December 1-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Psalm 119:137-138, You are righteous, Lord, and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy.
Observe what it is saying.
(Today, we begin a series of devotionals by AW Tozer on “The Son of God.” He was a well-known pastor, author, and earned the reputation as the “20th century prophet.”)
To manipulate the Scriptures so as to make them excuse us, compliment us and console us is to do despite to the written Word and to reject the Living Word. To believe savingly in Jesus Christ is to believe all He has said about Himself and all that the prophets and apostles have said about Him. Let us beware that the Jesus we “accept” is not one we have created out of the dust of our imagination and formed after our own likeness. True faith commits us to obedience. “We have received grace and apostleship,” says Paul, “for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name” (Rom. 1:5). That dreamy, sentimental faith which ignores the judgments of God against us and listens to the affirmations of the soul is as deadly as cyanide. That faith which passively accepts all the pleasant texts of the Scriptures while it overlooks or rejects the stern warnings and commandments of those same Scriptures is not the faith of which Christ and His apostles spoke. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 9)
Relate it to your life.
If I am a sincere follower of Christ, I do not have the luxury of choosing which Scriptures I will obey.
Do something.
Loving and gracious Savior, I repent of the ways in which I have believed the truth about You selectively. Grant that I would believe everything the Scriptures reveal about You so that I would know You fully and honor You with my whole life. Amen.
December 2-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
2 Corinthians 5:1, For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Observe what it is saying.
The supreme purpose of the Christian religion is to make people like God in order that they may act like God. In Christ the verbs to be and to do follow each other in that order. True religion leads to moral action. The only true Christian is the practicing Christian. Such a one is in very reality an incarnation of Christ as Christ is the incarnation of God; not in the same degree and fullness of perfection, for there is nothing in the moral universe equal to that awful mystery of godliness which joined God and people in eternal union in the person of the Man Christ Jesus; but as the fullness of the Godhead was and is in Christ, so Christ is in the nature of the one who believes in Him in the manner prescribed in the Scriptures. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 10).
Relate it to your life.
I am an incarnate presence of Jesus in the world in which I live so others will see and know Him.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, You are the way to true life. Grant by Your Spirit that I would practice what You have taught in the Scriptures. Amen.
December 3-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Matthew 12:33, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
Observe what it is saying.
Rightly understood, faith is not a substitute for moral conduct but a means toward it. The tree does not serve in lieu of fruit but as an agent by which fruit is secured. Fruit, not trees, is the end God has in mind in yonder orchard; so Christlike conduct is the end of Christian faith. To oppose faith to works is to make the fruit the enemy to the tree; yet that is exactly what we have managed to do. And the consequences have been disastrous. A miscalculation in laying the foundation of a building will throw the whole superstructure out of plumb, and the error that gave us faith as a substitute for action instead of faith in action has raised up in our day unsymmetrical and ugly temples of which we may well be ashamed and for which we shall surely give a strict account in the day when Christ judges the secrets of our hearts. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 11)
Relate it to your life.
My life will bear godly fruit if I am securely attached in faith to the tree of Christ.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, You know all my thoughts, intentions, and ambitions. Empower me this day to put my faith into action, that I may bear much fruit and You may be glorified. Amen.
December 4-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 1:14, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Observe what it is saying.
Redemption is not a heavy work for God. God didn’t find Himself in a fix and have to rush off somewhere and try to get “foreign policy” straightened out with the archangels. God did what He did joyfully. He made the heaven and the earth joyfully. That’s why the flowers look up and smile, and the birds sing and the sun shines, and the sky is blue and rivers trickle down to the sea. God made the creation and He loved what He did! He took pleasure in Himself, in His own perfection and in the perfection of His work. And when it comes to redemption, I repeat that this was not a heavy task laid upon God by moral necessity. God wanted to do this. There was no moral necessity upon God to redeem humankind. He didn’t have to send His Son Jesus Christ to die for humankind. He sent Him, but at the same time Jesus did it voluntarily. If God was willing, it was the happy willingness of God. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 12).
Relate it to your life.
I need to celebrate in this Advent season that it was out of love for me that God joyfully redeemed me.
Do something.
Thank You, Father, that because Jesus became human, I can fellowship with You once again. Amen.
December 5-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 1:18, No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Observe what it is saying.
When Jesus walked and taught in Galilee 2,000 years ago, many asked, “Who is that Man?” The Bible’s answer is clear: That Man walking in Galilee was God, acting like God! He was God, limited deliberately, having crossed the wide, mysterious gulf between God and not God, between God and creature. No man had seen God at any time. In John 1:18, the English translators have said, “The only begotten Son … hath declared him.” Other versions skirt around it, doing everything to try to say what the Holy Spirit said, but when we have used up our words and synonyms, we still have not said all that God revealed when He said, “Nobody has ever looked at God, but when Jesus Christ came He showed us what God is like” (paraphrase of John 1:18). He has revealed Him—He has shown us what God is like! He has declared Him! He has set Him forth! He has revealed Him! He is in the Father’s bosom. It is stated in present, perpetual tense, the language of continuation. Therefore, when Jesus hung on the cross, He did not leave the bosom of the Father! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 13).
Relate it to your life.
When I look fully into the face of Jesus, I see the perfect image of God.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, the truth that You are the Son of God is the bedrock of our faith. Thank You for revealing what God is like during Your brief sojourn on earth. Amen.
December 6-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Philippians 2:7, rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Observe what it is saying.
Because change is everywhere around us at all times on this earth and among human beings, it is difficult for us to grasp the eternal and unchanging nature and person of Jesus Christ. Nothing about our Lord Jesus Christ has changed down to this very hour. His love has not changed. His compassionate understanding of us has not changed. His interest in us and His purposes for us have not changed. He is Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the very same Jesus. Even though He has been raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, and made Head over all things to the Church, His love for us remains unchanged. It is hard for us to accept the majestic simplicity of this constant, wonder-working Jesus. We are used to getting things changed so that they are always bigger and better! He is Jesus, easier to approach than the humblest friend you ever had! He is the sun that shines upon us, He is the star of our night. He is the giver of our life and the rock of our hope. He is our safety and our future. He is our righteousness, our sanctification, our inheritance. You will find that He is all of this in that instant that you move your heart towards Him in faith! This is the journey to Jesus that must be made in the depths of the heart and being. This is a journey where feet do not count! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 14).
Relate it to your life.
I joyfully move my life into Jesus because He has everything I, ultimately, need and want.
Do something.
Lord Christ, how amazing that You do not change! I trust in Your unfailing love and compassion this day. Amen.
Write out the Scripture.
Psalm 119:137-138, You are righteous, Lord, and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy.
Observe what it is saying.
(Today, we begin a series of devotionals by AW Tozer on “The Son of God.” He was a well-known pastor, author, and earned the reputation as the “20th century prophet.”)
To manipulate the Scriptures so as to make them excuse us, compliment us and console us is to do despite to the written Word and to reject the Living Word. To believe savingly in Jesus Christ is to believe all He has said about Himself and all that the prophets and apostles have said about Him. Let us beware that the Jesus we “accept” is not one we have created out of the dust of our imagination and formed after our own likeness. True faith commits us to obedience. “We have received grace and apostleship,” says Paul, “for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name” (Rom. 1:5). That dreamy, sentimental faith which ignores the judgments of God against us and listens to the affirmations of the soul is as deadly as cyanide. That faith which passively accepts all the pleasant texts of the Scriptures while it overlooks or rejects the stern warnings and commandments of those same Scriptures is not the faith of which Christ and His apostles spoke. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 9)
Relate it to your life.
If I am a sincere follower of Christ, I do not have the luxury of choosing which Scriptures I will obey.
Do something.
Loving and gracious Savior, I repent of the ways in which I have believed the truth about You selectively. Grant that I would believe everything the Scriptures reveal about You so that I would know You fully and honor You with my whole life. Amen.
December 2-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
2 Corinthians 5:1, For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Observe what it is saying.
The supreme purpose of the Christian religion is to make people like God in order that they may act like God. In Christ the verbs to be and to do follow each other in that order. True religion leads to moral action. The only true Christian is the practicing Christian. Such a one is in very reality an incarnation of Christ as Christ is the incarnation of God; not in the same degree and fullness of perfection, for there is nothing in the moral universe equal to that awful mystery of godliness which joined God and people in eternal union in the person of the Man Christ Jesus; but as the fullness of the Godhead was and is in Christ, so Christ is in the nature of the one who believes in Him in the manner prescribed in the Scriptures. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 10).
Relate it to your life.
I am an incarnate presence of Jesus in the world in which I live so others will see and know Him.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, You are the way to true life. Grant by Your Spirit that I would practice what You have taught in the Scriptures. Amen.
December 3-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Matthew 12:33, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
Observe what it is saying.
Rightly understood, faith is not a substitute for moral conduct but a means toward it. The tree does not serve in lieu of fruit but as an agent by which fruit is secured. Fruit, not trees, is the end God has in mind in yonder orchard; so Christlike conduct is the end of Christian faith. To oppose faith to works is to make the fruit the enemy to the tree; yet that is exactly what we have managed to do. And the consequences have been disastrous. A miscalculation in laying the foundation of a building will throw the whole superstructure out of plumb, and the error that gave us faith as a substitute for action instead of faith in action has raised up in our day unsymmetrical and ugly temples of which we may well be ashamed and for which we shall surely give a strict account in the day when Christ judges the secrets of our hearts. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 11)
Relate it to your life.
My life will bear godly fruit if I am securely attached in faith to the tree of Christ.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, You know all my thoughts, intentions, and ambitions. Empower me this day to put my faith into action, that I may bear much fruit and You may be glorified. Amen.
December 4-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 1:14, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Observe what it is saying.
Redemption is not a heavy work for God. God didn’t find Himself in a fix and have to rush off somewhere and try to get “foreign policy” straightened out with the archangels. God did what He did joyfully. He made the heaven and the earth joyfully. That’s why the flowers look up and smile, and the birds sing and the sun shines, and the sky is blue and rivers trickle down to the sea. God made the creation and He loved what He did! He took pleasure in Himself, in His own perfection and in the perfection of His work. And when it comes to redemption, I repeat that this was not a heavy task laid upon God by moral necessity. God wanted to do this. There was no moral necessity upon God to redeem humankind. He didn’t have to send His Son Jesus Christ to die for humankind. He sent Him, but at the same time Jesus did it voluntarily. If God was willing, it was the happy willingness of God. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 12).
Relate it to your life.
I need to celebrate in this Advent season that it was out of love for me that God joyfully redeemed me.
Do something.
Thank You, Father, that because Jesus became human, I can fellowship with You once again. Amen.
December 5-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 1:18, No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Observe what it is saying.
When Jesus walked and taught in Galilee 2,000 years ago, many asked, “Who is that Man?” The Bible’s answer is clear: That Man walking in Galilee was God, acting like God! He was God, limited deliberately, having crossed the wide, mysterious gulf between God and not God, between God and creature. No man had seen God at any time. In John 1:18, the English translators have said, “The only begotten Son … hath declared him.” Other versions skirt around it, doing everything to try to say what the Holy Spirit said, but when we have used up our words and synonyms, we still have not said all that God revealed when He said, “Nobody has ever looked at God, but when Jesus Christ came He showed us what God is like” (paraphrase of John 1:18). He has revealed Him—He has shown us what God is like! He has declared Him! He has set Him forth! He has revealed Him! He is in the Father’s bosom. It is stated in present, perpetual tense, the language of continuation. Therefore, when Jesus hung on the cross, He did not leave the bosom of the Father! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 13).
Relate it to your life.
When I look fully into the face of Jesus, I see the perfect image of God.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, the truth that You are the Son of God is the bedrock of our faith. Thank You for revealing what God is like during Your brief sojourn on earth. Amen.
December 6-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Philippians 2:7, rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Observe what it is saying.
Because change is everywhere around us at all times on this earth and among human beings, it is difficult for us to grasp the eternal and unchanging nature and person of Jesus Christ. Nothing about our Lord Jesus Christ has changed down to this very hour. His love has not changed. His compassionate understanding of us has not changed. His interest in us and His purposes for us have not changed. He is Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the very same Jesus. Even though He has been raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, and made Head over all things to the Church, His love for us remains unchanged. It is hard for us to accept the majestic simplicity of this constant, wonder-working Jesus. We are used to getting things changed so that they are always bigger and better! He is Jesus, easier to approach than the humblest friend you ever had! He is the sun that shines upon us, He is the star of our night. He is the giver of our life and the rock of our hope. He is our safety and our future. He is our righteousness, our sanctification, our inheritance. You will find that He is all of this in that instant that you move your heart towards Him in faith! This is the journey to Jesus that must be made in the depths of the heart and being. This is a journey where feet do not count! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 14).
Relate it to your life.
I joyfully move my life into Jesus because He has everything I, ultimately, need and want.
Do something.
Lord Christ, how amazing that You do not change! I trust in Your unfailing love and compassion this day. Amen.
Posted in Daily Devotionals