Daily Devotional

April 01

A First Book of Daily Readings

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)
Sourced from the OPC website

Perfect love casteth out fear

You remember what brought [John Wesley] to a conviction of sin? It began when he saw the way in which some Moravian Brethren behaved during a storm in mid-Atlantic.* John Wesley was terrified by the storm and afraid to die; the Moravians were not. They seemed to be as happy in the hurricane and in the midst of the storm as they were when the sun was shining.

John Wesley realized that he was afraid of death; he somehow did not seem to know God as these people knew Him. In other words he began to feel his need, and that is always the beginning of a conviction of sin; ... the way to know yourself a sinner is not to compare yourself with other people; it is to come face to face with the Law of God.... Would you like to know what the Law of God is? Here it is—"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength...."

Forget all about drunkards and their like; forget all the people you read about in the press at the present time.
Here is the test for you and me: Are you loving God with all your being? If you are not, you are a sinner. That is the test. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." God has made us, and He has made us for Himself. He made man for His own glory, and He intended man to live entirely for Him.

Man was to be His representative and was to dwell in communion with Him. He was to be the lord of the universe; he was to glorify God. As it is put in the Shorter Catechism: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever," and if you are not doing so, you are a sinner of the deepest dye, whether you know it and feel it or not.

Spiritual Depression, p. 30
*See p. 295.

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”