Grace Gems

[nChrist]

Stricken and smitten and afflicted

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

God has magnified His love, and set forth the riches of His grace towards us, in a manner which should effectually allure our hearts to Him. While we were enemies and rebels in open arms against Him -- He was pleased to send his beloved Son to die for our sins -- in order to redeem us from sin and hell. Christ came down from his Father's bosom -- not to condemn the world of mankind, but to give His life and blood for our sakes; to make His soul an offering for our sins, to suffer inconceivable anguish and sorrow, and to die for us -- that He might bring us back to God and happiness. He poured out His soul to death, to secure us from the deserved wrath and vengeance of God. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, that we through His stripes might be healed. He was stricken and smitten and afflicted by God -- that He might open the way for us to partake of Divine mercy, and render Himself a more engaging object of our love.

He is the beloved Son of God, the first and the everlasting favorite of heaven, the highest object of his Father's delight; He is the great peace-maker between God and sinners, the chief messenger of divine love to men. If He had not undertaken to make peace by His atoning sacrifice, we would have continued the children of wrath forever! He came to deliver us from our state of enmity and rebellion, to save us from sin and its dreadful consequences, from the curse of God's righteous law, and from everlasting destruction. His heart was pierced for the sake of sinful men. The messages of His love -- He has written to us in lines of blood. This is that divine Savior who, though disregarded by many, is precious to those that believe. "Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!" 1 Peter 2:7

Love to the divine Redeemer is the distinguishing characteristic of a real Christian, and most indispensably requirement in order to our serving God acceptably in this world, and to our dwelling with Him in the next world. "If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed!" 1 Corinthians 16:22

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[nChrist]

Had I a thousand lives, a thousand souls

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"My meditation of Him shall be sweet!" Psalm 104:34

    It is the tendency of love--to excite in the mind, many thoughts about the beloved object. A right knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, will fill the mind with thoughts and meditations concerning Him--so as to excite the affections to cleave to Him with delight. A discovery of the glory of His person, of the perfection of His atoning sacrifice, and of the fullness of His grace--must inspire the heart with love to Him! "Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!" 1 Peter 2:7

    It is much to be lamented--that those who profess a sincere attachment to the Redeemer, should have their thoughts so little employed about Him. Where a multitude of worldly cares, desires, fears and hopes prevail in the mind--they cumber and perplex it--so as to bring on a great disinclination to spiritual meditation.

    The advice of the apostle Paul is of great importance in this case, "If you then are risen with Christ--seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your affection (your mind, your thoughts,) on things above, not on things on the earth." But earthly and sensual affections fill the hearts and heads of men, with multitudes of thoughts concerning those objects on which they are fixed, so as to leave no room, nor any inclination for spiritual and heavenly thoughts.

    "Shall not my thoughts," says the believer, "be frequently employed in meditating on the love of that infinitely glorious person, to whom I am indebted for deliverance from the greatest misery--and for all the hope I have of being one day advanced to everlasting glory and felicity! He poured out His holy soul in agonies, under the curse of the avenging law--to make me a partaker of eternal blessedness! He perfectly fulfilled the precepts of that holy law, that I, by His obedience, might be made righteous!"

    This glorious and adorable Redeemer, thought upon us long before the foundations of the world were laid. He bore us on His heart when He hung on the cross; when He was torn with wounds, and racked with pain; when He poured out His dying groans, and spilt His blood. He remembers us now, when He is exalted at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens; and will never, never forget us, through all the ages of eternity! Surely, then, we ought to think of Him! Impressed with a sense of His everlasting kindness--we should be ready to say, as the captives in Babylon, concerning their beloved city Jerusalem, "If I forget You, O blessed Jesus--let my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember You, if I don't make You my highest joy!"

    What holy transports of soul, what divine delights--have many Christians experienced, in meditating on the glories of the Redeemer! Ascending the mount of contemplation, their souls have taken wing--and explored the height and depth, the length and breadth of the love of Christ, which passes knowledge! They have seen, by the eye of faith--that He is infinitely lovely in Himself, that He is the admiration of angels, the darling of heaven, and the delight of the Father! They have viewed Him in the brightness of His ineffable glory, clothed with indescribable majesty and honor! They have been transported with the smiles of His countenance, and said of Him, "He is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely!"

    They have also considered their own unworthiness, and said, "Can such a wretch as I--be the object of His love? So vile a worm, so unprofitable a creature, so great a sinner, one so deserving of his everlasting abhorrence! Has He loved me, so as to give Himself for me? O what marvelous kindness is this! Is my worthless name written in His book of life? Am I redeemed by His blood, renewed by His Spirit, beautified with His loveliness, and clothed in His righteousness? O wonder of wonders! How can I forbear to love this adorable Savior? Can I withhold my choicest affections from Him? Ah no! Had I a thousand lives, a thousand souls--they would all be devoted to Him! You tempting vanities of this base world; you flattering honors, you deceitful riches-- Adieu! Jesus is my all! He is my light, my life, my unfailing treasure, my everlasting portion! Nothing below the skies, is deserving of my love! Precious Redeemer, in You the boundless wishes of my soul are filled! I long to leave this tenement of clay, and to rest in the bosom of Your love forever!"

    "My meditation of Him shall be sweet!" Psalm 104:34

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[nChrist]

Supremely precious

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
    1 Peter 2:7

    If Christ is truly precious to us--we shall prefer Him above every other object; He will have the chief place in our affections. The love which a Christian has to his Savior, penetrates and possesses his heart. This distinguishes it from the pretended love of hypocrites, which is only in word, or in some external actions, while their hearts are full of sinful self-love; so that it may be said of them, "This people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me."

    We may possibly delight in some objects of an inferior nature, as they contribute to our health, our ease, or our comfort. Our homes, our food, and our other temporal enjoyments are dear to us, because they minister to our comfort and convenience in the present life. But true love for Christ, does not allow any other object to hold the chief place in the heart. This chief place is for Jesus, whom we ought to love with supreme ardor. The choicest affections of our souls ought to be supremely fixed upon Him.

    As it is impossible for any man to love an unknown object--so it cannot be expected that Christ should be supremely precious unto us, unless we know Him to be excellent and desirable, beyond whatever may be compared with Him. We shall not esteem Him above all things--if we have not elevated views of His transcendent worth. Our esteem of Him rises in proportion to the knowledge we have of Him. Godly men therefore ardently desire to increase in the knowledge of Him--that their affections may be more intensely fixed upon Him.

    That love, which has but created things for its object, is degrading to the soul. It is a cleaving to that which can neither give happiness to our souls, nor repose to our minds. For to love any object ardently, is to seek our felicity in it, and to expect that it will answer our desires. It is to call upon it to fill that deep void which we feel in ourselves, and to imagine that it is capable of giving us the satisfaction we seek. It is to regard it as the resource of all our needs, the remedy of all the troubles which oppress us, and the source of all our happiness. Now, as it is God alone in whom we can find all these advantages, it is a debasing of the soul, it is idolatry to seek them in created objects! "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, that I may gain Christ!" Philippians 3:8

    If Christ is truly precious to us--we shall be induced to devote our souls and our bodies, our talents, our abilities and our faculties--as a living sacrifice to Him. To contemplate His adorable perfections will be our highest joy. We shall be ready to obey Him--in opposition to all the threats and the solicitations of men. We shall rely upon Him, though all outward appearances seem to be against us. We shall rejoice in Him, though we have nothing else to comfort us. If we enjoy health and plenty, friends and reputation, the Lord is still the object of our earnest desires and our supreme delight. "Whom have I in heaven but you? There is none upon earth that I desire besides you! As the deer pants for the water-brooks, so longs my soul after you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God!"

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[nChrist]

Our continual and absolute need of Christ

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
1 Peter 2:7

    The sense we have of our continual and absolute need of Christ, has a tendency to engage our affections to Him. At our first conversion, when we were turned from darkness to light--we saw ourselves lost--and that none but Christ could save us. We felt the wounds of a guilty conscience--and we knew that He alone could heal them. We trembled before the offended Majesty of God--and we were persuaded that He alone could deliver us from the wrath to come. We saw that there was no remission of sin, no reconciliation with God, no salvation--but through Jesus. Hence He became, at that period--all in all to us.

    We still see the absolute necessity of this precious Savior in every respect, so that without Him we can do nothing, as He Himself has told us. We have need of Him . . .
      when we are dark--to enlighten us;
      when we are dull and lifeless--to quicken us;
      when we are weak--to strengthen us;
      when we are tempted--to support us;
      when we have fallen--to raise and restore us;
      when we are disquieted with fears--to encourage us;
      when we are full of doubts and perplexity--to comfort us and give us peace;
      when we are staggering at the promises through unbelief--to increase our faith.
    As none but Christ can do these things for us--He must be precious to our souls. "Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!" 1 Peter 2:7

    If Jesus Christ is precious to us--the bent of our souls will be towards Him. We shall choose Him above and beyond every other object, as our most desirable portion, and exceeding great reward.

    If anything in this world is chosen by us as our chief good--our hearts will run out in strongest affections towards it. We shall look for our felicity in that object, be it what it may; that object therefore, and not Christ, will be most precious unto us.

    If our regard for the Redeemer is supreme, as it ought to be--our whole hearts will go out after Him in the most intense longings, and with the most ardent desires. The heart of a believer is restless, until it obtains--a solid hope and persuasion of Christ's love, a growing conformity to Him, and sincere delight in Him. The soul rests and acquiesces in Him alone, and is not happy without the enjoyment of some tokens of His love. The language of such a one is, "If I have Christ for my friend, and my everlasting portion--I have all. When His face is hidden, and His comforts withdrawn, I seek Him with restless desire, and often cry--O that I knew where I might find Him!"

    Reign, blessed Jesus, in my heart--reign supreme, and without a rival. I would sincerely love You above all things in heaven or earth. I see that You are infinitely glorious in Yourself, and worthy of my highest esteem and love. You are the only all-sufficient good--the overflowing spring of grace and blessedness. All things beneath and besides you--are vanity and emptiness. In comparison with you, they are less than nothing. You have drawn my heart towards Yourself, and made me willing to make choice of You, as my Savior, and my Portion. I would renounce all that the world calls good or great--that I may be entirely Yours. Be my everlasting inheritance, and I shall desire nothing that the whole world can bestow. Whom have I in heaven but You? There is nothing on earth that I desire in comparison of You! What can the present world afford--to tempt me to relinquish You? I would therefore bid 'adieu' to the gaudy pomps and empty vanities of life--and give my heart supremely to You. O may all the alluring trifles and vain delights of this world stand aloof from my heart--for I have devoted it to my Redeemer for His habitation. Keep your distance, O captivating delusions, from the gates of my heart, where You alone should dwell. There may You reign alone, over all my desires forever!

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[nChrist]

The language of the bottomless pit!

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"They blaspheme You; Your enemies take Your
 name in vain." Psalm 139:20

The hearts of those who fear God are wounded,
and their ears are stunned by multitudes, who,
on all occasions, take His holy and sacred name
in vain, and call for damnation on their own souls!
Our streets, our roads, and all our public places
are crowded with these diabolical monsters in
the shape of men, who seem to have studied
the language of the bottomless pit!

"Do not take the name of the Lord your God in
 vain, because the Lord will punish anyone who
 takes His name in vain!" Exodus 20:7

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[nChrist]

Beware of splitting upon this rock!

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
    1 Peter 2:7

    If Christ is truly precious to us--we shall be ready to deny ourselves for Him. "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23. Jesus Himself has been pleased to give us a safe and proper rule of judgment in this case: "If you love Me--keep My commandments. He who has My commandments and keeps them--he it is that loves Me." His Word and will have a prevailing, governing influence on the hearts and lives of those to whom He is precious. A steady desire and endeavor to avoid those things which are displeasing in His sight--is a practical proof that He is dear to us.

    To deny ourselves is--to give up our own supposed wisdom, that we may be entirely under the guidance of God; to resign our own wills that we may be subject to His will; and to yield our passions to His government. To deny ourselves is--to forego everything sinful to which self is inclined; to practice every holy thing to which self is averse; and to be ready to give up everything dear to ourselves at the call of God--as our ease, our friends, our goods, our health, or even our life. It is a disowning, or renouncing ourselves for Christ; making ourselves nothing--that He may be all.

    This cannot be sincerely done--unless Jesus is truly precious to us; or, which is the same thing--unless He is the object of our supreme affection. But if this is the case, we shall give up ourselves, with all that we have, to Him, without making any reserve. We shall, on a deliberate counting of the cost, choose the religion of Jesus, with all its difficulties--just as Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

    This is what our Lord means by the strong figurative expressions of plucking out the right eye, and cutting off the right hand. That is--parting with everything dear to us--when it stands in competition with Him, or is opposed to His service or His honor. For He justly reminds us, that "no man can serve two masters; either he will hate the one--and love the other; or else he will hold to the one--and despise the other." He constantly teaches us--the necessity of preferring Him and His interest and service--to the dearest objects on earth. "For he who loves father or mother, son or daughter more than Me--is not worthy of Me. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me--is not worthy of Me." When matters come to such a crisis--that a man must either break with his nearest and dearest relations and friends--or break with Christ--he who prefers their favor and friendship to Christ's, and will not give up temporal endearments for His sake--is not worthy to be owned as one of Christ's real disciples, nor can he partake of the spiritual and eternal blessings which belong to such. He who prefers his own ease and safety in this world--to the truths and the service of Christ, cannot be justly deemed one who sincerely loves Him, or one to whom He is precious.

    The same lesson is taught us by the parable of the treasure hidden in a field, which, when a man has found it--he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. And likewise by that of a merchant-man, seeking fine pearls, who having found one pearl of great price--he goes and parts with all, that he may possess that pearl. He is willing to give up the riches, the honors and pleasures of this world--for the enjoyment of that inestimable treasure which he has discovered.

    Self-denial, in respect to things in themselves sinful, should be universal; otherwise we do not give proper evidence of the sincerity of our love for Christ. Many go very far in a profession of religion, and yet live in the habitual indulgence of some sin--either great or small, secret or open. O reader, examine yourself, and beware of splitting upon this rock!

    Let us labor then, to mortify corrupt passions, inclinations and affections; and not willfully indulge ourselves in any sinful habit, custom, or practice!

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[nChrist]

They have all learned in one school

(J. C. Ryle, "Having the Spirit")

All who have the Spirit--are taught by Him. He is called
in Scripture, "The Spirit of wisdom and revelation." It
was the promise of the Lord Jesus, "He shall teach you
all things." "He shall guide you into all truth."

We are all by nature ignorant of spiritual truth. "The
natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of
God--they are foolishness to him." Our eyes are blinded.
We neither know God, nor Christ, nor ourselves, nor the
world, nor sin, nor heaven, nor hell--as we ought. We
see everything under false colors.

The Spirit alters entirely this state of things. He opens
the eyes of our understandings. He illumines us. He calls
us out of darkness into marvelous light. He takes away
the veil. He shines into our hearts, and makes us see
things as they really are!

No wonder that all true Christians are so remarkably
agreed upon the essentials of true religion! The reason
is, that they have all learned in one school--the
school of the Holy Spirit. No wonder that true Christians
can understand each other at once, and find common
ground of fellowship! They have been taught the
same language, by One whose lessons are never
forgotten!

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[nChrist]

My unstable soul

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"O Lord, pardon my iniquity--for it is great!"
Psalm 25:11

    If men have no inward grief on account of their ingratitude to a dying Savior--it indicates a lack of love to Him, and that they have not a just sense of the evil and malignity of their sin.

    To think of the love of Jesus to my poor soul--manifested in His sorrows, His sufferings, His agonies, and the shedding of His precious blood--pierces my heart, and makes me loathe myself in my own sight! While I look to Him upon the cross whom I have pierced by my sins--surely I ought to mourn, and be in bitterness, as one who mourns for the death of his first-born. Shall not I shed tears of grief for those sins, for which my Redeemer shed His precious blood!

    Blessed Jesus! how cold, how feeble, how languid is my love to You--the altogether lovely One! Alas! how readily are my fluctuating passions captivated by worldly things! O, let me not live so estranged from You! Warm my cold and frozen heart--and kindle in my bosom, a flame of holy fervor towards You.

    At some seasons, the believer's mind is so oppressed with a sense of his own vileness--that he is ready to sink into despondency. In his retired moments, he pours out his complaints in such language as this: "The clogs of guilt, and the clouds of darkness hang heavy on my soul. What language can express the depth of my distress on account of my sin! A sense of the vilest ingratitude to the best of Beings--stings my heart, and deprives me of comfort. What returns have I made for the abundant divine favors which I have received? I cannot bear the sight of my own vileness! I abhor myself, and repent as in dust and ashes. My life has been marked with repeated instances of ingratitude to Him, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift, whom I desire to love, and to obey with my whole heart. My unstable soul has been perpetually departing from God, inclining to folly, and verging towards that which is evil. This, this is wretchedness indeed! For this I condemn myself almost without ceasing. My spirits droop, my heart desponds, my soul is disquieted within me. O Lord, be merciful to me, pardon my iniquity--for it is great!"

    "Lord, I abhor myself on account of the defilement which cleaves unto me. Behold I am vile, I will lay my hand upon my mouth, and put my face in the dust! I have experienced a thousand proofs of your goodness--the remembrance of which, fills me with shame, because of my ingratitude. The height of my folly lies in having so often sinned against infinite goodness and love! I have abused your kindness, and affronted your mercy. O Lord, I beseech you, pardon my iniquity--for it is great."

    Such exercises of mind as these, strongly indicate the sincerity of our love for the divine Savior.

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In characters of blood

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
    1 Peter 2:7

    If Christ is truly precious to us--we shall be distressed that we are not more conformed to His blessed image and holy will. In proportion as He is precious to us--will be our aversion to sin and all unholiness. In the undertakings, the sufferings, and the death of our Redeemer for us--we have such a representation of the evil of sin, and of the dreadful punishment due to it--as must tend to inspire our hearts with holy hatred against it!

    We see in the wounds, the sorrows, and the crucifixion of the Savior--the dreadful malignity of sin! We see how hateful it is to God, since He punished it so severely in His beloved Son, when in our place, He bore it in His own body on the tree. We read the nature of sin--in characters of blood--on the cross of Christ!

    Those who have a due sense of the spirituality of the divine law, and who strictly examine their own hearts and lives by that perfect rule of righteousness, will ever see abundant reason for humiliation and self abasement before God.

    From sincere love to Jesus Christ--will arise holy hatred of those things which are contrary to His will, and which oppose and hinder us in our endeavors after conformity to Him. The vain imaginations of our own evil hearts--will be matter of grief and sorrow to us, "I hate vain thoughts--but I love your law."

    The Christian is grieved and distressed, that his thoughts and affections are so much taken up concerning the affairs of the present life, and that he should be so insensible and unmoved at many times, in respect to eternal realities--that his heart should be so hard, so dull and unaffected about matters of infinite importance! He mourns to think that his love to God is so cold, that his desires after Him are so languid, that his zeal for Him is so low, and his gratitude for favors received, is so small.

    His heart is pained within him--that he should feel himself so insensible and unmoved under the sound of the gospel. That he should sit and hear of the astonishing love of God in Christ Jesus, and of His giving his beloved Son to bleed and die for his own sins--without being melted into penitence, or inspiring him with love and zeal for Jesus. His heart is pained--that he should be so unaffected with the amazing kindness and compassion of Jesus Christ, manifested in His dying agonies, His bloody sweat, His ignominious cross, His loud and bitter cries, His pierced side, and bleeding heart--and all this for His bitter enemies--to deliver them from deserved and eternal destruction, and to bring them to the possession of everlasting glory and felicity!

    "Surely," says he, "if there is a call for the exercise of fervent affections anywhere--it is here at the foot of the cross! O how disquieted I am--to think that I should be so stupid and insensible, even when I could wish my heart to be most ravished! Can anything be presented to my thoughts more important, or more wonderful? And yet how superficial and ineffectual, at some times--are the impressions which are made upon my mind by these views!"

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[nChrist]

Communion with Jesus

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
1 Peter 2:7

    Christ is precious to those who believe. They desire to have more and more daily acquaintance with Him, and to grow in the sweet and powerful experience of communion with Him. Let us suppose the true Christian, in his retired moments, addressing God in such manner as the following:

    'You O God are unchangeable in Your nature, glorious in Your essence, wonderful in Your perfections, wise in Your counsels, and holy in all Your works. It is my greatest good and highest happiness--to enjoy Your favor, and to behold Your glory. Permit me to say, with Your servant Moses, I beseech You, show me Your glory! Show me the glory of Your wisdom, Your holiness, Your power, Your grace, and Your mercy in Christ Jesus. This will give me a distaste for the gaudy vanities of the present world. I shall then look with indifference on all that, after which the covetous are eagerly panting. I shall then pity the ambitious, in their restless solicitude to make themselves great, and to obtain the veneration of their fellow worms. Your Divine beauty and infinite loveliness, as displayed in the glorious Mediator, will captivate my desires, inflame my love, and excite my joy and delight!

    "A more intimate view of Your holiness will embitter every sin, and lead me, in deepest humiliation, to abhor myself, and repent as in dust and ashes. Give me such a sense of Your majesty--as may dispose my heart to reverence You supremely. Afford me such discoveries of Your omnipotence, Your love, and Your goodness--as may support my fainting heart under the toils of this warfare, and all the afflictions attending this state of mortality. Let the impressions which Your adorable perfections make upon me, be deep and powerful, so as to transform my soul into Your own amiable and holy likeness. Thus by beholding Your glory--may I be changed into Your image.

    "It is habitual, and not transient communion with Jesus, the Lord of glory, which alone will satisfy my desires, and produce those happy effects which I seek--of nearer conformity to Him in knowledge, righteousness and true holiness. Communion with Christ will tend to--refine my understanding, rectify my soul, and purify my heart! Grant me, O Author of all good, by frequent converse with You, to have my affections spiritualized, that I may look with indifference on all other objects, and have my mind set on things above--not on earthly things. In fellowship with You, I shall find a source of delights, infinitely superior to anything that this world can afford. For Your loving-kindness is better than life itself. You are the inexhaustible treasury of blessedness. O Lord God Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in You!"

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[nChrist]

Give Me your heart

(Arthur W. Pink)

"Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

"My son, give Me your heart." (Proverbs 23:26)

A "willing" heart (Exodus 35:5)--which acts spontaneously and gladly, not out of necessity.

A "perfect" heart (1 Chronicles 29:9)--sincere, genuine, upright.

A "tender" heart (2 Chronicles 34:27)--yielding and pliable, the opposite of hard and stubborn.

A "broken" heart (Psalm 34:18 )--sorrowing over all failure and sin.

A "united" heart (Psalm 86:11)--all the affections centered on God.

An "enlarged" heart (Psalm 119:32)--delighting in every part of Scripture, and loving all God's people.

A "sound" heart (Proverbs 14:30)--right in both doctrine and practice.

A "merry" heart (Proverbs 15:15)--rejoicing in the Lord always.

A "pure" heart (Matthew 5:8 )--hating all evil.

An "honest and good heart" (Luke 8:15)--free from deceit and hypocrisy, willing to be searched through and through by the Word.

A "single" heart (Ephesians 6:5)--desiring only God's glory.

A "true" heart (Hebrews 10:22)--genuine in all its dealings with God.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." (Proverbs 4:23)

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[nChrist]

Better than life!

(William Mason, "A Spiritual Treasury")

"Your steadfast love is better than life!" Psalm 63:3

Forsake all--and possess all. Give up all--and enjoy all.
This is the doctrine of Jesus--and the experience of true
believers. We overcome the world . . .
  by preferring the love of Christ to everything besides;
  by really tasting that the Lord is gracious;
  by truly feeling the comforts of His love;
  by actually partaking of fellowship with Jesus;
  by freely conversing with the Father of all consolations!
O how transporting to the heart! How ravishing to the soul!

With what holy indifference does the enraptured heart
look down upon the fleeting objects of time and sense!
The gilded toys of time--which so attract the views;
the glittering vanities of life--which so enslave earthly minds;
the empty shadows of sense--which so bewitch the heart;
yes, life itself, with all its comforts--what are all, compared
to one moment's enjoyment of the loving-kindness of the
Lord! They are as shadow compared to substance! In
worth, they are as but dust--compared to diamonds!

Saving faith brings the love of God--yes, the God of love
Himself into the sinner's heart! This changes a miserable
sinner--into a satisfied, holy, humble praiser of God. Thus
it is--when the soul has found Christ, who is its life, its
glory, its treasure, its heaven, its all.

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[nChrist]

Safe in the Almighty Shepherd's hands!

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd
 lays down His life for the sheep." John 10:11

Jesus is the Shepherd of His flock--
  to conduct, guard and defend them,
  to feed them in the green pastures of His grace,
  to cure and heal their spiritual diseases,
  to restore them when they wander,
  to gather the lambs with His arms,
  to carry them in His bosom, and gently lead them.

His power, care and compassion are infinite!
His followers are as sheep in the midst of wolves. We
hear one of them saying, "My soul is among lions!"
These lions may gape and roar, they may seek to
devour--but the sheep are safe in the Almighty
Shepherd's hands! For He has said, "My sheep
hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish
—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand!"

Such a Shepherd must be precious!

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[nChrist]

The Bridegroom's love

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!" Revelation 21:9

    Jesus is the BRIDEGROOM of His people, and He is so unspeakably excellent in that view, that none in heaven or earth can rival Him. We were deformed, polluted, and in every respect, unworthy of standing in so near and intimate a relation to Him. There was no excellency in us, to render us desirable in His eyes--but everything to provoke His resentment. And yet He was resolved to betroth us to Himself forever--in loving-kindness, in faithfulness, and in mercy!

    Sin had reduced us to a state of absolute beggary, poverty, and wretchedness. Yet it was His good pleasure to take us into union with Himself--that we might share in His unsearchable riches! Nay, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor--that we through His poverty, might be made rich!

    Do we speak of the Bridegroom's love? It is absolutely without parallel. There is nothing which will bear any comparison with it. Its height and depth, its length and breadth are immeasurable! It passes the knowledge of men or angels. It is stronger than death--for Christ loves His church, and gave Himself for it. Jesus Himself says to those who are married unto Him, "As the Father has loved me--so have I loved you!" The love of the nearest relations among men, falls inconceivably short of setting forth the nature, or the ardency of His love. No husband loves the dearest wife--as Christ loves His people.

    Believers, by virtue of their marital union with Jesus--are advanced to great riches and honors. They are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. The riches of eternity are their own! They are taken from the dust and the dunghill--and set among glorious princes! The angels in heaven think it no dishonor to be their servants. The contract is made, and it will be consummated at the great day, when the marriage supper will be celebrated with solemnity, triumph, and glory--suited to the dignity of the glorious Bridegroom. "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb!" Revelation 19:9

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All the afflictions of God's people

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

    "We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope." Romans 5:3-4

    The chastisements of Christ are precious to those who believe. The believer's love to Jesus Christ, not only continues under the rod of correction—but is quickened and increased by it! Thus it is distinguished from that pretended love, which exists only in times of prosperity. The afflicted Christian is enabled to consider -- that whom the Lord loves -- He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives; and that He only afflicts us for our profit -- to make us partakers of His holiness.

    The Lord can so manifest Himself to His afflicted people -- that the season of affliction shall be to them a season of great consolation. He is to them -- a fountain of life, of strength, of grace and comfort in the afflictive hour -- and of His fullness they receive, as their necessities require. The Lord Jesus Christ is a sun to enlighten and cheer His afflicted followers, and a shield to defend them. He is a hiding-place from the storm, a covert from the tempest, and as the shadow of a great rock in a dry and weary land.

    All the afflictions of God's people are designed, under His gracious management -- to test, to make manifest, and to exercise, those graces and virtues which He has implanted in them. Though afflictions in themselves are not joyous but grievous, nevertheless they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness in those who are exercised thereby. Afflictions serve to quicken the spirit of devotion in us; and to rouse us from that formality and indifference which frequently attend a long course of ease and prosperity. We are constrained to seek God with sincerity and fervor, when His chastening hand is upon us, since we then feel our absolute need of that help and deliverance, which He alone can give us.

    When the loss of any temporal enjoyment casts us into excessive despondency and dejection -- it is evident that what we have lost, was the object of our inordinate love. The most innocent attachments cease to be innocent, when they press too strongly upon us! To cleave to any created object, and to look for happiness from it -- is to make an idol of it -- and set it up in God's place. Should this object be a friend, a brother, a wife, or a child -- the idolatry is still odious in the eyes of that God, to whom we owe our chief affection. Our warmest passions, our most fervent love, desires, hopes, and confidences -- should always have God for their object. It is His desire that our happiness should not center in any of the good things of this life.

    Losses and disappointments -- are the trials of our faith, our patience, and our obedience. When we are in the midst of prosperity, it is difficult to know whether we have a love for the Benefactor -- or only for His benefits. It is in the midst of adversity -- that our piety is put to the trial.

    Afflictions serve most effectually -- to convince us of the vanity of all that this world can afford -- to remind us that this is not our rest -- and to stir up desires and hopes for our everlasting home. They produce in us a spirit of sympathy towards our companions in tribulation. They give occasion for the exercise of patience, meekness, submission, and resignation. Were it not for the wholesome and necessary discipline of affliction -- these excellent virtues would lie dormant. Afflictions serve to convince us more deeply of our own weakness and insufficiency, and to endear the person, the grace, the promises, and the salvation of our Redeemer, more and more to our hearts. Thus we are taught to esteem His very chastisements as precious -- on account of the benefits we derive from them.

    Afflictions are not to punish -- but to purify the believing soul. They are not in wrath -- but in mercy. Amidst the distresses and miseries of life -- it is a felicity to belong to Christ, without whose permission and appointment, no evil can befall us! He always sends afflictions for our good; and knows by experience, what it is to suffer them. His kind hand will speedily put a end to all the pains we feel -- when we have derived from them all the good which He intends to do for us, by them.

    How many, how suitable, how sovereign are the supports our heavenly Father affords to His afflicted children! They make the affliction, which in itself would seem heavy and tedious -- appear to be light, and but for a moment. It is happier to be in the furnace of affliction with these supports -- than to be in the highest prosperity without them! Blessed with the hopes and comforts of Christ -- the true Christian would prefer the lot of Lazarus, with all the poverty and distress which he endured -- to the lot of the rich man, who, amidst all the splendor and affluence which this world could afford -- lived a life of alienation from God, and destitute of the sovereign supports which can only be enjoyed, by those who love and fear Him.

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