Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

August 24– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“If fire breaks out and destroys the crops, the one who kindled the fire must make restitution.”

—Exodus 22:6

What restitution can a person make when he throws around the fire-brands of error, or the coals of carnality, and sets men’s souls ablaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond estimation, and the result is irretrievable. If such an offender is forgiven, what grief it will cause him as he reflects on what he has done, knowing that he cannot undo the destruction he has caused! A tiny flame can cause a raging fire which years of amended character cannot quench.

To burn the earthly food of man is bad enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It is good to reflect on our guilt from past sins and to search our hearts in the present to see if there is any evil in us which may bring damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbors. The fire of division is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church. Where converts were multiplied and God was glorified, jealousy and envy do the devil’s work quite effectively– where the golden grain was once housed, due to the work of so many. But, suddenly, the fire of hostility comes in and leaves little else but smoke and a heap of ashes.

May divine misery come to those who commit such offenses, and may they never come through us. We will certainly be the chief sufferers if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed the fire deserve to be reprimanded, but the one who first sets the fire is most to blame. Discord usually takes first hold among the thorns; it is nurtured among the hypocrites and immature within the church; then it burns among the righteous, fanned by the winds of hell, and no one knows where it may end.

O Lord, You are the Giver of peace; make us peacemakers, and never let us aid and abet those who sow strife and cause division among your people. [M&E]