Pilgrim
Portions
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Weeks
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Sing without ceasing, sing, The Saviour’s present grace, How all things shine In light divine, For those who’ve seen His face.The thing that
hinders our rejoicing is not trouble, but being half and half. If in
the world his conscience reproaches the Christian, if he meets
spiritual Christians he is unhappy there; in fact, he is happy nowhere. Ours ought not to
be a religion of regrets, but a rejoicing of heart continually. “Rejoice
evermore: pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.” Closer
connection between these three than our souls are wont to acknowledge.
Joy will ever rise in proportion to prayer and thanksgiving. Where His will is
there is happiness. … Christ is my happiness … but it is in the path of
His will that we find the enjoyment of His love. … Thus I find in Him a
source of profound and ineffable joy … our treasure is Himself. I have been
unspeakably happy lately, yet as making me nothing in the thought of
being the object of God’s love; I had been seeking right affections
towards Him—all right—but the thought that He loved me flowed in on me
in joy and peace; and peace is a very deep thing, like a river. I attach more
importance to peace than to joy. I should wish to see you habitually in
a joy more deep than demonstrative, but if Jesus is at the bottom of
your heart … then your joy will be deep. Sorrow is a good
thing, and makes God a more abundant source of joy. The true effect
of real joy in the things of God is to empty us of ourselves and to
make us think little of ourselves. (Phil. iv. 4.)
The apostle … exhorts Christians to rejoice: it is a testimony to the
worth of Christ. “Would to God,
that not only thou, but all that hear me, were … altogether such as I
am, except these bonds! “What happiness and what love (and in God these
two things go together) are expressed in these words! A poor prisoner,
aged and rejected, at the end of his career he is rich in God. Blessed
years that he had spent in prison! He could give himself as a model of
happiness, for it filled his heart. (Phil. 3:18;
4:4.) If he even weeps over many who call themselves Christians he
always rejoices in the Lord; in Him is that which nothing can alter.
This is not an indifference to sorrow which hinders weeping, but it is
a spring of joy which enlarges when there is distress, because of its
immutability, and which even becomes more pure in the heart the more it
becomes the only one, and it is in itself the only spring that is
infinitely pure. When it is our only spring we thereby love others. If
we love them besides Him we lose something of Him. When … we are weaned
from all other springs His joy remains in all its purity, and our
concern for others partakes of this same purity. Our woe is Thine, Lord Jesus!
Our joy is in Thy love;
But
woe and joy all lead us
To
Thee, in heaven above.
Pilgrim Portions - Meditations for the Day of Rest - Selected from the Writings, Hymns,
Letters, etc., of J. N. Darby SEDIN-Servicio Evangélico |
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