Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

June 10– Morning

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

“If we live, we live unto the Lord.” 

—Romans 14:8

 

If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at the very moment of our conversion to Christ. It was not absolutely necessary for our preparation for immortality that we should live here on earth for all these years. A person who has just placed his faith in Christ is quite fit to go to heaven immediately. It is true that our sanctification is a life-long process, and we will not be perfected until we lay aside our bodies and enter within the veil; but, even so, if the Lord so willed it, he might have changed us from imperfection to perfection at once.

Why then are we here? Would God keep his children out of paradise a single moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the battlefield? Why are his children still wandering here and there through a maze when a single word from his lips would bring them into the center of their hopes in heaven? The answer is that they are here in order to “live unto the Lord” and to bring others to know him as well. We remain on earth as farmers who scatter good seed. We are the “salt of the earth” to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our daily life.

Since this is true, let us be sure that our life fulfills its purpose. Let us live earnest, useful, holy lives, to “the praise of the glory of his grace.” [M&E]