Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
Ye are the salt of the earth.—MATT. 5:13.
That which is not corruptible.—Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.—He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.—The children of God, being the children of the resurrection.—The uncorruptible God.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.—It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.—Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
I Pet. 3:4. -I Pet. 1:23. -John 11:25. -Luke 20:36. -Rom. 1:23.Rom. 8:9-11. -I Cor. 15:42.Mark 9:50. -Eph. 4:29.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“This man receiveth sinners.”
Luke 15:2
Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners—this Man receiveth sinners. This Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces—this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel’s tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful—they are of our own race; but that he, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvellous.
“This Man receiveth sinners”; not, however, that they may remain sinners, but he receives them that he may pardon their sins, justify their persons, cleanse their hearts by his purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and enable them to serve him, to show forth his praise, and to have communion with him. Into his heart’s love he receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and wears them as jewels in his crown; plucks them as brands from the burning, and preserves them as costly monuments of his mercy. None are so precious in Jesus’ sight as the sinners for whom he died. When Jesus receives sinners, he has not some out-of-doors reception place, no casual ward where he charitably entertains them as men do passing beggars, but he opens the golden gates of his royal heart, and receives the sinner right into himself—yea, he admits the humble penitent into personal union and makes him a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is still most sure this evening, he is still receiving sinners: would to God sinners would receive him.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Judges 10
10. Tola, Jair, Jephthah
Tola and Jair
10
After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, who lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim, rose to deliver Israel.2He judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died, and was buried at Shamir.
3 After him came Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years.4He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; and they had thirty towns, which are in the land of Gilead, and are called Havvoth-jair to this day.5Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.
Oppression by the Ammonites
6 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. Thus they abandoned the Lord, and did not worship him.7So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,8and they crushed and oppressed the Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was greatly distressed.
10 So the Israelites cried to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have abandoned our God and have worshiped the Baals.”11And the Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?12The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.13Yet you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods; therefore I will deliver you no more.14Go and cry to the gods whom you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.”15And the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you; but deliver us this day!”16So they put away the foreign gods from among them and worshiped the Lord; and he could no longer bear to see Israel suffer.
17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead; and the Israelites came together, and they encamped at Mizpah.18The commanders of the people of Gilead said to one another, “Who will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
New Testament in Four Years - Galatians 4:28-31
4. Concern for the Galatians
28 Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac.29But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.30But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.”31So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 51
51. Psalm 51
Psalm 51
Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19
then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.