Spurgeon Daily Devotional Bible: August 22

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Spurgeon Daily Devotional Bible: August 22


Today is: Thursday, December 26th, 2024 (Show Today's Devotion)

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Morning

“
Love your enemies.”

Mat_5:33-48

Mat_5:37

Does not this forbid every kind of oath, not only profane swearing, but even that which is generally enjoined by civil governments? It would be hard to prove the contrary. Certainly, Christians ought to avoid all such expressions as “upon my honour,” “upon my word,” and the like, for such language goes beyond the “yea and nay” which is allowed them. Men. who swear profanely greatly err when they imagine that thus they secure credence, for every sensible person knows that a man who is accustomed to common swearing is quite able both to lie and to steal. Clean language becomes those who have been washed in the blood of Jesus. The tongue is an index of the health both of soul and body. He who is not pure in word is assuredly not pure in heart, and shall not see the Lord.

Mat_5:38-39

Retaliation is not a Christian word, and revenge is only fit to be spoken of by the devil and his children. To bear and yet to bear still more is the mark of a soul renewed by grace.

Mat_5:40; Mat_5:42

Generosity and willing sympathy are beauties of the sanctified character. It is far better to suffer a great wrong than to provoke litigation, and manifest a contentious spirit. Those who are always standing up for their rights, and will never put up with an injury, have not yet caught the spirit of the Lord Jesus.

Mat_5:43-45

Good for evil is to be our only weapon, and with this we are to fight perpetually, cost us what it may. The love of God falls on men who deserve it not, and so also must our kindness. It would be far better that a hundred evil persons deceived us, and so obtained our aid, than that one suffering fellow-creature should be neglected because of the wickedness of others. Hardness of heart gradually grows upon men through contact with a deceitful and oppressive world; but we must not allow evil influences to mastery us, and steel our hearts against our fellows.

Mat_5:46-48

Lofty is this ideal, but we must aim to reach it. Universal benevolence and unconquerable love are the crown and glory of a holy character; without it we are still deficient, whatever virtues we may possess. The sternly just man must rise higher, and become the meek forgiver of injuries, and the generous friend of the needy. O God of love, educate us to this, for Jesus’ sake.



Father! I see thy sun arise

To cheer thy friends and enemies;

And when thy voice from heaven descends,

Thy bounty both alike befriends.



I hope for pardon through thy Son,

For all the crimes which I have done;

Oh, may the grace that pardons me,

Constrain me to forgive like thee.



Evening

“
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”

Mat_6:1-15

We will continue reading from the Sermon on the Mount.

Mat_6:1

Take heed that ye do not your alms or, as many versions have it

Mat_6:1

If the action is not done in the Lord’s service, but with a view to our own honour, we cannot expect a reward from above.

Mat_6:2

Those who blaze abroad their charity enjoy a sort of recompense in the public approbation which they gain, and having thus obtained the reward they seek after, they cannot reasonably expect any other.

Mat_6:3

Do not let what you have done be so known, even to yourself as to become the subject of self-approbation. Do not count over what has been given, rather go on to give more.

Mat_6:4

Those who are anxious to have their donations publicly acknowledged, and will give nothing unless it be put down upon a printed list, should take warning from these words. We also should learn to give to the cause of God and to the poor in the quietest manner possible.

Mat_6:7-8

The heathen repeat over and over again the same words, as also do the Papists and Semipapists of our own land. This is sheer mockery. God is not deaf or forgetful, neither does he delight in mere sounds. Prayer is the intelligent approach of the mind of man to the mind of God, and in that coming we must not think of adding to the divine knowledge, which is infinite, or dictating to the divine will, which is sovereign.

Mat_6:9

This is the perfect model by which to shape your prayers.

Mat_6:10

Out of seven petitions the first three concern the name, kingdom, and will of God. The Lord must occupy the highest place in our prayers, and indeed in our whole lives. The four petitions for ourselves rise by degrees from “bread” up to “deliverance from evil” teaching us that we ought not to grovel in prayer, but to increase in spirituality while we plead.

Mat_6:11

Give us necessary food, bread for the, day, our own bread, yet thy gracious gift. Give it not only to me, but to all of us, thy children.

Mat_6:12-13

We are willing to make this the measure of thy forgiveness.

Mat_6:12-13

Do not in thy providence allow us to be placed where we shall be severely tried,

Mat_6:12-13

but deliver us from evil: especially the Evil One



Our Father, God, who art in heaven,

All hallowed be thy name!

Thy kingdom come; thy will be done,

In earth and heaven the same.



Give us, this day, our daily bread;

And, as we those forgive

Who sin against us, so may we

Forgiving grace receive.



Into temptation lead us not:

From evil set us free;

The kingdom, power, and glory, Lord,

Ever belong to thee.