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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009
MORNING:
"And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with
Jesus."
-- Acts 4:13
A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have
read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best
life of Christ is his living biography, written out in the words and
actions of his people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we
should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking
likenesses of him, that the world would not have to hold us up by the
hour together, and say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness;" but
they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus;
he has been taught of him; he is like him; he has caught the very idea
of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and
every-day actions." A Christian should be like Christ in his boldness.
Never blush to own your religion; your profession will never disgrace
you: take care you never disgrace that. Be like Jesus, very valiant for
your God. Imitate him in your loving spirit; think kindly, speak
kindly, and do kindly, that men may say of you, "He has been with
Jesus." Imitate Jesus in his holiness. Was he zealous for his Master?
So be you; ever go about doing good. Let not time be wasted: it is too
precious. Was he self-denying, never looking to his own interest? Be
the same. Was he devout? Be you fervent in your prayers. Had he
deference to his Father's will? So submit yourselves to him. Was he
patient? So learn to endure. And best of all, as the highest
portraiture of Jesus, try to forgive your enemies, as he did; and let
those sublime words of your Master, "Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do," always ring in your ears. Forgive, as you hope
to be forgiven. Heap coals of fire on the head of your foe by your
kindness to him. Good for evil, recollect, is godlike. Be godlike,
then; and in all ways and by all means, so live that all may say of
you, "He has been with Jesus."
EVENING:
"Thou hast left thy first love."
-- Revelation 2:4
Ever to be remembered is that best and brightest of hours, when first
we saw the Lord, lost our burden, received the roll of promise,
rejoiced in full salvation, and went on our way in peace. It was spring
time in the soul; the winter was past; the mutterings of Sinai's
thunders were hushed; the flashings of its lightnings were no more
perceived; God was beheld as reconciled; the law threatened no
vengeance, justice demanded no punishment. Then the flowers appeared in
our heart; hope, love, peace, and patience sprung from the sod; the
hyacinth of repentance, the snowdrop of pure holiness, the crocus of
golden faith, the daffodil of early love, all decked the garden of the
soul. The time of the singing of birds was come, and we rejoiced with
thanksgiving; we magnified the holy name of our forgiving God, and our
resolve was, "Lord, I am thine, wholly thine; all I am, and all I have,
I would devote to thee. Thou hast bought me with thy blood-let me spend
myself and be spent in thy service. In life and in death let me be
consecrated to thee." How have we kept this resolve? Our espousal love
burned with a holy flame of devoutedness to Jesus-is it the same now?
Might not Jesus well say to us, "I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thy first love"? Alas! it is but little we have done for
our Master's glory. Our winter has lasted all too long. We are as cold
as ice when we should feel a summer's glow and bloom with sacred
flowers. We give to God pence when he deserveth pounds, nay, deserveth
our heart's blood to be coined in the service of his church and of his
truth. But shall we continue thus? O Lord, after thou hast so richly
blessed us, shall we be ungrateful and become indifferent to thy good
cause and work? O quicken us that we may return to our first love, and
do our first works! Send us a genial spring, O Sun of Righteousness.
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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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