November 5 Daily Devotional

Start with God!

How can our attitude and conduct ever conform to what our Lord says here [Matthew 7:12]? The answer of the gospel is that you must start with God. What is the greatest commandment? It is this: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God....’ And the second is like unto it: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ You notice the order. You do not start with your neighbour, you start with God. And relationships in this world will never be right, whether between individuals, or groups of nations, until we all start with God. You cannot love your neighbour as yourself until you love God. You will never see yourself or your neighbour aright until you have first of all seen both in the sight of God....

So then we start with God. We turn from all the quarrelling and disputes and problems and we look into His face. We begin to see Him in all His holiness and almightiness, and in all the power of His creatorship, and we humble ourselves before Him.... The knowledge of God humbles us to the dust; and in that position you do not think about your rights and your dignity. You have no need any longer to protect yourself, because you feel you are unworthy of everything.

But, in turn, it also helps us to see others as we should see them. We see them now, no longer as hateful people who are trying to rob us of our rights ... we see them, as we see ourselves, as the victims of sin and of Satan.... We have an entirely new view of them. We see them to be exactly as we are ourselves, and we are both in a terrible predicament. And we can do nothing; but both of us together must run to Christ and avail ourselves of His wonderful grace. We begin to enjoy it together and we want to share it together. That is how it works. It is the only way whereby we can ever do unto others as we would that they should do unto us.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 213–15