One Thing # 2 (and others)

One Thing # 2 (and others)

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). It would be outside our present scope and design to attempt an exposition of this verse; rather would we point out the practical lesson which it inculcates for each of our hearts. As the Christian strives after a closer communion with Christ and a fuller conformity unto His image - it appears to him that his efforts meet with little success, and that his pressing forward unto the things ahead is most tardy. As he cries unto God for more grace - He seems very slow in responding. But beloved, "Be not ignorant of this one thing": God's measurement of time is very different from ours, nor does He ever delay a moment beyond His appointed hour. As the next verse assures us, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise" (2 Peter 3:9).

To our short-sighted impatience, He seems to delay, when in reality, "the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion" (Isaiah 30:18). Be not stumbled by His seeming slowness, but patiently wait for Him.

"You know with all your heart and soul - that not one thing of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed!" (Joshua 23:14). Those words, it seems to us, form a fitting climax to all that has been before us. They were the words of Israel's leader unto them after their occupation of the promised inheritance. It was a tribute to the unfailing faithfulness of their covenant God. And will not the anti typical Joshua say unto those whom God has given Him, when they are all settled in their eternal Rest, "You know with all your heart and soul - that not one thing of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed!"

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)
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Following Christ!

"He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

How easy it is to read these words, but how difficult it is to put them truly into practice! It is much, very much, to be thankful for if the Holy Spirit has wrought a real desire in the heart of the reader to "follow" Christ - for such a desire surely cannot be within multitudes of those who bear His name and with their lips sing His praises.  Daily does the Christian need to beseech God to strengthen this desire, until it actually becomes the uppermost longing of his soul and the dominant purpose of his life.

It is much, very much, to be thankful for when the Holy Spirit makes us to realize that, of ourselves, we are unable to carry out that desire and "follow" Christ. As He Himself tells us, "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 5:5). This fact ought deeply to humble us as we are made to feel our inability to do that which is right, and should forever remove all pride and boasting from us. We are apt to think that this inability is merely a weakness or lack of strength. But in reality, it is sin within us, the "flesh", that awful and depraved nature with which we were born into this world. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).

While that enmity receives its death-blow at regeneration, it is not altogether dead in the Christian. At times, the remainder of this enmity slumbers, and satan seeks to delude us into thinking it is completely slain, thus taking us off our guard. No, the flesh remains in us to the end of our earthly course, and its unchanging tendency is to draw us away from following Christ. How this should make us abhor ourselves! (Job 42:6) - that there is that in us, that which is part and parcel of our very being, which is opposed to Christ!

Now, to "follow" Christ is to take His yoke upon us (Matt. 11:29). It is to enlist under the banner of the Captain of our salvation. It is to yield completely to His lordship. It is to obey His commandments, and thus truly serve Him. It is to seek and do only those things which are pleasing in His sight.

Now must we be dismayed because we do not fully enter into this blessed experience all at once. To follow Christ is to tread the path of divine blessing. True, it is a narrow path, and oftentimes a lonesome one, for few there are who tread it. It is a most blessed path. It is there we enjoy the Lord's accompanying presence. It is there we are favored with the rich compensations given to those who turn their backs on self-pleasing and the world.

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)