Ithaca Devotions

Tuesday March 17, 2026

Close your eyes for a moment to the scenes of misery and woe, degradation and sorrow that yet prevail on account of sin, and picture before your mental vision the glory of the perfect earth. Not a stain of sin mars the harmony and peace of a perfect society; not a bitter thought, not an unkind look or word; love, welling up from every heart, meets a kindred response in every other heart, and benevolence marks every act. There sickness shall be no more; not an ache nor a pain, nor any evidence of decay – not even the fear of such things. Think of all the pictures of comparative health and beauty of human form and feature that you have ever seen, and know that perfect humanity will be of still surpassing loveliness. The inward purity and mental and moral perfection will stamp and glorify every radiant countenance. Such will earth's society be; and weeping bereaved ones will have their tears all wiped away, when thus they realize the resurrection work complete. Rev. 21:4

Exceeding Great & Precious Promise

For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Heb. 12:6,7,11

He explains that such discipline is not prompted by anger...but by His love, and if we are rightly exercised by the disciplines, trials, experiences of life, they will "work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"* – they will work out in us such characters as the Lord will be able to use in the service to which He has called us....The proper response of all who have the true spirit of sonship is expressed in the language of our Lord and Master, "Not my will but thine be done,"* O Lord; "I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea thy law is within my heart."* Such as thus respond to the chastisement of the Lord, step more and more into Divine favor, and hear other words of comfort, of grace, of help. R3059,c2,p2

Daily Heavenly Manna (March 17)

Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. Matthew 25:28,29

WHY is the one-talented man chosen as an illustration of these talent-burials? It is to show the responsibility of those who have least--that the Lord expects even the least of His consecrated people to know of and to use the talents he has in his possession, and that He will not hold guiltless even those who have the smallest ability to serve Him and His brethren and His truth, and who neglect to use it. `Z.'01-59` R2765:1

Weekly Manna (March 12)

The end of the commandment is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an undissembled faith. 1 Timothy 1:5 (Diaglott)

WE are therefore to have clearly before our minds the fact that the ultimate object of all the divine dealings for us and with us, and the ultimate significance of all the divine promises made to us, is the development of love, which is Godlikeness, for God is love. And to have this love developed in us, in the sense and to the degree intended by the Lord, it is necessary that it shall come from a pure heart, in full accord with the Lord, and His law of love, and wholly antagonistic to the Adversary and his law of selfishness. `Z.'00-360` R2735:1