Jan. 20
THE OVERCOMER
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Rev. 2:7
No man may turn his back in the day of battle, or refuse to go to
the holy war. We must fight if we would reign, and we must carry on
the warfare till we overcome every enemy, or else this promise is not
for us, since it is only for "him that overcometh." We are to overcome
the false prophets who have come into the world, and all the evils
which accompany their teaching. We are to overcome our own faintness
of heart, and tendency to decline from our first love. Read the whole
of the Spirit's word to the church at Ephesus.
If by grace we win the day, as we shall if we truly follow our
conquering Leader, then we shall be admitted to the very center of the
paradise of God, and shall be permitted to pass by the cherub and his
flaming sword, and come to that guarded tree, whereof if a man eat, he
shall live for ever. We shall thus escape that endless death which is
the doom of sin, and gain that everlasting life which is the seal of
innocence, the outgrowth of immortal principles of God-like holiness.
Come, my heart, pluck up courage! To flee the conflict will be to lose
the joys of the new and better Eden; to fight unto victory is to walk
with God in Paradise.