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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Friday, December 14, 2007
MORNING:
"They go from strength to strength."
-- Psalms 84:7
They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of
these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.
Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us
this morning. "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow
stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength
to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but
by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the
wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way. But the
Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as
vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first
set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so
hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in
all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more
surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of
truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger
days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the
love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin
and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths
shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall
mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and
they shall walk and not faint." Fretful spirits sit down and trouble
themselves about the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction
to affliction." Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest
from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of
affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace.
God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to
full-grown shoulders.
EVENING:
"I am crucified with Christ."
-- Galatians 2:20
The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public
representative person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual
dying of all his people. Then all his saints rendered unto justice what
was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins.
The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ's
chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than
believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope
upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ's death, he had satisfied
divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a
blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon
the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead; the law has slain me, and I
am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the
curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could
do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am
crucified with Christ."
But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ's
death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in
causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the
pleasures of sin, he said, "I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them."
Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ,
he is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of
death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle,
"Nevertheless I live." He is fully alive unto God. The Christian's life
is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the
believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with
Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life!
Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and
sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!
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Content-type: text/html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
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.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?256
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ministry. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!
MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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