Rightly do they Love You

This morning's devotional from Morning and Evening (by Charles Spurgeon) was on Song of Solomon 1:4, which says, "Rightly do they love you."

In the devotional, Spurgeon speaks of the Christian's love for God, and quotes Samuel Rutherford: "Oh, for as much love as would go round about the earth, and over heaven..."  Spurgeon goes on to say that "our longest reach is only a span of love, and our affection is like a drop in a bucket compared with what He deserves."

As I thought about this, I came to realize the coldness of my love for Christ. Since God deserves so much more love than I can give--infinitely more--how can I withhold from Him all the love that I am able to give?  The Savior of my soul deserves such great love--love that I can never give--but that must not hinder me from giving Him all my love, small though it may be.

Further on in the devotional, Spurgeon says that the Lord judges "our love by our intentions."  In the eyes of God, it doesn't matter that our love is small--what matters is the intentions of our heart.  This brought to my mind the widow from Luke 21.  She only had "two small copper coins" to offer God--that was "all that she had to live on"--but she offered them, irregardless of the meager amount.  Though the amount was small in monetary value, the intention of her heart was worth far more in the eyes of God; in God's eyes, she had offered a great offering that was pleasing to Him.  Christ commended her, saying, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them." 

I encourage you to examine the love you give to God.  While it is certainly not as much as He deserves, you must give what you are able to give.  If your intentions are pleasing to God, it will be a great offering in His sight.  Even if you only have "two small copper coins" of love, give even that to God.  You must give God all your love, for He deserves much more than that.

"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."

- When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Cats and Fireworks

The title of this post refers to two separate stories that have both happened recently.

First, cats.  Last Thursday, one of my favorite cats died.  She was getting old, so it was expected, but it was still hard (for those of you who know her, it was Tea).  Well, over the past few days, my favorite cat, Bistro (a.k.a. "The Beast" or "Beasty") has become sick and is about to die as well.  It was unexpected and was (and is) very hard.  I'm going to miss him.

Second, fireworks.  Yesterday, on the 4th of July, I shot lots of fireworks and watched even more from Jim Rollo and Jase Samuelson.  It was great.  I got giddy and excited--I love fireworks.

Now, how they relate.  When I was laying in bed last night, I thought, "fireworks excite me--how much more should Jesus excite me."  I prayed that God would remove the callus that has built up to prevent excitement about God and Bible Study.  Then I thought again about my cats.  I thought, "my favorite cats dying disappoint me, and it makes me sick and sad--how much more should sinning against my Lord and Savior disappoint and sadden me."

Just another viewpoint on things.

So, when you face trials that cause you grief, remember that you should despair over your sin (but don't stay despairing--ask God for forgiveness and move on).  The despair is a good deterrent to prevent doing the same sin again (although it often doesn't prevent it either).

And when you are excited about something, remember the excitement you should experience when you think about Jesus.  If it is not there, pray that God would remove the callus of your heart and give you genuine excitement for godly things.

Luke