Daily Devotionals for October 17, 2024

"Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up - but love builds up." When Paul said to the Corinthians that "knowledge puffs up," he did not mean to depreciate knowledge, nor was he glorifying ignorance. Knowledge builds up, too. He who is content to be ignorant in this world while the stores of knowledge are accessible, fails to grasp the meaning of life. Knowledge makes one's life broader...

There is often a price to be paid in obtaining the truth of God, and we should be willing to pay the price, whatever it may be. Once having obtained the truth, we should not give it up.

The verse is not to be taken with such strict literalness that we would buy Bibles and Christian literature, but would not sell them under any circumstances. Buying the truth here means making great sacrifices to achieve the knowledge of divine principles. It may mean hostility from one's family, loss...

. . . the church is the bride of Christ. Jesus was a complete man. He had all the nature of a man, but He never married. He could have, but He never did. He never married any woman though He was a true and complete man. He never married a daughter of a woman that He might marry His whole church, the bride. A true local church is the bride of Christ in recapitualtion, in miniature. Everything that is in the whole church of Christ should be recapitulated in the local church. The church, part...

Such was the prayer of the "man after God's own heart." Did holy David need to pray thus? How needful, then, must such a prayer be for us babes in grace! It is as if he said, "Keep me back, or I shall rush headlong over the precipice of sin." Our evil nature, like an ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it, and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it were not for the checks which the Lord sets upon us...

God being who and what He is must love Himself with pure and perfect love. The Persons of the Godhead love each other with a love so fiery, so tender, that it is all a burning flame of intense desire ineffable. God is Himself the only being whom He can love directly; all else that He loves is for His own sake and because He finds some reflection of Himself there . God loves His mute creation because He sees in it an imperfect representation of His own wisdom and power. He loves the angels...

"He that feareth the Commandment shall be rewarded." Proverbs 13:13

Holy awe of God's Word is at a great discount. Men think themselves wiser than the Word of the LORD and sit in judgment upon it. "So did not I, because of the fear of God." We accept the inspired Book as infallible and prove our esteem by our obedience. We have no terror of the Word, but we have a filial awe of it. We are not in fear of its penalties because we...

The prophet had been weaned from this, by many and sore trials; and now he determines to look unto the Lord. Let us imitate his example. We cannot do better than look to the Lord, as our Captain, to command; as our Master, to direct; as our Father, to provide; and as our God, to defend.

His name is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe. Looking to Jesus, will preserve us from a thousand snares; and prepare us to suffer as Christians and triumph as...

In the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory. § Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who...

Yes, O Lord, with thee, but not to thee. All my natural alienation from thee, thy grace has effectually removed; and now, in fellowship with thyself, I walk through this sinful world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger in thine own world. Man forgets thee, dishonours thee, sets up new laws and alien customs, and knows thee not. When thy dear Son came unto his own, his own received him not. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not....

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Timothy 1:1-18

Several of the world's religions, when faced with the perplexing issue of Christ's return from the dead, explain it in terms of reincarnation. A proponent of one of the Eastern religions says: "Christ's resurrection was really a reincarnation - another soul in another body." I once heard a Christian minister declare...

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Cor. 10:4).

The true servant is finally subdued, but not stultified; prepared but not deprived of individuality. All that is rendered inoperative is the old man - and thank God for that!

"When we are...

He rendered satisfaction to divine justice for the offenses committed by us, and exhausted the chastisement appointed to us, so that we have reconciliation with God. His spotless purity and the infinite dignity of his person immensely enhanced the value of his sufferings, so that without being the same in kind and in duration as divine justice would have demanded, had we, the offenders, been the sufferers, they were nevertheless abundantly ample as an atonement for the sins of men. In fact...

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty … Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.The Lord is … great in power. § If God is for us, who can be against us? § Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us … and He will deliver us. § My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. § He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your...