These were his kind of men. Winning or losing, they made no great fuss about it.”
–Louis L’Amour (The Riders of High Rock)
“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”
–1 Peter 1:13 (NLT)
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Instead of racking my poor feeble, pea-brain I thought I would use something that I read this week. It is about the great preacher Charles H. Spurgeon.
“Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, read voraciously through the week, but not until Saturday night did he determine and develop his message for the following morning. Only on Sunday afternoon did he prepare his evening address. But it worked. For 30 years, he kept London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle packed. On Sunday night, March 8, 1874, Spurgeon preached from 1 Corinthians 6:20: ‘God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God.’ Had you entered Metropolitan Tabernacle that evening, you would have heard Spurgeon’s carillon voice pealing these words through the lamplit hall:
‘…you young men who come to London amidst its vices, shun everything that is akin to lewdness or leads on to unchasity, for your bodies were bought with your Lord’s lifeblood, and they are not yours to trifle with. Shun the strange woman, her company, her wine, her glances, her house, her songs, her resorts. Your bodies are not yours to injure by self-indulgence of any sort. Keep them pure and chaste for that heavenly Bridegroom who has bought them with his blood.’
And then your soul is bought too. I was obliged to mention the body, because it is mentioned here, and it is so needful it should be kept pure. But keep the soul pure. Christ has not bought these eyes that they should read novels calculated to lead me into vanity and vice, such as are published nowadays. Christ has not bought this brain of mine that I may revel in the perusal of works of blasphemy and filthiness. He has not given me a mind that I may drag it through the mire with the hope of washing it clean again…
Your whole manhood belongs to God if you are a Christian. Every faculty, every natural power, every talent, every possibility of your being, every capacity of your spirit… It is all bought with blood. Therefore keep the whole for Jesus, for it belongs to him.” (On This Day, by Robert J. Morgan)
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Ponder This: Proverbs 20:5, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.”
Today, more than ever, discernment is needed. The heart is deceitful and man will try to keep what is in his heart hidden, but eventually what is in his heart will manifest itself. Therefore, it is good and important to look into the depth of peoples’ hearts.
We should hide the Word of God in our hearts and use it as the basis for our discernment. On top of that it is important that each person is his own philosopher. He needs to understand his own heart, his motives, and to seek real understanding of his purpose. Our heart should reflect that of Christ.