Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
September 11
Morning
"Be ye
separate."—2 Corinthians 6:17.
The Christian, while in the
world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the
great object of his life. To him, "to live," should be
"Christ." Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatever he does, he should
do all to God's glory. You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves break not through nor steal.
You may strive to be rich; but be it your ambition to be "rich in
faith," and good works. You may have pleasure; but when you are merry,
sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the Lord. In your spirit,
as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world. Waiting humbly before
God, always conscious of His presence, delighting in communion with Him, and
seeking to know His will, you will prove that you are of heavenly race. And you
should be separate from the world in your actions. If a thing be right, though you lose by it, it must be done; if it be
wrong, though you would gain by it, you must scorn the sin for your Master's
sake. You must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity. Remember, O
Christian, that thou art a son of the King of kings. Therefore, keep thyself
unspotted from the world. Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep
celestial strings; let not these eyes become the windows of lust which are soon
to see the King in His beauty—let not those feet be defiled in miry
places, which are soon to walk the golden streets—let not those hearts be
filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be filled with heaven,
and to overflow with ecstatic joy.
Then rise my soul! and soar away, Above the thoughtless crowd; Above the
pleasures of the gay, And splendours of the proud; Up
where eternal beauties bloom, And pleasures all divine; Where wealth, that
never can consume, And endless glories shine.
Evening
"Lead
me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies."—Psalms 5:8.
Very bitter is the enmity
of the world against the people of Christ. Men will forgive a thousand faults
in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offence in the followers of
Jesus. Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to account, and since
so many are watching for our halting, let this be a special motive for walking
very carefully before God. If we live carelessly, the lynx-eyed world will soon
see it, and with its hundred tongues, it will spread the story, exaggerated and
emblazoned by the zeal of slander. They will shout triumphantly. "Aha! So
would we have it! See how these Christians act! They are hypocrites to a
man." Thus will much damage be done to the cause of Christ, and much
insult offered to His name. The cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the
world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own. It is "to the
Jews a stumblingblock": let us mind that we put
no stumblingblocks where there are enough already.
"To the Greeks it is foolishness": let us not add our folly to give
point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel. How jealous
should we be of ourselves! How rigid with our consciences! In the presence of
adversaries who will misrepresent our best deeds, and impugn our motives where
they cannot censure our actions, how circumspect should we be! Pilgrims travel
as suspected persons through Vanity Fair. Not only are we under surveillance, but there are more spies than we reck
of. The espionage is everywhere, at home and abroad. If we fall into the
enemies' hands we may sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or mercy from a
fiend, than anything like patience with our infirmities from men who spice
their infidelity towards God with scandals against His people. O Lord, lead us
ever, lest our enemies trip us up!