Spurgeon: December PM
* 12/29/PM
"What think ye of Christ?"
--Matthew 22:42
The great test of your soul's health is, What think you of
Christ ? Is He to you "fairer than the children of men"--"the
chief among ten thousand"--the "altogether lovely"? Wherever
Christ is thus esteemed, all the faculties of the spiritual man
exercise themselves with energy. I will judge of your piety by
this barometer: does Christ stand high or low with you? If you
have thought little of Christ, if you have been content to live
without His presence, if you have cared little for His honour,
if you have been neglectful of His laws, then I know that your
soul is sick--God grant that it may not be sick unto death! But
if the first thought of your spirit has been, How can I honour
Jesus? If the daily desire of your soul has been, "O that I knew
where I might find Him!" I tell you that you may have a thousand
infirmities, and even scarcely know whether you are a child of
God at all, and yet I am persuaded, beyond a doubt, that you are
safe, since Jesus is great in your esteem. I care not for thy
rags, what thinkest thou of His royal apparel? I care not for
thy wounds, though they bleed in torrents, what thinkest thou of
His wounds? are they like glittering rubies in thine esteem? I
think none the less of thee, though thou liest like Lazarus on
the dunghill, and the dogs do lick thee--I judge thee not by thy
poverty: what thinkest thou of the King in His beauty? Has He a
glorious high throne in thy heart? Wouldst thou set Him higher
if thou couldst? Wouldst thou be willing to die if thou couldst
but add another trumpet to the strain which proclaims His
praise? Ah! then it is well with thee. Whatever thou mayst think
of thyself, if Christ be great to thee, thou shalt be with Him
ere long.
"Though all the world my choice deride,
Yet Jesus shall my portion be;
For I am pleased with none beside,
The fairest of the fair is He"