Morning By Morning #29

…what is unseen.

2 Corinthians 4:18

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

In our Christian pilgrimage, generally it is best to be forward looking, for ahead lies our crown and onward is the goal. Whether we seek hope, joy, or consolation to further inspire our love, the future should, after all is said and done, be the primary object of the eye of faith. As we look into the future, we see death and “the body of sin…done away with” (Rom. 6:6) and the soul made perfectly complete—fit to partake in the inheritance of the saints of light.

Looking further still, the believer’s enlightened eye of faith can see that gloomy stream of death’s river then forded and the attainment of the heights of the hills of light where shines that glorious celestial city. He sees himself within the pearly gates, hailed as more than a conqueror (see Rom. 8:37), crowned by Christ’s own hands, embraced within the arms of Jesus, glorified with Him, and seated with Him on His throne—as He said, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev. 3:21).

The very thought of such a glorious future should relieve the darkness of the past and the dreary gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will more than compensate for the sorrows of earth.

Hush then! O my doubts! Hush! Death is simply a narrow stream that quickly will be crossed. Time? How short! Eternity? How long! Death? How brief! Immortality? How endless!

Even now I can see myself eating of “the cluster of grapes” of “the Valley of Eshcol” (Num. 13:24) and sipping of the pure water of the well within its gate. The road is so very short! I will soon be there!

When the world my heart is rending
With its heaviest storm of care,
My glad thoughts to heaven ascending,
Find a refuge from despair.
Faith’s bright vision shall sustain me
Till life’s pilgrimage is past;
Fears may vex and troubles pain me,
I shall reach my home at last.

William Hiley Bathurst, 1796 – 1877

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

It may seem counterintuitive, but isn’t it true that the longer we live, the shorter we realize this life really is? Isn’t it the older people among us who have the sense that every year seems shorter than the previous one? The apostle James declared, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.

Isaiah 51:6

Help me, heavenly Father, to daily seek Your kingdom and Your righteousness, “for tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matt. 6:34).