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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
MORNING:
"Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than
a branch which is among the trees of the forest?"
-- Ezekiel 15:2
These words are for the humbling of God's people; they are called God's
vine, but what are they by nature more than others? They, by God's
goodness, have become fruitful, having been planted in a good soil; the
Lord hath trained them upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring
forth fruit to his glory; but what are they without their God? What are
they without the continual influence of the Spirit, begetting
fruitfulness in them? O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that
thou hast no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to
make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God;
and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor.
Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast. Consider what thou
wouldst have been but for divine grace. Look upon thyself as thou art
now. Doth not thy conscience reproach thee? Do not thy thousand
wanderings stand before thee, and tell thee that thou art unworthy to
be called his son? And if he hath made thee anything, art thou not
taught thereby that it is grace which hath made thee to differ? Great
believer, thou wouldst have been a great sinner if God had not made
thee to differ. O thou who art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have
been as valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon thee.
Therefore, be not proud, though thou hast a large estate-a wide domain
of grace, thou hadst not once a single thing to call thine own except
thy sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation, that thou, who hast
borrowed everything, shouldst think of exalting thyself; a poor
dependent pensioner upon the bounty of thy Saviour, one who hath a life
which dies without fresh streams of life from Jesus, and yet proud! Fie
on thee, O silly heart!
EVENING:
"Doth Job fear God for nought?"
-- Job 1:9
This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright man of
old, but there are many in the present day concerning whom it might be
asked with justice, for they love God after a fashion because he
prospers them; but if things went ill with them, they would give up all
their boasted faith in God. If they can clearly see that since the time
of their supposed conversion the world has gone prosperously with them,
then they will love God in their poor carnal way; but if they endure
adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their love is the love of the
table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the master of
the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his reward in
the next life, and to endure hardness in this. The promise of the old
covenant is adversity. Remember Christ's words-"Every branch in me that
beareth not fruit"-What? "He purgeth it, that it may bring forth
fruit." If you bring forth fruit, you will have to endure affliction.
"Alas!" you say, "that is a terrible prospect." But this affliction
works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the subject
of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his
tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus. Rest
assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod.
Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not,
but rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for
in them you will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you
will be delivered from clinging to the present, and made to long for
those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you. When you
feel that as regards the present you do serve God for nought, you will
then rejoice in the infinite reward of the future.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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