August 7, Morning
C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling
"The upright love Thee" — Song of Songs 1:4 · KJV
Believers love Jesus with a deeper affection than they dare give to any other being. They would sooner lose father and mother than part with Christ; they hold every earthly comfort with a loose hand, but they keep Him locked fast in their hearts. They will willingly deny themselves for His sake, but they cannot be driven to deny Him. It is a poor love that the fire of persecution can dry up; the true believer's love is a deeper stream than that. Men have labored in every age to divide the faithful from their Master, but their attempts have been fruitless. Neither crowns of honor nor frowns of anger have untied this knot; it is no everyday attachment that the world's power can at last dissolve. Neither man nor devil has found a key to open this lock. Never was Satan's craft more at fault than when he tried to tear apart this union of two divinely welded hearts. It is written, and nothing can blot out the words, "The upright love Thee." Yet the intensity of the upright's love is measured less by how it appears than by what they long for. It is our daily lament that we cannot love enough; would that our hearts could hold more and reach farther! Like Samuel Rutherford, we sigh and cry, "Oh, for as much love as would go round about the earth, and over heaven — yea, the heaven of heavens, and ten thousand worlds — that I might pour it all out upon fair, fair, only fair Christ." Alas, our longest reach is but a span of love, and our affection but a drop in a bucket compared with His deserving. Measure our love by our intentions, and it is high indeed; and thus, we trust, our Lord judges it. Oh, that we could gather all the love in all hearts into one great mass, a gathering of every love, and give it to Him who is altogether lovely!