Morning “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” / Psalm 29:2

God’s glory is the result of his nature and acts. He is glorious in his
character, for there is such a store of everything that is holy, and good, and
lovely in God, that he must be glorious. The actions which flow from his
character are also glorious; but while he intends that they should manifest to
his creatures his goodness, and mercy, and justice, he is equally concerned
that the glory associated with them should be given only to himself. Nor is
there aught in ourselves in which we may glory; for who maketh us to differ
from another? And what have we that we did not receive from the God of all
grace? Then how careful ought we to be to walk humbly before the Lord! The
moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the
universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High. Shall the insect of
an hour glorify itself against the sun which warmed it into life? Shall the
potsherd exalt itself above the man who fashioned it upon the wheel? Shall the
dust of the desert strive with the whirlwind? Or the drops of the ocean
struggle with the tempest? Give unto the Lord, all ye righteous, give unto the
Lord glory and strength; give unto him the honour that is due unto his name.
Yet it is, perhaps, one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to
learn this sentence–“Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be glory.”
It is a lesson which God is ever teaching us, and teaching us sometimes by
most painful discipline. Let a Christian begin to boast, “I can do all
things,” without adding “through Christ which strengtheneth me,” and before
long he will have to groan, “I can do nothing,” and bemoan himself in the
dust. When we do anything for the Lord, and he is pleased to accept of our
doings, let us lay our crown at his feet, and exclaim, “Not I, but the grace
of God which was with me!”

Evening “Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit.” / Romans 8:23

Present possession is declared. At this present moment we have the first
fruits of the Spirit. We have repentance, that gem of the first water; faith,
that priceless pearl; hope, the heavenly emerald; and love, the glorious ruby.
We are already made “new creatures in Christ Jesus,” by the effectual working
of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the firstfruit because it comes first.
As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life, and all
the graces which adorn that life, are the first operations of the Spirit of
God in our souls. The firstfruits were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as
the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, he looked forward
with glad anticipation to the time when the wain should creak beneath the
sheaves. So, brethren, when God gives us things which are pure, lovely, and of
good report, as the work of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics
of the coming glory. The firstfruits were always holy to the Lord, and our new
nature, with all its powers, is a consecrated thing. The new life is not ours
that we should ascribe its excellence to our own merit; it is Christ’s image
and creation, and is ordained for his glory. But the firstfruits were not the
harvest, and the works of the Spirit in us at this moment are not the
consummation–the perfection is yet to come. We must not boast that we have
attained, and so reckon the wave-sheaf to be all the produce of the year: we
must hunger and thirst after righteousness, and pant for the day of full
redemption. Dear reader, this evening open your mouth wide, and God will fill
it. Let the boon in present possession excite in you a sacred avarice for more
grace. Groan within yourself for higher degrees of consecration, and your Lord
will grant them to you, for he is able to do exceeding abundantly above what
we ask or even think.