13 NOVEMBER (UNDATED SERMON)
Vanities and verities
‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ 2 Corinthians 4:18
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Romans 8:18–25
The present is so soon to be over that Paul does not care to look at it. There is so little of it and it lasts such a brief time, that he does not even deign to give it a glance. Here he is persecuted, despised, forsaken. ‘It will not last long’, says he. ‘It is but a pin’s prick; it will soon be over, and I shall be with the goodly fellowship above and behold my Master’s face.’ He ignores it. Thus it behoves us to do if surrounded with trials, troubles and present sorrows: we should not think so much of them as to fix our attention or rivet our gaze on them. Rather let us treat them with indifference and say, ‘It is really a very small matter whether I am in wealth or in poverty, in health or in sickness, whether I am enjoying comforts or am robbed of them. The present will so soon be gone that I do not care to look at it. I am like a man who stays at an inn for a night while on a journey. Is the room uncomfortable? When the morning breaks it is no use making a complaint, and so he merely chronicles the fact and moves on. He says to himself, “Never mind, I am up and away directly; it is no use fretting about trifles.” ’
If a person is going a long distance in a railway carriage, he may be a little particular as to where he shall sit to see the country, and as to which way he likes to ride, but if it is only a short stage—between, say, the Borough Road and the Elephant and Castle—he does not think about it or care in whose company he may be; it is only for a few minutes; he is hardly in before he is out again; it is not worth thinking about. That is how the apostle regarded it.
FOR MEDITATION: There is a proper way for the Christian to regard the present (Titus 2:12). In one sense it is to be enjoyed (1 Corinthians 3:22; 1 Timothy 4:4) and poses no threat to our security in Christ (Romans 8:38–39), despite the suffering and distress it may bring (Romans 8:18; 1 Corinthians 7:26). But in another sense it is full of spiritual evil from which Christ died to deliver us (Galatians 1:3–4) and of traps into which we may still fall (2 Timothy 4:10).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 328.
Vanities and verities
‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ 2 Corinthians 4:18
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Romans 8:18–25
The present is so soon to be over that Paul does not care to look at it. There is so little of it and it lasts such a brief time, that he does not even deign to give it a glance. Here he is persecuted, despised, forsaken. ‘It will not last long’, says he. ‘It is but a pin’s prick; it will soon be over, and I shall be with the goodly fellowship above and behold my Master’s face.’ He ignores it. Thus it behoves us to do if surrounded with trials, troubles and present sorrows: we should not think so much of them as to fix our attention or rivet our gaze on them. Rather let us treat them with indifference and say, ‘It is really a very small matter whether I am in wealth or in poverty, in health or in sickness, whether I am enjoying comforts or am robbed of them. The present will so soon be gone that I do not care to look at it. I am like a man who stays at an inn for a night while on a journey. Is the room uncomfortable? When the morning breaks it is no use making a complaint, and so he merely chronicles the fact and moves on. He says to himself, “Never mind, I am up and away directly; it is no use fretting about trifles.” ’
If a person is going a long distance in a railway carriage, he may be a little particular as to where he shall sit to see the country, and as to which way he likes to ride, but if it is only a short stage—between, say, the Borough Road and the Elephant and Castle—he does not think about it or care in whose company he may be; it is only for a few minutes; he is hardly in before he is out again; it is not worth thinking about. That is how the apostle regarded it.
FOR MEDITATION: There is a proper way for the Christian to regard the present (Titus 2:12). In one sense it is to be enjoyed (1 Corinthians 3:22; 1 Timothy 4:4) and poses no threat to our security in Christ (Romans 8:38–39), despite the suffering and distress it may bring (Romans 8:18; 1 Corinthians 7:26). But in another sense it is full of spiritual evil from which Christ died to deliver us (Galatians 1:3–4) and of traps into which we may still fall (2 Timothy 4:10).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 328.
13 NOVEMBER (UNDATED SERMON)
Vanities and verities
‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ 2 Corinthians 4:18
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Romans 8:18–25
The present is so soon to be over that Paul does not care to look at it. There is so little of it and it lasts such a brief time, that he does not even deign to give it a glance. Here he is persecuted, despised, forsaken. ‘It will not last long’, says he. ‘It is but a pin’s prick; it will soon be over, and I shall be with the goodly fellowship above and behold my Master’s face.’ He ignores it. Thus it behoves us to do if surrounded with trials, troubles and present sorrows: we should not think so much of them as to fix our attention or rivet our gaze on them. Rather let us treat them with indifference and say, ‘It is really a very small matter whether I am in wealth or in poverty, in health or in sickness, whether I am enjoying comforts or am robbed of them. The present will so soon be gone that I do not care to look at it. I am like a man who stays at an inn for a night while on a journey. Is the room uncomfortable? When the morning breaks it is no use making a complaint, and so he merely chronicles the fact and moves on. He says to himself, “Never mind, I am up and away directly; it is no use fretting about trifles.” ’
If a person is going a long distance in a railway carriage, he may be a little particular as to where he shall sit to see the country, and as to which way he likes to ride, but if it is only a short stage—between, say, the Borough Road and the Elephant and Castle—he does not think about it or care in whose company he may be; it is only for a few minutes; he is hardly in before he is out again; it is not worth thinking about. That is how the apostle regarded it.
FOR MEDITATION: There is a proper way for the Christian to regard the present (Titus 2:12). In one sense it is to be enjoyed (1 Corinthians 3:22; 1 Timothy 4:4) and poses no threat to our security in Christ (Romans 8:38–39), despite the suffering and distress it may bring (Romans 8:18; 1 Corinthians 7:26). But in another sense it is full of spiritual evil from which Christ died to deliver us (Galatians 1:3–4) and of traps into which we may still fall (2 Timothy 4:10).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 328.
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