(Charles Orr, “Divine Realities”)
“Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity!” 1 Timothy 4:12
It is a serious thing to live!

The book of our life is not the making of our own character and destiny only–but it is also helping to make that of others.
There is a wondrous power in personal influence. Your life is helping to mold some other life–and often the one that is dearest to you. What we are–goes to help make another what they are. What we are–engraves itself upon the life of our friend or family. The conduct of the parents–is being written in the lives of the children!

We are either contributing to the world’s good–or evil. An evil man is a dangerous man–for he influences others.
We have no right to live as we please. Our children, our friend, our neighbor–has a right to demand a holy life from us–for their own sake.

The child has a right to say, “Father, for my sake I demand that you to live a pure life.” It is a wicked thing to start a child wrong in life–by our unholy conduct!

It is not an easy thing to heal the wound which our wrong conduct has made in the life of another. We may, by repentance and begging forgiveness, heal the wound–but it will be hard to remove the scar!

By God’s grace–you can make your future record clean and pure. Will you do it?

“And you yourself must be an example to them–by doing good works of every kind.” Titus 2:7

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“When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him: They have no more wine.” John 2:3

This incident is a very fitting illustration of the failure of all this world’s joys. The wine ran out at a wedding-feast. There was not enough of it to last through to the end of the feast.

It is just so with all earth’s pleasures. It comes in cups–not in fountains; and the supply is limited–and soon exhausted.

It is especially so with sin’s pleasures. The prodigal son soon ran out of money, and began to be in need. A poet compared the pleasures of sin to a snowflake on the river, “a moment white–then gone forever!”

But it is true in a sense also–of pure earthly pleasures. Even the sweetness of human love is but a cupful, which will not last forever. The joy which so fills us today–tomorrow is changed to sorrow. Amid the gladness of the marriage altar–there is the knell of the end, in the words “until death do us part.” One of every two friends must hold the other’s hand in farewell at the edge of the valley of the shadow of death–and must stand by the other’s grave, and walk alone for part of the way. The best wine of earthly life and of love–will fail. If there were nothing better in this world–how sad it would be!

But it is here that we see the glory of Christ’s gospel. When earth’s wine fails–Jesus comes, and gives Heaven’s wine to supply the lack. How beautiful and how true is the picture here: the failing wine–and then Jesus coming with power and supplying the need! That is what He is doing continually. He takes lives which have drained their last drop of earthly gladness–and He satisfies them with spiritual good and blessing, so that they need nothing more.

When human joy fails–Jesus gives new joy, better than the world’s, and in unfailing abundance! How sad it is for those who have not taken Christ into their lives, and who have nothing but the empty cup–when earth’s wine runs out!

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“One thing you lack” Mark 10:21

Those words addressed by our Lord to the rich young ruler who had approached Him with such apparent eagerness and earnestness, and in whom there were some admirable qualities which are rarely found in young men, especially those of affluence.

Yet there was a fatal defect, for the sequel informs us that he turned from Christ, and “went away sad” (Mark 10:22). What was wrong with him? “‘One thing you lack–Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Mark 10:21-22).

There was a struggle between his convictions and his corruptions; he desired to serve two masters–God and mammon; and when Christ told him that was impossible, he was chagrined.

His fatal deficiency may be described in a variety of ways. He had no conviction that he was a ruined, lost and Hell-deserving sinner, no consciousness that he was a spiritual leper in the sight of God, no realization of his utter helplessness to better his condition. Though religious, he was still in nature’s darkness, and therefore, his affections were not raised above the vanities of this world. There was no love for God within him; and consequently, he was unwilling to deny himself, abandon his idols, and give God His rightful place in his life–serving, pleasing, and enjoying Him. He lacked a real and unreserved surrender of his heart to God.

Is that the case with you, dear reader?

Photo: Dead Branches by David Wagner

“Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and view a land that stretches afar.” Isaiah 33:17

Contemplate your blessed Redeemer, seated on His great white throne, encircled with heavenly glory!

Look at the King in His beauty!

It is the sight of a glorified Savior–that will make the heaven of the believer.

Endeavor now, by the eye of faith, to behold the Lord Jesus in all His matchless beauty and excellence.

Contemplate . . .
His glorious character;
His infinite mercy;
His unparalleled condescension,
and His boundless love!

There is enough in Jesus to employ the soul in rapturous meditation through a vast eternity!

His excellence, His goodness, and His love–can never be fathomed!

O keep your eye fixed on this adorable Savior, while you sojourn in this valley of tears; and in a little while you shall see Him as He is; face to face, and ascribe to Him unceasing praise!

“In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Revelation 5:12

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“Come unto Me.” Matthew 11:28

Jesus calls you to His throne of grace. He is there waiting to hear, relieve and bless you. You are to go to Him just as you are–and receive from Him all you need.

He will give you:
wisdom–to direct your steps;
peace–to keep your hearts;
strength–to do His will;
righteousness–to justify your souls;
and rest–unspeakably sweet.

He is glorified in bestowing these blessings upon you. He calls you this morning, this moment–to receive all you need–without money and without price. What a precious Savior is Jesus! What a kind and tender Friend!

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

“Come!” He says, “Come to Me! Do not go to SELF, to the world, to the empty cisterns which creatures idolize; but come unto Me, and I will do immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine!

Your sins–I will pardon;
your graces–I will revive;
your comforts–I will restore;
your holiness–I will increase;
your efforts to glorify Me–I will crown with success;
I will bless you–and you shall be a blessing!”

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“If anyone does not love the Lord–that person is cursed!” 1 Corinthians 16:22

What a monstrous soul you have within you–which cannot love God!
Which cannot love supreme excellence, and all perfect beauty;
which cannot love your divine Parent, the Author of your mortal frame;
which cannot love your prime Benefactor and gracious Redeemer;
which cannot love Him, “in whom you live, and move, and have your being,”
which cannot love Him, who alone is the proper happiness for your immortal spirit;
who can love a parent, a child, a friend, with all their infirmities–but cannot love God;
who can love the world; who can love even sinful pleasures–and yet cannot love God;
who can love everything that is lovely–but God, who is infinitely lovely;
who can love wisdom, justice, veracity, goodness, clemency, in creatures, where they are attended with many imperfections–and yet cannot love God, where all center and shine in the highest perfection!

What a monster of a soul is this!

Must it not be a devil–to be capable of such unnatural horrendous wickedness? Can you be easy, while you have such a soul within you? What a load of guilt must lie upon you!

If love to God is the fulfilling of the whole law–then the lack of love must be the breach of the whole law. You break it all at one blow! Your life is but one continued, uniform, uninterrupted series of sinning! The lack of love to God diffuses a malignity through all you do!

Now, I appeal to you yourselves–is not this a very dangerous situation? While you are destitute of sincere love of God–can you flatter yourselves that you are fit for heaven?

What! fit for the region of divine love?

What! fit to converse with a holy God, and live forever in His presence?

What! fit to spend an eternity in His holy service?

Can you be fit for these things–while you have no love to Him? Certainly not! You must perceive yourselves to be fit for destruction–and fit for nothing else! You are devilized already! Lack of love to God is the grand constituent of a devil, the worst ingredient in that infernal character. And must you not then be doomed to that everlasting fire–which is prepared and fit for the devil and his angels?

“If anyone does not love the Lord–that person is cursed!” 1 Corinthians 16:22

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“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends–if you do what I command. . . . I have called you friends.” John 15:13-15

The central fact in every true Christian life, is a personal friendship with Jesus. Men were called to follow Him, to leave all and cleave to Him, to believe on Him, to trust Him, to love Him, to obey Him; and the result was the transformation of their lives into His own beauty! That which alone makes one a Christian, is being a friend of Jesus.

Friendship transforms–we become like those with whom we live in close, intimate relations. Life flows into life, heart and heart are knit together, spirits blend, and the two friends become one.

We have but little to give to Christ; yet it is a comfort to know that our friendship really is precious to Him, and gives Him joy–poor and meager though its best may be. But He has infinite blessings to give to us. The friendship of Jesus includes all other blessings for time and for eternity! If Christ is our friend, all of life is made rich and beautiful to us.

“I have called you friends.” No other gift He gives to us–can equal in value, the love and friendship of His heart.

When King Cyrus gave Artabazus, one of his courtiers, a ‘gold cup’; he gave Chrysanthus, his favorite, only a ‘kiss’. And Artabazus said to Cyrus, “The gold cup you gave me, was not so precious as the kiss you gave Chrysanthus.”

No good man’s money is ever worth as much as his love. Certainly the greatest honor of this earth, greater than rank or station or wealth–is the friendship of Jesus Christ.

The stories of the friendships of Jesus when He was on the earth, need cause no one to sigh, “I wish that I had lived in those days, when Jesus lived among men–that I might have been His friend too–feeling the warmth of His love, my life enriched by contact with His, and my spirit quickened by His love and grace!” The friendships of Jesus, whose stories we read in the New Testament, are only patterns of friendships into which we may now enter–if we are ready to consecrate our life to Him in faithfulness and love.

Sunset Sky by Anna Cervova

“The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare!” 2 Peter 3:7, 10

The present state is but the infancy of the world. All the events of time, even those which make such great noise to us, and determine the fate of kingdoms–are but as the trivial games of little children. But if we look forward and trace events to maturity, we meet with vast, significant and majestic events! To one of those scenes I would direct your attention this day; I mean the solemn, tremendous, and glorious scene of the universal judgment!

You have sometimes seen a stately building in ruins; come now, and view the ruins of a demolished world! Come now, and view the whole universe severely laboring and agonizing in her last convulsions, and her well-ordered system dissolved!

You have heard of earthquakes here and there which have laid huge cities in ruins; come now, and feel the tremors and convulsions of the whole globe, which blend cities and countries, oceans and continents, mountains, plains and valleys–in one giant heap!

You have a thousand times beheld the moon walking in brightness, and the sun shining in its strength; come now, look and see the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood!

It is our lot to live in an age of war, blood, and slaughter; an age in which our attention is engaged by the dubious fate of kingdoms. Draw off your thoughts from these trifling objects for an hour, and fix them on more solemn and vital objects. Come view this dread scene!

“The world alarmed, both earth and heaven o’erthrown,

And gasping nature’s last tremendous groan;

Death’s ancient scepter broke, the teeming tomb,

The Righteous Judge, and man’s eternal doom!”

Let us now enter upon the majestic scene! But alas! what images shall I use to represent it? Nothing that we have ever seen, nothing that we have ever heard, nothing that has ever happened on the stage of time–can furnish us with proper illustrations. All here is low and groveling–when compared with the grand phenomena of that day!

We are so accustomed to trifling earthly objects, that it is impossible that we should ever raise our thoughts to a suitable pitch of elevation. But before long, we shall be amazed spectators of these majestic wonders–and our eyes and our ears will be our instructors!

But it is now necessary we should have such ideas of them–as may affect our hearts, and prepare us for them. Let us therefore present to our view, those representations which divine revelation–our only guide in this case–give us . . .

of the person of the Judge, and the manner of His appearance;

of the resurrection of the dead, and the transformation of the living;

of the universal gathering of all men before the supreme tribunal;

of their separation to the right and left hand of the Judge, according to their characters;

of the judicial process itself;

of the decisive sentence;

of its execution,

and of the conflagration of the world!

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Photo:  Galaxy by Petr Kratochvil

(James Smith, “Looking Upon the Pierced One” 1860)

“He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed!” Isaiah 53:5

Cross

If we would enjoy peace, grow in grace, and walk with God–there is one object on which the eye of the mind should be constantly fixed. Therefore it is written, as the language of our crucified Lord, “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced!” Zechariah 12:10.

Pierced! WHO pierced Him? WE did–and pierced Him to the heart! Nor were we satisfied with piercing Him once–for we have pierced Him often, and pierced Him through and through!
Our unbelief pierces Him;
our ingratitude pierces Him;
the coldness of our love pierces Him;
our forgetfulness pierces Him;
our preferring the world to Him pierces Him;
our disobedience to His Word pierces Him;
and our doubting of His love pierces Him!

It was WE who pierced Him on Calvary!
We put the nails and the hammer into the hands of the executioners!
We put the spear into the hand of the Roman soldier!
Yes, it was we who . . .
gathered the thorns,
picked out the sharpest,
formed them into a mock crown,
thrust it on His head, and
with the staff beat the thorns into His temples!

See, see, there He hangs! Pierced in His head, hands, feet, and side–pierced for us–pierced by us!

Look, my soul, at the pierced One!

God’s holy Son hangs on that cross!

O my soul, look at Jesus!
He is your Substitute.
He is there for you!
He is suffering death for you!
He is bearing the desert of your sins in His body on the tree!
He is enduring your curse, being made accursed for you!

He is revealing . . .
what is in man’s nature,
what is in God’s heart, and
what He is willing to do and suffer–rather than I should perish!

Yes, Jesus is there for me!
He represents my person!
He answers for my crimes!
He dies in my stead!

O Savior, was ever any love, was ever any agony, was ever any death–like Yours!

Look, my soul, look to Jesus, the pierced One!

Look, and mourn–because your sins degraded, disgraced, and put Him to grief!

Look, and rejoice, for you shall have . . .
dignity by His degradation,
honor by His disgrace, and
life by His death!

Look, and be sorry that you have ever sinned, and so caused Jesus to suffer!
Look, and rejoice that you shall live forever to glorify and praise His name!

O my soul, Jesus was wounded for your transgressions, and bruised for your iniquities!
His blood has made your peace with God,
His righteousness gives you a title to eternal life,
and His death delivers you from dying!

I fix my eye intently on Jesus on the Hill Calvary, and marking all His tears, wounds, and agonies–I feel thatI was the cause of all. I myself did it! Yes, I MYSELF . . .
bruised Him,
scourged Him,
spit on Him,
crowned Him with thorns,
smote Him with the fist, and
nailed Him to the cursed tree!
I inflicted it all.

Yet, O wonder of wonders! I derive pardon, holiness, and eternal life from it!

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Photo: Single Wooden Cross by Kim Newberg

(J. R. Miler, “Looking One’s Soul in the Face” 1912)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way!” Psalm 139:23-24

It will be worth our while–to think seriously of the things in us–that only God can see. There are sins which are hidden from ourselves, of which our conscience is not aware–our unknown errors. The evil in us which lies too deep to be discovered. There is a SELF in us, which even we ourselves do not see! There are depths of our being–into which our own eyes cannot pierce. You may say that you know of no sins, errors, or faults in yourself, and you may be sincere; still this is not evidence that you are sinless.

Our conscience is not the final court. It is not enough to have the approval of our own heart. There are errors and evils in the holiest life on earth–which only God’s eye can detect. We must ask God to search us, if we would be made clean.

We cannot see our own faults–even as our neighbors can see them. There is wisdom in the wish that we might see ourselves, as others see us–for it would free us from many a blunder and foolish notion.

We are prejudiced in our own favor. We are disposed to be charitable toward our own shortcomings. We make all sorts of allowances for our own faults. We are wonderfully patient with our own weaknesses. We are blind to our own blemishes. We look at our good qualities through magnifying glasses; and at our faults and errors with the lenses reversed–making them appear very small. We see only the best of ourselves.

If you were to meet yourself on the street some morning–that is, the person God sees you to be–you would probably not recognize yourself!
We remember the little story that the prophet Nathan told King David, about a rich man’s injustice toward a poor man, and how David’s anger flamed up. “This man must die!” cried the king. He did not recognize himself–in the man he so despised, until Nathan quietly said, “You are the man!”
We are all too much like David.

If the true chronicle of your life were written in a book, in the form of a story, and you were to read the chapters over–you probably would not identify the story as your own!

We do not know our real self. We do not imagine there is so much about us that is morally ugly and foul, that is positively wicked. But God searches and knows the innermost and hidden things of our heart!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way!”

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