DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
O Lord, we do ask you to make us fit for heaven. We hope it is not long before we shall be there. We have sometimes had glimpses between the gates of pearl; we have had such foretastes of the “place prepared,” that sometimes we are in haste to be gone; the flavor of the grapes of Eschol is in our mouths, and we long to be where all the clusters grow.
But we are conscious of unfitness for that state as yet. Oh, go on most blessed Spirit, with your patient work, until you shall have made us heavenly, and then we shall be caught up to the “heavenly places,” to see the face of our Beloved.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)
Now, if our text said that, without perfection of holiness, no man could have any communion with Christ, it would shut every one of us out, for no one, who knows his own heart, ever pretends to be perfectly conformed to God’s will. This holiness is a thing of growth. It may be in the soul as the grain of mustard-seed, and yet not developed; it may be in the heart as a wish and a desire, rather than anything that has been fully realized — a groaning, a panting, a longing, a striving. As the Spirit of God waters it, it will grow till the mustard-seed shall become a tree.
When we find many imperfections and many failings in ourselves, we are not to conclude that, therefore, we have no interest in the grace of God. This would be altogether contrary to the meaning of the text. Those who are not condemned may reasonably draw some comfortable inferences as to their own pursuit of this inestimable grace.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Pursue holiness like your life depends on it.
Today we prayed for God to bring holiness about in our lives, and we saw from his Word that this kind of holiness is required in each of our lives. In this pursuit of holiness, we need a lot of help along the way, don’t we?
One of the most motivating and empowering books on personal holiness that I have ever read is The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. This book will show you the high calling of holiness that God has laid on all of his people (and why it’s so important) while also giving grace-fueled practical guidance on actually pursuing holiness in your own life.
This book will equip you and empower you to pursue holiness. I hope you’ll grab a copy and be blessed by it.