Psalm of the Day: Psalm 148:1-14
Wisdom of the Day: Proverbs 16:1-11
Scripture Reading: Luke 11:27-32
A woman is brought before us in this passage of Scripture, of whose name and history we know nothing. We read that, as our Lord spoke, "A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him: Blessed is the mother that gave you birth." At once our Lord founds a great lesson on her remark. His perfect wisdom turned every incident within His reach to profit.
We should observe how great are the privileges of those who hear and keep God's Word. They are regarded by Christ with as much honor as if they were His nearest relatives. It is more blessed to be a believer in the Lord Jesus than it would have been to have been one of the family in which He was born after the flesh. It was a greater honor to Mary herself, to have Christ dwelling in her heart by faith than to have been the mother of Christ.
We are generally very slow to receive truths like these. We are apt to imagine that to have seen Christ, and heard Christ, and lived near Christ, and been a relative of Christ according to the flesh would have had some mighty effect upon our souls. We are all naturally inclined to attach great importance to a religion of sight, and sense, and touch, and eye, and ear. We love a physical, tangible, material Christianity far better than one of faith. And we need reminding that seeing is not always believing.
Thousands saw Christ continually, while He was on earth, and yet clung to their sins. Even His brethren at one time "did not believe in him" (John 7:5). A mere fleshly knowledge of Christ, saves no one. The words of Paul are very instructive, "Though we have known Christ after the flesh yet we do not know Him any more in this way" (2 Corinthians 5:16).
Let us learn from our Lord's words before us, that the highest privileges our souls can desire are close at hand, and within our reach if we only believe. We need not idly wish that we had lived near Capernaum, or near by Joseph's house at Nazareth. We need not dream of a deeper love and a more thorough devotion if we had really pressed Christ's hand, or heard Christ's voice, or been numbered among Christ's relatives. All this could have done nothing more for us, than simple faith can do now.
Do we hear Christ's voice and follow Him? Do we take Him for our only Savior and our only Friend, and forsaking all other hopes, cleave only unto Him? If this is so, then all things are ours. We need no higher privilege. We can have no higher blessing, until Christ comes again. No man can be nearer and dearer to Jesus than the man who simply believes.
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, help me to be a person of simple faith.
Action Plan: Memorize Romans 10:17.
This devotional was taken from The Gospel of Luke by J.C. Ryle published in 1858
and adapted by Pastor Tim Lewis of New England Shores Baptist Church.
