|
The insipid frivolities of the world!
(the following is by Spurgeon)
I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures.
Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy.
It is the sweetness of sin that makes it the more
dangerous. Satan never sells his poisons naked;
he always gilds them before he vends them.
My longing is that the churches may be more holy.
I grieve to see so much of worldly conformity in believers.
How often wealth leads men astray. How many Christians
follow the fashion of this wicked world. We have among
us avowed lovers of Christ, who act too much like "lovers
of pleasure." I charge you by the living God, do not profess
to be followers of Christ, for He bids you come out from
among them and be separate.
An unholy Church! it is useless to the world, and of
no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's
laughter, and heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils
which have ever come upon the world have been
brought upon her by an unholy Church.
There cannot be faith in the heart unless
there be holiness in the life!
Beware of pleasures!
Many of them are innocent and healthful, but many
are destructive. It is said that where the most
beautiful cacti grow, there the most venomous
serpents lurk. It is so with sin.
Your fairest pleasures will harbor your grossest sins.
Take care! Cleopatra's asp was introduced in a
basket of flowers. Satan offers to the drunkard
the sweetness of the intoxicating cup. He gives
to each of us the offer of our peculiar joy; he
tickles us with pleasures, that he may lay hold of us.
Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are
delivered. But have you also escaped from the more
secret and delusive deceits of the Satanic fowler?
Have you come forth from the lust of pride?
Have you escaped from slothfulness?
Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness,
the pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice?
Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed
souls. No Christian enjoys comfort when
his eyes are fixed on vanity.
The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state.
Christians must seek their delights in a higher
sphere than the insipid frivolities of the world!
Unless we follow Christ, and make our God the
great object of life, we only differ in appearance
from the most frivolous.
As there is most heat nearest to the sun, so
there is most happiness nearest to Christ.
Follow after holiness- it is the Christian's crown and glory.
Remember, O Christian, that you are a son of the King
of kings! Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity!
Therefore keep yourself unspotted from the world.
Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep celestial
strings. Let not those eyes become the windows of lust
which are soon to see the King in His beauty. Let not
those feet be defiled in miry places, which are soon to
walk the golden streets. Let not those hearts be filled
with pride and bitterness which are before long to be
filled with heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy!
|