Strangers and Pilgrims on The Earth!

This poor world is a boarding-house in which we lodge for a night or two, but it is not our home. The furniture is not ours, the title-deeds are not in our name, and the lease will soon expire. Why then, do we fret over its broken chairs, or quarrel about the best rooms? The Christian's true estate lies yonder, where Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Let us hold all earthly things with a loose hand, lest when the Master calls, we be found glued to the toys of the nursery, instead of ready for the palace of the King.  The path of the Christian pilgrim is not strewn with flowers, but with thorns. He must expect to be misunderstood by the men of this world, for he speaks a different language and seeks a different country. 

Beloved friends, you and I are passing through Vanity Fair, but we are not free to set up shop there. The true pilgrim buys none of the merchandise of the place neither its honors, its pleasures, nor its empty praise. He has his treasure in Heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt. A pilgrim must travel light. The more luggage he carries, the wearier he becomes. So, the Christian is called to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets him. Houses, lands, gold, and reputation are heavy burdens for a man who is bound for eternity. 

This world is a wilderness, and though the desert winds howl and the fiery serpents hiss, the pilgrim need not fear. His God has sworn to bring him safely to the land that flows with milk and honey the better country of everlasting rest.  Our Lord Jesus was the great Pilgrim who had nowhere to lay His head. If we are in Him, we must share His pilgrim spirit. The cross marks the pilgrim's pathway, but the crown lies at the end of it! We are pilgrims and strangers upon the earth, and we do well to remember it every day we live. This poor world is not our rest, for it is polluted! 

Our home is beyond the river of death, in the land where the flowers never fade and the sun never sets. Let us not build our nests too firmly in these trees that will soon be cut down, but keep our hearts loose from earthly things, that when the trumpet sounds, we may rise and enter into the joy of our Lord. What is this poor dying world, that we should fall in love with it? Its smiles are deceitful, its riches take wings and fly away, and its pleasures bite like adders! The believer has been taught by the Spirit to call it what it is a broken cistern, a fading flower, a temporary tent. His heart is fixed on things above, not on earthly toys. 

To the true believer, this world is a wilderness, dry and barren, full of serpents and thorns. He finds no lasting satisfaction in its broken cisterns. He is a pilgrim passing through, and though the road may be rough and the sky dark, he knows that every step brings him nearer to the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Micah 2:10 ... Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

1 Peter 2:11 ...  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Hebrews 11:13 ... These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ❤

Holy Longings

There is no truer test of the state of the soul, than its deepest longings and desires. Outward conduct may be restrained by fear, reputation, or habit. But longing true, inward, unforced longing reveals the condition of the heart. As a person longs in secret, so they truly are.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God's presence?" (Psalm 42:1-2) This is not casual interest. It is desperation. The deer in a drought-stricken wilderness, will not be distracted by secondary things it must have water or it will die. In the same way, the regenerate soul longs for Jesus. Not merely for blessings, not merely for relief, but for God Himself.

Longing for Jesus. Conversion is not the addition of religion to a busy life; it is the creation of new desires. The Spirit removes the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27) Wherever there is saving grace, holy longings are born.

Psalm 63:1 says, "O God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water." Notice the intensity. Saving faith is not a cold mental assent to doctrine though doctrine is essential; it is a living hunger for the living Jesus.

The believer says, "Whom have I in Heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!" (Psalm 73:25-26) This is the language of supreme affection. "On earth I desire no one besides You." Jesus is treasured above all competitors. When flesh fails, when earthly joys fade, when strength diminishes then God remains as "the strength of my heart and my portion forever!"

Examine yourself here. What do you most deeply desire? Wealth? Fame? Lust? Or Jesus? One of the surest evidences of regeneration is this: when stripped of everything else, the soul still says, "Give me Jesus!"

Longing for Heaven. The Christian is, in a profound sense, a stranger here in this wilderness world. He is a citizen of Heaven, living temporarily on earth (Philippians 3:20.) This poor world cannot satisfy the renewed heart. "Arise and depart; for this is not your rest, because it is polluted." (Micah 2:10)

Thus, believers groan for glory (Romans 8:23) They do not merely fear Hell; they long for Heaven. They yearn to see the face of the One they now know by faith. Heaven is precious, not because of golden streets, but because Jesus is there. When the heart whispers, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20), it reveals allegiance to another kingdom.

Whenever saving grace comes, it creates heavenly longings; desires which the world cannot understand. The saints crave Heaven, and thirst for the presence of God. Such longing marks them as strangers and pilgrims in this present world. "You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand!"

The righteous long for holy living, because God Himself authors those desires. What He intends to give, He first teaches us to crave. Spiritual desires are the buds of coming fruit. Do you long to conquer sin? That longing is evidence of spiritual life. Do you grieve your remaining corruption? That grief signals regeneration.

May your soul pant for Him. May your heart cry, "Whom have I in heaven but You?" May your deepest desire be Jesus now, Heaven soon, and holiness always.

The unconverted regret the consequences of sin, but they do not hate sin itself. The believer sighs to be free from sin altogether.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

Proverbs 10:24 ... The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

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Encouragement to a Burdened Soul

My Very Dear,

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, by the anointing and teaching of the Holy Comforter. "For," said our Lord, "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you." "He will guide you into all truth." "He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me." The Holy Spirit is the living guide to Jesus. It is He who says, with power, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." It is He who convinces of sin, who wounds, and probes the wound, and lays open the evil of our nature, causing us to know that we are corrupt within and without. But He not only thus discovers the malady, but He also applies the remedy. He abases the sinner; and exalts the Savior. He gives the deep sense of sin that the great salvation may be more appreciated and enjoyed. We are as bad as we can be, and it is needful to know it; but the knowledge of our depravity will not save us. It is, "Look unto ME, and be saved, all the ends of the earth." Some seem to glory in their deep discoveries of depravity; but nay, rather "let him that glories, glory in the Lord."

The end of a thing is better than the beginning: the beginning of the Lord's teaching is to know ourselves; the end to know Him, whom to know is life eternal, and happy is it for those who tarry not in all the plain, but amidst all the sense of sin and the loathing of self, are kept pressing on, crying, "That I may know Him;" "that I may find Him;" "that I may be found in Him;" "I press towards the mark;" "I long for the prize."

We read, Luke 6:19, "The whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all." Their miseries pressed them on to seek His mercies; and so, the poor woman with the issue of blood; it seemed incurable; it made her unclean. How dare she approach the Holy Jesus? How dare she presume to touch His unspotted garment? Ah, but she believed that He had power, and that that power was to be received by faith; and thus, she obtained the cure. "Somebody did touch Me; I know that power has gone out from Me." She had believed with the heart, and thus He drew her on to confess with the mouth, and then He openly gave her the full reward of her faith "Daughter, be of good comfort: your faith had made you whole; go in peace." (Luke 8:43-48)

Ah, many are now thronging and pressing Jesus by noisy profession, but only a few are getting the healing virtue, and those are unclean diseased ones who think themselves most unlikely of all. But of Him they hear; and "faith comes by hearing." To Him they are brought, for "all that the Father gives me shall come to me." And they do not come in vain, for "he who comes to me I will never cast out." "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Yes, power to forgive sins also. Yes, my precious Savior, with hand and heart do I subscribe thus--You have power to save those whom no one else could or would; for You have clothed such a vile sinner as I am with the garments of salvation. You have covered me with the robe of righteousness. Therefore, my soul does greatly rejoice in the Lord and is joyful in my God. Oh, those words, "My God!" when lawfully and feelingly uttered, have in them a world of blessedness!

Well, you see how it is with me. I am still delighting in the love of the altogether lovely Jesus; but not half enough. What do you think of Christ? Surely my heart's desire is, that He may be enthroned in your affections, for "He is worthy," and the more unworthy you feel, the better He will suit you! In your flesh "dwells no good thing." While you dwell in that tent you will find evil, only evil. Like the father of the faithful, you will have to go forth into the land (Deuteronomy 8:7-9) which the Lord will show you; but He must order all your journeying, as He says, "I will guide you with my eye, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go."

It seems, however, that at present you are under the ministry of condemnation, because you are resting in your own righteousness, which you will never establish, as it is contrary to the law of faith. (Romans 10:3) The contrast is, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not alter the flesh, but after the Spirit." This is the ministry of righteousness which follows the other and exceeds in glory; for the work of righteousness is peace, "and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever." Here is that which establishes us. "You have set my feet upon a rock and established my goings." "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established." (2 Chronicles 20:20) "In righteousness shall you be established." (Isaiah 54:14) "He that establishes us in Christ and has anointed us is God, (2 Corinthians 1:21) who also seals us with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance." (Ephesians 1:13, 14)

All the operations of that Spirit in the soul are either to make known or make way for Christ; the latter seems at present His work in your heart. He is discovering your evil and shaking your movable things. (Hebrews 12:27) Like John, He goes before the Lord to prepare His way. Be of good cheer, this Divine Messenger betokens that the Lord is at hand. He would not have showed you all these things if He meant to destroy you. "I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified" "through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

The Lord blesses you and grants you the instructions of wisdom for the training of your dear child, and all else you are called to. And now, farewell! May you be brought home at the appointed season in safety, and with dew resting upon your branch. As your husband is a lover of husbandry, he perhaps will not be offended with the Christian love and greeting of a gleaner, who can feelingly say, "The Lord bless you," (Ruth 2:4) and make you a blessing. (Micah 5:7) This is the true wish of my heart for you both.

Your very affectionately,
Ruth

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Purifying Fires of Christ's Furnace!

O my soul, what deep need is there for this refining and purifying of your Lord what inward corruption, what carnality, what worldliness, what self-seeking, what creature idolatry, what God dishonoring unbelief! All these imperatively demand the searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ's furnace! 

My soul, your Refiner and Purifier is Jesus! It is a consolatory thought that our refining is in the hands of Jesus - in the hands that were pierced for us on the cross! Jesus shapes all your trials! Jesus sends all your afflictions! Jesus mixes all your sorrows! Jesus shapes and balances all the clouds of your pilgrimage! Jesus prepares and heats the furnace that refines you as silver and purifies you as gold! 

Then, O my soul, tremble not at the knife that wounds you, at the flame that scorches you, at the cloud that shades you, at the billows that surge above you. Jesus is in it all, and you are as safe as though you had reached the blissful climate where the vine needs no pruning, and where the ore needs no purifying, where the sky is never darkened, and upon whose golden sands where no storms of adversity ever blow, or waves of sorrow ever break. Mark the Refiner's position. "He will SIT as a refiner and purifier of silver." (Malachi 3:3)

It would be fatal to his purpose, if the human refiner were to leave his post while the liquid mass was seething in the cauldron. But there he patiently sits, watching and tempering the flame, and removing the refuse and the dross as it floats upon the surface of the molten ore. Just so, Christ sits as a Refiner and with an eye that never slumbers, and with a patience that never wearies, and with a love that never chills, and with a faithfulness that never falters, He watches and controls the process that purifies our hearts, burnishes our graces, sanctifies our nature, and impresses more vividly His own image of loveliness upon our soul. If He places you in the fire, He will bring you through the fire, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it is tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:7)

But sweet and soothing are the truth that the believer is not alone in the fire! The Refiner is with us, as with the three Hebrew children passing through the king's burning furnace. The Lord will have us be polished stones. As some believers are more rusty and some more alloyed than others they need a rougher file, and a hotter furnace! 

This may account for the great severity of trial through which some of the Lord's precious jewels are called to pass. Not less dear to His heart, are they for this refining. Look up, my soul, to your Refiner! The knife is in a father's hand! The flame is under a Savior's control! Be still, be humble, be submissive. 

[Octavius Windslow] 

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Micah 6:9 ... The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Zechariah 13:9 ... And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Job 23:10 ... But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. ❤

10 Things God Does With Our Sin

1. He forgives our transgression. (Psalm 32:1,5) 

David sought and received God’s forgiveness. The Hebrew word for forgiven literally means “lifted off.” The image was portrayed in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan’s protagonist, Christian, was weighed down by the burden of his sin. When he came to the cross, the sin burden fell from his shoulders, rolled down a hill, and disappeared into an empty tomb. Unconfessed sin is a burden that weighs us down. When we confess our sin to God, He lifts it off our shoulders, rolls it away, and it disappears. 

2. He covers our sin (Psalm 32:1, Romans 4:7)

This imagery is taken from the Day of Atonement. On this day the high priest took blood from a sacrificial animal, carried it into the Most Holy Place, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant (a chest that contained the Ten Commandments). The sprinkled blood symbolically covered the broken law and shielded the sinner from judgment. It’s significant that when David stopped trying to cover up his sin, God “covered” it. When something is covered, it’s hidden from view. God puts our sin out of His sight. 

3. He does not charge us with iniquity. (Psalm 32:2, Romans 4:8)

This is what God does not do with our sin; He no longer counts our sin against us. “Charge” is a bookkeeping term. This is the imagery Paul used in Romans 4:8-25. God charges our sin to Jesus’ ledger (who bore our penalty) and writes Jesus’ righteousness into our ledger and credits us with His righteousness. 

4. He removes our sins from us. (Psalm 103:12, John 1:29) 

How far does God remove our sin from us? “As far as the east is from the west” an immeasurable distance. East and west will never meet. 

5. He washes away our guilt and cleanses us from our sin. (Psalm 51:2, Isaiah 1:18, 1 John 1:9) 

Sin leaves a mark or a stain only God can wipe away. He washes it away “completely.” 

6. He throws all our sins behind His back. (Isaiah 38:17) 

In a metaphorical sense, God puts all our sins behind His back so that He does not see them anymore. 

7. He sweeps away our transgressions. (Isaiah 43:25)

Our unconfessed sins hang over us like a dark cloud, but God promises to sweep them away like the rising sin burns away the morning mist (Isaiah 44:22) 

8. He remembers our sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12, 10:16-17)

When God forgives our sins; He forgets them. That means He no longer holds our sins against us. 

9. He casts all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19) 

God casts (hurls) our sins into the sea, where they sink like a stone. Such an act of grace caused Micah to ask, “Who is a God like you?” 

10. He nailed our sin debt to the cross. (Colossians 2:14) 

God not only erases our sin debt, but He also destroys the document on which our debt was recorded by nailing it to the cross. We are forgiven because of the cross of Jesus. 

[ Mike Livingstone ~ 10 Things God Does with Our Sin (Session 11 – Psalm 32:1-11) - Explore the Bible]

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In The Solitudes of That Voiceless Ocean

The picture here is of an ocean, not near the shore, but far beyond sight of land, in the midst of a wide wilderness of waters, the illimitable horizon stretching on every side; and when the sounding line is let down, it cannot fathom the depth or reach the bottom! 

There, in the solitudes of that voiceless ocean, a plunge is heard! The surface is ruffled only for a moment; then the waves resume their usual calmness. The load, whatever it is, is never more seen. It is buried somewhere in these dark caverns! No spirit of the deep can ever come up from the silent caves to tell its story! 

Ships cross and recross where it fell, but no distinguishing marker is left on the unstable highway, to mark the spot. The sea can be tempted by no bribe; to give up the secret of its keeping, all trace is lost from sight and memory forever! 

That is a picture of what God does for all His redeemed people! 

[John MacDuff] 

Micah 7:19 ... He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

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"Will of God"

There is the permissive will of God and the perfect will of God. Know the difference between the two and try to walk in the latter. 

[Christopher Gregory]

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1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 ... For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

Romans 12:2 ... And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Ephesians 6:5-6 ... Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ... In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Peter 2:15-16 ... For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 

Micah 6:8 ... He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ❤

Pardoned!!

 When people bring up your past, tell them that Jesus dropped the charges!

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Micah 7:19 ...  He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Numbers 14:19-21 ... Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Psalm 103:12 ... As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Romans 4:7 ... Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ❤

God's Chastening Rod!

They know from whence all their trials spring even from the hand of God Himself! They see their afflictions to be the fruit of their heavenly Father's love, sent for the production of the most gracious ends. They feel within themselves the humbling, sanctifying efficacy of their afflictions. They perceive that their trials are instrumental to the carrying on of God's work within them, and to the enhancing of that weight of glory which shall be granted to them at the last day. They know that their afflictions, of whatever kind they are, "do not spring out of the ground!" (Job 5:6) 

They understand that their trials are all appointed by God in number, weight, measure, and duration. If it is disease of body, it is God who inflicts the wound. If the trial comes from any other quarter, it still is God's chastening rod that strikes us, with a view to our spiritual good, "that we may be made partakers of His holiness. 

They realize that "no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11) 

Our trials, of whatever kind, are to humble us, to purge away our dross, to make us cleave more closely to our Savior, and to fit us for our eternal rest! To view them in this light will greatly compose our minds. Instead of murmuring against the Lord we shall be thankful to Him. Instead of increasing our misery our trials shall be a source of joy. "Hear the rod and the One who appointed it!" (Micah 6:9) 

There is no rod which has not a voice to us. By putting us into His furnace, we shall be purged from our dross, and come out of it as vessels better fitted for His service! (Malachi 3:2-3) Well therefore may the consideration of the end for which afflictions are sent, and of the benefit to be derived from them; reconcile us to the difficulty of them and dispose us patiently to wait for the removal of them. Could Job have foreseen the outcome of his troubles, they would have been deprived of more than half their weight! 

All of our afflictions, of whatever kind they are, will endure but a little time! The Apostle speaks of all, even the heaviest afflictions, as "light and momentary!" "What is your life? You are but a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away!" (James 4:14) And when once this frail life is ended, there is an everlasting termination of all our sorrows! Every genuine believer enters immediately into "God's presence, where there is fullness of joy for evermore!" Into that blissful world, nothing that is afflictive can ever enter to disturb their peace! "God will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!" (Revelation 21:4)  

How little will the transient clouds that once occasioned a momentary gloom be remembered, when our dwelling is forever fixed in the full splendor of the Sun of Righteousness. Surely, we need not be much cast down at trials, however painful to flesh and blood when we consider that their duration is but as the twinkling of an eye, and that they will so soon terminate in inconceivable and everlasting felicity! 

[Charles Simeon] 

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 1 Peter 1:6 ... Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

 2 Corinthians 4:17 ... For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; ❤

The Spyglass of Faith!

This world is not our rest. It is only our temporary lodging-place, our battleground to fight sin and Satan, our vineyard in which to labor for our Master until sundown, our training-school for the development of character and growth in grace. In a little while, perhaps within a few days for some of us the veil which hides the eternal world may drop and the gates of the Father's house may open before our astonished vision! 

If heaven is ready for Christ's redeemed people, then surely, they should be making ready for heaven. We ought to think more about our everlasting home. If our treasures are there, then our hearts should be there also in frequent and joyful anticipations. A Christian, to whom Jesus Christ is real, and the glories of the world to come are real, and who has set his affections set on things above must inevitably have some deep meditations about his eternal home, and his magnificent inheritance. He loves to read about it, and gathers up eagerly the few grand, striking things which his Bible tells him about that glorious City of God.

Sometimes, when cares press heavily, or bodily pains wax sharp, or bereavements darken his house he gets homesick, and he says, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest!" (Psalm 55:6) Such devout meditations do not prove any Christian to be a dreamy mystic. They are not the pious sentimentalizing's of mourners to whom this world has lost all its charm; nor of enthusiasts whose religion evaporates in mere emotion. The hundred-handed Paul constantly reminds his fellow-workers that "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ!" (Philippians 3:20) 

It is no wonder that some professors do not catch more distinct glimpses of the celestial world as their vision is obscured. A very small object when held close to the eye will hide the noonday sun. Just so, a professor may hold a dollar so close to the eye of his soul as to shut out both Christ and heaven! Fish shut up in a dark cavern for a long time become blind. In the same way, we will lose the faculty of spiritual sight if we shut ourselves up in a cavern of carking worldliness! 

Those whose hearts are in heaven, and who keep it constantly before their view, have abundant sources of spiritual joy. They renew their strength as they push upward and heavenward. What is it to them that the road is long; that the hills of difficulty are steep; that there are often lions in the way; that there are crosses to be carried; and that not far ahead is that river of death over which there is no bridge! None of these things disturb them! Heaven lies at the end of the way clothed in its glorious light! 

From the hilltops they can, with the spyglass of faith, bring heaven so near that they can see its gates, and its streets of shining gold, and the Lamb on His throne! These views of our imperishable inheritance of glory, ought to quicken our zeal greatly. The time is short and shortening every day! It is certain, that he who doesn't love Christ doesn't love heaven; and he who doesn't love heaven will never see heaven. A godly life is just a tarrying and a toiling in this earthly tent for Christ until we go into the heavenly mansions with Christ! Brethren! the miles to heaven are few and short; let us be found busy in heart and hand when the summons sounds, "Come up here!" And they rose to heaven! (Revelation 11:12)

[Theodore Cuyler] 

Micah 2:10 ... Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

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Sin Forgotten.

Stop asking God to forgive what he’s already forgotten.

Micah 7:19 ... He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Isaiah 43:25 ...  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Romans 8:1 ... There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Psalm 103:12 ... As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

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G░O░D░ ░L░O░V░E░S░ ░Y░O░U

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A Bag, a Book, and a Bottle!

God takes great care to comfort His people in their many trials and sorrows in this world. One of the goals which He commands His preachers to have, is the comfort of His people. He says, "Comfort, comfort My people." (Isaiah 40:1) Here are three things described in the Word of God that should be of great comfort to every believer: 

1. God has made A BAG FOR OUR SINS. Job said, "My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you sew up my iniquity." (Job 14:17) In ancient times when men died at sea, their bodies were placed in a weighted bag which was sewn together and sealed. Then they were cast into the depths of the sea. That is what God has done with our sins. They are cast "into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19) When Christ died for our sins which were imputed to Him, He put them all away. They were buried in the sea of God's infinite forgiveness, put away never to be brought up again. God almighty will never charge us with sin, impute sin to us, remember our sins against us, or treat us any less graciously because of our sin. That is the forgiveness of God! "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." (Romans 4:8) 

 2. The Lord has written A BOOK FOR OUR NAMES. Take heart child of God. Your name is written in the book of God! Before the worlds were made, the Lord God inscribed the names of His elect in the Lamb's book of life. In that book God has recorded, not only the names of the chosen heirs of Heaven, but also all things pertaining to them. The Lamb's book of life is the book of God's eternal purpose of grace, predestination, and election. The fact that our names are written in that book means that our salvation is a matter of absolute certainty; and that all things work together for our good by God's arrangement to secure our predestined end, which is perfect conformity to Christ. When our Lord says, "Rejoice because your names are written in Heaven," (Luke 10:20) He is telling us that we have nothing to fear. All is well with those whose names are written in Heaven! 

 3. Moreover, the Lord God keeps A BOTTLE FOR OUR TEARS. "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book." (Psalm 56:8) It was customary at ancient Egyptian funerals for mourners to have a small cloth or sponge to wipe away their tears. Then they were squeezed into a small vial, a tear bottle, and placed in the tomb with the dead, symbolizing the care the mourners had for the one who had died. Even so, the Lord our God, our heavenly Father, our almighty Savior, and our holy Comforter, tenderly cares for us. We are the very apple of His eye. The Lord our God has put our sins in a bag and buried them, written our names in a book to remember them, and placed our tears in a bottle to show His tender care for us. 

Could anything be more comforting in this world of sin, sorrow, and death?

[Don Fortner]

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Made for Frivolities?

Were you made only to be a machine for digging holes, laying bricks, or cutting out pieces of wood? Were you created only to stand at a counter and measure or weigh out goods? Do you think your God made you for that and that only? Is this the chief end of man to earn so many dollars a week, and try to make ends meet? Is that all immortal men were made for? 

As a man with a soul, capable of thought and judgment and not a mere animal like a dog, nor a machine like a steam engine; can you stand up and look at yourself, and say, "I believe I am perfectly fulfilling my destiny"? God has made man that he may glorify him and whatever else man accomplishes, if he attains not to this end, his life is a disastrous failure! 

Others are lovers of pleasure. They are merry as the birds, their life is as the flight of a butterfly, which lightly floats from flower to flower, according to its own sweet will. It cannot be that an immortal spirit was made for frivolities spending all its time on the playthings of the world. So great a thing as an immortal soul could not have been made by God with no higher object than to spend itself upon trifles as light as air.

Oh, pause a while, you are a careless, godless one! There is something more than the fool's laugh. All things are not a comedy. Death and Heaven and Hell are serious, and should not life be? The charms of music, the merriment of the mirthful assembly, the beauties of art, and the delights of banqueting there must be something more for you than these. Something more must be required of you than that you should waste your precious time from morn to night upon nothing but to please yourself! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

Micah 6:8 ... He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

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"Pride"

Pride is one of our greatest evils! To indulge pride, is to nourish a serpent in the bosom! The grace of God always humbles us; and it is only as we are sincerely humble, that we can be truly happy. God condescends to walk with the humble man, but He keeps the proud man at a distance. 

Consider what a vile sinner you were by nature, what evil now lurks in your heart, what you would have been, but for the grace of God and be humble. All you have which is truly good, is the gift of free grace! All you do that is good, is the effect of God's working in you! What then, do you have to be proud of? What reason then, do you have to boast? 

Oh, lie low in the dust of self-abasement! Nourish humbling thoughts of yourself! Admire the mercy, condescension, and infinite compassion of God in even noticing so vile, so unworthy a worm as yourself! 

[James Smith] 

Micah 6:8 ... He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

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What Does the Lord Require of You?

Simplicity and comprehensiveness mark the requirements of my God. He can abbreviate His demands into the fewest words; but they are words which embrace the inward and outward, the present and future, the earthly and the heavenly. I may fall into serious error regarding His will for me: It is not a religion of ritual observances which He requires. How easily I attach an undue importance to ceremonies and forms, rites and penances and fasts! 

Nor does He solicit primarily a religion of external moralities. God looks on my heart. Nor is it a religion of emotions of which He is in quest. I must not put excitement and tears, in the place of saving grace and childlike obedience. But see, my soul, God asks us to act justly. I cannot be His, unless I do justly. Everything that takes an improper advantage of another, and all that departs from the straightest line of absolute rectitude I must hate and abjure. It is a demand which pierces deeper than it seems. For the integrity of conduct He desires is the outcome only of a conscience He has quickened, and a will He has bent into submission to His law. 

The ethics of the Gospel are preceded and rendered possible, by the redemption and regeneration of the Gospel. And God asks tenderness. He counsels me to love mercy. The world is full of sorrow, and I am to move through it as a good physician, befriending and uplifting those in need. It is what He does Himself. Every glorious quality has its fountain in Him, but pre-eminently the quality of mercy. He is the great Forgiver and the great Helper; no earthly father loves like Him, and no mother is half so mild. So, my feeble torch is but kindled at His altar. 

My charities and philanthropies must be learned in His school, who pardons my ten thousand transgressions! And God asks humility. He commands me to lay my hand in His, and to walk humbly in His company. Nothing is so essential as poverty of spirit. It is the source and spring from which alone runs the fertilizing river of a holy life. The humble heart is where the flowers of Heaven find their congenial soil and grow into beauty and fragrance. I only begin to be a disciple, when my proud heart is brought low, and my Savior is lifted high. 

Now, my Father, if these are to be the features of my soul then it is manifest that none, but You can create them, and can nurture them, and can lead them to their perfection. Do the work Lord and have the glory! 

[Alexander Smellie] 

Micah 6:8 ... He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?❤

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Not Our Home

We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. This present world is not our home. We are coming up from the wilderness with our faces Zionward; we are traveling to the Celestial City!

Our path is rough, but the Savior sustains us.

Our pilgrimage lies through a wilderness, but faith cheers us with a view of the glorious rest of the redeemed in our Father's house, in mansions of blessedness!

Let this consideration animate us amid the conflicts of life. In a little while we shall obtain a joyous entrance into the glorious rest above. The storms of life's ocean will soon carry us into the haven of peace, where there is no trouble.

The language of Scripture is, "Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined beyond all remedy!" (Micah 2:10)

Your Savior, pilgrim Christian, has prepared for you a nobler rest than this polluted world!

In our Father's house are many spacious mansions, where your happy spirit, after tasting the bitter cup of life's sorrow, shall rest in eternal blessedness!

[David Harsha]

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Hebrews 13:14 ...  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

2 Corinthians 5:8 ... We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.❤

Painted Bubbles

What are all the vanities of this world but painted bubbles, when compared with this eternal treasure?

Is there not then cause for apprehension, lest, while we profess much love for Christ, our hearts should cleave unto the dust of this poor world?

Are we not in danger of making a home of this fleeting world, and of setting up our rest here, as if this wilderness were our glorious eternal inheritance?

[Thomas Reade]

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Ephesians 3:19 … And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Micah 2:10 … Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

Philippians 3:20 … For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Colossians 3:1-3 ...If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.❤

The Lord's Rod Has a Voice!

As affliction proceeds neither from blind necessity, nor from casual accident but from the hand of your Omniscient Governor and Judge; so nothing can be more certain than that it is designed for the accomplishment of some great and useful purpose!

Now the design of affliction is expressly revealed in the Word of God. He has condescended to explain the reasons of His dealings with you and it is alike your duty and your privilege to consider and to concur in His declared design. The general end of affliction, as it is explained in God's Word, is the moral and spiritual improvement of believers in other words, their progressive sanctification, and their preparation for glory. Oh! how important must the right use of affliction be, if it is intended to terminate in such a blessed result. It stands connected with our everlasting welfare with all that we can enjoy on earth, and all that we hope for in Heaven.

But more particularly, the day of adversity is intended for our INSTRUCTION. The Lord's rod has a voice which speaks to us lessons of heavenly wisdom. Therefore, we are required "to hear the rod, and Him who has appointed it." (Micah 6:9.) "The rod and reproof give wisdom." (Proverbs 29:15.) It presents to our minds many of the same great truths which are declared in Scripture but which we may have overlooked, or failed rightly to understand until they were pressed on our attention, and made the matter of our personal experience in the day of trouble.

Thus, it teaches most impressively, that great Scriptural truth of the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency as the portion of rational and immortal beings. This is a truth which might almost be regarded as self-evident; yet it is one which is very slowly and reluctantly admitted by the young disciple, and which can only be effectually impressed on his mind, and unfolded in all its extent, by the experience of disappointment and sorrow.

In like manner, the day of adversity teaches us the great lesson of our entire and constant dependence on God. But a little while before, we were rejoicing in the midst of prosperity our health was sound, our business prosperous, our families entire. But the sudden stroke has come which has smitten our bodies with disease, our business with bankruptcy, or our families with death. And that stroke has come from the Lord's hand!

Oh! in such circumstances, we are impressively taught that we are absolutely in God's power; that all that we have is at His sovereign disposal; that we depend on Him, day by day, continually for our personal preservation, our worldly prosperity, our domestic comfort, for all, in short, that we desire or need on earth.

These are some of the lessons which adversity, when viewed as a means of moral instruction, is fitted to inculcate and to impress with great practical power on our hearts. When these lessons are duly considered; and, above all, when they are submissively embraced and acted on the disciple will learn from his own experience the value of affliction, and admire the wisdom with which God suits His lessons to the most urgent necessities of his soul.

[James Buchanan]

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Job 5:6-7 … Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.❤

Perhaps He Will Smite You!

I can truly say of everything I have ever tasted in this world of God's mercy, (and my path has been remarkably strewn with divine lovingkindness), I feel more grateful to God for the bodily pain I have suffered, and for all the trials of diverse sorts I have endured, than I do for anything else.

I am sure I have derived more real benefit, and permanent strength, and growth in grace, and every precious thing from the furnace of suffering, than I have ever derived from prosperity. I know not how to quite express my meaning, but even depression of spirit and deep sadness have a particular charm within them, which laughter in vain may emulate.

Ponder and consider the much gratitude you owe to God for His chastening rod. Dwell much in your heart upon what God evidently regards as one of His distinguishing blessings. Do not lightly pass over, what God would have you consider. Count the cross and the rod to be doubly worthy of your deepest thought.

Remember that whenever you are chastened, you are not chastened as a slave master smites his victim, nor as a judge orders the criminal to be lashed; but as a tender father chastens his son. Your chastisement is a sign of sonship, it is a token of love! It is intended for your good. Accept it, therefore, in the spirit of sonship, and "Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when you are corrected by Him."

It is the Lord your God who chastens you! If He were not your God, He might let you alone! If He had not chosen you to be His own, He would not take such care of you! If He had not given Himself to be your treasure, He might not be so diligent in weaning you from all other treasures! But because you are His, He will withdraw your love away from this poor world.

Perhaps He will take one child after another from you, that all the love that was lavished on the children might flow towards Himself. Perhaps He will leave you a widow, that the love that ran in the channel of a husband may run altogether to Himself. Perhaps he will take away your riches, that the consolation you derived from them may be all derived from Him. Perhaps He will smite you, and then lay you on His own bosom, faint and helpless, that you may derive a strength and a joy from close and near fellowship with Himself, which you would never have had if it had not been that these other joys were removed.

Bless God for your chastenings! Let the sweetest note of your music be to Him who, as a loving father, chastens His children for their good.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Psalm 119:71 … It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Micah 6:9 … The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Hebrews 12:6 … For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Deuteronomy 8:5 … Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.

Isaiah 48:10 … Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.❤