Truth for Life - February 8, 2017
February 8
You Shall Call His Name Jesus
You shall call his name Jesus. - Matthew 1:21
When a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes dear for his sake. Thus, so precious is the person of the Lord Jesus in the estimation of all true believers that everything about Him they consider to be inestimable beyond all price. "Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia," said David,1 as if the very vestments of the Savior were so sweetened by His person that he could not but love them. It is certain that there is not a spot where His hallowed foot has trod, there is not a word that His blessed lips have uttered, nor a thought that His loving Word has revealed that is not precious to us beyond all price.
And this is true of the names of Christ--they are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether He is called the Husband of the church, her Bridegroom, her Friend; whether He is referred to as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world--the King, the Prophet, or the Priest--every title of our Master--Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counselor--every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and luscious are the drops that distill from it.
But if there is one name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name Jesus. Jesus! It is the name that moves the harps of heaven to melody. Jesus! The life of all our joys. If there is one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this name. It is the melody of our psalms. Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any, that are good for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring, a song in a word, an ocean for comprehension, a matchless oratorio in two syllables, a gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters.
Jesus, I love Thy charming name,
'Tis music to my ear.
1) Psalm 45:8
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Genesis 41
verse 2 Mark 11
Holiness - It's Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots
J. C Ryle wrote this timeless classic on holiness over a hundred years ago, yet how poignant his words still are for us today. Sadly, we all know how easy it is to appear godly in public, while behind closed doors to continue in our own sin.
This modern English version will challenge a new generation of readers to live a Christ–like life. Ryle’s timeless wisdom reminds us that holiness shouldn’t be cold, distant and unobtainable, but that Christ himself is the root of our godliness. Be exhorted not to simply settle for half–hearted holiness, but to strive to be holy in every area of our lives. Holiness, Ryle argued, was not simply a matter of believing and feeling, but of doing.
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From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
