Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
We cannot show proper respect to God until we ourselves are respectable. We cannot follow the counsel of wise men until we become wise. And until we are good, we cannot do what is truly good for others. Jesus said that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit and that a good tree can produce only good fruit. “Therefore,” he concluded, “by their fruits you will know them.”
Paul understood that the truth seemed foolish to everyone who was foolish, “nevertheless,” he said, “we speak wisdom among them that are perfect” (1Cor. 2:6). There is such a thing as “the wisdom of this world”, and those who are of the world trust in it; they can do nothing else. But there is also such a thing as “the wisdom of God, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory”, and those who are of God trust in it; they, too, can do nothing else. We can only embrace the wisdom that fits into the kind of heart we have. Until God touches our heart, His spiritual wisdom does not attract us. We can never understand holy wisdom until we partake of His holiness, and we can never discern who is truly wise until He has made us to taste of His wisdom.
May God make us partakers of His holiness, lest we condemn something good as being evil and turn from some holy thing as if it were beneath us. For it is impossible to know what is right until we are.