Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
October 14
Morning
"I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord."—Philippians 3:8.
Spiritual knowledge of
Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another
person's acquaintance with Him. No, I must know Him myself; I must know
Him on my own account. It will be an intelligent knowledge—I must
know Him, not as the visionary dreams of Him, but as the Word reveals
Him. I must know His natures, divine and human. I must know His
offices—His attributes—His works—His shame—His glory. I
must meditate upon Him until I "comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." It will be an affectionate
knowledge of Him; indeed, if I know Him at all, I must love Him. An ounce of
heart knowledge is worth a ton of head learning. Our knowledge of Him will be a
satisfying knowledge. When I know my Saviour,
my mind will be full to the brim—I shall feel that I have that which my
spirit panted after. "This is that bread whereof if a man eat he shall
never hunger." At the same time it will be an exciting knowledge;
the more I know of my Beloved, the more I shall want to know. The higher I
climb the loftier will be the summits which invite my
eager footsteps. I shall want the more as I get the more. Like the miser's
treasure, my gold will make me covet more. To conclude; this knowledge of
Christ Jesus will be a most happy one; in fact, so elevating, that
sometimes it will completely bear me up above all trials, and doubts, and
sorrows; and it will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than "Man
that is born of woman, who is of few days, and full of trouble"; for it
will fling about me the immortality of the everliving
Saviour, and gird me with the golden girdle of His
eternal joy. Come, my soul, sit at Jesus's feet and learn of Him all this day.
Evening
"And be
not conformed to this world."—Romans 12:2.
If a Christian can by
possibility be saved while he conforms to this world,
at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much
to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the
darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven
as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites,
and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have
a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints
what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance
into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye
separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance
of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with
sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? your love
will be damped by the drenchings of godless society.
You cannot become a great Christian—you may be a babe in grace, but you
never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the
worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir
of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a
courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies
are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine
garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a
thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not
what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your
strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own
comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct
one.