The Sickness Of Sin
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
The changing of men is a primary mission of the church. The only way to change men is to get them converted to Jesus Christ. Then they will have the capacity to live up to the Christian command to “love thy neighbor” (Matthew 22:39).
There is no doubt that today we see social injustice everywhere. However, looking on our American scene Jesus would see something even deeper.
If only we would begin at the root of our problems, which is the disease of human nature that the Bible calls sin! This is why Christ came and died on the cross, this is why He shed His blood—to do something about this disease that mankind is suffering from.
We in the church today are in danger of becoming blundering social physicians, giving medicine here and putting ointment there on the sores of the world. But the sores break out again somewhere else. The great need is for the church to call in the Great Physician, who alone can properly diagnose the case. He will look beneath the mere skin eruptions and pronounce the cause of it all: “Sin!”
If we in the church want a cause to fight, let’s fight sin. Let’s reveal its hideousness. Let’s show that Jeremiah was correct when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Then when the center of man’s trouble is dealt with, we can say with D. L. Moody, “Looking at the wound of sin will never save anyone. What you must do is look at the remedy.”
Our Father and our God, as the Great Physician please heal me from the wounds of sin that I have inflicted upon myself. Lead me from sin’s darkness into the Light of Your glory. And help me then to be in position to fight sin by leading others to that same Light. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Secret Is Surrender
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.
Romans 6:16
Of Eric Liddell, the missionary and great runner whose story is told in the film Chariots of Fire, someone has said he was “ridiculously humble in victory, utterly generous in defeat.” That’s a good definition of what it means to be meek. Meekness involves being yielded.
The word yield has two meanings. The first is negative, and the second is positive. It means “to relinquish, to abandon”; and also “to give.” This is in line with Jesus’ words: “He that loseth [or abandoneth] his life . . . shall find it” (Matthew 10:39). What a description of Eric Liddell!
We have heard the modern expression, “Don’t fight it—it’s bigger than both of us.” Those who submit to the will of God do not fight back at life. They learn the secret of surrender, of yielding to God. He then fights for us!
The Bible says, “For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity . . . even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Romans 6:19).
Instead of filling your mind with resentments, abusing your body by sinful diversion, and damaging your soul by willfulness, humbly give all over to God. Your conflicts will diminish, and your inner tensions will often vanish.
Then your life will begin to count for something. It will begin to yield, to produce, to bear fruit. You will have the feeling of belonging to life. Boredom will melt away, and you will become vibrant with hope and expectation. Because you are meekly yielded, you will begin to “inherit the earth” of good things which God holds in store for those who trust Him with their all.
Our Father and our God, I want my life to count for You and Your Son. Please take my heart and mold it for Your service. Shape it into the servant heart You want it to be. I submit to Your will and Your way for my life. Please give me humility in victory and generosity in defeat. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010
Divine Discipline
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:13
Paul, who was a splendid example of a disciplined Christian, said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Since our bodies are to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, they must be worthy of Him who indwells us. This exhortation calls for us to discipline our bodies as well as our minds. We must pray as Jeremy Taylor once prayed, “Let my body be a servant of my spirit, and both body and spirit servants of Jesus.”
When you serve sin, your body is dedicated to the service of sin. Your appetites, whetted by Satan, rage unthrottled. Your God-given creative impulses are sacrificed to Satan on the altar of lust. A sinner, in a sense, is a dedicated person, yielded to his appetites and selfish desires. But when Christ comes into the human heart, we are to yield our bodies to Him. Our human frame is often a rebellious and unruly servant. Only through rigid discipline are we able to master it into complete subjection to Christ. We must guard against appetites which blight the conscience, wither the soul, and weaken our witness for Christ.
Perhaps many things are lawful, but are they expedient? They may bring pleasure to us, but do they bring glory to Christ? Paul was so desirous of making every thought and act glorify Christ that He said, “If an indulgence offend my brother, I will not indulge anymore.” He had given his body as a living sacrifice to Christ. We need that kind of self-discipline today.
Alexander MacLaren, the forceful Baptist preacher and writer who died in 1910, put this whole matter of self-sacrifice in clear perspective when he wrote, “All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to the God on which you sacrifice yourself, or you will never advance a step.”
Our Father and our God, accept the sacrifice of my heart and mind to You. Please help me to guard my appetites against indulgences that conflict with my witness for Christ. Keep me pure; keep me holy; keep me in Your love. Give me an insatiable appetite for Your Word. Through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Death Has No Power
Death has no power over him any more.
Romans 6:9 JB
Christ died for our sins, and by his death He destroyed death. In Christ, we no longer regard death as the king of terrors. Paul wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23NIV). Why? Was it because he worked so hard for Christ and had suffered so much? No! He was ready because half a lifetime earlier he had met Christ on the Damascus road. In 1 John 3:14 we read that we have already “passed from death to life.” You can have eternal life now. The conquest of death is the ultimate goal of Christianity. Physical death is a mere transition from life on earth with Christ to eternal life in heaven with Christ. For Christians there is such a thing as the shadow of death. Death casts a shadow over those who are left behind.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was a prince among American Presbyterian clergymen. I knew him well. His first wife had died from cancer while still in her thirties. At the time, all three of his children were under twelve. He had such victory that he decided to preach the funeral sermon himself.
En route to the funeral they were overtaken by a large truck, which, as it passed them, cast a large shadow over their car. He asked one of his children, “Would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?”
“By the shadow, of course!” replied the twelve-year-old daughter. “A shadow can’t hurt you.”
With that answer, Dr. Barnhouse said to his three motherless little children, “You mother has been overrun not by death, but by the shadow of death.” At the funeral he spoke on Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (v. 4 NKJV).
Nothing can harm us, including death, when we have trusted Christ as Savior because Christ has conquered death—so shall we.
Our Father and our God, help me not to fear the shadow of death that ushers me into Your presence. Help me, rather, to fear the real spiritual death that will separate me from You eternally. Let me not wander away from You, Lord, but to cling to Your majesty and grace through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Death Has No Power
Death has no power over him any more.
Romans 6:9 JB
Christ died for our sins, and by his death He destroyed death. In Christ, we no longer regard death as the king of terrors. Paul wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23NIV). Why? Was it because he worked so hard for Christ and had suffered so much? No! He was ready because half a lifetime earlier he had met Christ on the Damascus road. In 1 John 3:14 we read that we have already “passed from death to life.” You can have eternal life now. The conquest of death is the ultimate goal of Christianity. Physical death is a mere transition from life on earth with Christ to eternal life in heaven with Christ. For Christians there is such a thing as the shadow of death. Death casts a shadow over those who are left behind.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was a prince among American Presbyterian clergymen. I knew him well. His first wife had died from cancer while still in her thirties. At the time, all three of his children were under twelve. He had such victory that he decided to preach the funeral sermon himself.
En route to the funeral they were overtaken by a large truck, which, as it passed them, cast a large shadow over their car. He asked one of his children, “Would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?”
“By the shadow, of course!” replied the twelve-year-old daughter. “A shadow can’t hurt you.”
With that answer, Dr. Barnhouse said to his three motherless little children, “You mother has been overrun not by death, but by the shadow of death.” At the funeral he spoke on Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (v. 4 NKJV).
Nothing can harm us, including death, when we have trusted Christ as Savior because Christ has conquered death—so shall we.
Our Father and our God, help me not to fear the shadow of death that ushers me into Your presence. Help me, rather, to fear the real spiritual death that will separate me from You eternally. Let me not wander away from You, Lord, but to cling to Your majesty and grace through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010)..
Death Defeated
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Romans 6:9
When my wife and I were students in college, we used to take long walks into the country. Nearby was an old graveyard where we would go to read the epitaphs on the tombstones. Ever since then, I have liked to go to old cemeteries in various parts of the world. Whenever we wandered through a graveyard and looked at the tombstones or went into a church and examined the old monuments, we would see one heading on most of them: “Here lies . . .” Then followed the name, with the date of death and perhaps some praise of the good qualities of the deceased. But how different is the epitaph on the tomb of Jesus! It is neither written in gold nor cut in stone. It is spoken by the mouth of an angel and is the exact reverse of what is put on all other tombs: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6).
At the end of his great book Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev described a village graveyard in one of the remote corners of Russia. Along the many neglected graves was one untouched by man, untrampled by beast. Only the birds rested upon it and sang at daybreak. Often from the nearby village two feeble old people, husband and wife, moving with heavy steps and supporting one another, came to visit this grave. Kneeling down at the railing and gazing intently at the stone under which their son was lying, they yearned and wept. After a brief word they wiped the dust away from the stone, set straight a branch of a fir tree, and then began to pray. In this spot they seemed to be nearer their son and their memories of him. And then Turgenev asks, “Can it be that their prayers, their tears, are fruitless? Can it be that love, sacred, devoted love, is not all powerful? Oh no, however passionate, sinning, and rebellious the heart hidden in the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep serenely at us with their innocent eyes. They tell us not of eternal peace alone, of that great peace of indifferent nature; they tell us, too, of eternal reconciliation and of life without end.”
Turgenev was offering hope of an eternal reconciliation. But upon what is that hope based? It is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our Father and our God, You have won the victory over death. And because You have, I will also conquer death and live forever. I am ever thankful, Father, for my hope of everlasting life. It makes this frustrating life so much more bearable when I remember Jesus Christ, crucified for me. I pray, therefore, in His powerful name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Sacred Summit
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:6
Calvary is the summit of love. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Scripture says that we are sinners. We have broken those Ten Commandments. We are under the sentence of death and deserve judgment. We deserve hell. The cross, where Christ died in our place and where we can find forgiveness, is the only place to find forgiveness and have eternal life.
Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves on a rugged cross on Calvary. Jesus gave His head to the crown of thorns for us. He gave His face to the human spittle for us. He gave His cheeks and His beard to be plucked out for us. He gave His back to the lash for us. He gave His side to the spear for us. He gave His hands and feet to the spikes for us. He gave His blood for us. Jesus Christ, dying in our place, taking our sins on that cross, is love.
But that’s not the end of the story. He rose again, and He is the living Christ. Christ is alive. If Christ be not alive, there is no hope for any of us. But He is alive! And Scripture says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).
So what does this mean to me? It means that because Christ lives, I live also if I am in Him and He is in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Our Father and our God, I mourn my sins that caused Christ to suffer death on the cross. I hide my face in shame when I think of His pain and sacrifice. But I also celebrate His glorious resurrection! And I claim salvation through Him. Thank You, God, for Your marvelous gift of redemption in Christ. I pray in His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Safety Zone
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Romans 5:9 NIV
An old preacher in England, who had lived on the American prairies in his youth, was involved in street-corner evangelism in the small towns and villages. He attracted an audience with his Wild West stories describing how the Indians had saved their wigwams from prairie fires by setting fire to the dry grass adjoining their settlement. “The fire cannot come,” he explained, “where the fire has already been. That is why I call you to the cross of Christ.”
He continued his graphic analogy by explaining, “Judgment has already fallen and can never come again!” The one who takes his stand at the cross is saved forevermore. He can never come into condemnation, for he is standing where the fire has been. The saved person is in God’s safety zone, cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Our Father and our God, You are the righteous judge. I take my stand at the cross of Christ. I shed my garments of sin and pride, and I put on the cloak of Christ. I am under His blood and made pure as the driven snow. Thank You for saving me, Lord. Keep me in the safety zone. Through Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Way Back To God
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
God is love. Many people have misunderstood that part of God’s nature. The fact that God is love, however, does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.
God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provided a plan of redemption and salvation for sinful man. God’s love provided the cross of Jesus Christ by which man can have forgiveness and cleansing. It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.
Who can describe or measure the love of God? Our Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement, it is atonement necessitated because of love, provided by love, finished by love.
When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.
No matter what sin we have committed, no matter how black, dirty, shameful, or terrible it may be, God loves us. We may be at the very gate of hell itself, but God loves us with an everlasting love.
Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But thanks be unto God, He is love! Because He is a holy God, our sins have separated us from Him, but because of His love there is a way of salvation, a way back to God through Jesus Christ, His Son.
Our Father and our God, I am amazed at the great love You have always shown to Your people. Even when we fail You, You are still there, loving us, caring for us. I love You, too, Father, with all my heart. Help me to show Your love to others by being a dedicated disciple of Jesus, the Lover of mankind. Through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God Is Not Blind
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
Ours is the God of love who, loving the earth’s people, and realizing that we had offended in every point, sent His only Son to redeem us to Himself and to instill the law of the Spirit of life within us. His eyes of compassion have been following man as he has stumbled through history under the burden of his own wretchedness.
Yet Calvary should prove even to the most skeptical that God is not blind to man’s plight, but that He was willing to suffer with him. The word compassion comes from two Latin words meaning “to suffer with.” God’s all-consuming love for mankind was best demonstrated at the cross, where His compassion was embodied in Jesus Christ. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself ” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Never question God’s great love. Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3).
Paul speaks of God as one “who is rich is mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.
Young people talk about love. Most of their songs are about love. “The supreme happiness of life,” Victor Hugo said long ago, “is the conviction that we are loved.” “Love is the first requirement for mental health,” declared Sigmund Freud. The Bible teaches that “God is love” and that God loves you. To realize that is of paramount importance. Nothing else matters so much. And loving you, God has wonderful plans for your life. Who else could plan and guide your life so well?
Our Father and our God, You have truly suffered with me through Jesus on the cross. You have loved me with an everlasting love, and I am so humbled by it. Please show me how to be compassionate to others, suffering with them in love, and sharing with them the love of the cross. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 201
God’s GyroScope
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 5:5
Years ago when I traveled to Europe to preach, I liked to travel by sea, to enjoy the five days on the ship. On one of my voyages the captain took me down to see the ship’s gyroscope. He said, “When the sea is rough, the gyroscope helps to keep the ship on an even keel. Though the waves may reach tremendous proportions, the gyroscope helps to stabilize the vessel and maintain a high degree of equilibrium.” As I listened, I thought how like the gyroscope is the Holy Spirit. Let the storms of life break over our heads. Let the enemy Satan come in like a flood. Let the waves of sorrow, suffering, temptation, and testing be unleashed upon us. Our souls will be kept on an even keel and in perfect peace when the Holy Spirit rules in our hearts.
Talking about the secret of Spirit-filled living, the great evangelist D. L. Moody said, “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God.”
Is your life on course or off? If it is off course, perhaps you need the equilibrium of God’s gyroscope—His Holy Spirit. Seek Him and His will for you today.
Our Father and our God, please help me to empty myself of pride, selfishness, ambition, and conceit. Fill me with Your Spirit, every corner of my heart and mind. Give me the spiritual equilibrium I need every day. And help me to depend on Jesus for my balance. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Power In Prayer
By whom [Christ] also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
Romans 5:2
For through him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Ephesians 2:18
The Bible tells us to pray in Christ’s name. Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
We are not worthy to approach the holy throne of God except through our Advocate, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God . . . let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:14, 16).
God, for Christ’s sake, forgives our sins. God, for Christ’s sake, supplies our needs. God, for Christ’s sake, receives our prayers. The person who comes with confidence to the throne of grace has seen that his approach to God has been made possible because of Jesus Christ.
The late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse reminds us:
I am not so sure that I believe in “the power of prayer,” but i do believe in the power of the Lord who answers prayer. When the rules are met, then God pours out all blessings on those who come to Him in prayer. There is real power. There is comfort in time of need; strength in time of weakness; forgiveness when we have sinned; consolation in time of bereavement; joy in time of sorrow.
When one has accepted God’s terms of approach through the redemption that is provided by Christ, there is immediate access to Him, and all the promises of God become certified to us.
Am I praying as if this were true?
Our Father and our God, I come boldly to Your throne of grace seeking forgiveness of my sins. Hear my prayer, O God, in the name of Your precious Son, Jesus. Strengthen me, comfort me, keep me in Your care day by day. And protect me from Satan through the blood of Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Highest Joy
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:2
We are not surprised that the early Christians rejoiced in suffering, since they looked at it in the light of eternity. The nearer death, the nearer a life of eternal fellowship with Christ. When Ignatius was about to die for his faith in AD 110 he cried out, “Nearer the sword, then nearer to God. In company with wild beasts, in company with God.”
The Christians of the early church believed that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18 RSV). Thus they could regard present difficulties as of little consequence and could endure them with patience and cheerfulness.
In all ages Christians have found it possible to maintain the spirit of joy in the hour of trial. In circumstances that would have felled most men, they have so completely risen above them that they actually have used the circumstances to serve and glorify Christ. Paul could write from prison at Rome, “I want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12 RSV).
Charles Haddon Spurgeon shares this unique perspective on joy:
Confident hope breeds inward joy. The man who knows that his hope of glory will never fail him because of the great love of God, of which he has tasted, that man will hear music at midnight; the mountains and the hills will break forth before him into singing wherever he goes. Especially in times of tribulation he will be found “rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.” His profoundest comfort will often be enjoyed in his deepest affliction, because then the love of god will specially be revealed in his heart by the Holy Ghost, whose name is “the Comforter.” Then he will perceive that the rod is dipped in mercy, that his losses are sent in fatherly love, and that his aches and pains are all measured out with gracious design. In our affliction god is doing nothing to us which we should not wish for ourselves if we were as wise and loving as God is. O friends! you do not want gold to make you glad, you do not even need health to make you glad; only get to know and feel divine love, and the fountains of delight are unsealed to you—you are introduced to the highest joy!
Our Father and our God, bring me nearer to You at all times. Let me glory in sufferings that urge me into Your presence. Let me celebrate difficult times that remind me of You. Help me always to know and feel Your divine love for me, especially when times are tough. Through Christ, my suffering Savior. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Peace Is Our Portion
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1
There is only one way of salvation, and that is God’s way. God has outlined the road to heaven. He has made the rules simple and plain. He has given us the equation and the compass.
The way outlined in His immutable Book is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Jesus said he that climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber. It is the way of the cross that leads home. It is the grace of God and only the grace of God that brings salvation.
Grace implies that we cannot work for salvation. We cannot make our own way to heaven. We can only come God’s way and that is by receiving His unmerited favor in Christ Jesus.
On that memorable night two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, the angels hovered over the Judean hills and sang in unison, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
The centuries have rolled by, and still the world longs for and looks for the peace that the angels sang about on that first Christmas morning. “Where is His peace?” you ask.
I’ll tell you where it is. It abides in the hearts of all who have trusted His grace. And in the same proportion that the world has trusted in Christ, it also has peace. I could say to the leaders of all governments today that there can be no lasting peace until Christ has come to the hearts of men and brought His peace.
There is no discord, there is no strife in heaven, for Christ reigns supreme there. There is no conflict in the heart where Christ abides, for His words, “Peace I leave with you” (John 14:27), have been proven in the test tubes of human experience over and over again, in the lives of those who have trusted His grace.
Our Father and our God, You are the God of grace and peace, and I praise Your magnificent name! I long for the ultimate peace of heaven. Still, I thank You for the peace I have already in my heart because of Jesus. Please help me to share that peace with others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The False and The True
For they exchanged the truth . . . for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.
Romans 1:25 NASB
My major in college was anthropology, which the dictionary explains as a science dealing with the races, customs, and beliefs of mankind. I have also had the privilege of traveling extensively on every continent. I have found from personal experience that what I learned from anthropology is true: man has naturally and universally a capacity for religion—and not only a capacity, for the vast majority of the human race practices or professes some form of religion.
Religion can be defined as having two magnetic poles, the biblical and the naturalistic. The biblical pole is described in the teachings of the Bible. The naturalistic pole is explained in all the man-made religions. In humanistic systems there are often certain elements of truth. Many of these faiths have borrowed from Judeo-Christianity; many use portions and incorporate their own fables. Other religions or faiths have in fragments what Christianity has as a whole.
The apostle Paul described the naturalistic pole when he said that men “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Romans 1:23 NASB).
A false, naturalistic religion is like the imitation of high fashion. I’ve read that after an exclusive showing of original designs in one of the fashion centers of the world like Paris, copies will soon appear in the mass merchandising stores under different labels. The very presence of counterfeits proves the existence of the real. There would be no imitations without a genuine product. God’s original design has always had imitators and counterfeits!
Our Father and our God, I know You are the one true God. From You comes all truth and holiness. In You I find all purity and peace. Let me never worship a false god, Lord. Keep my faith focused on You, and let my song always raise You and Christ Jesus, my Savior, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Christian And Conscience
And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.
Acts 24:16
One of the ways God has revealed Himself to us is the conscience. Conscience has been described as the light of the soul. Even when it is dulled or darkened by sin, it can still bear witness to the reality of good and evil, and to the holiness of God. What causes this warning light to go on inside me when I do wrong?
Conscience can be our gentlest counselor and teacher, our most faithful friend, and sometimes our worst enemy when we sin. There are no punishments or rewards on this earth comparable to those of the conscience. The Scripture says, “Man’s conscience is the lamp of the eternal” (Proverbs 20:27 MOFFATT). In other words, conscience is God’s lamp within man’s breast. In his Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant said there were just two things that filled him with awe—the starry heavens and conscience in the breast of man.
The conscience in its varying degrees of sensitivity bears a witness to God. Its very existence within us is a reflection of God in the soul of man. Without conscience we would be like rudderless ships at sea and like guided missiles without a guidance system.
George Bernard Shaw, the great Irish novelist, said, “Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.” And Benjamin Franklin rhymed, “Keep conscience clear, then never fear.” If conscience is so vital a concept to these worldly writers, how much more concerned should I as a Christian be that my conscience is “void of offense toward God, and . . . men”? And our conscience can be purified as we allow God’s Word, the Bible, to clean and enlighten them.
Our Father and our God, cleanse my conscience as if wiping a window clean. Help me to be attuned to the counseling of my conscience and to listen when it speaks to me. Use my conscience, Lord, to guide me safely home to You through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Believing Is An Experience
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Acts 16:31
Believing is an experience as real as any experience, yet multitudes are looking for something more—some electric sensation that will bring a thrill to their physical bodies, or some other spectacular manifestation. Many have been told to look for such spiritual thrills, but the Bible says that “a man is justified by faith,” and not by a feeling (Romans 3:28). A man is saved by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross and not by bodily sensations or religious ecstasy.
But you will say to me, “What about feeling? Is there no place in saving faith for any feeling?” Certainly there is room for feeling in saving faith, but we are not saved by it. Whatever feelings there may be is the result of saving faith, but feeling never saved a single soul.
When I understand something of Christ’s love for me as a sinner, I respond with a love for Christ, and love has feeling. But love for Christ is a love that is above the sensual accompaniments of human love. It is a love that is free from all self. The Bible says, “Perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). And those who love Christ have a confidence in Him that raises them above all fear.
When I understand that Christ in his death gained a decisive victory over death and over sin, then I lose the fear of death. The Bible says, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of the flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Surely this is a feeling. Fear is a kind of feeling, and to overcome fear with boldness and confidence in the very face of death is feeling and experience. But again I say, it is not the feeling of boldness and confidence that saves us, but it is Christ who saves us, and boldness and confidence result from our having trusted in Him.
Our Father and our God, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe He is Your one and only Son and that He died in my place. My heart wells up in gratitude, Father, for His sacrifice and great love for me. Because of His love I am not afraid of life, and through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Joy In Tribulation
Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Acts 14:22 RSV
Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are to be exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. It does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power not available to the person outside of Christ.
Thousands of Christians have learned the secret of contentment and joy in trial. Some of the happiest Christians I have met have drunk the full cup of trial and misfortune. Some have been lifelong sufferers. They have had every reason to sigh and complain of being denied so many privileges and pleasures that they see others enjoy, yet they have found greater cause for gratitude and joy than many who are prosperous, vigorous, and strong.
They have learned to give thanks “always and for everything . . . in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20 RSV).
Christians can rejoice in tribulation because they have eternity’s values in view. When the pressures are on, they look beyond their present predicament to the glories of heaven. The thoughts of the future life with its prerogatives and joys help to make the trials of the present seem light and transient.
The early Christians were able to experience joy in their hearts in the midst of trials, troubles, and depression. They counted suffering for Christ not as a burden or misfortune but as a great honor, as evidence that Christ counted them worthy to witness for Him through suffering. They never forgot what Christ Himself had gone through for their salvation, and to suffer for His name’s sake was regarded as a gift rather than a cross.
Our Father and our God, I come giving thanks to You for everything in my life—both the good and the bad. I know You will use all these together for good in my life. I trust You to blend them into something beautiful that glorifies You. Because of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Impact Of Christ-Like Living
The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
Acts 13:52
At times people have said to me, “Christians are all hypocrites—I don’t want anything to do with Christ!” But that is an excuse to keep from having to face the truth that is in Christ. Instead, understand His teaching and examine His life. And if you know Christ and have committed your life to Him, learn from Him and live a consistent life for Him. Do others see something of Christ—His love, His joy, His peace—in your life?
True Christians are supposed to be happy! Our generation has become well versed in Christian terminology, but is remiss in the actual practice of Christ’s principles and teachings. Therefore, our greatest need today is not more Christianity but more true Christians.
The world may argue against Christianity as an institution, but there is no convincing argument against a person who through the Spirit of God has been made Christ-like. Such a one is a living rebuke to the selfishness, rationalism, and materialism of the day. Too often we have debated with the world on the letter of the law when we should have been living oracles of God, seen and read of all people.
It is time that we retrace our steps to the source and realize afresh the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s well, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:14). This sin-sick, disillusioned woman was the symbol of the whole race. Her longings were our longings! Her heart-cry was our heart-cry! Her disillusionment was our disillusionment! Her sin was our sin! But her Savior can by our Savior! Her forgiveness can be our forgiveness! Her joy can be our joy!
Our Father and our God, transform me through Your Spirit until You can say, “This is My child in whom I am well pleased.” I want to be a child of whom You can be proud. I want to be like Jesus. Give me His spirit in full measure, Father. In His name I repent and pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
A Dramatic Delivery
And Peter came to himself, and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod.”
Acts 12:11 RSV
The Scriptures are full of dramatic evidences of the protective care of angels in their earthly service to the people of God. Paul admonished Christians to put on all the armor of God that they may stand firmly in the face of evil (Ephesians 6:10–12). Our struggle is not against flesh and blood (physical powers alone), but against the spiritual (superhuman) forces of wickedness in heavenly spheres. Satan, the prince of the power of the air, promotes a “religion” but not true faith; he promotes false prophets. So the powers of light and darkness are locked in intense conflict. Thank God for the angelic forces that fight off the works of darkness. Angels never minister selfishly; they serve so that all glory may be given to God as believers are strengthened.
A classic example of the protective agency of angels is found in Acts 12:5–11. Peter lay bound in prison, awaiting execution. James, the brother of John, had already been killed, and there was little reason to suppose that Peter would escape the executioner’s ax either. The magistrates intended to put him to death as a favor to those who opposed the Gospel and the works of God. Surely the believers had prayed for James, but God had chosen to deliver him through death. Now the church was praying for Peter.
As Peter lay sleeping, an angel appeared, not deterred by such things as doors or iron bars. The angel came into the prison cell, shook Peter awake, and told him to prepare to escape. As a light shone on the prison, Peter’s chains fell off, and having dressed, he followed the angel out. Doors supernaturally opened because Peter could not pass through locked doors as the angel had. What a mighty deliverance God achieved through His angel!
Our Father and our God, I need Your angels to protect me from the powerful forces of evil in my world. Like Your angels, help me to minister unselfishly and to give You all the glory for the powerful works that You do. Thank You for defeating Satan, Father. And make of me a powerful witness of Your divinity and power. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).