October 2 - Morning"The hope which is laid up for you in heaven." — Colossians 1:5
Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the mainstay of our
joy here. It will animate our hearts to think often of heaven, for all that we
can desire is promised there. Here we are weary and toilworn, but yonder
is the land of rest where the sweat of labour shall no more bedew the
worker's brow, and fatigue shall be for ever banished. To those who are
weary and spent, the word "rest" is full of heaven. We are always in the
field of battle; we are so tempted within, and so molested by foes without,
that we have little or no peace; but in heaven we shall enjoy the victory,
when the banner shall be waved aloft in triumph, and the sword shall be
sheathed, and we shall hear our Captain say, "Well done, good and faithful
servant."
We have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are
going to the land of the immortal where graves are unknown things. Here
sin is a constant grief to us, but there we shall be perfectly holy, for there
shall by no means enter into that kingdom anything which defileth.
Hemlock springs not up in the furrows of celestial fields. Oh! is it not joy,
that you are not to be in banishment for ever, that you are not to dwell
eternally in this wilderness, but shall soon inherit Canaan?
Nevertheless let
it never be said of us, that we are dreaming about the future and forgetting
the present, let the future sanctify the present to highest uses. Through the
Spirit of God the hope of heaven is the most potent force for the product
of virtue; it is a fountain of joyous effort, it is the corner stone of cheerful
holiness. The man who has this hope in him goes about his work with
vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength. He fights against temptation
with ardour, for the hope of the next world repels the fiery darts of the
adversary. He can labour without present reward, for he looks for a reward
in the world to come. October 2 - Evening"A man greatly beloved." — Daniel 10:11
Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah! has your
unbelief made you forget that you are greatly beloved too? Must you not
have been greatly beloved, to have been bought with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot? When God smote
His only begotten Son for you, what was this but being greatly beloved?
You lived in sin, and rioted in it, must you not have been greatly beloved
for God to have borne so patiently with you?
You were called by grace
and led to a Saviour, and made a child of God and an heir of heaven. All
this proves, does it not, a very great and superabounding love? Since that
time, whether your path has been rough with troubles, or smooth with
mercies, it has been full of proofs that you are a man greatly beloved. If the
Lord has chastened you, yet not in anger; if He has made you poor, yet in
grace you have been rich. The more unworthy you feel yourself to be, the
more evidence have you that nothing but unspeakable love could have led
the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours. The more demerit you feel,
the clearer is the display of the abounding love of God in having chosen
you, and called you, and made you an heir of bliss.
Now, if there be such
love between God and us let us live in the influence and sweetness of it,
and use the privilege of our position. Do not let us approach our Lord as
though we were strangers, or as though He were unwilling to hear us — for
we are greatly beloved by our loving Father. "He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things?" Come boldly, O believer, for despite the
whisperings of Satan and the doubtings of thine own heart, thou art greatly
beloved. Meditate on the exceeding greatness and faithfulness of divine
love this evening, and so go to thy bed in peace. October 2 |