Morning and Evening

June 26, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." — 2 Peter 1:4 · KJV

Let every thought of indulging the flesh vanish for good if you mean to live in the power of your risen Lord. It is a sorry thing for a man who is alive in Christ to go on living in the corruption of sin. "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" the angel asked Mary. Should the living take up residence in a tomb? Should divine life be walled up in the graveyard of fleshly desire? How can we share the cup of the Lord and drink the cup of the enemy too? Surely, believer, you have been delivered from the open sins that everyone can see; but have you also escaped the more secret and deceptive snares the great hunter sets? Have you come out from the craving to be admired? Have you escaped from laziness? Have you truly broken free from careless self-assurance? Are you seeking, day by day, to live above worldliness, the pride of life, and the trap of greed? Remember, this is why you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you really are His chosen and beloved, do not let all that lavish grace be poured out on you for nothing. Pursue holiness; it is the Christian's crown and glory. An unholy church is useless to the world and respected by no one. It is an offense, a joke to the powers of darkness, a thing heaven cannot bear. The worst evils that have ever fallen on the world have been brought on it by an unholy church. O Christian, God's vows are upon you. You are God's priest: act like one. You are God's king: rule over your desires. You are God's chosen: keep no company with darkness. Heaven is your inheritance: live like a citizen of heaven, and so prove that your faith in Jesus is real, for there can be no faith in the heart unless there is holiness in the life. Lord, I want to live as one who bears a blood-bought name, fearing nothing but to grieve You, and knowing no other shame.

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