Morning   “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” / 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant

watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to

ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at

rest. Heaven is the “undefiled inheritance;” it is the land of perfect

holiness, and therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on

earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God’s

word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the

righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls

to the keeping of Christ shall find him a faithful and immutable preserver.

Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that

high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that

holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who

believe in him shall ever perish, but shall be with him where he is. Believer,

let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the

saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in him.

May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May he

assure you that your name is graven on his hand; and whisper in your ear the

promise, “Fear not, I am with thee.” Look upon him, the great Surety of the

covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present

you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of

God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced

wine of the Lord’s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You

will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect

saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that “faithful is he

that calleth you, who also will do it.”

 

Evening   “Ye serve the Lord Christ.” / Colossians 3:24

To what choice order of officials was this word spoken? To kings who proudly

boast a right divine? Ah, no! too often do they serve themselves or Satan, and

forget the God whose sufferance permits them to wear their mimic majesty for

their little hour. Speaks then the apostle to those so-called “right reverend

fathers in God,” the bishops, or “the venerable the archdeacons”? No, indeed,

Paul knew nothing of these mere inventions of man. Not even to pastors and

teachers, or to the wealthy and esteemed among believers, was this word

spoken, but to servants, aye, and to slaves. Among the toiling multitudes, the

journeymen, the day labourers, the domestic servants, the drudges of the

kitchen, the apostle found, as we find still, some of the Lord’s chosen, and

to them he says, “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not

unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the

inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” This saying ennobles the weary

routine of earthly employments, and sheds a halo around the most humble

occupations. To wash feet may be servile, but to wash his feet is royal work.

To unloose the shoe-latchet is poor employ, but to unloose the great Master’s

shoe is a princely privilege. The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy

become temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then “divine

service” is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes

holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the

tabernacle and its golden candlestick.

“Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see;

And what I do in anything to do it as to thee.

All may of thee partake, nothing can be so mean,

Which with this tincture, for thy sake, will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine;

Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, makes that and the action fine.”