May 27

If you want to be a true soldier for Christ, always remain watchful without slacking. Do not lie down by the wayside like a lazy traveler; reserve your resting time until you reach home and are out of all danger. God did not rest until the last day's work in the creation was finished; neither should you cease to wake or work until you can say your salvation is complete. You must watch universally.

The honest watchman makes his rounds faithfully and compasses the whole town. He does not limit his care to only one or two houses. You also must watch over your entire being. A pore in your body is a door wide enough to let in a disease. Likewise, any one faculty of your soul or member of your body can let in an enemy that may endanger your spiritual welfare. It is said that so few are watchful in every area. You may set a watch at the door of your lips so that no impure communication comes out; but do you also keep watch at the door of your heart to see it is not defiled with lust (2 Chronicles 23:6)? Perhaps you keep your hand out of your neighbor's purse, but does your envious heart begrudge him the blessings God has given him? The Christian who is truly scrupulous in one duty may be falsely secure in others.

If the apostle bids, "In everything give thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), then it behooves us in everything to watch, so that God may not lose His praise. No action is so small but that in it we may do God or the devil some service. There is nothing in all God's creation that is so insignificant His providence does not watch over it-- even to a sparrow or a hair. By the same token, no word or work of yours should be thought too inconsequential to be watched over. Jesus said we would be judged by every idle word that we speak (Matthew 12:36).

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