dual personalities

Tag: C.H. Spurgeon

October 26, 2017

The cure for envy

by chuckofish

Norfolkriver_Seago.jpg

Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cast off. (Proverbs 23:17-18)

When we see the wicked prosper we are apt to envy them. When we hear the noise of their mirth and our own spirit is heavy, we half think that they have the best of it. This is foolish and sinful. If we knew them better, and specially if we remembered their end, we should pity them.

The cure for envy lies in living under a constant sense of the divine presence, worshiping God and communing with Him all the day long, however long the day may seem. True religion lifts the soul into a higher region, where the judgment becomes more clear and the desires are more elevated. The more of heaven there is in our lives, the less of earth we shall covet. The fear of God casts out envy of men.

The deathblow of envy is a calm consideration of the future. The wealth and glory of the ungodly are a vain show. This pompous appearance flashes out for an hour and then is extinguished. What is the prosperous sinner the better for his prosperity when judgment overtakes him? As for the godly man, his end is peace and blessedness, and none can rob him of his joy; wherefore, let him forgo envy and be filled with sweet content.

–C.H. Spurgeon, Faith’s Checkbook

Spurgeon is right on the money if you ask me. Have a good day and cultivate “living under a constant sense of the divine presence.”  It works.

(The painting is by Edward Seago, The Norfolk River)

 

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September 24, 2014

No God?

by chuckofish

Bierstadt 2

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) “Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California” (1868), Smithsonian American Art Museum

 

“Beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, I think that you and I can say, that to us the surest fact in all the world is that there is a God. No God? I live in him. Tell a fish in the sea there is no water. No God? Tell a man who is breathing that there is no air. No God? I dare not come downstairs without speaking to him. No God? I would not think of closing my eyes in sleep unless I had some sense of his love shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost. ‘Oh!’ says one, ‘I have lived fifty years, and I have never felt anything of God.’ Say that you had been dead fifty years; that is nearer to the mark. But if you had been quickened by the Holy Spirit fifty minutes, this would have been the first fact in the front rank of all fact, God is, and he is my Father, and I am his child. Now you become sentient to his frown, his smile, his threat, or his promise. You feel him; his presence is photographed upon your spirit; your very heart trembles with awe of him, and you say with Jacob, ‘Surely God is in this place.’ That is one result of spiritual life”

(C. H. Spurgeon, Sermon No. 2267, “Life from the Dead,” delivered March 13, 1890 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington)

Here is some mid-week food for thought this Wednesday. Discuss among yourselves.

spurgeon

Note: Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the foremost 19th century English preachers. You may recall that the 15-year old Spurgeon was on his way to a scheduled appointment when a snow storm forced him to cut short his intended journey and to turn into a Methodist chapel in Colchester where God opened his heart to the salvation message. The text that moved him was Isaiah 45:22 – “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.”

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