PH 5:10{This is a short exhortation containing nothing attractive for the intellect, but very much for the heart. Are we doing it? How much of the " proving " has there been in your course and in mine this day? How much of real, earnest, godly exercise as to what was the Lord's mind about each little occurrence? " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." (
1 John 2:2020But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. (1 John 2:20).) This is true of every Christian, whether only a babe, or more advanced as a young man, or a father in Christ. And this gives to us the power to do what the verse I have quoted exhorts us to do.
Is there anything in your daily path with which Christ can have fellowship? (You will be instructed as to this in the word.) Are this and that "acceptable unto the Lord"? If so then persevere in it, go on with it. Let no human influence deter you from this path. Why? Because the Lord is with you, and can there be anything like that? You have His own blessed presence, and favor, and sympathy, and they will compensate, even if you have to face all the world's frown.
But again, is there anything in your daily path or allowed in yourself, that is not " acceptable unto the Lord "? If so, (suffer one to exhort you and himself too) judge it, have done with it, refuse it, and do all this at once; and why? You are risking the loss of the Lord's present favor and company with you. To lose the sense of these is to lose all that is worth living for in this world.
To have to tread this world alone! What a cheerless blank the Christian life would be. And I do tread it alone if Christ is not practically with me, and this when I may be looked upon by others as a pious person.
It is an established truth for our hearts that the Lord has not only dealt with and settled the question of our sins, but that now the desire of His heart is to be with us—daily —continually near; the One I can consult in every difficulty, and on whose love I can rest all the day long? What is my Christianity worth, if it does not minister these to my soul? To have Christ (as He was at Bethany) at home with me on earth, is only surpassed by one thing, namely, the blessed future, when I shall be at home with Him in heaven. (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3).)