A Living Sacrifice
Present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world.
Romans 12:1–2
We Christians are not to be conformed to the world physically. These bodies of ours are intended to be temples of the Spirit of God. We are not to prostrate them before the temples of Baal. We are to present them wholly to God as a “living sacrifice.” Our dress, our posture, our actions, should all be for the honor and glory of Christ. We are to be “holy” in the deepest sense of the word.
God’s purpose for us is that we ought to be conformed to the image of His Son. The world may exert its pressure to deform us, but we are told, “Be ye transformed . . . that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
On the cover of your Bible and mine appear the words, “Holy Bible.” Do you know why the Bible is called holy? Why should it be called holy when so much lust and hate and greed and war are found in it? I can tell you why. It is because the Bible tells the truth. It tells the truth about God, about man, and about the devil. The Bible teaches that we exchange the truth of God for the devil’s lie about sex, for example, and drugs, and alcohol, and religious hypocrisy.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate truth. Furthermore, He told the truth. Jesus said that He was the truth, and the truth would make us free. It is in this freedom that we are to “present our bodies a living sacrifice.”
Our Father and our God, change me from self-serving to self-sacrificing. Teach me how to present myself daily in full surrender and service to You and Your people. Freely You have given Your Son to me; freely let me give His grace and love to others. In His strength and power I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
See Beyond The Mysteries
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Romans 11:33
As we look at the world in which we live, there are many confusions, bewilderments, and mysteries that seemingly have no solution. Man, however, has always been bewildered and confused by things which are beyond his understanding.
Primitive man, like modern man, probed the universe for its secrets and looked up at the night sky in awe and wonder at the mystery of the black space with its myriads of inexplicable light.
It was the mystery of gravitation which challenged Sir Isaac Newton in 1685 to explore the reasons why objects heavier than air were attracted to the center of the earth.
It was the mystery of lightning that prompted Benjamin Franklin to attach a key to the tail of a kite during a thunderstorm, to prove the identity of lightning and electricity.
It was the mystery of the latent power of the atom which challenged Einstein, Fermi, and others to probe into the dormant energy in matter. Atomic energy is now a household phrase.
Some of the mysteries of the past have been fathomed by science. Others still puzzle mankind. This fact remains: all of the garnered wisdom of the ages is only a scratch on the surface of man’s search for the knowledge of the universe.
For the most part, God retains His secrets, and man, standing on his intellectual tiptoes, can comprehend only a small fraction of the Lord’s doings.
This inability fully to comprehend the mysteries of God does not in any way curtail the Christian faith. On the contrary, it enhances our belief. We do not understand the intricate pattern of the stars in their courses, but we know that He who created them does, and that just as surely as He guides them, He is charting a safe course for us.
Our Father and our God, I stand in awe of Your majesty and brilliance. I admit that I do not understand the mysteries of Your universe. Your knowledge and wisdom overpower me and leave me in wonder. Thank You, though, for revealing the one secret I most need—the secret of salvation through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Joyous Christian’s Secret
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 RSV
The sick room can become a “spiritual gymnasium” where one’s soul is exercised and developed. Sickness is one of the “all things” which work together for good to those who love God. Don’t resent it. Don’t be embittered by it. You who are lying on hospital beds realize today that it is the love-stroke of a loving Heavenly Father who loves you so much He will not pamper you but will bring all things for your ultimate good.
Christ is the answer to sadness and discouragement.
This is a world of thwarted hopes, broken dreams, and frustrated desires. G. K. Chesterton said, “Everywhere there is speed, noise, and confusion, but nowhere deep happiness and quiet hearts.”
But Christ can take the discouragement and despondency out of our lives. He can put a spring in one’s step and give one a thrill in his heart and a purpose in his mind. Optimism and cheerfulness are products of knowing Christ.
The Bible says, “A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).
If my heart has been attuned to my God through faith in Christ, then its overflow will be joyous optimism and good cheer.
The joy of the Lord is my strength! Do you feel God’s joy? It only comes when we spend time with Him.
Our Father and our God, I know You will use everything that happens in my life for good. Help me not to resent the hard times and not to be embittered. Help me to see with an eternal vision the blessings You have in mind for me. I pray, through Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Earnest Prayer
For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Romans 8:26
This kind of prayer can span oceans, cross burning deserts, leap over mountains, and penetrate jungles to carry the healing, helping power of the Gospel to the objects of our prayer.
This kind of mourning, this quality of concern, is produced by the presence of God’s Spirit in our lives. That “the Spirit itself maketh intercession” indicates that it is actually God pleading, praying, and mourning through us. Thus we become co-laborers with God, actual partners with Him: our lives are lifted from the low plane of selfishness to the high plane of creativeness with God.
John Knox spent much time in prayer, and the Church in Scotland expanded into new life. John Wesley prayed long and often, and the Methodist movement was born. Martin Luther prayed earnestly, and the Reformation was under way.
God desires that we Christians be concerned and burdened for a lost world. If we pray this kind of prayer, an era of peace may come to the world and hordes of wickedness may be turned back. “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:8).
How much do you pray? If someone were to examine your prayer life, would he find that you are more excited about watching football or visiting a friend than talking to God?
Our Father and our God, make me a partner with You, a co-laborer in the Gospel of Christ to take Your Word to the lost and dying world. Send me where You will; use me as You will. Teach me also to pray for Your work in this world. Glorify Yourself through me, Father, as a servant, as was Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010
Teaching By Trials
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18 NIV
Affliction can be a means of refining and of purification. Many a life has come forth from the furnace of affliction more beautiful and more useful. We might never have had the songs of Fanny Crosby had she not been afflicted with blindness. George Matheson would never have given the world his immortal song, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” had it not been for his passing through the furnace of affliction. The “Hallelujah Chorus” was written by Handel when he was poverty-stricken and suffering from a paralyzed right side and right arm.
Job, who was called upon to suffer as few men have suffered, said, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
Affliction may also be for our strengthening and Christian development.
Some time ago a doctor told me that the man who had fought disease all of his life would be better able to resist it than the man who had never been sick a day in his life. “It’s the fellows who have never been sick who die in a hurry,” he said.
David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word” (Psalm 119:67). We learn through the trials we are called upon to bear.
Our Father and our God, thank You for the trials and troubles of my life, for I know they make me strong and more useful to You. Help me suffer with grace and patience. Give me courage and faith in the face of my many frustrations and stresses. Through Christ I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Children Of God
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
Romans 8:16
We have three great enemies: sin, Satan, and death. Because Christ rose from the dead, we know that sin and death and Satan have been decisively defeated. And because Christ rose from the dead, we know there is life after death, and that if we belong to Him we need not fear death or hell. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26 NIV). He also promised, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2–3 NIV). We know these words are true, because Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead. What a glorious hope we have because of Jesus’ resurrection!
No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those
who love him.
(1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV)
Our confidence in the future is based firmly on the fact of what God has done for us in Christ. No matter what our situation may be, we need never despair because Christ is alive. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. . . . For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:8, 23 NIV).
Our Father and our God, I can’t begin to imagine what heaven must be like, but I am full of joy in the knowledge that with Jesus I will be living there someday. Thank You for adopting me as a child and giving me a mansion all my own. I am an heir with Jesus Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Of Fear And Faith
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:15 NIV
When I understand something of Christ’s love for me as a sinner, I respond with a love for Christ—and love has feeling. But love for Christ is a love that is above human love, though there is a similarity. There is also feeling. But feelings come and go. Commitment stays. We who have committed ourselves to Christ have feelings that come and go—joy, love, gratitude, and so on. But the commitment remains unchanged. Feelings are important, but not essential. The Bible says, “Perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). And those who love Christ have that confidence in Him that raises them above fear. Psychologists tell us there is destructive fear and healthy fear. Healthy fear is instructive, causing us to care for our bodies and our loved ones—Jesus told us to fear Satan.
When I understand that Christ in His death gained a decisive victory over death and over sin, then I lose the fear of death. The Bible says that “He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14–15). It is not the feeling of boldness and confidence that saves us, but it is our faith that saves us, and boldness and confidence result from our having trusted in Christ. The Bible says that we are to fear the Lord. This is reverential fear. It is this kind of fear of the Lord that puts all other fears in proper perspective.
Old John Witherspoon, the only cleric to sign the Declaration of Independence, had this to say on the subject: “It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man.”
Our Father and our God, hear Your child’s reverent prayer of thanksgiving and praise. You have given me confidence for living in this world of darkness and fear. I know I am protected by Your love and by Your angels. I rejoice in Your amazing love that exhibited itself in Jesus’ death on the cross. In His blessed name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Secret Of Submission
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Romans 7:15 RSV
Paul himself spoke of his struggle. He spoke of desiring to please God, but in himself he found no strength to do so. The things he did not want to do he sometimes did; and the things he wanted to do he did not do.
Many of us ask these questions: “Why do I, as a Christian, do some of the things I do? Why do I, as a Christian, leave undone the things I ought to have done?”
Many name the name of Christ but do not dwell in Him. They have unclean hands, unclean lips, unclean tongues, unclean feet, unclean thoughts, unclean hearts—and yet claim to be Christians. They claim Christ, attend church, try to pray—and yet they know there are things in their souls that are not right. There is no joy in their hearts, no love for others. In fact, there is little evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. The fire in their souls has been quenched.
Yet as we look around, we do know some people who are living different lives. They bear the fruit of the Spirit. But some get only snatches of victory. Once in a while they will have a day that seems to be a victorious day over temptation, but then they slide right back into the same old rut of living, and hunger and long for the righteousness of daily growth.
Self-analysis can lead to depression. We need to keep our attention focused on Christ.
Our Father and our God, like Paul I find myself in a constant struggle. I don’t do what I’m supposed to do, and I do many things I shouldn’t. Rekindle the fire within me that purifies my heart and my motives, O Lord. Give me victory over sin through Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Sickness Of Sin
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
The changing of men is a primary mission of the church. The only way to change men is to get them converted to Jesus Christ. Then they will have the capacity to live up to the Christian command to “love thy neighbor” (Matthew 22:39).
There is no doubt that today we see social injustice everywhere. However, looking on our American scene Jesus would see something even deeper.
If only we would begin at the root of our problems, which is the disease of human nature that the Bible calls sin! This is why Christ came and died on the cross, this is why He shed His blood—to do something about this disease that mankind is suffering from.
We in the church today are in danger of becoming blundering social physicians, giving medicine here and putting ointment there on the sores of the world. But the sores break out again somewhere else. The great need is for the church to call in the Great Physician, who alone can properly diagnose the case. He will look beneath the mere skin eruptions and pronounce the cause of it all: “Sin!”
If we in the church want a cause to fight, let’s fight sin. Let’s reveal its hideousness. Let’s show that Jeremiah was correct when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Then when the center of man’s trouble is dealt with, we can say with D. L. Moody, “Looking at the wound of sin will never save anyone. What you must do is look at the remedy.”
Our Father and our God, as the Great Physician please heal me from the wounds of sin that I have inflicted upon myself. Lead me from sin’s darkness into the Light of Your glory. And help me then to be in position to fight sin by leading others to that same Light. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Secret Is Surrender
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.
Romans 6:16
Of Eric Liddell, the missionary and great runner whose story is told in the film Chariots of Fire, someone has said he was “ridiculously humble in victory, utterly generous in defeat.” That’s a good definition of what it means to be meek. Meekness involves being yielded.
The word yield has two meanings. The first is negative, and the second is positive. It means “to relinquish, to abandon”; and also “to give.” This is in line with Jesus’ words: “He that loseth [or abandoneth] his life . . . shall find it” (Matthew 10:39). What a description of Eric Liddell!
We have heard the modern expression, “Don’t fight it—it’s bigger than both of us.” Those who submit to the will of God do not fight back at life. They learn the secret of surrender, of yielding to God. He then fights for us!
The Bible says, “For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity . . . even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Romans 6:19).
Instead of filling your mind with resentments, abusing your body by sinful diversion, and damaging your soul by willfulness, humbly give all over to God. Your conflicts will diminish, and your inner tensions will often vanish.
Then your life will begin to count for something. It will begin to yield, to produce, to bear fruit. You will have the feeling of belonging to life. Boredom will melt away, and you will become vibrant with hope and expectation. Because you are meekly yielded, you will begin to “inherit the earth” of good things which God holds in store for those who trust Him with their all.
Our Father and our God, I want my life to count for You and Your Son. Please take my heart and mold it for Your service. Shape it into the servant heart You want it to be. I submit to Your will and Your way for my life. Please give me humility in victory and generosity in defeat. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010
Divine Discipline
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:13
Paul, who was a splendid example of a disciplined Christian, said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Since our bodies are to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, they must be worthy of Him who indwells us. This exhortation calls for us to discipline our bodies as well as our minds. We must pray as Jeremy Taylor once prayed, “Let my body be a servant of my spirit, and both body and spirit servants of Jesus.”
When you serve sin, your body is dedicated to the service of sin. Your appetites, whetted by Satan, rage unthrottled. Your God-given creative impulses are sacrificed to Satan on the altar of lust. A sinner, in a sense, is a dedicated person, yielded to his appetites and selfish desires. But when Christ comes into the human heart, we are to yield our bodies to Him. Our human frame is often a rebellious and unruly servant. Only through rigid discipline are we able to master it into complete subjection to Christ. We must guard against appetites which blight the conscience, wither the soul, and weaken our witness for Christ.
Perhaps many things are lawful, but are they expedient? They may bring pleasure to us, but do they bring glory to Christ? Paul was so desirous of making every thought and act glorify Christ that He said, “If an indulgence offend my brother, I will not indulge anymore.” He had given his body as a living sacrifice to Christ. We need that kind of self-discipline today.
Alexander MacLaren, the forceful Baptist preacher and writer who died in 1910, put this whole matter of self-sacrifice in clear perspective when he wrote, “All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to the God on which you sacrifice yourself, or you will never advance a step.”
Our Father and our God, accept the sacrifice of my heart and mind to You. Please help me to guard my appetites against indulgences that conflict with my witness for Christ. Keep me pure; keep me holy; keep me in Your love. Give me an insatiable appetite for Your Word. Through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Death Has No Power
Death has no power over him any more.
Romans 6:9 JB
Christ died for our sins, and by his death He destroyed death. In Christ, we no longer regard death as the king of terrors. Paul wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23NIV). Why? Was it because he worked so hard for Christ and had suffered so much? No! He was ready because half a lifetime earlier he had met Christ on the Damascus road. In 1 John 3:14 we read that we have already “passed from death to life.” You can have eternal life now. The conquest of death is the ultimate goal of Christianity. Physical death is a mere transition from life on earth with Christ to eternal life in heaven with Christ. For Christians there is such a thing as the shadow of death. Death casts a shadow over those who are left behind.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was a prince among American Presbyterian clergymen. I knew him well. His first wife had died from cancer while still in her thirties. At the time, all three of his children were under twelve. He had such victory that he decided to preach the funeral sermon himself.
En route to the funeral they were overtaken by a large truck, which, as it passed them, cast a large shadow over their car. He asked one of his children, “Would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?”
“By the shadow, of course!” replied the twelve-year-old daughter. “A shadow can’t hurt you.”
With that answer, Dr. Barnhouse said to his three motherless little children, “You mother has been overrun not by death, but by the shadow of death.” At the funeral he spoke on Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (v. 4 NKJV).
Nothing can harm us, including death, when we have trusted Christ as Savior because Christ has conquered death—so shall we.
Our Father and our God, help me not to fear the shadow of death that ushers me into Your presence. Help me, rather, to fear the real spiritual death that will separate me from You eternally. Let me not wander away from You, Lord, but to cling to Your majesty and grace through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Death Has No Power
Death has no power over him any more.
Romans 6:9 JB
Christ died for our sins, and by his death He destroyed death. In Christ, we no longer regard death as the king of terrors. Paul wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23NIV). Why? Was it because he worked so hard for Christ and had suffered so much? No! He was ready because half a lifetime earlier he had met Christ on the Damascus road. In 1 John 3:14 we read that we have already “passed from death to life.” You can have eternal life now. The conquest of death is the ultimate goal of Christianity. Physical death is a mere transition from life on earth with Christ to eternal life in heaven with Christ. For Christians there is such a thing as the shadow of death. Death casts a shadow over those who are left behind.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was a prince among American Presbyterian clergymen. I knew him well. His first wife had died from cancer while still in her thirties. At the time, all three of his children were under twelve. He had such victory that he decided to preach the funeral sermon himself.
En route to the funeral they were overtaken by a large truck, which, as it passed them, cast a large shadow over their car. He asked one of his children, “Would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?”
“By the shadow, of course!” replied the twelve-year-old daughter. “A shadow can’t hurt you.”
With that answer, Dr. Barnhouse said to his three motherless little children, “You mother has been overrun not by death, but by the shadow of death.” At the funeral he spoke on Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (v. 4 NKJV).
Nothing can harm us, including death, when we have trusted Christ as Savior because Christ has conquered death—so shall we.
Our Father and our God, help me not to fear the shadow of death that ushers me into Your presence. Help me, rather, to fear the real spiritual death that will separate me from You eternally. Let me not wander away from You, Lord, but to cling to Your majesty and grace through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010)..
Death Defeated
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Romans 6:9
When my wife and I were students in college, we used to take long walks into the country. Nearby was an old graveyard where we would go to read the epitaphs on the tombstones. Ever since then, I have liked to go to old cemeteries in various parts of the world. Whenever we wandered through a graveyard and looked at the tombstones or went into a church and examined the old monuments, we would see one heading on most of them: “Here lies . . .” Then followed the name, with the date of death and perhaps some praise of the good qualities of the deceased. But how different is the epitaph on the tomb of Jesus! It is neither written in gold nor cut in stone. It is spoken by the mouth of an angel and is the exact reverse of what is put on all other tombs: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6).
At the end of his great book Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev described a village graveyard in one of the remote corners of Russia. Along the many neglected graves was one untouched by man, untrampled by beast. Only the birds rested upon it and sang at daybreak. Often from the nearby village two feeble old people, husband and wife, moving with heavy steps and supporting one another, came to visit this grave. Kneeling down at the railing and gazing intently at the stone under which their son was lying, they yearned and wept. After a brief word they wiped the dust away from the stone, set straight a branch of a fir tree, and then began to pray. In this spot they seemed to be nearer their son and their memories of him. And then Turgenev asks, “Can it be that their prayers, their tears, are fruitless? Can it be that love, sacred, devoted love, is not all powerful? Oh no, however passionate, sinning, and rebellious the heart hidden in the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep serenely at us with their innocent eyes. They tell us not of eternal peace alone, of that great peace of indifferent nature; they tell us, too, of eternal reconciliation and of life without end.”
Turgenev was offering hope of an eternal reconciliation. But upon what is that hope based? It is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our Father and our God, You have won the victory over death. And because You have, I will also conquer death and live forever. I am ever thankful, Father, for my hope of everlasting life. It makes this frustrating life so much more bearable when I remember Jesus Christ, crucified for me. I pray, therefore, in His powerful name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Sacred Summit
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:6
Calvary is the summit of love. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Scripture says that we are sinners. We have broken those Ten Commandments. We are under the sentence of death and deserve judgment. We deserve hell. The cross, where Christ died in our place and where we can find forgiveness, is the only place to find forgiveness and have eternal life.
Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves on a rugged cross on Calvary. Jesus gave His head to the crown of thorns for us. He gave His face to the human spittle for us. He gave His cheeks and His beard to be plucked out for us. He gave His back to the lash for us. He gave His side to the spear for us. He gave His hands and feet to the spikes for us. He gave His blood for us. Jesus Christ, dying in our place, taking our sins on that cross, is love.
But that’s not the end of the story. He rose again, and He is the living Christ. Christ is alive. If Christ be not alive, there is no hope for any of us. But He is alive! And Scripture says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).
So what does this mean to me? It means that because Christ lives, I live also if I am in Him and He is in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Our Father and our God, I mourn my sins that caused Christ to suffer death on the cross. I hide my face in shame when I think of His pain and sacrifice. But I also celebrate His glorious resurrection! And I claim salvation through Him. Thank You, God, for Your marvelous gift of redemption in Christ. I pray in His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Safety Zone
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Romans 5:9 NIV
An old preacher in England, who had lived on the American prairies in his youth, was involved in street-corner evangelism in the small towns and villages. He attracted an audience with his Wild West stories describing how the Indians had saved their wigwams from prairie fires by setting fire to the dry grass adjoining their settlement. “The fire cannot come,” he explained, “where the fire has already been. That is why I call you to the cross of Christ.”
He continued his graphic analogy by explaining, “Judgment has already fallen and can never come again!” The one who takes his stand at the cross is saved forevermore. He can never come into condemnation, for he is standing where the fire has been. The saved person is in God’s safety zone, cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Our Father and our God, You are the righteous judge. I take my stand at the cross of Christ. I shed my garments of sin and pride, and I put on the cloak of Christ. I am under His blood and made pure as the driven snow. Thank You for saving me, Lord. Keep me in the safety zone. Through Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Way Back To God
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
God is love. Many people have misunderstood that part of God’s nature. The fact that God is love, however, does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.
God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provided a plan of redemption and salvation for sinful man. God’s love provided the cross of Jesus Christ by which man can have forgiveness and cleansing. It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.
Who can describe or measure the love of God? Our Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement, it is atonement necessitated because of love, provided by love, finished by love.
When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.
No matter what sin we have committed, no matter how black, dirty, shameful, or terrible it may be, God loves us. We may be at the very gate of hell itself, but God loves us with an everlasting love.
Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But thanks be unto God, He is love! Because He is a holy God, our sins have separated us from Him, but because of His love there is a way of salvation, a way back to God through Jesus Christ, His Son.
Our Father and our God, I am amazed at the great love You have always shown to Your people. Even when we fail You, You are still there, loving us, caring for us. I love You, too, Father, with all my heart. Help me to show Your love to others by being a dedicated disciple of Jesus, the Lover of mankind. Through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God Is Not Blind
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
Ours is the God of love who, loving the earth’s people, and realizing that we had offended in every point, sent His only Son to redeem us to Himself and to instill the law of the Spirit of life within us. His eyes of compassion have been following man as he has stumbled through history under the burden of his own wretchedness.
Yet Calvary should prove even to the most skeptical that God is not blind to man’s plight, but that He was willing to suffer with him. The word compassion comes from two Latin words meaning “to suffer with.” God’s all-consuming love for mankind was best demonstrated at the cross, where His compassion was embodied in Jesus Christ. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself ” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Never question God’s great love. Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3).
Paul speaks of God as one “who is rich is mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.
Young people talk about love. Most of their songs are about love. “The supreme happiness of life,” Victor Hugo said long ago, “is the conviction that we are loved.” “Love is the first requirement for mental health,” declared Sigmund Freud. The Bible teaches that “God is love” and that God loves you. To realize that is of paramount importance. Nothing else matters so much. And loving you, God has wonderful plans for your life. Who else could plan and guide your life so well?
Our Father and our God, You have truly suffered with me through Jesus on the cross. You have loved me with an everlasting love, and I am so humbled by it. Please show me how to be compassionate to others, suffering with them in love, and sharing with them the love of the cross. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 201
God’s GyroScope
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 5:5
Years ago when I traveled to Europe to preach, I liked to travel by sea, to enjoy the five days on the ship. On one of my voyages the captain took me down to see the ship’s gyroscope. He said, “When the sea is rough, the gyroscope helps to keep the ship on an even keel. Though the waves may reach tremendous proportions, the gyroscope helps to stabilize the vessel and maintain a high degree of equilibrium.” As I listened, I thought how like the gyroscope is the Holy Spirit. Let the storms of life break over our heads. Let the enemy Satan come in like a flood. Let the waves of sorrow, suffering, temptation, and testing be unleashed upon us. Our souls will be kept on an even keel and in perfect peace when the Holy Spirit rules in our hearts.
Talking about the secret of Spirit-filled living, the great evangelist D. L. Moody said, “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God.”
Is your life on course or off? If it is off course, perhaps you need the equilibrium of God’s gyroscope—His Holy Spirit. Seek Him and His will for you today.
Our Father and our God, please help me to empty myself of pride, selfishness, ambition, and conceit. Fill me with Your Spirit, every corner of my heart and mind. Give me the spiritual equilibrium I need every day. And help me to depend on Jesus for my balance. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Power In Prayer
By whom [Christ] also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
Romans 5:2
For through him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Ephesians 2:18
The Bible tells us to pray in Christ’s name. Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
We are not worthy to approach the holy throne of God except through our Advocate, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God . . . let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:14, 16).
God, for Christ’s sake, forgives our sins. God, for Christ’s sake, supplies our needs. God, for Christ’s sake, receives our prayers. The person who comes with confidence to the throne of grace has seen that his approach to God has been made possible because of Jesus Christ.
The late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse reminds us:
I am not so sure that I believe in “the power of prayer,” but i do believe in the power of the Lord who answers prayer. When the rules are met, then God pours out all blessings on those who come to Him in prayer. There is real power. There is comfort in time of need; strength in time of weakness; forgiveness when we have sinned; consolation in time of bereavement; joy in time of sorrow.
When one has accepted God’s terms of approach through the redemption that is provided by Christ, there is immediate access to Him, and all the promises of God become certified to us.
Am I praying as if this were true?
Our Father and our God, I come boldly to Your throne of grace seeking forgiveness of my sins. Hear my prayer, O God, in the name of Your precious Son, Jesus. Strengthen me, comfort me, keep me in Your care day by day. And protect me from Satan through the blood of Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).