June 17

"They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul."—2 Chronicles 15:12.

LONG ago, in our own land, godly men and women used to enter into personal covenant with God; and often they would sign the covenant with the ruddy life-blood drawn from their veins. There ought to be something like this covenant—personal, irrevocable, whole-hearted—in my Christian life.

There should be a moment of specific dedication. There should be a conscious and decided surrender of thought and conduct, of body and soul, of time and means. There should be the vow of devotement and fealty: "Accept and keep and inhabit and use me. Solemnly, willingly, fully, finally, I yield myself to Thee." By a deed that I can remember, at a season which stands out clear before my mind, in a way which leaves no room for dispute, I ought to put myself into God's hands, to be His home and His shrine.

It is best when this deliberate and unfaltering consecration, this solemn and yet happy covenanting, follows immediately on the experience of conversion. So soon as God's Spirit has made me a new creation in Christ Jesus, I should give Him the heart He has quickened and the life He has saved. But it is often delayed until a later time in the disciple's history, and sometimes it seems forgotten altogether; and then the man loses much joy and much power. He does not—he cannot—glorify God as he should. Better that it should be done in the evening than never done at all; but for this, as for so much beside, the morning hour is most fit.

I—have I sworn unto the Lord with all my heart? Have I rejoiced at the oath?