From: Suzianty Herawati
"As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you."
--John 15:9
As the Father loves the Son, in the same manner Jesus loves His people. What
is that divine method? He loved Him_without beginning, and thus Jesus loves His
members. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." You can trace the
beginning of
human affection; you can easily find the beginning of your love to Christ, but
His love to us is a stream whose source is hidden in eternity. God the Father
loves Jesus without any change. Christian, take this for your comfort, that
there is no change in Jesus Christ's love to those who rest in Him. Yesterda y
you were on Tabor's top, and you said, "He loves me:" to-day you are in the
valley of humiliation, but He loves you still the same.
On the hill Mizar, and among the Hermons, you heard His voice, which spake so
sweetly with the turtle-notes of love; and now on the sea, or even in the sea,
when all His waves and billows go over you, His heart is faithful to His
ancient choice. The
Father loves the Son without any end, and thus does the Son love His people.
Saint, thou needest not fear the loosing of the silver cord, for His love for
thee will never cease. Rest confident that even down to the grave Christ will
go with you, and that up again from it He will be your guide to the celestial
hills. Moreover, the Father loves the Son without any measure, and the same
immeasurable love the Son bestows upon His chosen ones. The whole heart of
Christ is dedicated to His people. He "loved us and gave Himself for us." His
is a love which passeth knowledge. Ah! we have indeed an immutable Saviour, a
precious Saviour, one who loves without measure, without change, without
beginning, and without end, even as the Father loves Him! There is much food
here for those who know how to digest it. May the Holy Ghost lead us into its
marrow and fatness!
CH Spurgeon
===================================================
From: Suzianty Herawati
"And she did eat, and was sufficed, and left."
--Ruth 2:14
Whenever we are privileged to eat of the bread which Jesus gives, we are,
like Ruth, satisfied with the full and sweet repast. When Jesus is the host no
guest goes empty from the table. Our head is satisfied with the precious truth
which Christ reveals; our heart is content with Jesus, as the altogether lovely
object of affection; our hope is satisfied, for whom have we in heaven but
Jesus? and our desire is satiated, for what can we wish for more than "to know
Christ and to be found in Him"? Jesus fills our conscience till it is at
perfect peace ; our judgment with persuasion of the certainty
of His teachings; our memory with recollections of what He has done, and our
imagination with the prospects of what He is yet to do. As Ruth was "sufficed,
and left," so is it with us. We have had deep draughts; we have thought that we
could take in
all of Christ; but when we have done our best we have had to leave a vast
remainder. We have sat at the table of the Lord's love, and said, "Nothing but
the infinite can ever satisfy me; I am such a great sinner that I must have
infinite merit to wash my sin away;" but we have had our sin removed, and found
that there was merit to spare; we have had our hunger relieved at the feast of
sacred love, and found that there was a redundance of spiritual meat remaining.
There are certain sweet things in the Word of God which we have not enjoyed
yet, and which we are obliged to leave for awhile; for we are like the
disciples to whom Jesus said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now." Yes, there are graces to which we have not attained;
places of fellowship nearer to Christ which we have not reached; and heights of
communion which our feet have not climbed. At every banquet of love there are
many baskets of fragments left. Let us magnify the liberality of our glorious
Boaz.
CH Spurgeon
===========================================
From: Bayo Afolaranmi
Dearly Beloved,
HOW FAIR ARE YOU?
(CAN YOU DO LIKE JOB DID?
"If my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, if I
have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants"
(Job 31:38-39, NIV).
Having called on God to answer him and possibly indict him for any wrongdoing
(verses 35-37), Job even claimed his fairness to inanimate things like land
(verses 37-40). This last defense is related to the third defense that was
explained in series 3 of this study. It has to do with fairness. Interestingly,
this fairness has to do with things that are not human beings.
In the Mosaic Law, God demonstrated His fairness to inanimate things like land
when He told the Israelites, "When you enter the land I am going to give you,
the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD.
For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and
gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of
rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do
not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The
land is to have a year of rest"
(Leviticus 25:2-5, NIV).
As if Job had this kind of law at his disposal, he was fair to the land that he
used. The implication of this is that if he were fair to inanimate things like
that, he would likely be fair to human beings around him. The discussion in
series 3 of this study confirmed this.
How fair are you to inanimate things that you are using? Are you looking down
on them as something you can use anyhow? In what ways do your fairness to them
affect your fairness to people around you? Your attitude to ordinary things of
life will determine your attitude to people and even to God. People may blame
Job for his self-righteousness, but his life is one that even God could boast
of (Job 1:8; 2:3). We have been able to attest to this in this serial study.
Can you be like Job, and can you do like he did?
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
NB
Circumstances did not allow me to send this serial study consecutively. If you
have messed any of the seven parts or you want a compressed version of the
whole study, write me directly at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. God bless you!
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
+234 805 515 9591
http://www.afolabayo.org/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualdigest2003/
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have
sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death. FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN"
(Philippians 1:20-21, NIV).
