Morning, October 2
Go To Evening Reading
“The hope which is laid up for you in heaven.”
Colossians 1:5
Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the mainstay
of our joy here. It will animate our hearts to think often of heaven,
for all that we can desire is promised there. Here we are weary and
toilworn, but yonder is the land of rest where the sweat of labour shall no more bedew the worker’s brow, and fatigue shall be forever banished. To those who are weary
and spent, the word “rest” is full of heaven. We are always in the field of battle; we are so
tempted within, and so molested by foes without, that we have little
or no peace; but in heaven we shall enjoy the victory , when the banner shall be waved aloft in triumph, and the sword shall
be sheathed, and we shall hear our Captain say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going
to the land of the immortal where graves are unknown things. Here sin is a constant grief to
us, but there we shall be perfectly holy , for there shall by no means enter into that kingdom anything which
defileth. Hemlock springs not up in the furrows of celestial fields.
Oh! is it not joy, that you are not to be in banishment forever, that
you are not to dwell eternally in this wilderness, but shall soon
inherit Canaan? Nevertheless let it never be said of us, that we are
dreaming about the future and forgetting the present , let the future sanctify the present to highest uses. Through the
Spirit of God the hope of heaven is the most potent force for the
product of virtue; it is a fountain of joyous effort, it is the corner
stone of cheerful holiness. The man who has this hope in him goes
about his work with vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength.
He fights against temptation with ardour, for the hope of the next
world repels the fiery darts of the adversary. He can labour without
present reward, for he looks for a reward in the world to come.