February 29

Morning

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion. — Jer 31:3 BSB

The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to drive us to Christ, but it’s God’s loving-kindness that wins the final victory. The prodigal son began his journey home out of desperation, but his father saw him from afar and ran to meet him. So, the final steps he took toward his father’s house were with the warmth of a kiss on his cheek and the sound of a loving welcome still ringing in his ears.

“Law and terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Will dissolve a heart of stone.”

The Master once came to a man’s door, knocking with the iron fist of the law. The door shook and trembled on its hinges, but the man barricaded it with everything he could find, saying, “I won’t let Him in!” The Master turned away, but then He returned, knocking again—this time with His soft hand, marked by the nail. He knocked so gently and tenderly that the door didn’t shake. And then, almost miraculously, it opened. There, on his knees, the once-stubborn man welcomed his guest with joy. “Come in, come in! Your knock stirred my heart. I couldn’t bear the thought of Your pierced hand leaving a blood-mark on my door and You walking away, ‘Your head wet with dew, and Your locks with the drops of the night.’ I surrender! Your love has won my heart!”

So it is in every case—God’s loving-kindness wins. What Moses with the law could never do, Christ does with His pierced hand! This is the power of effectual calling. Do I know it in my own experience? Can I say, “He drew me, and I followed”? If so, may He continue to draw me until the day I sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb!

Evening

We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. — 1 Cor 2:12 BSB

Dear reader, have you received the Holy Spirit into your soul? The necessity of the Spirit’s work in the heart is clear: all that the Father and the Son have done for us is in vain unless the Spirit makes it real to our souls. What good is the doctrine of election to a man unless the Spirit of God brings it to life in him? Election is a dead letter in our minds until the Spirit calls us out of darkness and into the marvelous light. It is through this calling that we see our election, knowing we’ve been chosen by God’s eternal purpose. The covenant was made between the Father and Jesus Christ, but it’s of no use to us until the Holy Spirit delivers its blessings and opens our hearts to receive them.

All spiritual blessings are stored up in Christ, like precious treasures out of our reach. We are too short to reach them! But the Spirit of God brings them down to us and makes them ours.

God’s covenant blessings are like manna in the sky, too far for us to grasp. But the Spirit opens the windows of heaven and scatters this living bread around us, the spiritual Israel. Christ’s finished work is like wine stored in a vat. Through unbelief, we can neither draw it out nor drink it. But the Spirit dips our cup into this precious wine, and we drink. Without the Spirit, we are as dead in sin as if Christ had never died for us.

The Holy Spirit is essential to our well-being. Let us walk closely with Him, always sensitive to His leading, and be careful never to grieve Him. Without the Spirit, all that the Father and Son have done remains distant and ineffective, but with Him, everything becomes real and ours!