Spurgeon: March PM
* 03/15/PM
"He did it with all his heart and prospered."
--2 Chronicles 31:21
This is no unusual occurrence; it is the general rule of the
moral universe that those men prosper who do their work with all
their hearts, while those are almost certain to fail who go to
their labour leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not
give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is He
pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to
find its hid treasure. It is universally confessed that if a man
would prosper, he must be diligent in business. It is the same
in religion as it is in other things. If you would prosper in
your work for Jesus, let it be heart work, and let it be done
with all your heart. Put as much force, energy, heartiness, and
earnestness into religion as ever you do into business, for it
deserves far more. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, but He
does not encourage our idleness; He loves active believers. Who
are the most useful men in the Christian church? The men who do
what they undertake for God with all their hearts . Who are the
most successful Sabbath-school teachers? The most talented? No;
the most zealous; the men whose hearts are on fire, those are
the men who see their Lord riding forth prosperously in the
majesty of His salvation. Whole-heartedness shows itself in
perseverance ; there may be failure at first, but the earnest
worker will say, "It is the Lord's work, and it must be done; my
Lord has bidden me do it, and in His strength I will accomplish
it." Christian, art thou thus "with all thine heart" serving thy
Master? Remember the earnestness of Jesus! Think what heart-work
was His! He could say, " The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me
up ." When He sweat great drops of blood, it was no light burden
He had to carry upon those blessed shoulders; and when He poured
out His heart, it was no weak effort He was making for the
salvation of His people. Was Jesus in earnest, and are we
lukewarm?