The Life-Giving Stream

Eze 47:9  And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

The living waters, in the prophet's vision, flowed into the Dead Sea and carried life with them, even into that stagnant lake.

Where grace goes, spiritual life is the immediate and the everlasting consequence. 

Grace proceeds sovereignly according to the will of God, even as a river in all its windings follows its own sweet will; and wherever it comes it does not wait for life to come to it, but it creates life by its own quickening flow.

Oh, that it would pour along our streets and flood our slums! 

Oh, that it would now come into my house and rise till every chamber were made to swim with it!

LORD, let the living water flow to my family and my friends, and let it not pass me by.

I hope I have drunk of it already; but I desire to bathe in it, yea, to swim in it.

O my Savior, I need life more abundantly. Come to me, I pray Thee, till every part of my nature is vividly energetic and intensely active.

Living God, I pray Thee, fill me with Thine own life. I am a poor, dry stick; come and make me so to live that, like Aaron's rod, I may bud and blossom and bring forth fruit unto Thy glory. 

Quicken me, for the sake of my LORD Jesus. Amen.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Broad Rivers Without Galleys

But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby  (Isaiah 33:21).

The LORD will be to us the greatest good without any of the drawbacks which seem necessarily to attend the best earthly things.

If a city is favored with broad rivers, it is liable to be attacked by galleys with oars and other ships of war.

But when the LORD represents the abundance of His bounty under this figure, He takes care expressly to shut out the fear which the metaphor might suggest.

Blessed be His perfect love! 

LORD, if Thou send me wealth like broad rivers, do not let the galley with oars come up in the shape of worldliness or pride.

If Thou grant me abundant health and happy spirits, do not let "the gallant ship" of carnal ease come sailing up the flowing flood. 

If I have success in holy service, broad as the German Rhine, yet let me never find the galley of self-conceit and self-confidence floating on the waves of my usefulness.

Should I be so supremely happy as to enjoy the light of Thy countenance year after year, yet let me never despise Thy feeble saints, nor allow the vain notion of my own perfection to sail up the broad rivers of my full assurance. 

LORD, give me that blessing which maketh rich and neither addeth sorrow nor aideth sin.

 

~C.H. Spurgeon~

I Must Take Off My Earthly Garments, And Put On My Sacred Dress

Eze 42:14  When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people.
 
The priests which Ezekiel mentions, take great discipline and preparation to please God.

In compliance with His command, they clothe themselves in holy robes of the fairest linen. They make ready for drawing near His holy Presence.

Just so, I must be willing to take time and effort in my worship. Every day, I must pass into my sacred shrine to be with God. 

With a set purpose, I must take off my earthly garments, and put on my sacred dress.
 

I have to hush myself into quietness. I have to beseech the Holy Spirit for His empowerment.
 

I have to steadfastly study the majesty, the purity, and the grace of the God to Whom I come.
 

Much mental concentration is required of me. A sincere and honest heart is also required.
 

I am called to earnest contemplation and prayer.
 

When the service of the priests is over in the inner sanctuary, they divest themselves of the robes of whiteness in which they stood before the Lord. 

They do not show themselves to the people in a garb so venerable. God keeps something to Himself, something which shall be known only to His servants and to Him.
 

Just so, I cannot disclose everything in my secret place with others.

There are heights and depths in the truth I am being taught, in the mercy I have received--which I do not yet comprehend, and over which I shall have to ponder all my life long.
 

And I ought not to disclose everything. To unveil my most sublime spiritual experiences, will injure me.
 

It would lessen humility, and foster pride. It would rub the delicate bloom from off my character.
 

It would make my secret place a beaten path. My sanctuary clothing is not for the public outer court.
 

Yet mine is a God who is never distant and inaccessible. 

The priests of old, left the shrine and went out into the world. 

But the Lord abides in the Holy Place still. 

We need only to return, and to clothe themselves anew in our holy vestments, and we will find Him the same as before--a God Who rejoices to hear our cry, Who delights in our sincere, yet poor and disappointing services, Who will lift up His countenance on us and give us peace.
 

When I call upon Him, withdrawing myself from all others and all else--He is near as my strong Refuge and and my ever-present Help in times of trouble. 

The doors of His Holy Place are never barred; and, within the doors, His gracious welcome awaits me.
 

May He be the Temple that is the dearest spot on earth to me.
May I be priest to serve Him day and night.

Psa 91:1  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

~Alexander Smellie~

Complete Safety

Deut. 33:12  And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.

Yes, there is no safety like that which comes of dwelling near to God. For His best beloved the LORD can find no surer or safer place. 

O LORD, let me always abide under Thy shadow, close to Thy wounded side. Nearer and nearer would I come to Thee, my LORD; and when once specially near Thee, I would abide there forever. 

What a covering is that which the LORD gives to His chosen! Not a fair roof shall cover him, nor a bomb-proof casement, nor even an angel's wing, but Jehovah Himself.

Nothing can come at us when we are thus covered. This covering the LORD will grant us all the day long, however long the day.

LORD, let me abide this day consciously beneath this canopy of love, this pavilion of sovereign power. 

Does the third clause mean that the LORD in His temple would dwell among the mountains of Benjamin or that the LORD would be where Benjamin's burden should be placed, or does it mean that we are borne upon the shoulders of the Eternal?

In any case, the LORD is the support and strength of His saints. LORD, let me ever enjoy Thy help, and then thy arms will be sufficient for me. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

No Dirty Dogs Shall Ever Trample Upon That Golden Pavement

Throughout the Scriptures, unholy people are branded, to their everlasting contempt with the worst appellations.

They are the most dangerous, and the most harmful beings in the world, and therefore are emblemized

by lions for they are cruel, Psalm 22:21;
by bears for they are savage, Isaiah 11:7;
 
by dragons for they are hideous, Ezek. 29:3;
by wolves for they are ravenous, Ezek. 22:27;
 
by dogs for they are snarling, Rev. 22:15;
by vipers and scorpions for they are stinging, Mat. 12:34, Ezek. 2:6;
 
by spiders and cockatrices for they are poisoning, Isaiah 59:5;
by swine for they are intemperate, Mat. 7:6.

Remember this...that all these stinging expressions and
appellations which disgrace and vilify unholy people, were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and published in His holy Word.

The glutton is depicted as a swine;
 
the fraudulent person is depicted as a fox;
the lustful person is depicted as a goat;
 
the backbiter is depicted as a barking cur;
the slanderer is depicted as an asp;
 
the oppressor is depicted as a wolf;
the persecutor is depicted as a tiger;
 
the seducer is depicted as a serpent.

Do you think that God will admit such vermin as unholy people are...to eternally inhabit His holy heaven? Surely not!

God has long since resolved upon it that no unclean beasts shall enter into heaven that no dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement.
 
Certainly God will not allow such beasts and toads and snakes and serpents to forever live with Him!
 
Heaven is  too holy a place to admit such vermin to inhabit!

Nothing impure will ever enter it. Revelation 21:27

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Revelation 22:15

All in heaven are holy: the angels holy, the saints holy but the Lord Himself above all, is most glorious in holiness.

Now certainly it would be a hell to these holy ones to have unholy wretches to be their eternal companions!

When the holy angels fell from their holiness heaven was so holy that it spewed them out!

Certainly there will be no room in heaven for such filthy beasts as unholy people are!

Jerusalem above is too glorious a habitation for beasts or for men of beastly spirits, or beastly principles, or beastly practices.

The city of the great God was never built for beasts.
 
A wilderness and not a paradise is fittest for beasts.

~Thomas Brooks~ 

What Of My House?

Act 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 

This gospel for a man with a sword at his throat is the gospel for me. 

This would suit me if I were dying, and it is all that I need while I am living.

I look away from self, and sin, and all idea of personal merit, and I trust the LORD Jesus as the Savior whom God has given. 

I believe in Him, I rest on Him, I accept Him to be my all in all. 

LORD, I am saved, and I shall be saved to all eternity, for I believe in Jesus. Blessed be Thy name for this.

May I daily prove by my life that I am saved from selfishness, and worldliness, and every form of evil. 

But those last words about my "house": LORD, I would not run away with half a promise when Thou dost give a whole one. 

I beseech Thee, save all my family. Save the nearest and dearest. Convert the children and the grandchildren, if I have any. 

Be gracious to my servants and all who dwell under my roof or work for me. 

Thou makest this promise to me personally if I believe in the LORD Jesus; I beseech Thee to do as Thou hast said. 

I would go over in my prayer every day the names of all my brothers and sisters, parents, children, friends, relatives, servants, and give Thee no rest till that word is fulfilled, "and thy house."

~Charles Spurgeon~

We Begin At The Lowest Grade

Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

All of Christian life is a school.  

Learn from Me, said the Master.

We are only beginners when we first become Christians, and enter Christ's school. We begin at the lowest grade. 

We do not have to wait until we know a great deal before we begin to attend school. School is not for finished scholars but for the most ignorant. 

We may come to Christ when we know almost nothing. He is the teacher and all believers are learners. 

Learn from Me for I am gentle. Gentleness is a lesson which we are to learn. It will probably take us a good long while to learn this lesson but we must learn it because it is in Christ's curriculum for all His students.

Contentment is another lesson which we must learn. When he was well along in life, Paul said, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation." It was a long and difficult lesson for him to learn. 

Patience is a lesson that has to be learned. An impatient person is not a complete Christian.  

Thoughtfulness is a necessary lesson. There are a great many thoughtless Christians. They are always blundering in their interactions with others. They say the wrong word, they do the wrong thing. 

They are always hurting other people's feelings, giving pain to gentle hearts. Yet it is all from thoughtlessness. "I didn't mean to offend him. I didn't mean to be unkind. I just never thought!"  

There are few lessons in Christian life that more people need to learn, than this of thoughtfulness.

We have to learn to trust. Worry is a sin. It is probably as great a sin as dishonesty or profanity or bad temper. 

Yet a good many Christian people worry and one of the most important lessons in Christ's school, is to learn not to worry.  

Kindness is a lesson we must learn. It takes many years to learn the one little lesson of kindness.

Joy is a lesson to be learned.  
Peace is another.

Humility is another necessary lesson.

Praise is a great lesson.

All of life is a school, and it is in learning these lessons that Jesus says we shall find rest for your souls. 

Christ Himself is our teacher, and with Him we should never fail to learn, though it be only slowly. 

Then as we learn our lessons, our lives will grow continually more and more into quietness, peace and Christlikeness.

~J. R. Miller~

It Is Not The Work Of The Spirit To Produce Doubts And Fears, But To Overcome Them

I Corinthians 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:  

It is not the work of the Spirit to produce doubts and fears, but to overcome them. 

And yet we are continually subject to them. Infidel thoughts fly across the mind; doubts and questionings suggest themselves; 

Satan is busy in plying his arguments; a guilty conscience falls too readily under his accusations; 

Painful recollections of past slips, falls, and backslidings strengthen the power of unbelief, so that to come to a spot wherein there is not the least shadow of a doubt of divine realities, and, what is far more, of our own saving interest in them, is a rare circumstance, and only attainable at those favored moments when the Lord is pleased to shine into the soul and settle the matter between himself and our conscience.

But these very doubts, these very questionings, these cutting, killing fears, these anxious surmising's work together for good, and are mercifully overruled for our spiritual benefit.

What else has brought us to this point that nothing short of demonstration will satisfy the soul really born and taught of God?

It must have demonstration--nothing else will do. We cannot live and die upon uncertainties. 

It won't do to be always in a state that we don't know whether we are going to heaven or hell; to be tossed up and down on a sea of uncertainty, scarcely knowing who commands the ship, what is our destination, what our present course, or what will be the end of the voyage.

Now all human wisdom leaves us upon this sea of uncertainty. It is useful in nature, but useless in grace. 

It is foolish and absurd to despise all human learning, wisdom, and knowledge. Without them we would be a horde of wild, wandering savages. 

But it is worse than foolish to make human wisdom our guide to eternity, and make reason the foundation of our faith or hope. 

What you thus believe today, you will disbelieve tomorrow; all the arguments that may convince your reasoning mind, all the appeals to your natural passions, which may seem for the time to soften your heart, and all the thoughts swaying to and fro which may sometimes lead you to hope you are right and sometimes make you to fear you are wrong--all these will be found insufficient when the soul comes into any time of real trial and perplexity.

We want, therefore, demonstration to remove and dispel all these anxious questionings, and settle the whole matter firmly in our heart and conscience; and this nothing can give us but the Spirit by revealing Christ, taking of the things of Christ, and showing them unto us, applying the word with power to our hearts, and bringing the sweetness, reality, and blessedness of divine things into our soul. 

It is only in this way that he overcomes all unbelief and infidelity, doubt and fear, and sweetly assures us that all is well between God and the soul.

~J. C. Philpot~

Before The Storm Breaks

Now, dear friends, there are two things which are important for us to notice. 

One is this: that you cannot settle that matter when the storm breaks.

If you have ever been in a really good storm you know very well that that is not the time to get things settled.

If you have not got them settled before then, you are just going to be all at sea indeed.

The forces will be far too much to cope with. You will just be thrown all over the place. 

An emergency is not the time to get quietly down to our foundations, for we are too much caught up in things.

If it is not all settled beforehand, if you do not know where you are beforehand, you will not be able to see to it when this thing breaks.

It is important to recognize that. 

Therefore this Letter would say: 'In the light of testings which will come, in view of that which is bound to break upon us at some time, now is the time to make sure that our position is an absolutely sound one, an absolutely true one, and that there is nothing doubtful about our position at all, no question about it and we know where we are, that we are not at the mercy of other people's judgments and ideas. 

We know the Lord for ourselves. We know where we are. 

Let everything go to pieces! We know where we are with the Lord.' 

That is the thing that has to be settled, and it cannot be settled when everything is going to pieces.

The other thing that is important is that we should recognize that it may not be necessary for the great ultimate upheaval and chaos and cataclysm to take place in order to bring that issue out.

Is not this the heart of every trial that comes into the Christian life? 

Any day there can come a temptation, or an adversity, some suffering, or some thing that is just calculated to throw you all over the place. 

In any such experience the question arises: What have I got of the Lord that is going to get me through this?

What have I really got now of the Lord that will stand me in stead in this crisis?

It may be something in everyday life, a family matter, a business matter, a church matter, or a personal matter, but it is something that is most testing, unsettling, upsetting.

It comes like a shock or a blow and could knock us to pieces. 

What have we got of the Lord which will see us through and will not go with the wind, will not be carried away in this hour of trial, but will stand and remain?

That is the issue of this Letter, whether it is a historic crisis in the life of Israel, or Jewry, or in the ultimate experience of the Church. 

It is coming, and has already come to multitudes of people on this earth.

It is the position today in a large part of the world, where the test is: What have we got that will see us through this terrible time? 

It is a question for many in the East today, but it is the ever-present question. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Company Of The Wicked Corrupts

Under the law, one who touched any dead carcass was defiled. And one who had a running sore even if he was to wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water...he would be unclean until the evening.

Now, if thus that which only represented sin, defiled under the ceremonial law...how must sin itself, the source of all uncleanness, everywhere defile!

Alas! As he was rendered unclean, if he had but touched, though unawares, the bed whereon one who had the running sore lay; so am I defiled, not only by sin rising in my own bosom...but by hearing and seeing the sin of others!
 
For the corruption of my nature is so great, that I am ready to catch the contagion. And if I do not detest, hate, and abhor it, as I should then am I polluted by it.

How pernicious, then, is the presence of the ungodly!
 
How are these fools to be avoided, whose companions are sure to be destroyed!

How gloomy that company, and how disagreeable to enter into it, where God never comes, where his glory never shines!

Surely grace rather needs oil to support its flame, than water to extinguish its fire; but water is all I can expect from the wicked.

O! miserable man, who has no other to walk with you by day, no other to talk with by night, none else to deal with abroad, or to discourse with at home!

Yet, out of the world we must go, unless we have dealings with the men of the world.

Let that, however be only in the common affairs of life, let it be dispatched with little expense of precious time, and without contracting an intimate acquaintance with them unless in view of doing good to their immortal souls.

And still, may the saints, the excellent ones of the earth be the chosen companions of my life.

Hitherto, alas! I have been ignorant of my danger; for the wicked are ever casting arrows, fire-brands, and death, in their sporting with true religion, and trifling with a world to come!

Among such madmen must I not be wounded?

Hence, let me every day beware that their filth may not cleave to me.

And bathe myself in the righteousness of the Son of God by faith; and purge my daily walk, (which, like the flesh under the law, is apt to receive the infection,) by sincere repentance; that, at the evening of my life, I may not lie down polluted in the grave, and rise in the morning of eternity with the putrefaction of sin!

~James Meikle~

THE LORD, THE SAINTS' AVENGER

Never are the ungodly further from the mark--never committed to a mistake more suicidal and fatal than when they lay the hand of injustice and oppression upon the saints of the Most High! 

God is for the saints. He is the Avenger of all those who put their trust in Him-the widow and the fatherless-and those who touch them touch the apple of His eye. 

If God is for us, who can be against us? 

A simple missionary incident may illustrate this truth. A little band of missionaries in the Fiji Islands found their home, on one occasion, surrounded by a troop of armed savages, bent upon their destruction. 

Unable, as unwilling, to fight, they closed the door, and betook themselves to prayer. Presently, the war-whoop suddenly ceased. 

On opening the door they found only one savage there. "Where are your chiefs?" he was asked. "They are gone," was the reply; they heard you praying to your God, and they knew that your God was a strong God, and they left.

How true this testimony of the savages! The God of the Christians is a strong Lord. All that strength is on the side of His people. 

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself STRONG in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.

Consider, O my soul, this truth, that the Lord is the strength of His people and the Avenger of all who are oppressed, and will set them in a safe place from those who malign them. 

The Lord's people are an OPPRESSED people.

The ungodly oppress them-sins oppress them-afflictions oppress them-temptations oppress them-needs oppress them-infirmities oppress them-the body of sickness and suffering oppresses them-and, alas! that it should be said, even the saints often oppress them-for some of their keenest shafts have been forged and flung by a brother's hand.

But, the Lord stands up for His oppressed ones. He is the Avenger of all such. "It is God who avenges me," says David. 

Leave Him, O my soul, to vindicate your character, to redress your wrong, to rid you of your adversary, and He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noon-day.

O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul."The sighing of the needy." Jesus was a sighing Savior! He often "sighed deeply in His spirit." And still He is in sympathy with His members, who sigh by reason of sin and suffering and need. For these He will arise.

Sigh on, O my soul! the sigh that breathes from a broken heart, or is wrung from an anguished spirit, or is awakened by the unkindness of the oppressor, or the wounding of a Christian brother, ascends to heaven as music in the ear of the Great High Priest within the veil, and awakens the echoes of His loving and compassionate heart.

Weeping has a voice-sighs have a language-and Jesus hears the one and understands the other. 

To nothing belonging to a saint can the Lord be indifferent. "O Lord! I am oppressed--undertake for me." 

Thus, let the burden of oppression, and sigh of need, prompt you to prayer; then shall you thank and praise Him for both.

Give to the winds your fears; Hope, and be undismayed;
God hears your sighs, and counts your tears, God shall lift up your head."

~Octavius Winslow~

They Shall Not Swoon, Nor Halt, Nor Turn Back

How full of encouragement is the language of the prophet Isaiah

Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
 
This beautiful passage contains a promise of continued supplies of grace and strength to all who really desire to serve the Lord with integrity and simplicity.

In the image of the eagle, the prophet alludes to the strength of wing and of vision possessed by this noble bird-whereby it
ascends to a lofty height, untired and undazzled-soaring even above the fogs and mists of the lower regions of the air, mounting above the very clouds, undeterred by the lightning, and floating in the pure azure above!

Thus shall all who hope in the Lord rise higher and higher, upon the mighty wings of strong devotion, and with the unblinking eye of faith-into the regions of heavenly mindedness; and shall approach nearer and nearer to God-the sun of our spiritual day.

They will run in the heavenly race, for the crown of immortal glory, "and not grow weary." Their strength, instead of being exhausted, shall, contrary to what occurs in bodily effort-be increased by exertion. 

No length nor greatness of labor shall be too much for them. 

God shall pour into their souls, fresh energy for every fresh effort.

"They will walk and not be faint." Their pilgrimage may be arduous; the road may be long and rugged; often up steep ascents, and down into deep and rocky crags, where every step is a labor-but they shall not lose heart or hope; they shall not swoon, nor halt, nor turn back-but go forwards, sustained by a
power greater than their own!

~John Angell James~

An Angel On The Outside And A Devil Within

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 

Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish; but inside you are filthy  full of greed and self-indulgence!

A hypocrite's outside never corresponds with his inside.
A hypocrite's outside is one thing and his inside another.
A hypocrite's outside is religious but his inside is wicked.
 
Hypocrites are like the Egyptian temples, which were beautiful
outside but within there was nothing to be found but serpents
and crocodiles, and other venomous creatures. 

They are like white silver but they draw black lines.

They have a seeming sanctified outside but are stuffed within with malice, pride, worldliness, envy, etc. They are like window cushions, made up of velvet and richly embroidered but stuffed within with hay.
 
A hypocrite. . .may offer sacrifice with Cain, and fast with Jezebel, and humble himself with Ahab, and lament with the tears of Esau, and kiss Christ with Judas, and follow Christ with Demas, and be baptized with Simon Magus; and yet for all this, his inside is as bad as any of theirs!
 
A hypocrite is. . .a Jacob on the outside and an Esau within; a David on the outside and a Saul within; a John on the outside and a Judas within; a saint on the outside and a Satan within;
an angel on the outside and a devil within.
 
But let all such hypocrites know, that pretend sanctity is double iniquity and accordingly at last they shall be dealt with. "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?"

Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

~Thomas Brooks~

Sweet Poisons!

Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Satan presents the world in such a dress, and in such a garb, as to ensnare the soul, and to win the affection of the soul.
 
He represents the world to them in its beauty and finery, which proves a bewitching sight to carnal men.

Satan can no sooner cast out his golden bait- but we are ready to play with it, and to nibble at it! 

He can no sooner throw out his golden ball-but men are apt to run after it--though they lose God and their souls in the pursuit!

Ah! the time, the thoughts, the hearts, the souls--which the inordinate love of this wicked world eats up and destroys!
 
Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns--ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles!

The world, siren-like, sings to us--then sinks us!

It kisses us--then betrays us, like Judas!

It kisses us--then stabs us under the rib, like Joab.

The honors, splendor, and all the glory of this world, are but sweet poisons, which will much endanger us, if they do not eternally destroy us.

Ah! the multitude of souls that have glutted on these sweet baits, and died forever! Such men
will sell Christ, heaven, and their souls for a trifle! 

How long will you love what is worthless and pursue a lie?

Psa 4:2  O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
 
Ah, how many thousands are there now on earth, who have found this true by experience; who have spun a lovely rope to strangle themselves, both temporally and eternally, by being bewitched by the beauty and finery of this world!

The main reason why men dote upon the world, and damn their souls to get the world, is, because they are not acquainted with a greater glory!

Men ate acorns, until they were acquainted with the use of wheat. Ah, did men but taste more of heaven, and live more in heaven, and had more glorious hopes of going to heaven, ah, how easily would they trample the world under their feet!
 
Heb 10:34  For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

Let heaven be a man's object, and earth will soon be his abject.
 
Assurance of more great and glorious things, breed in the soul a holy scorn and contempt of all these poor, base worldly things--which the soul before valued above God, Christ and heaven.

~Thomas Brooks~