Morning By Morning #275

At our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover.

Song of Songs 7:13

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

The woman in today’s text desires to give her lover all that she produces. Our hearts as well have “every delicacy, both new and old” fruits, that are “stored up for [our] lover.” And now that we are into autumn, the richest season for fruit, may we consider what’s in our storehouse.

We have “new” fruits. We have the desire to experience new life, new joys, and new gratitude. We desire to make new resolutions and carry them out through new efforts. Our heart blossoms with new prayers and our soul pledges itself to new endeavors.

We have some “old” fruits as well. There is our “first love” (Rev. 2:4), a choice fruit and one in which Jesus delights. There is our “first faith” (1 Tim. 5:12 KJV), that simple childlike faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is the joy of when we first met the Lord—may we revive it! We have our old remembrances of God’s promises—how faithful He has been! In sickness, how soft He made our bed! In deep water, how peacefully He kept us afloat! In “the blazing furnace” (Dan. 3:17), how graciously He delivered us!

Indeed, we have many old fruits, for God’s mercies have been more than the number of hairs on our head. And we have old sins, which we must regret, but we also have experienced many times of repentance. And it is through the Lord’s gift of repentance to us that we have wept our way to the cross and learned the amazing worthiness of His blood.

Yes, we have many fruits this morning, “both new and old,” but here is the main point: they are all “stored up” for Jesus. Surely the very best fruit is the service we do where Jesus is the solitary aim of our soul and where His glory is the focus of all our efforts. May our many fruits be “stored up” only for our beloved Lord. May we display them when He is with us for His glory alone—not to be seen by others.

Jesus, I unlock the door of my garden this morning. May no one enter to rob You of even one good fruit from the soil You watered with Your precious bloody sweat. My all is Yours and Yours alone, blessed Jesus, my Beloved!

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

It is interesting that Paul lists for us “the acts of the sinful nature,” and then contrasts them to “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:19, 22). Obviously he did not want to use the term fruit for things that are evil in nature. As we consider this, we must also be careful not to take credit for the fruit our lives produce, even as we dedicate that fruit to the Lord. In fact, immediately after Paul lists “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22), he gives us a warning: “Let us not become conceited” (Gal. 5:26). May our lives truly exhibit “the fruit of the Spirit,” but may we remember—it is “the fruit of the Spirit.”

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:19 – 23