Tag Archives: spirituality

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Worth It All – Greg Laurie

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That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong—2 Corinthians 12:10

Sometimes as believers we can be spiritual lightweights. At the first indication of a hardship or difficulty, we fold like stack of cards. We say, “I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t want difficulty; I just want to get along with everyone.”

But if you are a true follower of Christ, there will be suffering in your life. Here is a description of what it was like for the apostle Paul:

I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. (2 Corinthians 11:23–27).

Like Paul, if you are going to be used of God, then you are going to be attacked. If you are a real Christian, it will cause some friction. If you are a real Christian, you will face opposition.

I am not trying to paint a portrait of Christianity that is undesirable; I am just being honest as I describe what it means to follow Christ. And it’s worth it all.

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Avoiding a Spiritual Identity Crisis – John MacArthur

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God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).

Many people in our society are on a seemingly endless and often frantic quest for personal identity and self- worth. Identity crises are common at almost every age level. Superficial love and fractured relationships are but symptoms of our failure to resolve the fundamental issues of who we are, why we exist, and where we’re going. Sadly, most people will live and die without ever understanding God’s purpose for their lives.

That is tragic, yet understandable. God created man to bear His image and enjoy His fellowship forever. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they violated that purpose and plunged the human race into sin. That created within man a spiritual void and an identity crisis of unimaginable proportions.

Throughout the ages ungodly people have tried to fill that void with a myriad of substitutes but ultimately all is lost to death and despair.

Despite that bleak picture, a true sense of identity is available to every Christian. It comes from knowing that God Himself personally selected you to be His child. Before the world began, God set his love upon you and according to His plan Christ died for you (1 Pet. 1:20). That’s why you responded in faith to the gospel (2 Thess. 2:13). Also, that’s why you can never lose your salvation. The same God who drew you to Himself will hold you there securely (John 10:29).

Don’t allow sin, Satan, or circumstances to rob your sense of identity in Christ. Make it the focus of everything you do. Remember who you are: God’s child; why you are here: to serve and glorify Him; and where you are going: to spend eternity in His presence.

Suggestions for Prayer:  Thank God for choosing you to be His child and for drawing you to Himself in saving faith.

Praise Him for His promise never to let you go.

 

For Further Study:  Read John 6:35-44; 10:27-30; Romans 8:31-39

According to Jesus, how many believers will lose their salvation? What was his reasoning?

What did Paul base his certainty on?

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” / 1 Peter 5:7

It is a happy way of soothing sorrow when we can feel–“HE careth for me.”

Christian! do not dishonour religion by always wearing a brow of care; come,

cast your burden upon your Lord. You are staggering beneath a weight which

your Father would not feel. What seems to you a crushing burden, would be to

him but as the small dust of the balance. Nothing is so sweet as to

“Lie passive in God’s hands,

And know no will but his.”

O child of suffering, be thou patient; God has not passed thee over in his

providence. He who is the feeder of sparrows, will also furnish you with what

you need. Sit not down in despair; hope on, hope ever. Take up the arms of

faith against a sea of trouble, and your opposition shall yet end your

distresses. There is One who careth for you. His eye is fixed on you, his

heart beats with pity for your woe, and his hand omnipotent shall yet bring

you the needed help. The darkest cloud shall scatter itself in showers of

mercy. The blackest gloom shall give place to the morning. He, if thou art one

of his family, will bind up thy wounds, and heal thy broken heart. Doubt not

his grace because of thy tribulation, but believe that he loveth thee as much

in seasons of trouble as in times of happiness. What a serene and quiet life

might you lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a

little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived

the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care

too? Can you trust him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never

refused to bear your burdens, he has never fainted under their weight. Come,

then, soul! have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the

hand of a gracious God.

 

Evening  “Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening.” / Ezekiel 33:22

In the way of judgment this may be the case, and, if so, be it mine to

consider the reason of such a visitation, and bear the rod and him that hath

appointed it. I am not the only one who is chastened in the night season; let

me cheerfully submit to the affliction, and carefully endeavour to be profited

thereby. But the hand of the Lord may also be felt in another manner,

strengthening the soul and lifting the spirit upward towards eternal things. O

that I may in this sense feel the Lord dealing with me! A sense of the divine

presence and indwelling bears the soul towards heaven as upon the wings of

eagles. At such times we are full to the brim with spiritual joy, and forget

the cares and sorrows of earth; the invisible is near, and the visible loses

its power over us; servant-body waits at the foot of the hill, and the

master-spirit worships upon the summit in the presence of the Lord. O that a

hallowed season of divine communion may be vouchsafed to me this evening! The

Lord knows that I need it very greatly. My graces languish, my corruptions

rage, my faith is weak, my devotion is cold; all these are reasons why his

healing hand should be laid upon me. His hand can cool the heat of my burning

brow, and stay the tumult of my palpitating heart. That glorious right hand

which moulded the world can new-create my mind; the unwearied hand which bears

the earth’s huge pillars up can sustain my spirit; the loving hand which

incloses all the saints can cherish me; and the mighty hand which breaketh in

pieces the enemy can subdue my sins. Why should I not feel that hand touching

me this evening? Come, my soul, address thy God with the potent plea, that

Jesus’ hands were pierced for thy redemption, and thou shalt surely feel that

same hand upon thee which once touched Daniel and set him upon his knees that

he might see visions of God.

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To Forgive or to Blame – Charles Stanley

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Colossians 3:12-17

“It’s not my fault” is a prevalent attitude in our culture. To avoid responsibility for their own actions, people blame others: “I wouldn’t yell at my kids so much if my own mother had loved me more” or “I wouldn’t speak unkindly about my boss if he showed me some respect.” Resentment wells up until the victim is blind to everything except how his life is impacted by someone else’s hurtful deeds. Then casting blame is easy. But God has a challenge for believers: Forgive those who wound you.

The Lord’s Prayer mentions several of God’s duties but lists only one for believers: to forgive debtors (Matt. 6:12). The metaphor of debt describes sin well. A wronged person often feels that the responsible party owes something, such as an apology or compensation. But by showing mercy to one who has sinned, you stamp his or her obligation to you “paid in full.” Reparations and retribution are no longer required.

Sometimes our wounds are so deep that forgiveness does not come easily. Remember that Jesus bears the scars of others’ sins, too, and His Holy Spirit enables believers to carry out this difficult task. While your debtor may have done nothing to deserve grace, choose to give it anyway, just as Jesus did for you.

When God forgives, He remembers wrongs no more (Jer. 31:34). This doesn’t mean that transgressions magically ceases to have happened. Instead, the Lord refuses to use past wrongs as a reason to punish His people. He set the pattern of debt cancellation, and we are to follow His example (Matt 6:15).

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the

darkness.” / Genesis 1:4

Light might well be good since it sprang from that fiat of goodness, “Let

there be light.” We who enjoy it should be more grateful for it than we are,

and see more of God in it and by it. Light physical is said by Solomon to be

sweet, but gospel light is infinitely more precious, for it reveals eternal

things, and ministers to our immortal natures. When the Holy Spirit gives us

spiritual light, and opens our eyes to behold the glory of God in the face of

Jesus Christ, we behold sin in its true colours, and ourselves in our real

position; we see the Most Holy God as he reveals himself, the plan of mercy as

he propounds it, and the world to come as the Word describes it. Spiritual

light has many beams and prismatic colours, but whether they be knowledge,

joy, holiness, or life, all are divinely good. If the light received be thus

good, what must the essential light be, and how glorious must be the place

where he reveals himself. O Lord, since light is so good, give us more of it,

and more of thyself, the true light.

No sooner is there a good thing in the world, than a division is necessary.

Light and darkness have no communion; God has divided them, let us not

confound them. Sons of light must not have fellowship with deeds, doctrines,

or deceits of darkness. The children of the day must be sober, honest, and

bold in their Lord’s work, leaving the works of darkness to those who shall

dwell in it forever. Our Churches should by discipline divide the light from

the darkness, and we should by our distinct separation from the world do the

same. In judgment, in action, in hearing, in teaching, in association, we must

discern between the precious and the vile, and maintain the great distinction

which the Lord made upon the world’s first day. O Lord Jesus, be thou our

light throughout the whole of this day, for thy light is the light of men.

 

Evening  “And God saw the light.” / Genesis 1:4

This morning we noticed the goodness of the light, and the Lord’s dividing it

from the darkness, we now note the special eye which the Lord had for the

light. “God saw the light”–he looked at it with complacency, gazed upon it

with pleasure, saw that it “was good.” If the Lord has given you light, dear

reader, he looks on that light with peculiar interest; for not only is it dear

to him as his own handiwork, but because it is like himself, for “He is

light.” Pleasant it is to the believer to know that God’s eye is thus tenderly

observant of that work of grace which he has begun. He never loses sight of

the treasure which he has placed in our earthen vessels. Sometimes we cannot

see the light, but God always sees the light, and that is much better than our

seeing it. Better for the judge to see my innocence than for me to think I see

it. It is very comfortable for me to know that I am one of God’s people–but

whether I know it or not, if the Lord knows it, I am still safe. This is the

foundation, “The Lord knoweth them that are his.” You may be sighing and

groaning because of inbred sin, and mourning over your darkness, yet the Lord

sees “light” in your heart, for he has put it there, and all the cloudiness

and gloom of your soul cannot conceal your light from his gracious eye. You

may have sunk low in despondency, and even despair; but if your soul has any

longing towards Christ, and if you are seeking to rest in his finished work,

God sees the “light.” He not only sees it, but he also preserves it in you.

“I, the Lord, do keep it.” This is a precious thought to those who, after

anxious watching and guarding of themselves, feel their own powerlessness to

do so. The light thus preserved by his grace, he will one day develop into the

splendour of noonday, and the fulness of glory. The light within is the dawn

of the eternal day.

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Journey of Arrivals – Ravi Zacharias

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“As for me,” said American writer E.B. White, “I en­joy liv­ing among ped­es­tri­ans who have an in­stinct­ive and ha­bitu­al real­iz­a­tion that there is more to a jour­ney than the mere fact of ar­rival.”(1)

Under typical circumstances, the beloved author of Charlotte’s Web would not have presented me with much pause here. The pause of agreement, yes, for his is the kind of thought with which I deeply resonate. Particularly in the segments of life where we are comfortable with our divided realms, we lamentably fail to see the great gift of the collective whole; end triumphs over means, destination over the journey, heaven is divided from earth, the spiritual from the physical, the present from the eternal. White’s words fit aptly upon any soapbox addressing the paradox of a kingdom that is both present and approaching, a kingdom found both along the way and in our final arrival—a mystery Jesus championed again and again, in his storytelling and in his own coming and going. In the kingdom he espoused, the journey toward it is not a matter of merely arriving one distant day at the gates of pearl, but rather finding the pearl of great price in our midst even now and seizing it for all eternity. Under typical circumstances, I would have enlisted E.B. White’s voice in one of my favorite sermons and kept moving.

But I happened to read this quote as I watched live coverage of 33 Chilean miners emerging from a two-month journey of being trapped beneath the earth. For them, the journey was indeed astounding, but the arrival was everything.

Over seventy years ago from a pulpit in London, Dietrich Bonhoeffer described the image of a man trapped after a mining disaster: Deep in the earth, dark as night, the man is cut off and alone. The supply of oxygen is limited. Food, water, and options are scarce; silence and fear are not. He knows his situation, and he can do nothing but wait. Writes Bonhoeffer, “He knows that up there, the people are moving about, the women and children are crying—but the way to them is blocked. There is no hope.”(2) But what if just then, in the distance, the sounds of tapping are heard—the sound of knocking, the sound of friends, the sounds of drills, rescue capsules, and deliverance? This, said Bonhoeffer in December of 1933, is the hope of Christian Advent: the coming of a deliverer, the drawing near of God to humankind, the arrival of Christ our rescuer. Like the Chilean miners, elated at the arrival of Manuel Gonzalez, the rescuer sent 2,040 feet underground to coordinate the procedure, Christ’s arrival into our dark world matters most profoundly. His descent assures our ascent.

But his arrival is not the end of our waiting. The journey continues. “Can and should there be anything else more important for us than the hammers and blows of Jesus Christ coming into our lives?” asks Bonhoeffer.(3) Indeed, no. Yet even with the hope of Christ in our midst, Advent teaches us how to wait and to watch, how to experience the journey expectantly, though we remain in the dark, though we find ourselves impatient pedestrians anxious for new scenery. We learn to be pedestrians bent on arrival, but alert on the journey nonetheless: “When these things begin to take place,” instructs Christ, “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

The world is of course still dark and lonely. But in it every day and each new year is the startling hope of a rescuer in our midst. “There are actually 34 of us,” wrote Jimmy Sanchez from underground, who at 19 years old was the youngest trapped miner, “because God has never left us down here.”(4) The signs and sounds of this hope are all around:  sounds of God’s reign in unexpected places; signs of Christ in fellow pedestrians; the sounds of saints who have gone before us, and now stand on the solid surface of our hope.

The story of Advent is a journey of arrivals. The word itself, from the Latin adventus, means arrival, approach, coming. And it is this storied mystery we are invited to proclaim: Christ has arrived. Christ walks among us. Christ assures our own arrival is near.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) E.B. White, One Man’s Meat (Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers, 1997), 108.

(2) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christmas Sermons (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 89.

(3) Ibid., 96.

(4) Tim Padgett, “Chile’s Mine Rescue: Media Circus and Religious Revival,” Time Online, October 12, 2010, http://www.time.com/, accessed October 19, 2010.

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Which Virgin Birth? – Ravi Zacharias

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A while back I received an email from a friend of mine, a retired Princeton University professor, in which he detailed some of his objections to Christianity, and in his last line—as if to trump all other considerations—he wrote, “Nor can I believe in a virgin birth.” No further argument. As if to say, it would be crazy to believe in such a thing.

It did make me think, why is it so often the virgin birth that we have the hardest time accepting? Why not Jesus walking on water? Why not him multiplying the loaves?

Maybe it’s because we’re happy for God to do what he wants with his own body, and we’re happy for him to give us gifts, but we get offended at the thought of a miracle that inconveniences us, that has a claim on our lives, that requires us to respond “I am the Lord’s servant,” as Mary did (Luke 1:38).

I thought to write back to my friend with reasons why perhaps he could believe in a virgin birth. But then I realized, he already does. In fact, every person is committed to a virgin birth, whether they realize it or not.

We find one virgin birth in Chapter 1 of Luke’s Gospel:

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:38).

Admittedly, this is out of the realm of the ordinary. But what exactly is the alternative?

My colleague John Lennox recently debated another Princeton professor—Peter Singer—who is one of the world’s most influential atheists. John challenged him to answer this question: why are we here? And here’s how Peter responded:

“We can assume that somehow in the primeval soup we got collections of molecules that became self-replicating; and I don’t think we need any miraculous or mysterious .”(1)

And I remember thinking, How does us somehow getting self-replicating molecules in the primeval soup not count as a mysterious explanation? That sounds a lot like a virgin birth to me.

Or take the brilliant Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking’s latest attempt to propose an atheistic explanation for our universe: “. . . the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”(2)

Is that any less miraculous of a birth than the account from Luke Chapter 1?

We live in a miraculous world. Regardless of whether you are a theist, an atheist, or an agnostic, there’s no getting around that fact. It’s not a matter of whether we believe in a virgin birth, it’s just a matter of which virgin birth we choose to accept.

We can believe in the virgin birth of an atheistic universe that is indifferent to us—a universe where “there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”(3) Or we can believe in the virgin birth of a God who loves us so deeply that he came to be born among us and to live beside us, to call us “family” (Hebrews 2:11) and “friends” (John 15:15), and to give himself the name “God with us” (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).

There is a depth of relationship that is only possible between people who have been through the worst together— those who have been there in each other’s suffering, those who have fought through disaster side by side, those who have sat beside one another in devastation with nothing left to say other than “I know exactly what you’ve been through, and I still love you and I still believe in you.” Because of Jesus, that depth of relationship is possible with God. That is what we celebrate at Christmas.

Growing up near New York City, one of my most vivid memories of Christmas is of homeless people begging on the street corners. And I would give some change if I had some. Imagine someone who offers to trade his home for a cold street corner, who instead of giving a few coins sat down on the street corner himself and handed over the key to his home.

At Christmas, Jesus literally comes and lives in our home—with all of its suffering, sin, and shame—and he shows us the home it will be, the home he is preparing—an eternal home where “[God] will wipe every tear from [our] eyes,” where there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4).

The way we accept this gift is with simple words: I’m sorry. Thank you.

I’m sorry for the times I’ve hid from you. I’m sorry for the times I’ve run from you. I’m thankful that you didn’t give up on me, but were willing to make even the greatest sacrifice in order to be with me. I want to be with you too, wherever that leads, not only this Christmas but always.

Vince Vitale is a member of the speaking team with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Oxford, England.

(1) “Is There a God,” Melbourne, Australia. 21 July 2011.

(2) Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design (New York: Bantam, 2010), 180.

(3) Richard Dawkins, A River Out of Eden (New York: Perseus, 1995), 133.

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Nativity Scenes – Ravi Zacharias

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I have always insisted that my position on December birthdays is that its proprietors are easily neglected. (As a kid, I thought it was a clever way of inspiring sympathy and presents.) We are over-shadowed by Christmas decorations in November and over-looked in December by relatives busy with Christmas errands and office parties. And yet, I have always secretly loved it. On the day I was born, the world was awake, decking the halls, and a great number of them were looking to the birth of another infant. The spirit of Christmas seems a part of my own, the birth of Christ a part of my identity, reminding me each year that I too was born, that I was fragile, that I was held. For those born in December (and for any who remember their own beginnings in the scenes of Advent), the season offers a time of contemplating infantile beginnings, a lesson in what it means to be human, like no other. Stories and celebrations of one’s birth are juxtaposed with a nativity story told long before we were born and one that will continue to be told long after us.

In fact the story of Christianity is a story filled with nativity scenes. In these stories, we are told of a God who is present before we have accomplished anything and longing to gather us long before we know it. Thus David can pray, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” And God can say to the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” And those who witnessed the miracle of Elizabeth and Zechariah can rightly exclaim God’s hand upon the child before that child could say his own name: “The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord’s hand was with him.”(1)

In a world where significance and identity are earned by what we do, by what we have accomplished, by what we own, and Christmas is about the lines we fought, the lists we finished, the gifts we were able to secure, the kingdom of God arrives scandalously, jarringly—even offensively—into our captive and often content lives. In this kingdom, a person’s value begins before she has said or done the right things, before he has accumulated the right lifestyle, or even thought to make the right lists. In this kingdom, God not only uses children in the story of salvation, not only calls us to embrace the kingdom as little children, but so the very God of creation steps into the world as a child.

Children are not usually the main characters in the stories we tell, yet the story of Christmas begins and ends with a child most don’t quite know what to do with. Here, a vulnerable baby in a stable of animals breaks in as the harbinger of good news, the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets, the anointed leader who comes to set the captives free—wrapped in rags and resting in a manger. Coming as a child, God radically draws near, while at the same time radically overthrowing our conceptions of status, worth, power, and authority. Jesus is crowned king long before he can sit in a throne. He begins overturning idols and upsetting social order long before he can even speak.

If truth be told, perhaps I feel a certain delight in celebrating births and birthdays at Christmastime because it is the season in which it is most appropriate—and most hopeful—to remember our fragility, our dependency, and the great reversal of the kingdom of God: For God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.(2) Advent, like childhood, reminds us that we are in need of someone to hold us. It also reminds us that, like the baby in a Bethlehem stable, we too are somewhat out of place, longing for home in the midst of it. The image of a tearful baby in a manager is a picture of God in his most shocking, unbefitting state—the Most High becoming the lowest, the face of God wrapped tightly in a young girl’s arms.

How true that to be human is to be implicitly religious, for even within our most deeply felt needs for love and refuge, we are reminded that there is one who comes so very far to meet us. Inherent in our most vulnerable days, whoever we are, is the hope that God, too, took on the despairing quality of fragility in order to offer the hope of wholeness. In our most weakened states of despair and shortcoming, Christ breaks in and shows the paradoxical power of God in an unlikely nativity scene. Glory to God in the lowest, indeed.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) cf. Psalm 139:13-14, Jeremiah 1:5, Luke 1:65-66.

(2) 1 Corinthians 1:27.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “Continue in prayer.” / Colossians 4:2

It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied

with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts,

or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, “Then

began men to call upon the name of the Lord;” and just as we are about to

close the volume, the “Amen” of an earnest supplication meets our ear.

Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob–there a Daniel who

prayed three times a day–and a David who with all his heart called upon his

God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have

multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but

the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever

God has made prominent in his Word, he intended to be conspicuous in our

lives. If he has said much about prayer, it is because he knows we have much

need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must

not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy

poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord’s mercy show

thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping

of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of

the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the

comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God,

thou wilt seek thy Father’s face, and live in thy Father’s love. Pray that

this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer

communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of his

love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that

thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must

be, “Continue in prayer.”

 

Evening  “Let the people renew their strength.” / Isaiah 41:1

All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continueth by itself.

“Thou renewest the face of the year,” was the Psalmist’s utterance. Even the

trees, which wear not themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with

labour, must drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures of

the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day

by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from the earth. Neither can man’s life

be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste

of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by

feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the

soul-fattening table of the ordinances. How depressed are our graces when

means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without

the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live

without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had

begotten it, it would wait upon him as the flowers wait upon the dew. Without

constant restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or

the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within. When the

whirlwind shall be loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap,

and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots. When tempests arise, woe to

the mariners that have not strengthened their mast, nor cast their anchor, nor

sought the haven. If we suffer the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely

gather strength and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so,

perhaps, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may follow. Let us

draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall

realize the fulfilment of the promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew

their strength.”

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The Spirit That Conquers – Charles Stanley

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Philippians 3: 7-14

Paul was a man with a spirit that conquered. Throughout his ministry, he faced countless obstacles but never gave up. He pictured the Christian life as a race, and we each need this same kind of spirit if we hope to finish well.

Courage: A conquering spirit is willing to risk failure. Though we naturally want to appear strong and capable, God delights in empowering us in our weaknesses so He gets the glory.

Confidence: We’re likely to stumble when we doubt our ability to do what God requires. However, when our confidence is placed in the Lord instead of in ourselves, we can move ahead, knowing that He’ll enable us to do His will.

Commitment: The Lord promises to: guide us as we run the race; provide whatever is needed; and strengthen us along the way. However, we must be committed to Him and determined to carry out His will.

Persistence: The road we’re traveling is full of distractions, opposition, and obstacles that tempt us to give up. That’s why Paul advises us to “press on” through hardships toward that which is of eternal value (v. 14).

Forward Focus: We must also forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead (v. 13). Those weighed down by baggage from the past lose sight of the goal.

The key to success in this race is an all-consuming desire to reach the goal. If we find no value in the prize, we’ll readily give up along the way and settle for the immediate gratification the world offers. But if we understand what awaits us at the finish line in heaven, we’ll press on.

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Getting to Know Christ Intimately – Charles Stanley

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Philippians 3:12-21

No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, it’s never too late to begin pursuing a deeper relationship with Him. Whether you’re already passionate about Jesus or know Him only on a surface level, everyone is welcome to join Paul and “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). To get started, follow these six steps:

Study Scripture. No one can know God apart from His Word since He speaks to us through it, revealing who He is and what He does.

Be willing to spend time alone with the Lord in prayer, meditation, and worship. One of the biggest reasons Christians don’t have a close relationship with Jesus is that they’re unwilling to invest the time needed to get to know Him intimately.

Trust the Lord. The depth of any relationship depends on the level of trust.

Obey Him. As we take each step of obedience, God reveals more of Himself.

Observe how Christ works in your life. By paying attention to how the Lord operates, you’ll become familiar with His ways and goals.

Make Jesus your top priority. Be willing to lay aside anything that competes with your loyalty and devotion to Him.

Knowing Christ intimately is an attainable goal. The key is persistence, so forget past failures and press on. Find an example to follow. My grandfather’s relationship with Jesus was the inspiration for my journey of intimacy with Christ. I knew if he had that kind of relationship with Jesus, so could I.

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Into the World as We Know It – Ravi Zacharias

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Garrison Keillor’s description of Aunt Marie is one I have not been able to shake this season. Repeatedly, she has come to mind in discordant moments of Christmas preparation, somewhere between errands at the mall and lyrics that put a stop to them. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining,/ Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.” No description of the Incarnation more readily makes the common stressors of Christmas seem less important. And yet, Aunt Marie, with her “fat little legs” and “her heavy, fur-collared coat,” has made a serious attempt to wrestle me back down to a sad, human, earthly reality. Keillor writes:

“She knew that death was only a door to the kingdom where Jesus would welcome her, there would be no crying there, no suffering, but meanwhile she was fat, her heart hurt, and she lived alone with her ill-tempered little dogs, tottering around her dark little house full of Chinese figurines and old Sunday Tribunes. She complained about nobody loving her or wanting her or inviting her to their house for dinner anymore. She sat eating pork roast, mashed potato, creamed asparagus, one Sunday at our house when she said it. We were talking about a trip to the North Shore and suddenly she broke into tears and cried, ‘You don’t care about me. You say you do but you don’t. If I died tomorrow, I don’t know as you’d even go to my funeral.’ I was six. I said, cheerfully, ‘I’d come to your funeral,’ looking at my fat aunt, her blue dress, her string of pearls, her red rouge, the powder on her nose, her mouth full of pork roast, her eyes full of tears.”(1)

Christmas has reminded us what many of us already know: that the world is waiting, groaning for more, longing for redemption, for peace on earth and goodwill to humanity, for release from darkness and sin and loneliness and disillusionment, for God to come near to the world as we know it. Like Aunt Marie, this waiting is sometimes fraught with discomfort; we wait, and we sense a lonely, earthly reality. But Advent forces the experience of waiting into a different light. Our waiting need not be dehumanizing, dispiriting, as waiting often feels.

The New Testament describes it quite differently—not as a difficult means to a better end, but as part of the promise itself. Eugene Peterson writes, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”(2) Waiting itself is, of course, a reminder that we are earthbound.

But so is Christ.

The Christian’s celebration of Christmas is the assurance that we wait with good reason. “The word became flesh,” wrote John, “and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God did not merely come near, he became flesh that could touch weaknesses, experience loneliness, and encounter the lowest moments of being human. He came to be with us, to move through us, to work within us. He came as small and vulnerable as humans come, getting close enough to bear the scars of our outrage and near enough to prove he would stay regardless. He came far nearer than Aunt Marie—or most of us—are yet able to recognize. “That is what incarnation means,” writes Frederick Buechner. “It is untheological. It is unsophisticated. It is undignified. But according to Christianity, it is the way things are. All religions and philosophies that deny the reality or the significance of the material, the fleshly, the earthbound, are themselves denied.”(3)

God became one of us, not to erase every shadow or to undo the difficulties of humanity, but to be with us in the midst of it, to transform our spectrum of darkness by bearing a truer depth of light, and to enlarge us with the joy of expectancy until the fullness of time when every hope has come to pass.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home (New York: Viking, 1987), xxi-xxii.

(2) Eugene Peterson, The Message, Romans 8:24-25.

(3) Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), 169.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,

if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” / John 7:37

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the

feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads

with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering

of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our

provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders

that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only

the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to

be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you

by us.” What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love

which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to

his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to

quench his soul’s thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his

understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the

person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth

as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus

can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other

distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice,

ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The

thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of

inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is

not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus

sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to

works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self

bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising

Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and

drink, ere the sun sets upon the year’s last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a

reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can

drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe

in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the

water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff

the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of

divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus

is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as he

cries to each of us,

 

“IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME AND DRINK.”

 

Evening “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” / Jeremiah

8:20

Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment

to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You

know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the

pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and

therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall

judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing

upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing

have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these

hopeful seasons have come and gone–your summer and your harvest have

past–and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into

eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is

going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you–will you ever be saved? Is

there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you

unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with

you–the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection–what

more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to

impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren

heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not

more than likely that you will abide as you are till death forever bars the

door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable

one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy

to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is

logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find

no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is,

and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!

Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write

out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing

of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of

the Lord, and from the glory of his power. A brother’s voice would fain

startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year

begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate

these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it

will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of

all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit.

Let not the new year’s midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, now,

NOW believe, and live.

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Loving Your Child – Charles Stanley

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As parents, we want our children to love us, spend time with us, talk with us, and stay close to us for as long as we live. More importantly, we would like them to want to do those things. But if we don’t love them unconditionally now, it’s unlikely they will remain nearby in the future.

“But aren’t I responsible to help them develop to their fullest potential?” you might ask. “Are there not times when I need to push a little?”

Absolutely! In fact, motivating your children to excellence and improvement is part of expressing unconditional love and acceptance to them. To allow kids simply to get by in life is a form of covert rejection.

If you want to motivate your children without expressing an attitude of conditional acceptance, two things must be true:

First, all your prodding and exhortation must be preceded by demonstrations of unconditional love for them. There must be memorials, so to speak, to their worthiness in your eyes. By “memorials,” I mean prior events or conversations that have clearly expressed your love.

Memorials are beneficial because they give your children something to recall for reassurance when you pressure them to perform. Sometimes your expectations will be too high, and they will fail. Without reminders of your unconditional acceptance, children might fear your disappointment and rejection.

Memorials can also take the form of a gift or even the bestowal of certain privileges. In presenting the gift, stress several times that it is not connected with any particular occasion or action on their part; you are giving simply because you love them.

• Second, to properly motivate your child, you must measure him by his own ability, not somebody else’s. Comparing one child’s performance to that of another eventually destroys self-esteem, expressions of individuality, and creativity.

The real key here is to view each of your children as a unique individual. Every young person is gifted in some particular way. Your goal as a parent is to recognize that area of strength and emphasize it as your child develops, for within these strengths is his or her greatest potential for excellence. By cultivating these strengths, you will also do great things for your children’s self-esteem.

When I was growing up, I didn’t do so well in high school. Everything turned out okay, but I didn’t have a good start. As a result, I never told my kids that I expected them to make As or Bs while they were in school. I didn’t tell them they had to make the baseball team or be the most popular. Instead, my question to them was, “Did you do your best?”

One good way to find out whether or not your children feel unconditional acceptance is simply to ask them, “What do you think it would take for you to make Mom and Dad as proud of you as we could possibly be?”

Evaluate the answer carefully. Is it task-oriented? Do they feel they must do all their chores every day or be straight-A students? Do they feel obligated to make a team or squad, or perform some other task to win your approval?

Perhaps the answer is more character-related. Do your children believe that doing their best at every task they undertake is what would please you? Do they know you would be proud of them for obeying God, regardless of the cost?

Their reply will give you insight into what you’ve actually communicated, regardless of what you have said. The value system you establish will serve as a basis upon which they accept themselves and others.

Simply telling your children that you accept them unconditionally is not enough. The apostle John wrote, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18 NKJV). Unconditional love and acceptance are communicated more clearly by what we do and how we do it than simply by what we say.

Our children must have a backlog of memories to sustain their belief that we truly love them, no matter what. Such love tells our sons and daughters that we accept them for who they are—despite what they do. What a sense of security and acceptance this gives them!

Do you want to encourage your kids to succeed? You don’t need to push expectations on them. If we direct their focus to the Lord, then they will want to be obedient and do their best for Him.

Never take for granted the impact that you have on their lives. Remember, the way you act toward your kids today greatly influences the way they will respond to you tomorrow.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” / Ecclesiastes 7:8

Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and

rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see the

end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until his enemies be made

his footstool. “As he is, so are we also in this world.” You must bear the

cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or

you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian.

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” See that creeping

worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark

that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the

flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That

caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death;

but when Christ shall appear you shall be like him, for you shall see him as

he is. Be content to be like him, a worm and no man, that like him you may be

satisfied when you wake up in his likeness. That rough-looking diamond is put

upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much–much

that seemed costly to itself. The king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the

monarch’s head with trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that

coronet, and it beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely

vexed by the lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond,

for you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting process.

Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown

shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray

of glory shall stream from you. “They shall be mine,” saith the Lord, “in the

day when I make up my jewels.” “Better is the end of a thing than the

beginning thereof.”

 

Evening  “Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?” / 2 Samuel

2:26

If, O my reader! thou art merely a professor, and not a possessor of the faith

that is in Christ Jesus, the following lines are a true ketch of thine end.

You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go because others

go, not because your heart is right with God. This is your beginning. I will

suppose that for the next twenty or thirty years you will be spared to go on

as you do now, professing religion by an outward attendance upon the means of

grace, but having no heart in the matter. Tread softly, for I must show you

the deathbed of such a one as yourself. Let us gaze upon him gently. A clammy

sweat is on his brow, and he wakes up crying, “O God, it is hard to die. Did

you send for my minister?” “Yes, he is coming.” The minister comes. “Sir, I

fear that I am dying!” “Have you any hope?” “I cannot say that I have. I fear

to stand before my God; oh! pray for me.” The prayer is offered for him with

sincere earnestness, and the way of salvation is for the ten-thousandth time

put before him, but before he has grasped the rope, I see him sink. I may put

my finger upon those cold eyelids, for they will never see anything here

again. But where is the man, and where are the man’s true eyes? It is written,

“In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.” Ah! why did he not lift up

his eyes before? Because he was so accustomed to hear the gospel that his soul

slept under it. Alas! if you should lift up your eyes there, how bitter will

be your wailings. Let the Saviour’s own words reveal the woe: “Father Abraham,

send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my

tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” There is a frightful meaning in

those words. May you never have to spell it out by the red light of Jehovah’s

wrath!

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Satan’s Conqueror – John MacArthur

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“Since . . . the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14-15).

To be free to live with God and share in all His blessings, someone had to shatter Satan’s death grip on us. Sin is what gives Satan his powerful hold on us, but the power itself is death.

Satan knew that God required death for us because of sin. He knew that all died in Adam–that death became a certain fact of life. And he knew that men, if they remained as they were, would die and go out of God’s presence into hell forever. So he wants to hang onto men until they die because once they are dead, the opportunity for salvation is gone forever.

To wrest the power of death from Satan’s hand, God sent Christ into the world. If you have a greater weapon than your enemy, then his weapon is useless. You can’t fight a machine gun with a bow and arrow. Satan’s weapon is death, but eternal life is God’s weapon, and with it Jesus destroyed death.

How was He able to do it? He rose again, proving He had conquered death. That’s why He said, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). His resurrection provides the believer with eternal life.

Nothing terrifies people more than the fear of death. But when we receive Christ, death in reality holds no more fear for us since it simply releases us into the presence of our Lord. We can say with Paul, “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Rejoice that you have placed your hand into the hand of the conqueror of death, who will lead you through death and out the other side.

Suggestion for Prayer: Ask God to give you a greater realization that He has conquered death to help you live life more fully to His glory.

For Further Study: Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. How are we to live our lives based on what we know about death?

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A Passion to Know Christ – Charles Stanley

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Philippians 3:3-11

Most believers know the essential facts about their Savior’s life, but few know Him well relationally. They’re so busy with activities and pursuits that they rarely think of Jesus until a desperate situation arises.

Yet those who know the Lord intimately have a continually deepening relationship with Him. He’s their top priority, and every possession, accomplishment, or pursuit is worthless compared to knowing Him. Consider the results of making Christ the passion of your life (Phil. 3:8-10):

Increasing hunger: “that I may gain Christ.” Even though Paul had an amazing relationship with Jesus, his passion was so great that he wanted to know Him more.

Changed life: “the righteousness which comes from God.” The more we know Christ, the more we’ll mature spiritually and display His righteousness.

Increased capability: “the power of His resurrection.” The Spirit’s power flows through those intimately related to Jesus.

New perspective: “the fellowship of His sufferings.” When we understand Christ, we recognize the benefits He works in us through our suffering.

Victorious living: “being conformed to His death.” Christians who know Jesus intimately count themselves dead to the sins that once dominated their lives.

Is your life characterized by a deep, abiding passion for Christ, or is your relationship with Him shallow and mechanical? Believers must not let the pleasures, opportunities, and responsibilities of this world rob them of the treasure of knowing Jesus. It’s time to count it all as loss and pursue Christ.

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Memory Full! – Greg Laurie

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My computer screen flashes a little warning sign on those occasions when I try to load too much information onto my hard drive. It tells me my memory is full—it has no more room for any more information.

In a similar way, if we would fill our hearts and minds with God’s Word, then when the devil comes with his perverse thoughts and ungodly schemes, he will see a sign that notifies him that our memory is full. It is so important for us to fill our minds and hearts with the Word of God!

Certainly it is good to carry a Bible in your briefcase, pocket, or purse; but the best place to carry the Bible is in your heart. It is good to go through the Word of God, but it is better for the Word of God to go through you. It is great to mark your Bible, but it is best if your Bible marks you. It must affect the way you live.

The Bible tells us to store up its words in our hearts, teach them to our children, and write them down (Deuteronomy 11:18-20). Memorizing a verse may not feel like a supernatural experience, but it is an important discipline. That is why the Lord told Joshua to meditate on His Word “day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

When you store the Word of God in your memory, the next time you face a difficult situation, suddenly that verse will come to you with freshness from the very throne of God. It will speak to your situation and strengthen your heart.

So get God’s Word into your heart and mind! And put it into practice.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of

God.” / Galatians 2:20

When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all

said, “Live;” and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely

essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are

incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace

confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than

the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the

branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus.

Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its

firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its

all-glorious Head.

“Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord,

Is not this office thine? and thy fit name,

In the economy of gospel types,

And symbols apposite–the Church’s neck;

Identifying her in will and work

With him ascended?”

Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She

knows his excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her

trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace,

that he never ceases to strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and

all-sufficient support of his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a

living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love,

confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and

bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness

between itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the

one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as near

heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most

sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.

 

Evening   “I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.” / Matthew 10:34

The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to

make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him

to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his

great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him

more graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what

your Master said? “I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and

the daughter against her mother; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own

household.” Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, he brings war.

Where the light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must

flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot

and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot. If

you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your

heels. If you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend

upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the

world is an enemy to God; but if you are true and faithful to the Most High,

men will resent your unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against

their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You

will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall

turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you

must thus be courageous. For the truth’s sake to hazard reputation and

affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of

moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not

your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right manfully in your

Master’s steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief

warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “Can the rush grow up without mire?” / Job 8:11

The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no

substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as

formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by

the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution. I would not

willingly be a deceiver or be deceived; perhaps the text for this day may help

me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. The rush by nature lives in

water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has

taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. Its

greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances, a present abundance of

water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. Is this my case?

Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable

and respectable? Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received

from his hands? If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I

shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys. But can I honestly assert

that when bodily comforts have been few, and my surroundings have been rather

adverse to grace than at all helpful to it, I have still held fast my

integrity? Then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. The

rush cannot grow without mire, but plants of the Lord’s right hand planting

can and do flourish even in the year of drought. A godly man often grows best

when his worldly circumstances decay. He who follows Christ for his bag is a

Judas; they who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but

they who attend him out of love to himself are his own beloved ones. Lord, let

me find my life in thee, and not in the mire of this world’s favour or gain.

 

Evening   “And the Lord shall guide thee continually.” / Isaiah 58:11

“The Lord shall guide thee.” Not an angel, but Jehovah shall guide thee. He

said he would not go through the wilderness before his people, an angel should

go before them to lead them in the way; but Moses said, “If thy presence go

not with me, carry us not up hence.” Christian, God has not left you in your

earthly pilgrimage to an angel’s guidance: he himself leads the van. You may

not see the cloudy, fiery pillar, but Jehovah will never forsake you. Notice

the word shall–“The Lord shall guide thee.” How certain this makes it! How

sure it is that God will not forsake us! His precious “shalls” and “wills” are

better than men’s oaths. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Then

observe the adverb continually. We are not merely to be guided sometimes, but

we are to have a perpetual monitor; not occasionally to be left to our own

understanding, and so to wander, but we are continually to hear the guiding

voice of the Great Shepherd; and if we follow close at his heels, we shall not

err, but be led by a right way to a city to dwell in. If you have to change

your position in life; if you have to emigrate to distant shores; if it should

happen that you are cast into poverty, or uplifted suddenly into a more

responsible position than the one you now occupy; if you are thrown among

strangers, or cast among foes, yet tremble not, for “the Lord shall guide thee

continually.” There are no dilemmas out of which you shall not be delivered if

you live near to God, and your heart be kept warm with holy love. He goes not

amiss who goes in the company of God. Like Enoch, walk with God, and you

cannot mistake your road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable

love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. “Jehovah”–mark the

word–“Jehovah shall guide thee continually.”