September 1

Read: Matthew 9:35-38

He was moved with compassion on them (Matthew 9:36).

Love For Souls

Jesus said when the Holy Spirit came to a Christian’s life the Spirit would not speak of himself but would show us the things of Christ. Our scripture for today shows us our Lord’s deepest concern. It was for the souls of men. “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). When we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, we become more like Jesus in this respect also.

The Holy Spirit gave this concern for the souls of men to Catherine Booth. Speaking of a meeting which she had addressed at Southsea, she said: “O! how I yearned over them! I felt as if it would be a small thing to die there and then if that would have brought them to Jesus.”

Does the baptism with the Holy Spirit always give me immediately this all-consuming passion for souls? No, but I cannot draw close to Christ without beginning to feel it. In The Way of Holiness, Samuel Logan Brengle writes: “Holiness increases this desire and makes it burn with a quenchless flame. The zeal of other people blazes up, burns low, and often dies out, but the zeal of a man with a clean heart, full of the Holy Ghost, increases year by year… Others do not grieve if souls are not saved, but he feels that he must see souls saved or die… And this zeal for the salvation and sanctification of men leads him to do something to reach them… He finds that, as he follows the Spirit, the Lord fills his mouth with truth and gives him something to say.”

Truth For Today

“It is certain that God can use us more in the salvation of men the higher and holier our lives are. Those who will not give themselves UTTERLY will never be able to set others free.”