Daily Devotional

July 23

A First Book of Daily Readings

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

Outreaching Love

The next thing [Paul] mentions [in 2 Timothy 1:7] is ‘love’. Now I find this most interesting and fascinating. I wonder how many of you would have put love at this point on our list? Why, do you think, does he put it here? What does he mean by it? ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power....’ Yes, I understand that I need power. But love—why love? .. . Here is a superb bit of psychology, for what after all, is the main cause of this spirit of fear? The answer is ‘self’—self-love, self-concern, self-protection ... how can I do this, what if I fail? T—they are constantly turning in upon themselves, looking at themselves and concerned about themselves. And it is just here that the spirit of love comes in, for there is only one way to get rid of yourself.... You will never deal with self yourself. That was the fatal fallacy of those poor men who became monks and anchorites. They could get away from the world and from other people, but they could not get away from themselves.

There is only one way to get rid of self, and that is that you should become so absorbed in someone or something else that you have no time to think about yourself.
Thank God, the Spirit of God makes that possible. He is not only ‘the spirit of power’, but He is also ‘the spirit of love’. What does that mean? It means love to God, love to the great God who made us, love to the great God who has made the way of redemption for us.... He has ‘loved us with an everlasting love’. Think of that, says Paul to Timothy, and as you become absorbed in the love of God you will forget all about yourself. ‘The spirit of love!’ It will deliver you from self-interest, self-concern, and from depression about self.... It gets rid of self at all points. So talk to yourself about this eternal, amazing love of God.

Spiritual Depression, pp. 102–3

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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.”