Evening
Time: 7:20 PM PST
"We would see Jesus." --John 12:21
Evermore the worldling's cry is, Who will show us any good?" He seeks
satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the quickened
sinner knows of only one good. "O that I knew where I might find HIM!" When he
is truly awakened to feel his guilt, if you could pour the gold of India at his
feet, he would say, "Take it away: I want to find HIM." It is a blessed thing
for a man, when he has brought his desires into a focus, so that they all centre
in one object. When he has fifty different desires, his heart resembles a mere
of stagnant water, spread out into a marsh, breeding miasma and pestilence; but
when all his desires are brought into one channel, his heart becomes like a
river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize the fields. Happy is he who
hath one desire, if that one desire be set on Christ, though it may not yet have
been realized. If Jesus be a soul's desire, it is a blessed sign of divine work
within. Such a man will never be content with mere ordinances. He will say, "I
want Christ; I must have Him--mere ordinances are of no use to me; I want
Himself; do not offer me these; you offer me the empty pitcher, while I
am dying of thirst; give me water, or I die. Jesus is my soul's desire. I would
see Jesus!"
Is this thy condition, my reader, at this moment? Hast thou but one desire,
and is that after Christ? Then thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven. Hast
thou but one wish in thy heart, and that one wish that thou mayst be washed from
all thy sins in Jesus' blood? Canst thou really say, "I would give all I have to
be a Christian; I would give up everything I have and hope for, if I might but
feel that I have an interest in Christ"? Then, despite all thy fears, be of good
cheer, the Lord loveth thee, and thou shalt come out into daylight soon, and
rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free.