Loved To Perfection

John 13:1  Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

This fact is essentially a promise; for what our LORD was He is...

And what He was to those with whom He lived on earth, He will be to all His beloved so long as the moon endureth. 

Having loved: here was the wonder! 

That He should ever have loved men at all is the marvel. 

What was there in His poor disciples that He should love them? 

What is there in me? 

But when He has once begun to love, it is His nature to continue to do so. 

Love made the saints "his own" what a choice title! 

He purchased them with blood, and they became His treasure. 

Being His own, He will not lose them. 

Being His beloved, He will not cease to love them. 

My soul, He will not cease to love thee! 

The text is well as it stands: "to the end." 

Even till His death the ruling passion of love to His own reigned in His sacred bosom. 

It means also to the uttermost. 

He could not love them more: He gave Himself for them. 

Some read it, to perfection. 

Truly He lavished upon them a perfect love, in which there was no flaw nor failure, no unwisdom, no unfaithfulness. 

Such is the love of Jesus to each one of His people. 

Let us sing to our Well-beloved a song.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Immediately Present

                                                 
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

 A help that is not present when we need it is of small value. 

The anchor which is left at home is of no use to the seaman in the hour of storm...

The money which he used to have is of no worth to the debtor when a writ is out against him. 

Very few earthly helps could be called "very present"...

They are usually far in the seeking, far in the using, and farther still when once used. 

But as for the LORD our God, He is present when we seek Him,...

Present when we need Him...

And present when we have already enjoyed His aid. 

He is more than "present," He is very present. 

More present than the nearest friend can be, for He is in us in our trouble...

More present than we are to ourselves, for sometimes we lack presence of mind. 

He is always present, effectually present, sympathetically present, altogether present. 

He is present now if this is a gloomy season. 

Let us rest ourselves upon Him. 

He is our refuge, let us hide in Him...

He is our strength, let us array ourselves with Him...

He is our help, let us lean upon Him...

He is our very present help, let us repose in Him now. 

We need not have a moment's care or an instant's fear...

The LORD of hosts is with us...

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Forgive And Forget!

Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and He shall save thee (Proverbs 20:22).

Let anger cool down. 

Say nothing and do nothing to avenge yourself.

You will be sure to act unwisely if you take up the weapon and fight your own battles...

And, certainly, you will not show the Spirit of the LORD Jesus.

It is nobler to forgive and let the offense pass. 

To let an injury fester in your bosom and to meditate revenge is to keep old wounds open and to make new ones.

Better forget and forgive.

Peradventure, you say that you must do something or be a great loser;...

Then do what this morning's promise advises: "Wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee."

This advice will not cost you money but is worth far more, Be calm and quiet.

Wait upon the LORD...

Tell Him your grievance...

Spread Rabshakeh's letter before the LORD, and this of itself will be an ease to your burdened mind.

Besides, there is the promise "He shall save thee." 

God will find a way of deliverance for you.

How He will do it neither you nor I can guess, but do it He will...

If the LORD saves you, this will be a deal better than getting into petty quarrels and covering yourself with filth by wrestling with the unclean.

Be no more angry.

Leave your suit with the Judge of all.

~Charles Spurgeon~

If We Knew What Would Happen Tomorrow~We Would Lose Alertness

The next thing that we should lose would be the spirit of vigorous alertness.

And of that we have a kind of parable in what we see in the animals.

Suppose, for instance, that you catch a bird and take it into the safety of your home. 

And every day you tend it and feed it until at length it learns that food is certain.

Do you know what happens, although you might not guess it?

Do you know what every naturalist knows?

Every instinct of that little captive is silently but surely being dulled.

Once it was wild and everything was dark. 

The bird was at its best when things were dark.

Once it didn't know where its breakfast was when it awoke at dawn and was hungry. 

But now it knows - you are its little providence, and you have taught it what will come.

And it is very sweet to have that certainty, but something better than sweetness is departing.

And that is what would happen to you and me could we see the content of tomorrow.

It might be sweet, but what man cares for that if something better than sweetness were to go.

I want a life responsive and alert. 

I want to be quick to see and to hear and to seize upon the will of God.

And what I say is, that this fine alertness, which is the mark of progress and of victory, would be more difficult a thousand times were we always certain of tomorrow.

Many of you here have been to London. Well, what happened when you went to London?

Didn't you cover more ground in one day than many a Londoner does in half a year? He knows it all, every street of it, every park of it and every palace.

You are alert because it is unknown.

Or to put it another way, here is a man who has to sail for India in six months. He is home on furlough - he has six months to rest - and he gets so fat that you would hardly know him.

But here is another man, a soldier, who any hour may get his call to active duty, and I tell you that is the man who is alert.

No wandering very far from where his home is. 

No laying long plans for a fine summer. 

He knows that sooner or later he must go, perhaps tonight. 

That man may lose a little as anyone does when he chooses to live the soldier's life. 

But he is always fit and always ready, and it is the uncertainty that makes him so. 

So is it with the uncertainty of death. 

So with the uncertainty of trial. 

And it is just the darkness of it all, the feeling that we don't know what may come, that helps us to be watchful every day.

~George Morrison~