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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Monday, January 7, 2008
MORNING:
"For me to live is Christ."
-- Philippians 1:21
The believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do so when God
the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by grace he was brought
to see the dying Saviour making a propitiation for his guilt. From the
moment of the new and celestial birth the man begins to live to Christ.
Jesus is to believers the one pearl of great price, for whom we are
willing to part with all that we have. He has so completely won our
love, that it beats alone for him; to his glory we would live, and in
defence of his gospel we would die; he is the pattern of our life, and
the model after which we would sculpture our character. Paul's words
mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim and end of his
life was Christ-nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words of an
ancient saint, he did eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life. Jesus was
his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life
of his life. Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up
to this idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live is Christ? Your
business-are you doing it for Christ? Is it not done for self-
aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, "Is that a mean
reason?" For the Christian it is. He professes to live for Christ; how
can he live for another object without committing a spiritual adultery?
Many there are who carry out this principle in some measure; but who is
there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for Christ as the apostle
did? Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian-its source, its
sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word-Christ
Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in
thee and to thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the
plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be,
"Ready for either."
EVENING:
"My sister, my spouse."
-- Song of Solomon 4:12
Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon with intense
affection addresses his bride the church. "My sister, one near to me by
ties of nature, partaker of the same sympathies. My spouse, nearest and
dearest, united to me by the tenderest bands of love; my sweet
companion, part of my own self. My sister, by my Incarnation, which
makes me bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by
heavenly betrothal, in which I have espoused thee unto myself in
righteousness. My sister, whom I knew of old, and over whom I watched
from her earliest infancy; my spouse, taken from among the daughters,
embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me for ever. See how true
it is that our royal Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for he dwells with
manifest delight upon this two-fold relationship. We have the word "my"
twice in our version; as if Christ dwelt with rapture on his possession
of his Church. "His delights were with the sons of men," because those
sons of men were his own chosen ones. He, the Shepherd, sought the
sheep, because they were his sheep; he has gone about "to seek and to
save that which was lost," because that which was lost was his long
before it was lost to itself or lost to him. The church is the
exclusive portion of her Lord; none else may claim a partnership, or
pretend to share her love. Jesus, thy church delights to have it so!
Let every believing soul drink solace out of these wells. Soul! Christ
is near to thee in ties of relationship; Christ is dear to thee in
bonds of marriage union, and thou art dear to him; behold he grasps
both of thy hands with both his own, saying, "My sister, my spouse."
Mark the two sacred holdfasts by which thy Lord gets such a double hold
of thee that he neither can nor will ever let thee go. Be not, O
beloved, slow to return the hallowed flame of his love.
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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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