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daily devotional
"Godly sorrow worketh repentance."
- 2 Corinthians 7:10
Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit
of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature's garden. Pearls
grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners except
divine grace works it in them.
If thou hast one particle of real hatred for sin, God must
have given it thee, for human nature's thorns never produced a single fig.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh. "
True repentance has a distinct reference to the Saviour. When
we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross, or
it will be better still if we fix both our eyes upon Christ and see our
transgressions only, in the light of his love.
True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say he
hates sin, if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not
merely as a theory, but experimentally-as a burnt child dreads fire.
We shall be as much afraid of it, as a man who h as lately
been stopped and robbed is afraid of the thief upon the highway; and we shall
shun it-shun it in everything-not in great things only, but in little things,
as men shun little vipers as well as great snakes. True mourning for sin will
make us very jealous over our tongue, lest it should say a wrong word; we shall
be very watchful over our daily actions, lest in anything we offend, and each
night we shall close the day with painful confessions of shortcoming, and each
morning awaken with anxious prayers, that this day God would hold us up that we
may not sin against him.
Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their
dying day. This dropping well is not intermittent. Every other sorrow yields to
time, but this dear sorrow grows with our growth, and it is so sweet a bitter,
that we thank God we are permitted to enjoy and to suffer it until we enter our
eternal rest.
Evening Devotion
"Love is strong as death."
- Song of Solomon 8:6
Whose love can this be which is as mighty as the conqueror of
monarchs, the destroyer of the human race? Would it not sound like satire if it
were applied to my poor, weak, and scarcely living love to Jesus my Lord? I do
love him, and perhaps by his grace, I could even die for him, but as for my
love in itself, it can scarcely endure a scoffing jest, much less a cruel
death. Surely it is my Beloved's love which is here spoken of-the love of
Jesus, the matchless lover of souls. His love was indeed stronger than the most
terrible death, for it endured the trial of the cross triumphantly.
It was a lingering death, but love survived the torment; a
shameful death, but love despised the shame; a penal death, but love bore our
iniquities; a forsaken, lonely death, from which the eternal Father hid his
face, but love endured the curse, and gloried over all. Never such love, never
such death. It was a desperate duel, but love bore the palm.
What then, my heart? Hast thou no emotions excited within
thee at the contemplation of such heavenly affection? Yes, my Lord, I long, I
pant to feel thy love flaming like a furnace within me. Come thou thyself and
excite the ardour of my spirit.
"For every drop of crimson blood
Thus shed to make me live,
O wherefore, wherefore have not I
A thousand lives to give?"
Why should I despair of loving Jesus with a love as strong as
death? He deserves it: I desire it. The martyrs felt such love, and they were
but flesh and blood, then why not I? They mourned their weakness, and yet out
of weakness were made strong. Grace gave them all their unflinching
constancy-there is the same grace for me. Jesus, lover of my soul, shed abroad
such love, even thy love in my heart, this evening.
a..
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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