December 14 - Morning"They go from strength to strength." — Psalm 84:7
They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of these
words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.
Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this
morning. "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger
and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness;
we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is
rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again
painfully pursue our weary way.
But the Christian pilgrim having obtained
fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and
struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and
buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was,
but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if
more slowly, far more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm
in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their
younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the
love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin
and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths shall
faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not
faint."
Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future.
"Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to affliction." Very true, O thou
of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou
shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst
of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the
burden allotted to full-grown shoulders. December 14 - Evening"I am crucified with Christ." — Galatians 2:20
The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what He did as a great public representative
person, and His dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all His
people. Then all His saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made
an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the
Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ's chosen people, he died
upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he
accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by
virtue of Christ's death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found
reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul
can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead;
the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my
Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the
whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed
upon me, for I am crucified with Christ."
But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ's
death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing
the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin,
he said, "I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them." Such is the experience
of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one
who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at
the same time, exclaim with the apostle, "Nevertheless I live." He is fully
alive unto God. The Christian's life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can
comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet
alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in
newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to
the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them! December 14 |