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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Friday, June 13, 2008
MORNING:
"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
-- Revelation 22:17
Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or preparation. He seeks
no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good
feelings, if you be but willing, you are invited; therefore come! You
have no belief and no repentance,-come to him, and he will give them to
you. Come just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without
price. He gives himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at the
corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can hardly
imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when he stands
before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink because I have not five
pounds in my pocket." However poor the man is, there is the fountain,
and just as he is he may drink of it. Thirsty passengers, as they go
by, whether they are dressed in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look
for any warrant for drinking; its being there is their warrant for
taking its water freely. The liberality of some good friends has put
the refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions.
Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street where
there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are
in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but cannot think of being so
vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to
drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips.
Oh, how many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot
therefore come to Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same
way as the harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way
as a chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which led
the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must
remain without the living water; but, "WHOSOEVER WILL, LET HIM TAKE THE
WATER OF LIFE FREELY."
EVENING:
"Remove far from me vanity and lies."
-- Proverbs 30:8
"O my God, be not far from me."
- Psalm 38:21
Here we have two great lessons-what to deprecate and what to
supplicate. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As
there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most
happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes
are fixed on vanity-he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is
quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere,
but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their
pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they
have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always
very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that this is the only world in
which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make
him as happy as I can in it." Christians must seek their delights in a
higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the
world. Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls. We have heard of a
philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a pit; but
how deeply do they fall who look down. Their fall is fatal. No
Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from
him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his
standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in
holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often
attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian
departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to
feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may
sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his
Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he
goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false
step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with
our God!
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