How to Live Holy

Page 89

DEVOTION TO GOD

DEVOTION TO GOD Devotion to God implies ardent affection for him—a yielding of the heart to him with reverence, faith, and piety in every act, particularly in prayer and meditation. We catch a glimpse of the true meaning of devotion from what is said of the centurion of the Italian band. He was termed a devout man because he feared God, gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always (see Acts 10:2). This is the essence of true devotion. He loved God, without which there can be no devotion. The more we love an object, the more devoted to it we are. Devotion is therefore love manifested. At the feet of Jesus stood a woman weeping and washing his feet with her tears and wiping them with the hairs of her head and kissing them. Is not this a picture of devotion? It is love and devotion expressed in action. Jesus said, "She loved much." The secret of devotion is loving much. Every devoted Christian desires to be more devoted to his God. I am glad we can be. It is pleasant to feel in our hearts an ardent desire to love God more. A fond mother clasps her babe to her bosom. She loves it, and her heart is happy in that love; but she feels she can not love it enough. She longs to love it more. Her heart yearns to love it more, though she loves it from the fulness of her soul. This longing to love increases our capacity to love. By being filled with air some vessels are made to expand. Unless filled to their utmost capacity, they would not become more extended. To the extent that the heart is filled with the love of God, man is happy. To desire to be more devotional is not an evidence of lack of devotion, but, on the contrary, an evidence of devotion. Those who are the least devotional have the least desire to be more devotional. The heart that is fullest of love is happiest; and although it is happy and satisfied, yet it longs to move. Oh, how we long to clasp our arms more tightly about him! how we long to have him clasp his arms more tightly about us! how we long to nestle more fondly and lovingly on his bosom! What rapture to our love-flooded souls to receive of his caresses and hear his tender words! To the soul in the ecstasy of its heavenly love, the world with its pleasures has vanished away like a morning vapor. It is not understood by all how and why we should have a desire to possess more of that of which we are already full. It is the desire for development; it is an innate desire; it is a principle planted in our constitution under grace. Let me repeat what I have said elsewhere: Every living thing consciously or unconsciously struggles to conform to type. When the little plant bursts through the ground, it enters the race in conforming to the type that it carries in its bosom. Thus, in the heart of the acorn is a miniature oak-tree. The little chick carries within it an image of the mother bird, to which it will naturally though unconsciously conform. In the natural world when things reach the highest point of development, they begin to decay or deteriorate; but this is not true in the spiritual world. Never in this life and possibly 84


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SOME SCRIPTURES FOR DAILY PRACTISE

20min
pages 101-109

A VALUABLE LEGACY

2min
pages 99-100

LIVE BY FAITH

2min
page 98

THE WARFARE OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE

2min
page 97

TIMELINESS IN DOING GOOD

4min
pages 94-96

HOW TO UNDERSTAND GOD'S WILL

3min
pages 86-87

THE GOLDEN RULE OF LIFE

2min
page 93

A VIEW OF JESUS

1min
page 88

DEVOTION TO GOD

9min
pages 89-92

THE LATEST IMPROVED

23min
pages 72-80

LUKEWARMNESS

5min
pages 81-83

STEADFASTNESS

4min
pages 84-85

THE CHRISTIAN'S WALK A WALK WITH GOD

1min
page 71

THE CHRISTIAN IS TO WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY

5min
pages 69-70

TENDERNESS

8min
pages 65-67

GENTLENESS

4min
pages 63-64

THE CHRISTIAN WALK

1min
page 68

CONSIDER THE LILIES

2min
pages 57-58

SORROWFUL YET ALWAYS REJOICING

9min
pages 59-62

HE CARETH FOR THEE

6min
pages 54-56

PRAYERFUL REMEMBRANCE

1min
page 53

ALONE WITH GOD

1min
page 52

SHUT THE DOOR

1min
page 51

KEEP THE ROOTS WATERED

2min
page 48

UNDER THE FIG-TREE

4min
pages 49-50

SOMETHING TO DO

8min
pages 39-42

SPIRITUAL DRYNESS

5min
pages 43-45

GODLY LIVING

4min
pages 37-38

SOME USE TO JESUS

1min
pages 35-36

MAN THE VEHICLE FOR EXHIBITING GOD'S PERFECTIONS

10min
pages 31-34

THE CHRISTIAN AN EPISTLE OF CHRIST

2min
page 28

HOW TO KEEP THE WORD OF GOD IN THE HEART

1min
page 30

KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS A TEST OF LOVE

2min
page 24

THE RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE WITH CHRIST THROUGH OBEDIENCE

1min
page 26

HOW WE MAY LIVE AS THE BIBLE READS

2min
page 29

THE BLESSEDNESS OF OBEYING GOD'S WORD

2min
page 25

OUR LIFE IS TO ADORN THE GOSPEL

2min
page 27

WHO ARE THE WISE?

1min
page 23

THE BIBLE WAY

4min
pages 16-17

THE WAY THE SAIL IS SET

6min
pages 11-13

THE HEAVENLY WAY

1min
page 18

INTRODUCTION

5min
pages 9-10

HOW TO LIVE THE CHRIST-LIFE

2min
pages 14-15

BE DOERS OF THE WORD

2min
page 22

DEVOTIONAL READING

2min
page 7

PREFACE

1min
page 8
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