
   Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
   To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
   He also will hear their cry and save them.
²⁰The LORD preserves all who love Him,
   But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD,
   And all flesh shall bless His holy name
   Forever and ever.

Matthew 5:43-45, NKJV:
⁴³-You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

Romans 11:22, NKJV:
²²Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Galatians 6:1-2, NKJV
¹Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. ²Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

James 2:15-17
¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Devotional:

"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God." Practice, Oh Church of Christ, mercy and justice toward members of the household of faith. Learn from the example of the apostolic church to rebuke sin, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, and to do good to those who are in need, as in the case of the appointment of deacons to care for the material wants of the Church. That God is good unto all men, to the just and the unjust, is not to be doubted. The reprobate have not received their just due, for God is longsuffcring towards them. Special saving grace is the portion of God's covenant people. "He sends the sunshine and the rain: He sends the harvest's golden grain; He's our Friend." That Divine benevolence is unmatched in man, for the goodness of God is an attribute of Deity which is also infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. No creature may claim that his goodness equals God's. "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works" (Psalm 145:8, 9}.

Therefore, every follower of Jesns Christ must be careful to he compassionate, given to hospitality, considerate of the needs of others. Because God is good to all, particularly to His Church, His people must exhibit the same quality,—and not in word only, but in deed and truth. "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which arc needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" (James 2:15-17). Though we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, we are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. The expression of brotherly love among the saints is a mark of true discipleship.

But God is also just. His justice is absolute. He cannot tolerate sin for a moment. Intermingled with grace in the Divine way of dealing with men is an absolute rejection of evil. How very intolerant was Jesus of all hypocrisy and evil. The writer to the Hebrews records, "A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity" (Hebrews 1:88, 9). Therefore God's children must make no concessions to sin. Wickedness should be an abominaion to our lips. The Psalmist's declaration that he hates vain words and every false way should be echoed by every Christian. We must be intolerant of sin in the lives of our fellow believers, even though intolerance may be fraught with possibilities for disfavor.

But to combine both activities, that of doing good, gently caring for the need of our brethren in the faith, and that of restoring those overtaken in faults, is no easy task. The tendency is for us to go to one extreme or the other. In being kindly affectioned one to the other we tend to overlook deficencies in the character of our fellow believer. Often we condone some unethical practice when we should speak out against sin. On the other hand we may be seeking to remove the mote from a brother's eye censoriously. And without love and kindliness we seek to look into his heart and judge what we have no right to judge. The practice of charity under those conditions is quite strained. To decry false ways we must look at our brethren with eyes undimmcd bv indifference to our own faults. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:1, 2}.

We are very happy to make available to you this month these devotionals by the late Rev. LeRoy B. Oliver. They originally appeared in The Presbyerian Guardian during the late 1940's.

The description of his "Your Family Altar" page in The Presbyterian Guardian also fits this Web page: "The page is designed for both private and family use, whichever is most convenient in your case. If you do not have family worship in your home, we hope you will begin, and suggest using these readings. They should not, however, take the place of reading books of the Bible, or the Bible itself, through in regular course." It is those who abide (continue) in the Word who are truly Christ's disciples, who know the truth, and who experience freedom in Him (John 8:31-32). May these devotionals be used for the building up of God's people and to the glory of God.