February 19 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 7:1-12:

¹Judge not, that ye be not judged.
²For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
³And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
⁴Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
⁵Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
⁶Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
⁷Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
⁹Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
¹⁰Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
¹¹If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
¹²Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Devotional

Will a father give to his son a stone instead of the loaf for which he asked? Instead of a fish will he give him a serpent? If earthly fathers, despite their evil, know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will our Father in heaven give good things to those who ask that Him! How much more may be expected from Him who is holy, who is love, who has from all eternity planned the redemption of His people! Will the One who has made all things, who rules all things, and who owns all things, and who has promised to hear His children when they call upon Him according to His will, withhold His supremely good gifts from His children? Our God is good to all; but how manifold are His mercies to those who fear Him, to those who are His own children by His grace. We have the assurance that He hears us when we pray according to His will, and "if we know that he hears us in whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (I John 5: 15). Though a woman forget her sucking child, yet will not our God forget His people. We may be confident, with the psalmist, that "when my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up" (Psalm 27:10).

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)