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February 6 Daily Devotional

Morning Thoughts for Today;
or, Daily Walking with God

Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)

Bible Verse

"Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3).

Devotional

Regeneration (the new birth) is a work that stands alone and distinct from all the other operations of the Holy Spirit. It is to be carefully distinguished from conversion, adoption, justification, and sanctification. And yet, in a sense, it is the fountainhead of them all.

For instance, there can be no conversion without a principle of life in the soul; for conversion is the exercise of a spiritual power implanted in man. There can be no sense of adoption apart from a renewed nature; for adoption confers the privilege only, not the nature, of sons. There can be no comforting sense of acceptance in the Beloved until the mind has passed from death unto life. Nor can there be the smallest advance in a conformity of the will and of the affections to the image of God, while there is lacking in the soul the very root of holiness. Faith is a purifying grace, but faith can only be found in a heart created anew in Christ Jesus.

You must necessarily be born again before you can pass into an adopted, justified, and sanctified state. "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Reader, ponder seriously this solemn truth.

I hear the Savior say,
"Your strength indeed is small,
child of weakness, watch and pray,
find in me your all in all."

Jesus paid it all,
all to him I owe;
sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find
your power, and yours alone,
can change the leper's spots,
and melt the heart of stone.

For nothing good have I
whereby your grace to claim—
I will wash my garments white
in the blood of Calvary's Lamb.

And when, before the throne,
I stand in him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save,"
my lips shall still repeat.

(Elvina M. Hall, 1865; mod. LEW, 2009)


Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.

 

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