June 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).

Devotional

True faith supposes yourself reconciled to God in Christ. This is the underpinning of all holy, humble connection with God.

But beware. Do not stop there, as too many do. It is a great display of sovereign grace that you should have peace with God. Of all truths, God reconciled to you in Christ Jesus is the greatest. Until you experience this, you cannot affirm that you are safe for eternity. Yet, alas, how many reject this truth and still dream on of heaven! May God mercifully convert them to himself!

But as great as this grace is, it is also no less your mercy to keep advancing—on the ground of assured peace—to more matured attainments in holiness. At best, we are slow scholars in the science of spiritual arithmetic. We have imperfectly learned one of its first rules, that of adding grace to grace. "Make every effort," exhorts the apostle, "to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love" (2 Pet. 1:5–7, NIV).

Having obtained peace through the atoning blood, your movement is then to be progressive and your course onward; each day, if possible, enlarging the measure of your grace; each day, if possible, adding to the number of the Spirit's graces. Reconciliation with God is only the starting-point in the divine life, not the finish-line. It is the beginning of your course, not the end.

In other words, vast numbers rest in their first reception of Christ. They are hopefully converted. They unite themselves with a particular section of the church. They settle down under its ministry. But then they seem to stay there. There is no advance, no progress, no "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ... press[ing] on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13–14). Content with having taken the first step, there they remain. There is no "press[ing] on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).

And yet, why did the Lord remove the burden from your shoulder except that you might press onward and upward? Why did he break the chains from your feet except that you may go forward?

Alas, we so easily forget that not only is the cross—which is ever to be kept in view—the starting-point in our race, but also that holiness—hungered after and to some blessed degree attained on earth, but perfected in heaven—is our bright and certain goal. "Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).

More about Jesus would I know,
more of his grace to others show,
more of his saving fullness see,
more of his love who died for me.

(Eliza E. Hewitt, 1851–1920)

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.