Grace Gems

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You are only fattening it for worms!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

"For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs!" 1 Timothy 6:7-10

If you are wealthy, you may reside in a splendid mansion--but it is only to leave it one day for a dark and narrow house! You may pamper the body with the costliest luxuries--but you are only fattening it for worms! Nor can the flashing blaze of a thousand diamonds blind our eyes to the melancholy fact that this mirthful, beautiful, charming body shall, stripped of all its luxury, be wrapped in a shroud, nailed up in a coffin--and thrust down into a black hole to rot!

But give me the treasures of redemption . . .
  my food is heavenly manna,
  my wine is divine love,
  my sweet pillow is the bosom of the Son,
  my strong defense is the arm of Almighty God,
  my home is that palace, eternal in the heavens!

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In His humblest works!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

"The earth is full of His unfailing love!" Psalm 33:5

The British Museum possessed in the Portland Vase--one of the finest remains of ancient art. It may be remembered how, some years ago--the world of culture was shocked to hear that this precious relic had been shattered by a maniac's hand.

Without disparaging cultured taste, or this exquisite example of it--I venture to say that there is not a poor worm which we tread upon, nor a sere leaf which dances merrily in its fallen state to the autumn winds--but has superior claims upon our study and admiration. The child who plucks a lily or rose to pieces, or crushes the fragile form of a fluttering insect--destroys an intricate work which the highest human art could not invent, nor man's best skilled hand construct!

There is not a leaf which quivers on the trees of the forest--which does not eclipse the brightest glories of the painter's brush or the sculptor's chisel! A simple flower has no rival among the triumphs of invention, which the silly world flocks to see.

Yes, in His humblest works, God infinitely surpasses the highest efforts of all created skill.

"How many are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures!" Psalm 104:24

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge!" Psalm 19:1-2

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Dance and dine with the devil!

(Thomas Brooks, "Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices")

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us--for we are not ignorant of his evil schemes." 2 Corinthians 2:11

Sin is but a bitter sweet. That seeming sweet which is in sin will quickly vanish--and lasting shame, sorrow, horror, and terror will soon come.

Forbidden profits and pleasures are most pleasing to vain men, who count madness to be mirth. Many long to be meddling with the murdering morsels of sin, which do not nourish--but rend and consume the soul which receives them. Many eat that on earth, which they digest in Hell.

Sin's murdering morsels will deceive those who devour them!
Adam's apple was a bitter sweet;
Esau's bowl of stew was a bitter sweet;
the Israelites' quails were a bitter sweet;
Jonathan's honey was a bitter sweet;
Adonijah's dainties were a bitter sweet.
After the meal is ended--then comes the reckoning!

Men must not think to dance and dine with the devil--and then to sup with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven!

Men must not think to feed upon the poison of asps--and yet that the viper's tongue should not slay them!

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Behold the Emperor of Woe!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Behold the Man!" John 19:5

If there is one place where our Lord Jesus most fully becomes the joy and comfort of His people--it is where He plunged deepest into the depths of woe!

Come hither, gracious souls, and behold the Man in the garden of Gethsemane! Behold His heart so brimming with love--that He cannot hold it in; so full of sorrow--that it must find a vent. Behold the bloody sweat as it distills from every pore of His body, and falls upon the ground!

Behold the Man as they drive the nails into His hands and feet! Look up, repenting sinners, and see the sorrowful image of your suffering Lord! Mark Him, as the ruby drops stand on the thorn-crown, and adorn the diadem of the King of Misery with priceless gems!

Behold the Man when all His bones are out of joint, and He is poured out like water and brought into the dust of death! God has forsaken Him--and Hell compasses Him about. Behold and see--was there ever sorrow like unto His sorrow? All you who pass by--draw near and look upon this spectacle of grief! Unique, unparalleled, a wonder to men and angels--an unmatched marvel!

Behold the Emperor of Woe--who had no equal or rival in His agonies! Gaze upon Him, you mourners, for if there is not consolation in a crucified Christ--there is no joy in earth or Heaven. If in the ransom price of His blood, there is not hope--you harps of heaven, there is no joy in you; and the right hand of God shall know no pleasures for evermore!

We have only to sit more continually at the cross foot--to be less troubled with our afflictions and woes.

We have but to see His sorrows--and we shall be ashamed to mention our sorrows.

We have but to gaze into His wounds--and heal our own.

If we would live aright--it must be by the contemplation of His death.

If we would rise to dignity--it must be by considering His humiliation and His sorrow!

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Turn aside and see this great sight!

(Hugh Dunlop, "Altogether Lovely!" 1896)

"When all the people who had gathered to witness that sight saw what took place, they beat their bosoms and went away." Luke 23:48

There have been . . .
  many wonderful sights upon the earth,
  many sad and sorrowful sights,
  many grand and awe-inspiring sights
--but never before or after in all the world's history, such a sight as was seen by the group that gathered around the cross. What a strange and motley group it was! How many kinds of sinners were represented there!

There were the hardened Roman soldiers who gambled for His clothes. There were the mockers, the revilers, the chief priests and scribes who hated Him--the rulers who derided Him--the people who wagged their heads saying, "If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

There were also the weeping women, the trembling disciples, and--best of all--the penitent thief who trusted in Him for salvation in that dread hour, and gave Him a sweet foretaste of the "joy that was set before Him," for which "He endured the cross, despising the shame."

Other spectators also, unseen by human eyes, were doubtless there--Satan and all his horrid hosts, the Victor's baffled foes, watching Him with malignant hate; the holy angels, too, looking on with silent awe; and God Himself, Who was about to "bruise Him and put Him to grief" and "make His soul an offering for sin"--Whose voice even then shook the deep, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd and against the Man who is My Fellow!"

As Moses took his shoes from off his feet, when he drew near to see the burning bush--let us also with reverence and adoring love, now turn aside and see this great sight!

That was a sight of WONDER. What do we see?
The Lord of glory--put to open shame!
The Creator of Heaven and earth--nailed to a cruel cross of wood!
The King of kings and Lord of lords--treated as the vilest malefactor!
The holy Son of God--crucified!
He who was the very Fountain of life, whose life was the light of men--dying!

That was a sight of SORROW. We live in a world of sorrow, a valley of tears. "Man who is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble." "Man is born to trouble--as the sparks fly upward." "The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now."

But, of all men, Jesus was "a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief." He saw His Father's law broken, His Father's name dishonored, His Father's love despised. "Rivers of water run down My eyes--because they keep not Your law." How His soul must have turned with loathing, from the defilement in the midst of which He walked--while His heart was bursting with pity for the sinners whom He had come to save! Now was the culmination of His woe. His holy nature shrank from the slightest touch of sin--yet now "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree"--and what that meant, God alone can tell.

That was a sight of SIN! What is sin? Its very essence is revolt against the Most High God. And here we see the crowning manifestation of this revolt. God's law had been broken, His commandments disobeyed, His name dishonored by a rebellious world--but never was the enmity of the human heart so intensely shown as when they crucified His beloved Son!

Oh, the malignant hate with which sinners cried "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him, crucify Him!" The awful wickedness with which they closed around His cross, "breathing out cruelty!" The madness that cried, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" They mocked, they wagged their heads, they railed, they scoffed--and in their puny impotence, defied the God of Heaven!

That was a sight of WRATH. If the crucifixion of the Son of God was the most awful manifestation of the sin of man--so was the cross also the most terrible revelation of divine wrath--the righteous wrath of a holy God! Not all the woe of the lost--not the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, of which God in His compassion warns us in His Word--not all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth of those upon whose heads God's righteous judgments fall--can reveal to us, as does the cross of Christ, the attitude of God toward sin!

In the cross of Christ, we see the burning holiness of God, Who is "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and cannot look upon evil."

Here we see the inviolable righteousness of God, who "can by no means clear the guilty."

And here we see the terrible fierceness of His anger, the sword of His justice, the tempest of His wrath! "God is angry with the wicked every day"--but here the whole of His wrath against sin was gathered up and burst forth with relentless fury!

But, hearken!
Against whom did God's anger burn?
Against whom did God's sword awake?
Upon whose head did God's storm of wrath burst?
Not upon the heads of the guilty sinners--but upon the sinless One, the Holy One, the spotless Lamb of God!

That was a sight of LOVE!
What pen can write,
what tongue can tell,
what heart can comprehend
--the infinite love of God? Behind the awful wrath and righteous judgment--was the eternal love. Back in the counsels of eternity "God so loved the world." Why, we cannot understand; only we have heard of "the great love with which He loved us"--and we know of the great redemption which He planned for us. Yes, it was out of the infinite depths of that deep, mysterious love for the souls whom He had made, that the cross of Christ grew!

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Hellish sin! Stupendous wickedness! Monstrous impiety!

(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)

"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--he shall be accursed!" 1 Corinthians 16:22

What! not love the Lord! Hellish sin!

What! not love Jesus! Stupendous wickedness!

What! not love Christ! Monstrous impiety!

Not love Him who is both Lord, and Jesus, and Christ! What name might we call him by?
Is he a man--or a beast?
Is he a man--or a devil?

Do you love the world--and not Him? Do you love sin--and not him? This may be . . .
  the astonishment of the heavens,
  the amazement of the earth,
  the wonder of angels,
  the joy of devils,
  the burden of the creation of God.
The earth groans to bear them;
the sun is grieved to give light unto them;
the air laments to be sucked into sin-filthy bodies, wherein are more filthy souls--because they are void of the love of Christ! Yes, all this world looks more like Hell than Heaven, because of the swarms of men therein who have no sincere love to Jesus Christ.

Let all who are not sensual beasts, or incarnate devils--who have the understanding and hearts of men--stand and wonder--that a man should deny Christ his love. Good Lord! What a thing is this! What cursed wickedness is this! What wonder that you behold such a sight as this--a man without love unto your Son--and allow him to continue to be a man; or do not make him . . .
  a sick man,
  a poor man,
  a tormented pained man on earth,
  or a damned man in Hell!

Oh what punishment waits for him! How do devils hope for his death, that they might drag him down to that hellish crew, where there is not one lover of Christ among them all!

"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--he shall be accursed!" 1 Corinthians 16:22

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If we had God's power we would change everything!

(Scott Richardson)

"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." John 13:7

If we had God's power we would change everything--but if we had God's wisdom we would change nothing.

"He has done all things well!" Mark 7:37

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When once I had got a view of Christ's transcendent loveliness!

(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of graceless men as disliking, not desiring, nor loving Christ--brings them in as saying, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him!" Isaiah 53:2

What! No loveliness in Him who is "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person!" Yes! there was, there is--but they had no eyes to see it! It is as if a blind man should say that the sun is dark, because he has no eyes to behold it's light. It was, because in seeing--they did not see. How could they look upon Him with an eye of love--when they did not discern Him with an eye of faith?

But a holy soul, whose eyes are divinely opened, so sees that superlative goodness, beauty, and excellency in Christ--that all other things, which are good with an inferior goodness, seem to him as dross and dung! "But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things! I consider them rubbish," things cast to dogs, or dog's-food, "that I may gain Christ!" Philippians 3:7-8

The holy man, whose mind is savingly enlightened, can say: I see that goodness in the Savior, which far surpasses all the goodness of the creature! Though the stars in the coldest night might be seen--yet when the sun arises, they all disappear. Just so, in the night of ignorance, when my mind was blind, my heart hard, and my affections frozen--I was bewitched with the goodness of riches, of honors, and of worldly pleasures. Yet when the Sun of righteousness with His radiant rays shined into my soul, and with His warming influences thawed my benumbed frozen heart--when Christ the day-star arose in my soul--then, O then, the glory of these things which once dazzled my eyes, presently vanished and withered away! When once I had got a view of Christ's transcendent loveliness--then in comparison to Christ, I saw . . .
  an emptiness and vanity--in all the creature's fullness;
  beggary--in all the world's nobility;
  shame--in all the world's glory;
  poverty--in all the world's riches;
  the world's greatest resplendent luster--to be darkness;
  the world's wisdom--to be folly;
  the world's beauty--appeared to me no better than deformity!

Yes, the soul whose love is fixed upon Christ, sees the superlative goodness, beauty, and excellency in Christ.

"Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16

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Which would you really choose?

(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)

What the object of the love of the heart is--is object of the choice of the will. And such as is the choice of your wills--such are you.

If you choose the world before Christ--I dare boldly to call you a worldly man!
If you choose pleasures before Christ--I dare confidently to declare you a voluptuous man!
But if Christ is chosen before all other things--I may term you to be a truly holy man.

Suppose then the world, and all the riches thereof, and all the honors and the pleasures of it, were set on the one hand--and Christ on the other hand. Which would you really choose?

It is an easy thing to say that you would choose Christ, and not the world. But my question is: Which you would really choose?

Can you say, and appeal to God who knows your heart: "Lord, You who know all things--You know that I choose Christ before riches, Christ before pleasures, liberty, life, or anything that is dear unto me in this world. You know that I would rather have Christ without the world--than the world without Christ. You know that I would rather have the Lord Jesus with disgrace, with poverty, and with the cross--than all the treasures of the world!"

This must be a man's choice--or he cannot be said to have sincere love to Jesus Christ.

If Jesus is not loved above all--He is not sincerely loved at all!

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other--or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24

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The most suitable good!

(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)

A thing is desirable, because it is suitable. The suitableness of the object allures our desires and love.

Suitableness is the ground of love. A thing might be good in itself, yet, if we apprehend no suitableness in it to us--then the love of our hearts is not upon it. Therefore, in pain and sickness, a man judges ease and health to be better for him than gold and silver--because they are more suitable. A man in hunger and thirst, esteems bread and water to be better than honors and pleasures--because they are more suitable.

Love to Christ is grounded on the soul discerning the suitableness of Christ unto him. He says,
"Food is not more suitable to a hungry man,
 nor medicine to a sick man,
 nor clothing to a naked man--
than Christ is to me, a poor, sinful, and lost man--an undone, perishing, and damned man! For . . .
  I am naked--and He will give clothe me with His perfect righteousness,
  I am blind--and He will restore my spiritual sight,
  I am enslaved to sin and Satan--and He will give me liberty,
  I am lost--and He will save me,
  I am guilty--and He will pardon me,
  I am polluted--and He will cleanse me,
  I am an enemy to God--and He will reconcile me,
  I am ignorant--and He will teach me,
  I am indebted--and He will be my Surety,
  I am poor--and He will make me wealthy to all eternity,
  I am a stranger to God--and He bring me into acquaintance with Him,
  I am unfit for Heaven--and He will make me fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Love to Christ includes a discovery of Christ unto the soul, as the most suitable good.

In poverty, Christ will be my riches.
In disgrace, Christ will be my honor.
In bonds and imprisonment, Christ will be my liberty.
In pain, Christ will be my comfort.
In death, Christ will be my life.
In the loss of all things, Christ will be better to me than the enjoyment of all these things!

Though I have riches--yet I might be damned.
But if I have Christ--then I shall be saved!

Though men admire me--yet God might loathe me.
But if I have Christ--then the Lord will love me!

Though I prosper in the world, in all my pomp--I might be walking in the way to everlasting misery!
But if I have Christ--He will lead me in the paths unto eternal glory!

Look, O my soul, look around about you, and you shall find none so suitable to you, as the lovely Savior. Then He alone shall have my best love. Is there none for me like Him? Then I will fix my love on Him!

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The greatest blessing--and the sorest curse!

(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)

As to be blessed by God is the greatest blessing--so to be cursed by God is the sorest curse!

"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--let him be Anathema! Maranatha." 1 Corinthians 16:22

To be accursed when the Lord shall come, will be to be cursed with a dreadful curse--so dreadful, as will make your joints to tremble, your knees to knock together, your faces gather paleness--for you will be cursed by God Himself!

Men will not be persuaded to love the Lord Jesus--but will . . .
  love their cups,
  and their lusts,
  and their profits,
  and their pleasures
--better than Christ.

They love their sin--and not Christ!

They love the world--and not Christ!

Oh you non-lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ! When the Lord comes, you shall be cursed in all you are!

You shall be cursed in your BODY, and all the parts thereof:
  cursed shall be your eyes--which were as windows to let vanity into your heart;
  cursed shall be your ears--which hearkened to the enticements of sinners, but not to the commands and calls of God;
  cursed shall be your hands and feet--which acted wickedly, and carried you on in ways of sin.

You shall be cursed in your in your SOUL, and in all the powers and faculties thereof!
Cursed shall be your understanding--which was never enlightened with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Cursed shall your will be--which never made choice of Jesus for your Savior and your Lord.
Cursed shall your conscience be--which did not effectually stir you up to look after, and to hasten to, Jesus Christ.
Cursed shall be all your affections--which were set upon the world and sin, which should have been placed upon Christ.
Those desires which ran out after vanity, which should have been upon the wing in moving after Christ--were cursed desires.
Those delights which were fetched from the creature, and from sinful objects--were cursed delights.
That hatred which you had to Christ and His ways, which should have risen against sin--was cursed hatred.

Thus where the love of Christ does not rule in the heart, sin is spread all over--so then the sinner shall be cursed all over.

To be Anathema shall be to be cursed with a bitter curse, without any ingredient of the least blessing to allay or mitigate the bitterness of it. Then he shall have . . .
  sorrow--without joy,
  mourning--without mirth,
  darkness--without light,
  pain--without ease,
  misery--without mercy,
  all evil--without the least good, and
  all this without end, and therefore without hope!

This cup of cursing, because it shall be so pure without mixture--shall be so exceedingly bitter, so inconceivably bitter! "He will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever! They have no rest day and night!" Revelation 14:10-11

This bitter curse, at the coming of Christ, shall embitter your thoughts, your soul, your very being--and make you cry out, "Oh this is a bitter place! This is a bitter state! This is a bitter condition--exceedingly bitter! My loving of the world and sin was not so sweet--as this is bitter; that seemed to me once as sweet as honey--but this is more bitter than gall!

But here is my woe, which makes it still more bitter: The sweet is gone--and the bitter remains! The sweet will never return--and the bitter will never be gone! I once put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter--but now I cannot! Oh! I never thought the sweet delight I took in what I loved, would have brought upon me this bitter curse, or me to these bitter torments!

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Therefore it is that He withers our gourds and breaks our cisterns!

(Mary Winslow)

How poor and unsatisfying are all things here below--even the best and the loveliest! Oh, to walk more intimately with Him, to live above the world, and hold the creature with a looser hand--taking God's Word as our guiding light and our unfailing spring of comfort!

God has eternally provided such a magnificent and holy Heaven for us above, that He is jealous lest we should set our hearts too fondly and closely upon the attractions of earth. Therefore it is that He withers our gourds and breaks our cisterns--only to dislodge us here, and lead us to seek those things which are above, where Christ our treasure is.

Let us keep our eye and our hearts upon our blessed eternal home. Earth is but a stage erected as our passage to the glorious place which Jesus has gone to prepare for us. What a place must that be, which infinite power and love has engaged to provide! Oh, let us not lose sight of Heaven for a moment.

How prone are we to allow our minds and hearts (treacherous hearts!) to become entangled with the baubles of this dying world. No wonder Christ exhorted us to watch and pray. Heaven is our home--our happy home. We are but strangers and pilgrims here on earth. Try and realize it. Let us keep ourselves ready to enter with Him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In a little while we shall see Him--not as the "Man of sorrows"--but the "King in His beauty!" Then let us fight against this poor world and all its false attractions, for it is passing away.

Dearest Jesus! help Your pilgrims to live more like pilgrims, above a poor dying world, and more in full view of the glory that awaits them when they shall see You face to face!

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Look at that cold creeping worm!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

Look at that cold creeping worm! The playful child shudders from its touch!

Yet in a few weeks, and with merry laugh and flying feet, that same child over flowery meadow, is hunting an insect that never lights upon the ground, but flitting in painted beauty from flower to flower--drinks nectar from their cups, and sleeps the summer night away in the bosom of their perfumes.

If that is the same boy--this is also the same creature. The change most wonderful!

Yet this is but a dull, earthly emblem of the divine transformation wrought in those who are converted by God!

Fallen though he is, man is capable of undergoing a more wondrous change than the insect when, no longer a worm, no longer crawling on the ground, no longer feeding on garbage--it leaves its shell to spend its happy days in sport, flitting from flower to flower; its food their juices and its bed their leaves.

The spiritual change which we call conversion, is not a mere reform. It is a mighty revolution--a revolution greater than the tomes of profane history. Conversion changes the heart, the habits, and the eternal destiny of an immortal being!

Conversion does not bestow new faculties. Yet our affections, our temperament, our will, our judgment partake of this great and holy change. Thus, the understanding is enlightened; the will is renewed; and our whole temperament is sweetened and sanctified by the Spirit of God.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

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He died--and where then?

(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)

"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--let him be Anathema! (or accursed)." 1 Corinthians 16:22

Must they be cursed who do not love Christ? Then know that worldly prosperity may co-exist with the curse of God. A man might prospering in this world--and cursed in the world to come!

Do you see many whose lives declare they have no sincere love to Christ in their hearts--thrive and abound in outward enjoyments?
They do not love Christ--and yet are strong and healthy!
They do not love Christ--and yet are rich!
They do not love Christ--and yet are honored!

What then? Might not a man in health--and yet be a cursed man? Nay, the more strength he has, the more able he is to serve the devil--and so his strength is a curse unto him. The more worldly trinkets a man has to love--the more he enjoys of the world--and the more he loves it. And so his enjoyments are a curse unto him, when they keep him from placing his love upon Jesus Christ.

God threatens to curse wicked men's blessings: "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them!" Malachi 2:2

Many are apt to call the proud--happy, "But now we call the arrogant, blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape!" Malachi 3:15. The rich, though evil--are thought by many to be blessed. This is a great mistake! All men can see their outward blessings--but they have no eyes to behold the inward curses which lie under those outward blessings.
Is it not a curse to have riches--without saving grace?
Is it not a curse to have our portion and blessings--all in this life?
Is it not a curse to prosper in the world--and to be every moment in danger of falling into Hell?
Do you look upon it to be happiness--to have all for the body, and nothing for the soul? to have much of earth--and nothing of Heaven?

You read of some who "have their portion in this life"--and you read that their portion on earth is a cursed portion! It was so with the rich man spoken of in the gospel--who while on earth had his purple robes, and fine linen, and sumptuous costly dishes every day!

Oh, happy man! But wait until you hear the end. He died--and where then? To Hell! Where is now your happy man? What is his condition there? What! There he finds more pain--than all the fleeting pleasures he had while on earth! There he feels more torment and terror--than he had pleasure and delight all his days on earth! "Abraham said: Son, remember that in your life-time you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented!" Luke 16:25
Remember that your pleasures were short and sweet--but Hell is long and bitter!
Remember that Lazarus is now blessed--and you are now cursed!
Remember that he is eternally happy--and you are eternally miserable!

Behold the change! The world's blessed man--is now God's cursed man! And he who was the miserable man in the esteem of the world--is now the blessed man!

[nChrist]

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Christ calls men to carry a cross!

(A.W. Tozer)

"Then Jesus said to His disciples: If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." Matthew 16:24

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever!" 1 John 2:15,17

Any appeal to the public in the name of Christ which rises no higher than an invitation to tranquility--must be recognized as mere humanism, with a few words of Jesus thrown in to make it appear Christian.

Christ calls men to carry a cross--but we call them to have fun in His name.

Christ calls them to forsake the world--but we assure them that if they but accept Jesus, the world is their playground.

Christ calls them to suffer--but we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords.

Christ calls them to holiness--but we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness.

We can afford to suffer now--we will have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves. And our enjoyment will be valid and pure, for it will come in the right way and at the right time.