Morning   “So walk ye in him.” / Colossians 2:6

If we have received Christ himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will

manifest its intimate acquaintance with him by a walk of faith in him. Walking

implies action. Our religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must

carry out into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in

Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his

hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Jesus; and

men say of that man, “He is like his Master; he lives like Jesus Christ.”

Walking signifies progress. “So walk ye in him”; proceed from grace to grace,

run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge that a man can

attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies continuance. There must be a

perpetual abiding in Christ. How many Christians think that in the morning and

evening they ought to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their

hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we should always be

with him, treading in his steps and doing his will. Walking also implies

habit. When we speak of a man’s walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the

constant tenor of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget

him; sometimes call him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is not a habit; we

do not walk in him. We must keep to him, cling to him, never let him go, but

live and have our being in him. “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so

walk ye in him”; persevere in the same way in which ye have begun, and, as at

the first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of your life,

the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let him be the

same till life’s end; the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow

of death, and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of

God. O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

 

Evening  “His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given

him; his waters shall be sure.” / Isaiah 33:16

Do you doubt, O Christian, do you doubt as to whether God will fulfil his

promise? Shall the munitions of rock be carried by storm? Shall the

storehouses of heaven fail? Do you think that your heavenly Father, though he

knoweth that you have need of food and raiment, will yet forget you? When not

a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father, and the very hairs of your

head are all numbered, will you mistrust and doubt him? Perhaps your

affliction will continue upon you till you dare to trust your God, and then it

shall end. Full many there be who have been tried and sore vexed till at last

they have been driven in sheer desperation to exercise faith in God, and the

moment of their faith has been the instant of their deliverance; they have

seen whether God would keep his promise or not. Oh, I pray you, doubt him no

longer! Please not Satan, and vex not yourself by indulging any more those

hard thoughts of God. Think it not a light matter to doubt Jehovah. Remember,

it is a sin; and not a little sin either, but in the highest degree criminal.

The angels never doubted him, nor the devils either: we alone, out of all the

beings that God has fashioned, dishonour him by unbelief, and tarnish his

honour by mistrust. Shame upon us for this! Our God does not deserve to be so

basely suspected; in our past life we have proved him to be true and faithful

to his word, and with so many instances of his love and of his kindness as we

have received, and are daily receiving, at his hands, it is base and

inexcusable that we suffer a doubt to sojourn within our heart. May we

henceforth wage constant war against doubts of our God–enemies to our peace

and to his honour; and with an unstaggering faith believe that what he has

promised he will also perform. “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.”