A New Heart

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you." Ezekiel 36:26

"Behold," says Christ, "I will make all things new." What a wonder it is that a man should ever have a new heart! You know if a lobster loses its claw in a fight it can get a new claw, and that is thought to be very marvelous. It would be very wonderful if men should be able to grow new arms and new legs, but who ever heard of a creature that grew a new heart? You may have seen a bough lopped off a tree, and you may have thought that perhaps the tree will sprout again and there will be a new limb, but who ever heard of old trees getting new sap and a new core? but my Lord and Master, the crucified and exalted Savior, has given new hearts and new cores; he has put a vital substance into man afresh and made new creatures of them. I am glad to notice the tear in your eye when you think on the past, but wipe it away now, and look up to the cross and say -

"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Your blood was shed for me,
And that You bid'st me come to You,
O Lamb, O God, I come."

"Make me a new creature!" If you have said that from your heart, you are a new creature, dear brother, and we will rejoice together in this regenerating Savior.

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Strengthen My Spirit"

Almost Home

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in heaven." 2 Corinthians 5:1

Heaven is indeed the only home of our souls, and we shall never feel that we have come to our rest until we have reached its mansions. One reason why we shall be able to rest in heaven is because we shall there be able perpetually to achieve the object of our creation. Am I nearer heaven? Then I will be doing more of the work that I shall do in heaven. I shall soon use the harp: Let me be carefully tuning it; let me rehearse the hymns which I shall sing before the throne, for if the words in heaven shall be sweeter and more rich than any that poets can put together here, yet the essential song of heaven shall be the same as that which we present to Jehovah here below.

My aged brethren, I congratulate you, for you are almost home; be yet more full of praise than ever. Quicken your footsteps as the glory land shines more brightly. You are close to the gate of pearl; sing on, dear brother, though infirmities increase, and let the song grow sweeter and louder until it melts into the infinite harmonies.

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Strengthen My Spirit"

Newness in Christ

"Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 21:5

I do not know, but it is sometimes as well, when one has been plunged in sorrow or feels ashamed of his past life - after having regretted that which is bygone and repented of it and sorrowed over it - to feel as if he breathed another atmosphere and had started on a fresh career. Having thrown away the old sword, he is now about to see what he can do with the new; having put off an old garment, he is desirous to walk more worthily of his vocation with fresh ones that are provided for him. Perhaps the thoughts of freshness, the fact of new time having dawned on our path, may be a little help to those of us whoa re dull and heavy, and we may be stirred up to action. If not to action, it may awaken earnest hope that the infusion of a new start into our lives, new vigor instead of the old lethargy, new love instead of the old lukewarmness, new zeal instead of the old deathlikeness, new persevering industry for Christ instead of the old idleness may result. God grant that it may be so!

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Strengthen My Spirit"