December 6
Evenings With JesusIf any man serve me, him will my Father honour. - John 12:26.
SUCH a man will be sure to abase himself; he will “abhor himself, and repent in dust and ashes.” “He that exalteth himself,” says Christ, “shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Some of them may be vilified by the world, which lieth in wickedness; but what harm can the reproaches and revilings of man do unto us, if we have God’s smile and God’s commendation? We value honour, and we ought to value it according to the quarter from whence it comes.
The applause of a wicked man is real censure when it is derogatory to God’s honour. An Athenian philosopher turned round and said to his admirers, “What harm have I done, to deserve your applause?” An ingenious writer has observed, that to live in the esteem and affections of the really wise and good is like walking in an Eastern spice-grove. What then must it be to enjoy the favour of God? “Skin for skin,” said Satan, “all that a man hath, will he give for his life.” Life is the most precious of all things; but “his favour is life,” and his “loving-kindness is better than life.” And this assurance must be accomplished. “If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” My Father will honour him in life; he will correspond with him, he will visit him, he will distinguish him. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” They have more glory, they have more attendants, than any monarch upon earth; angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
What an honour does God put upon his people, in that he makes all his dispensations to exemplify the language of the prophet to King Asa!-“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him.” In times of public calamity how often has he induced profligate men to say, “Verily, there is a reward for the righteous”! God is their God now, and will be theirs in future and eternal ages. He does not wait till they reach home; he begins to immortalize them now in time. He owns them on this side the grave, and makes the dying chamber of the Christian to be the “very gate of heaven.”
Oh to be confessed before him, before an assembled world, and before his angels,-to hear him say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”!