Morning By Morning #249

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

Psalm 120:5

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry: “Woe is me!” Jesus did not pray for His Father to “take [us] out of the world” (John 17:15), and if He did not ask for that, it should not be your desire either. It is better by far to meet a difficulty in the Lord’s strength and to glorify Him through it. Your enemy is continually watching to detect inconsistency in your conduct, therefore you must “be holy in all you do” (1 Peter 1:15). Remember that all eyes are upon you and that more is expected of you than unbelievers. Strive to give no occasion for blame, but let your goodness be the only “fault” they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel others to say of you,”We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God” (Dan. 6:5).

You should not only seek to be consistent but also useful. Perhaps you think: “If I were in a better position I would serve the Lord’s cause, but I can’t do anything where I am.” However, the worse the people are who surround you, the more they need your efforts. If they are crooked, the more they need you to be used of God to help straighten them, and if they are depraved, the more they need you to be used to turn their proud hearts to the truth. (See Phil. 2:15.)

Where is the best place for a physician but where there are many sick? Where is the greatest honor to be won by a soldier but in the hottest fire of the battle? And when you become weary of the strife and sin confronting you from every side, consider that all the saints of God have endured the same trials. They were not floated on featherbeds of ease to heaven, and you must not expect to travel an easier road than theirs. They had to risk their lives to the death on the highest ground of the battlefield, and you will not be crowned until you have endured hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, “stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

It is understandable, especially in light of life’s difficulties, to occasionally want Jesus to take you on to heaven. The apostle Paul himself struggled with this, for he wrote: “To live is Christ and to die is gain…Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:21 – 23).

In spite of Paul’s struggle, however, he understood the importance of being in the center of God’s will and knew what his ministry meant to those he served, for he continued by saying, “But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith” (Phil. 1:24 – 25).

In another letter, Paul addressed the issue again:

We are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

2 Corinthians 5:6 – 9