“The Christian's
hopes are all heavenly. He does not expect lasting satisfaction from anything
the world has to offer.
The Christian's
occupation is heavenly. That is to say, God is our overseer. We may plant our
seeds here on earth, but our crop will be harvested in heaven. This keeps our
hearts and desires on a celestial plane. In a spiritual sense, the Christian's
feet stand where other men cannot even see. He treads on the moon and is
clothed with the sun. He looks down on earthly men as one from a high hill
looks upon those living in a swamp. While he breathes in pure heavenly air,
they are suffocating in a fog of carnal pleasures and profits. He knows one
heavenly pearl is worth infinitely more than the earthly accumulation of a
whole lifetime.
The great business
of a saint's life is to be doing things that enlarge the kingdom of heaven. Not
only is he interested in his own welfare, but he eagerly recruits his friends
and neighbors to join in his eternal enterprise. Now this alarms hell. What!
Not content to go to heaven himself, but by his holy example and faithful work
will he try to carry them along with him also? This springs the lion raging out
of his den. Such a Christian, to be sure, will find the devil in his way to
oppose him.
The Christian's
hopes are all heavenly. He does not expect lasting satisfaction from anything
the world has to offer. Indeed, he would think himself the most miserable
person to have ever lived, if the only rewards he could expect from his
religion were on this side of eternity. No, it is heaven and eternal life that
he anticipates. And though he is so poor that he cannot leave one cent in his
will, yet he counts himself a greater heir than if he were a child of the
greatest prince on earth.
Hope is the grace
that shows us how to rejoice in the prospect of promised glory. It sits beside
us in the worst of times. When things are so bad that we cannot imagine how
they could possibly get worse, hope lifts our eyes from our immediate troubles
and places them on our future eternal joys.
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
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