Heb. 1, 2
The close of another year reminds us of the rapid flight of time and brings before the heart in various ways its changing scenes; all, even the best here, fades as a leaf and vanishes away. How blessed to have found a new home in a new scene, outside and beyond; and to have found it in connection with Him who is there, thus the Person and the place where He is become everything to us, and we only await His return who shall change our body of humiliation and fashion it like unto His body of glory: until then we move on with Him; how different that is from being borne along in the throng of the passing panorama around us. The scripture at the head of the page is suggested by the dying year—all here on earth is under death and dying; thank God, the Christian has passed out of death into life. What a rest and solace to have to do with Him, of whom it is said: “Thou remainest,” “Thou art the same.”
The reflection is valuable to us in a two-fold way, namely: First, it is well to see things as they are; the tendency is in an entirely opposite direction, as a rule, among men down here in this world, things are not what they seem.
It is well for us to remember that God did once invest a man with the ability and resources necessary to test the value of all here in itself. Solomon had everything that the heart of man could desire, and, moreover, his wisdom remained with him. What is his testimony when in possession of all? “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Solomon found that nothing here could fill and satisfy the heart, and that death lay as a cankerworm at the root of all under the sun. Do we not find it so in changing years and times? If Solomon the king found it so in his affluent circumstances, how much more those whose lot is of a very different kind?
But the reflection is also valuable in bringing out the contrast set before us in those precious words spoken of the Savior, “Thou remainest,” “Thou art the same.” How blessed for the heart that has found its all in such an One as that! Beloved reader, have you? And as the passing year and fleeting seasons are but part of what other words found here describe, namely, “They shall perish . . . and they shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed,” can you, in the rest of possession in and with Him where He is, say—
“The Savior lives and cannot die,
And with Him lives our joy”
May God in His great grace and mercy grant that as years fail and pass, our hearts may be found to have already left the scene, to have, as it were, ascended with Him to where He is, and there continually to dwell.