Mon., 10/13/14 Devotion (1 Ki. 16:22b)

Today's encouragement comes from the few words which make-up 1 Kings 16:22b, which say this:

" . . . So Tibni died and Omri reigned."

These words (above) are almost comical. But this was how it was in the an-cient (and even the modern) world: when claimants to a particular throne bat-tled it out—the result was that one of them won, and the other one died. But it should dawn on us that there is a much more profound (and legitimate) appli-cation of this principle; and it is this (below). . . .

. . . When Christian churchmen are regenerated, the "old man" of the flesh dies, and the "new man" of the Spirit reigns. The *experience* of this truth is the struggle all converted souls on earth have to traverse, (and we call this, "sanctification"). Let all of us believers reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, and alive in Christ.

[Puritan quote of the day: "The more a true saint loves God with a gracious love, the more he desires to love Him, and the more uneasy is he at his want [lack] of love to Him." --Jonathan Edwards, in "Religious Affections"]