A Holiday Admonition
December 25th - PM
'And it was so, when the days of their feasting
were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up
early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the
number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have
sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job
continually.'-Job 1:5
What the patriarch did early in the morning,
after the family festivities, it will be well for the believer to do
for himself before he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household
gatherings, it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget
our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it
is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified
enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth.
There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying as though one bathed
in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should be quite as purifying
an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts, that facts prove
that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting.
Come, believer, in what have you sinned today? Have you been
forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle
words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the
sacrifice. The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb
slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins
of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a
Christmas day - to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come
to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good tonight, it is good
every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal
priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause
for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning
victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works.
Gladly I close this festive day,
Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn;
My slips and faults are washed away,
The Lamb has all my trespass borne.
- Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
Home
| Topical Index
| Authors |
Site Map |
Search
 |
