An excerpt from a devotional by C. H. Spurgeon:
"I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth." --Ecclesiastes 10:7
"Upstarts frequently usurp the highest places, while the truly great pine in obscurity. This is a riddle in providence whose solution will one day gladden the hearts of the upright; but it is so common a fact, that none of us should murmur if it should fall to our own lot. When our Lord was upon earth, although He is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet He walked the footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants: what wonder is it if His followers, who are princes of the blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and contemptible persons? The world is upside down, and therefore, the first are last and the last first. See how the servile sons of Satan lord it in the earth! What a high horse they ride! How they lift up their horn on high! Haman is in the court, while Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while Jezebel is boasting in the palace; yet who would wish to take the places of the proud rebels? and who, on the other hand, might not envy the despised saints? When the wheel turns, those who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience, then, believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.
"Let us not fall into the error of letting our passions and carnal appetites ride in triumph, while our nobler powers walk in the dust. Grace must reign as a prince, and make the members of the body instruments of righteousness. The Holy Spirit loves order, and He therefore sets our powers and faculties in due rank and place, giving the highest room to those spiritual faculties which link us with the great King; let us not disturb the divine arrangement, but ask for grace that we may keep under our body and bring it into subjection. We were not new created to allow our passions to rule over us, but that we, as kings, may reign in Christ Jesus over the triple kingdom of spirit, soul, and body, to the glory of God the Father."
What do you think?
Thanks for reading!
2 comments:
If you walk alongside of horses you're going to get your feet dirty. There is nothing inside of me that wants to walk alongside of horses. Yet, it is God that leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake, not for our name sake. I have learned (and continue to learn) that the works God has prepared beforehand for me to walk in require getting my feet dirty.
Did not Abram have to arise and move through the land, a land that did not "look like the garden of the Lord." (Genesis 13:10 NASB)
Most of us will never be called upon to use our body as an intrument of righteousness by suffering the fate of a martyr as Latimer and Ridley. As they (Latimer and Ridley) lighted the sky in England, we too, as lights of the world, can "play the man" by dying to self every day.
It is so very hard for this writer to die daily. It is only by the love of God the Father, the grace of God the Son, and the peace of God the Holy Spirit that I see why I must have dirty shoes.
Amen, Robert, amen! Thanks for posting!
Post a Comment