‘You are not your own’ (1 Corinthians 6:19)

No – Jesus has purchased you with His own blood, quickened you by His Spirit, espoused you to Himself, and intends to glorify you with Himself forever. He claims you, and says “I have called you by name; you are mine.”

He will provide for you as His own, and spare you as a man spares his own child that serves him. You are His beloved bride; His portion. A member of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

In loving you, He loves Himself. He requires you to live under the daily conviction that you are His; that all you have is His. You have nothing of your own; all you have He freely gave, and all you have you profess to have surrendered to Him.

Think more of Jesus than of His gifts, cleave to Him, and not to what you may be called to surrender. He will never take anything from you, but He will give you something better. If He strip you, it is to teach you; to lead you to live upon Himself; and to find your heaven in His company, grace, and offices.

Do you live, walk, and act, so as to leave the impression upon the minds of observers that you are the Lord’s? Do you expect Him to preserve, guide, and supply you?

 Lord! am I thine, entirely thine?
Purchased and saved by blood divine?
With full consent thine I would be,
And own thy sovereign right in me.

THE DAILY REMEMBRANCER by James Smith (1802-1862)

Journal Jottings

‘About this time we were visited with a heavy thunder storm, but O how happy was my soul while the lightenings were flashing before me, and the thunders were rolling over head! I thought, when shall I meet my ransomed brethren in that blissful clime where storms are never known, nor thunders ever heard.

O if this were a prelude to the coming of Jesus, could I now see him descend in the clouds of heaven, I could heartily say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!” My eyes, my ears, my heart seemed quickened by the thought of beholding Jesus in his glory.’