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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
MORNING:
"Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine."
-- John 21:12
In these words the believer is invited to a holy nearness to Jesus.
"Come and dine," implies the same table, the same meat; aye, and
sometimes it means to sit side by side, and lean our head upon the
Saviour's bosom. It is being brought into the banqueting-house, where
waves the banner of redeeming love. "Come and dine," gives us a vision
of union with Jesus, because the only food that we can feast upon when
we dine with Jesus is himself. Oh, what union is this! It is a depth
which reason cannot fathom, that we thus feed upon Jesus. "He that
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."
It is also an invitation to enjoy fellowship with the saints.
Christians may differ on a variety of points, but they have all one
spiritual appetite; and if we cannot all feel alike, we can all feed
alike on the bread of life sent down from heaven. At the table of
fellowship with Jesus we are one bread and one cup. As the loving cup
goes round we pledge one another heartily therein. Get nearer to Jesus,
and you will find yourself linked more and more in spirit to all who
are like yourself, supported by the same heavenly manna. If we were
more near to Jesus we should be more near to one another. We likewise
see in these words the source of strength for every Christian. To look
at Christ is to live, but for strength to serve him you must "come and
dine." We labour under much unnecessary weakness on account of
neglecting this percept of the Master. We none of us need to put
ourselves on low diet; on the contrary, we should fatten on the marrow
and fatness of the gospel that we may accumulate strength therein, and
urge every power to its full tension in the Master's service. Thus,
then, if you would realize nearness to Jesus, union with Jesus, love to
his people and strength from Jesus, "come and dine" with him by faith.
EVENING:
"With thee is the fountain of life."
-- Psalms 36:9
There are times in our spiritual experience when human counsel or
sympathy, or religious ordinances, fail to comfort or help us. Why does
our gracious God permit this? Perhaps it is because we have been living
too much without him, and he therefore takes away everything upon which
we have been in the habit of depending, that he may drive us to
himself. It is a blessed thing to live at the fountain head. While our
skin- bottles are full, we are content, like Hagar and Ishmael, to go
into the wilderness; but when those are dry, nothing will serve us but
"Thou God seest me." We are like the prodigal, we love the
swine-troughs and forget our Father's house. Remember, we can make
swine-troughs and husks even out of the forms of religion; they are
blessed things, but we may put them in God's place, and then they are
of no value. Anything becomes an idol when it keeps us away from God:
even the brazen serpent is to be despised as "Nehushtan," if we worship
it instead of God. The prodigal was never safer than when he was driven
to his father's bosom, because he could find sustenance nowhere else.
Our Lord favours us with a famine in the land that it may make us seek
after himself the more. The best position for a Christian is living
wholly and directly on God's grace-still abiding where he stood at
first-"Having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Let us never for
a moment think that our standing is in our sanctification, our
mortification, our graces, or our feelings, but know that because
Christ offered a full atonement, therefore we are saved; for we are
complete in him. Having nothing of our own to trust to, but resting
upon the merits of Jesus-his passion and holy life furnish us with the
only sure ground of confidence. Beloved, when we are brought to a
thirsting condition, we are sure to turn to the fountain of life with
eagerness.
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CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE: LIVING IN YOUR SWEET SPOT, by Max Lucado
In Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado offers practical tools for
exploring and identifying your own uniqueness, putting your strengths
to work, and living in your "sweet spot" for the rest of your life.
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
and preacher Charles Spurgeon. It's part of HEARTLIGHT Magazine,
the leading Christian living e-zine on the Web. Visit HEARTLIGHT
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