Daily Devotional

April 09

A First Book of Daily Readings

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

Get right at the center

Let us now see what the gospel has to say about life. The first principle is that face to face with the problems of life there is only one thing that needs to be examined—namely, the eye, the center, the soul; ... the light of the body is the eye; the only thing that needs to be examined is the eye, for if the eye is single, the whole body will be full of light. But if the eye is evil, the whole body will be full of darkness; ... our Lord goes on to add the solemn warning [Luke 11:35], "Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness." ... How direct is [the gospel] in its approach! ... It comes at once to the heart of the matter.

This direct simplicity is perfectly illustrated ... in an incident which followed immediately after our Lord had spoken the above words. He went in at the request of a certain Pharisee to dine in his house and at once sat down to meat. The Pharisee observing His act was surprised, marveling that Christ had not first washed before dinner.... [Our Lord] turned to him and delivered a stern denunciation of the Pharisees and their ways and views.


They who were so careful about the outside of the cup and the platter forgot the inside, which was infinitely more important.... They kept rules and regulations.... They were experts in minutiae.... They knew all about the things that were on the circumference of the law, but they were ignorant of its very object, which was to glorify God....

This may be used as a typical example of the way in which the gospel examines the problem of man. It is concerned about one thing only, the soul. Though a man may be right in many respects, as the Pharisees most certainly were, it is all of no avail if he is wrong in the center, in the eye, in the soul. It is the eye alone that matters. The gospel has but one test to apply.

Truth Unchanged, Unchanging, pp. 82-4

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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.”