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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Thursday, March 20, 2008
MORNING:
"My beloved."
-- Song of Solomon 2:8
This was a golden name which the ancient Church in her most joyous
moments was wont to give to the Anointed of the Lord. When the time of
the singing of birds was come, and the voice of the turtle was heard in
her land, her love-note was sweeter than either, as she sang, "My
beloved is mine and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies." Ever in her
song of songs doth she call him by that delightful name, "My beloved!"
Even in the long winter, when idolatry had withered the garden of the
Lord, her prophets found space to lay aside the burden of the Lord for
a little season, and to say, as Esaias did, "Now will I sing to my
well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard." Though the
saints had never seen his face, though as yet he was not made flesh,
nor had dwelt among us, nor had man beheld his glory, yet he was the
consolation of Israel, the hope and joy of all the chosen, the
"beloved" of all those who were upright before the Most High. We, in
the summer days of the Church, are also wont to speak of Christ as the
best beloved of our soul, and to feel that he is very precious, the
"chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely." So true is it
that the Church loves Jesus, and claims him as her beloved, that the
apostle dares to defy the whole universe to separate her from the love
of Christ, and declares that neither persecutions, distress,
affliction, peril, or the sword have been able to do it; nay, he
joyously boasts, "In all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us."
O that we knew more of thee, thou ever precious one!
"My sole possession is thy love;
In earth beneath, or heaven above,
I have no other store;
And though with fervent suit I pray,
And importune thee day by day,
I ask thee nothing more."
EVENING:
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church."
-- Ephesians 5:25
What a golden example Christ gives to his disciples! Few masters could
venture to say, "If you would practise my teaching, imitate my life;"
but as the life of Jesus is the exact transcript of perfect virtue, he
can point to himself as the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher
of it. The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model.
Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect the
grace which was in him. As a husband, the Christian is to look upon the
portrait of Christ Jesus, and he is to paint according to that copy.
The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to his church.
The love of a husband is special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for the
church a peculiar affection, which is set upon her above the rest of
mankind: "I pray for them, I pray not for the world." The elect church
is the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of his
head, the bracelet of his arm, the breastplate of his heart, the very
centre and core of his love. A husband should love his wife with a
constant love, for thus Jesus loves his church. He does not vary in his
affection. He may change in his display of affection, but the affection
itself is still the same. A husband should love his wife with an
enduring love, for nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." A true husband loves his
wife with a hearty love, fervent and intense. It is not mere
lip-service. Ah! beloved, what more could Christ have done in proof of
his love than he has done? Jesus has a delighted love towards his
spouse: He prizes her affection, and delights in her with sweet
complacence. Believer, you wonder at Jesus' love; you admire it-are you
imitating it? In your domestic relationships is the rule and measure of
your love-"even as Christ loved the church?"
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THE SECRET MESSAGE OF JESUS: UNCOVERING THE TRUTH THAT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING, by Brian McLaren
Unafraid of controversy or the uncomfortable gray areas of life,
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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