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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
MORNING:
"The Lord our Righteousness."
-- Jeremiah 23:6
It will always give a Christian the greatest calm, quiet, ease, and
peace, to think of the perfect righteousness of Christ. How often are
the saints of God downcast and sad! I do not think they ought to be. I
do not think they would if they could always see their perfection in
Christ. There are some who are always talking about corruption, and the
depravity of the heart, and the innate evil of the soul. This is quite
true, but why not go a little further, and remember that we are
"perfect in Christ Jesus." It is no wonder that those who are dwelling
upon their own corruption should wear such downcast looks; but surely
if we call to mind that "Christ is made unto us righteousness," we
shall be of good cheer. What though distresses afflict me, though Satan
assault me, though there may be many things to be experienced before I
get to heaven, those are done for me in the covenant of divine grace;
there is nothing wanting in my Lord, Christ hath done it all. On the
cross he said, "It is finished!" and if it be finished, then am I
complete in him, and can rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory, "Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but
that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is
of God by faith." You will not find on this side heaven a holier people
than those who receive into their hearts the doctrine of Christ's
righteousness. When the believer says, "I live on Christ alone; I rest
on him solely for salvation; and I believe that, however unworthy, I am
still saved in Jesus;" then there rises up as a motive of gratitude
this thought-"Shall I not live to Christ? Shall I not love him and
serve him, seeing that I am saved by his merits?" "The love of Christ
constraineth us," "that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves but unto him which died for them." If saved by imputed
righteousness, we shall greatly value imparted righteousness.
EVENING:
"Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi."
-- 2 Samuel 18:23
Running is not everything, there is much in the way which we select: a
swift foot over hill and down dale will not keep pace with a slower
traveller upon level ground. How is it with my spiritual journey, am I
labouring up the hill of my own works and down into the ravines of my
own humiliations and resolutions, or do I run by the plain way of
"Believe and live"? How blessed is it to wait upon the Lord by faith!
The soul runs without weariness, and walks without fainting, in the way
of believing. Christ Jesus is the way of life, and he is a plain way, a
pleasant way, a way suitable for the tottering feet and feeble knees of
trembling sinners: am I found in this way, or am I hunting after
another track such as priestcraft or metaphysics may promise me? I read
of the way of holiness, that the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall
not err therein: have I been delivered from proud reason and been
brought as a little child to rest in Jesus' love and blood? If so, by
God's grace I shall outrun the strongest runner who chooses any other
path. This truth I may remember to my profit in my daily cares and
needs. It will be my wisest course to go at once to my God, and not to
wander in a roundabout manner to this friend and that. He knows my
wants and can relieve them, to whom should I repair but to himself by
the direct appeal of prayer, and the plain argument of the promise.
"Straightforward makes the best runner." I will not parlay with the
servants, but hasten to their master.
In reading this passage, it strikes me that if men vie with each other
in common matters, and one outruns the other, I ought to be in solemn
earnestness so to run that I may obtain. Lord, help me to gird up the
loins of my mind, and may I press forward towards the mark for the
prize of my high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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