Morning By Morning #202

…a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.

Ephesians 1:13 – 14

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Oh, what enlightenment, joy, comfort, and delight is experienced in the hearts of those who have learned to feed solely on Jesus, and Him alone! In this life, however, the realization of Christ’s preciousness is imperfect at best. One author once wrote, “Tis but a taste!” We “have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3), but we do not yet know just how good He is. Yet what we do know of His sweetness causes us to long for more. We have enjoyed “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” which have left us hungering and thirsting for the fullness of the heavenly bread and wine, so we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons” (Rom. 8:23).

In this life we are like Israel in the wilderness, who had only “a single cluster of grapes” from “the Valley of Eshcol” (Num. 13:23). In heaven, however, we will be in the vineyard itself. Here “the manna [is] like coriander seed” (Num. 11:7) falling only in small pieces, but there we will eat “the bread of heaven” (Ps. 105:40)—the grain of God’s kingdom. Today we are simply beginners in spiritual knowledge, for though we have learned the first letters of the alphabet, we cannot yet read words, much less put sentences together. But as someone once said, “He who has been in heaven only five minutes knows more than all the greatest theologians on earth combined.” Today we have many unfulfilled desires, but soon our every wish will be satisfied and all our talents and gifts will be happily employed in the eternal world of joy.

Dear Christian, heaven is but a few years away. Within a very little time you will be rid of all your trials and troubles, and your eyes, now filled with tears, will weep no longer. Instead you will gaze in unspeakable rapture upon the splendor of “him who sits on the throne” (Rev. 5:13).

Even more, you will sit upon His throne! The triumph of His glory—His crown, His joy, His paradise—will be shared by you. These will all be yours, for you will be one of the “co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17) who is the “heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Unfortunately complaining is part of human nature, but it should not be a part of a believer’s life. In fact, we should recognize the truth that becoming “co-heirs with Christ” comes with certain responsibilities, and that in order to “share in his glory,” we must “share in his sufferings.” As Paul wrote in the following verse, your blessings come with an “if”—in other words, they are conditional: “If we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom. 8:17).

Today we have compared various aspects of this life with what is to come, but Paul goes on to say, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). Thus, we should remember this admonition when tempted to complain:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

Philippians 2:14 – 15

There are glorious, godly reasons for our suffering!