Morning, December 30
Go To Evening Reading
“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”
Ecclesiastes 7:8
Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and rejected
of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see
the end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. “As he is, so are we also in this world.” You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must
wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement.
Cheer up, then, poor Christian. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” See that creeping worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the
beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing
in the sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells, full of happiness and
life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar is yourself, until
you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death; but when Christ shall
appear you shall be like him, for you shall see him as he is. Be content
to be like him, a worm and no man, that like him you may be satisfied
when you wake up in his likeness. That rough-looking diamond is put
upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses
much—much that seemed costly to itself. The king is crowned; the diadem
is put upon the monarch’s head with trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it
beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by
the lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond,
for you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting process. Let faith and
patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall
be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one
ray of glory shall stream from you. “They shall be mine,” saith the Lord, “in the day when I make up my jewels.” “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”