June 23 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection" (Phil. 3:10).

Devotional

Alas, we are all too aware of the downward tendency of our hearts. We need something to counteract the overworking influence of an ungodly world. Where can we find it? We answer, in the power of Christ's resurrection, felt, realized, and experienced in the soul.

This is the argument of Paul: because you are a risen people, risen in union with Christ, therefore seek after heavenly mindedness. "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col. 3:1–2).

What a heaven-attracting power this glorious truth has, then! What is Christ? He is alive. Where is Christ? He is in heaven, at the right hand of God, as my Head, my Representative, my Forerunner, my Treasure, my all. Therefore, let me rise!

Shall my affections not soar to their best beloved? Shall my heart not be where its treasure is? Shall I set my mind upon things on the earth when my Lord rose out of the earth, and ascended above the earth, and bids me rise and follow him in faith, in spirit, and in love, until he calls me to come away to him entirely, that I may ever be with him and behold his glory? If I am indeed risen with Christ, then let me show it by my increasing spiritual-mindedness. Christ, who is my life, is in heaven! Why should I needlessly be buried in the earth?

Why grant—as I seem to do—that there is any object on earth whose claims to my love are higher, whose beauty to my eye is greater, whose attraction to my soul is stronger, than my risen, ascended, and glorified Lord? Is there anyone on earth who loves me as Jesus loves me? Is there any who has done for me what Jesus has done? Is there any who is doing for me now what Jesus is doing? Is there any who is to me such a Friend, such a Brother, such a Counselor as Jesus? No, not one! Why then should my thoughts not be more with him? Why should my heart not cling closer to him? Why this vagrancy of mind? Why this truancy of affection? Why this wandering of desire? Why this forgetfulness, coldness, and clinging to earth when my Lord is risen, and I am professedly risen with him? Oh, to feel more keenly, more deeply, more constantly the power of his resurrection!

"O Lord, I detect my heart settling down on creature things—objects of sense and sin. My business is a snare. My domestic blessings are a snare. My friendships are a snare. My position is a snare. The opinion that others entertain of me is a snare. My graces, my gifts, my usefulness—owing to the corruption of my own heart—are snares. O Lord, please put beneath my soul the mighty lever of your resurrection, and lift me towards yourself! Oh, let me feel the earth-severing, the heaven-attracting power of your resurrection-life! Having been buried with you by baptism into death, sincerely I would now rise with you—just as you were raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father—that I might walk with you in newness of life, until I reach you in the realms of glory."

The golden gates are lifted up,
the doors are opened wide;
the King of Glory is gone in
unto his Father's side.

Thou art gone up before us, Lord,
to make for us a place,
that we may be where now thou art,
and look upon God's face.

And ever on our earthly path
a gleam of glory lies,
a light still breaks behind the cloud
that veiled thee from our eyes.

Lift up our hearts, lift up our minds:
let thy dear grace be giv'n,
that, while we wander here below,
Our treasure be in heav'n;

that where thou art, at God's right hand,
our hope, our love, may be:
dwell thou in us, that we may dwell
for evermore in thee.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1852, 1858

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.