"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on things above,
not on earthly things." Colossians 3:1-2
You shall never go to heaven when you die—unless you
begin heaven here. Grace puts high thoughts, divine
affections, a kind of heavenly ambition into the soul.
Oh, how sordid is it for him who has his hope in heaven
—to have his heart upon the earth! The 'lapwing' insect
has a
crown on her head—and yet feeds on dung. A fit
emblem
of those who have a crown of profession on
their head—yet feed with eagerness on earthly vanities.
Let all the golden streams of worldly delights run into
the heart of a man—yet the heart is not full. Strain out
the quintessence of the creature—it turns to froth,
"Vanity of vanities!" But in God is sweet satisfaction
and contentment. He is a hive of sweetness, a mirror
of beauty, a storehouse of riches! He is the river of
pleasure, where the soul bathes with infinite delight!
The bird, the higher it takes its flight, the sweeter it
sings. Just so, the higher the soul is raised above the
world—the sweeter joy it has. How is the heart inflamed
in prayer! How is it ravished in holy meditation! These
joys are those honey-streams which
flow out of the
rock, Christ! He has those tastes of God's love—which
are the beginnings of heaven. So sweet is this kind of
life, that it can drop sweetness into our troubles and
afflictions—that we shall be scarcely sensible of them.
It can turn the prison into a paradise; the furnace into
a festival; it can sweeten death. A soul elevated by
grace, can rejoice to think of dying. Death will but cut
the string, and the soul, that bird of paradise, shall fly
away and be at rest. Happiness is but the cream of
holiness!