May 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18).

Devotional

There is an idea which is fatal to all true sanctification that some believers are prone to entertain, especially those who are young in experience. It is to imagine that nothing is to be done in the soul after one has believed. It is to expect that once one is converted, all is accomplished.

So far from this being the case, he has only just entered upon the work of sanctification. He has only just started in the race. He has only just buckled on the armor. In conversion, the conflict can hardly be said to have begun.

Therefore, to rest serene with the notion that the soul has nothing more to do than to accept Christ as his salvation—that there are no corruptions to subdue; that there are no sinful habits to cut off; that there are no long-existing and deeply embedded sins to mortify, root and branch; and that there are no high and yet higher degrees in holiness to attain—is to form a most incomplete view of the Christian life. If such a view is persisted in, it must necessarily prove detrimental to the spiritual advance of the believer.

Beloved, the work of sanctification is a massive work. It is a daily work. It commences at the very moment of our translation into the kingdom of Christ on earth, and it never ceases until the moment of our translation into the kingdom of God in heaven.

The notion of perfect sinlessness here, so fondly cherished by some, is as fatal to true sanctification as it is contrary to God's Word.

They know very little of their own heart who do not know that sin—in the language of John Owen—"not only still abides in us, but is still acting, still laboring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh." They know very little of their own heart who do not know that "nothing good dwells ... in [their] flesh" (Rom. 7:18), and that "that which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6) and will retain its fleshly nature and propensities to the very last.

Do not exult as though you have "already obtained this or [are] already perfect" (Phil. 3:12). Do not be "ignorant of Satan's designs" (2 Cor. 2:11), one of which is to build you up in the belief that in the present life you may cease from the work of mortification. May the Lord keep the reader from cherishing so erroneous an idea!

The work of sanctification is the work of your entire life. "When sin lets us alone," as has been remarked, "we may let sin alone." But when is the day—yes, when is the hour—that sin does not strive for the mastery? When can the believer say you have completely slain your enemy?

You may "by the Spirit ... put to death the deeds of the body," and if you do, you "will live" (Rom. 8:13). But, since the heart is the natural and fertile soil of every poisonous weed of sin, and since another springs up as soon as one is cut down, yes, since the very same root appears again and again above the surface with new life and vigor, it requires a ceaseless care and vigilance. You must perpetually mortify sin in the body until you throw off this cumbersome clay and go where sin is known no more.

Rise, my soul, to watch and pray,
from thy sleep awaken;
be not by the evil day
unawares o'ertaken.
for the foe,
well we know,
oft his harvest reapeth
while the Christian sleepeth.

Watch against the devil's snares
lest asleep he find thee;
for indeed no pains he spares
to deceive and blind thee.
Satan's prey
oft are they
who secure are sleeping
and no watch are keeping.

Watch! Let not the wicked world
with its pow'r defeat thee.
Watch lest with her pomp unfurled
she betray and cheat thee.
Watch and see
lest there be
faithless friends to charm thee,
who but seek to harm thee.

Watch against thyself, my soul,
lest with grace thou trifle;
let not self thy thoughts control
nor God's mercy stifle.
Pride and sin
lurk within
all thy hopes to scatter;
heed not when they flatter.

But while watching, also pray
to the Lord unceasing.
He will free thee, be thy stay,
strength and faith increasing.
O Lord, bless
in distress
and let nothing swerve me
from the will to serve thee.

Therefore let us watch and pray,
knowing he will hear us
as we see from day to day
dangers ever near us,
and the end
doth impend—
our redemption neareth
when our Lord appeareth.

(Johann B. Freystein, 1697; tr. By Catherine Winkworth, 1863; alt.)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.