November 23

Morning

Fellowship with him. — 1 John 1:6

When we were united by faith to Christ, we were brought into such complete fellowship with Him, that we were made one with Him, and His interests and ours became mutual and identical.

We have fellowship with Christ in His love. What He loves—we love. He loves the saints—so do we. He loves sinners—so do we. He loves the poor perishing race of man, and pants to see earth’s deserts transformed into the garden of the Lord—so do we.

We have fellowship with Him in His desires. He desires the glory of God—we also labor for the same. He desires that the saints may be with Him where He is—we desire to be with Him there too. He desires to drive out sin—behold we fight under His banner. He desires that His Father’s name may be loved and adored by all His creatures—we pray daily, “Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven.”

We have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings. We are not nailed to the cross, nor do we die a cruel death. But when He is reproached, we are reproached; and a very sweet thing it is to be blamed for His sake, to be despised for following the Master, to have the world against us. The disciple should not be above His Lord.

In our measure we commune with Him in His labors, ministering to men by the Word of truth and by deeds of love. Our food and our drink, like His, is to do the will of Him who has sent us, and to finish His work.

We have also fellowship with Christ in His joys. We are happy in His happiness, we rejoice in His exaltation. Have you ever tasted that joy, believer? There is no purer or more thrilling delight to be known this side heaven—than that of having Christ’s joy fulfilled in us, that our joy may be full. His glory awaits us to complete our fellowship, for His Church shall sit with him upon His throne, as His well-beloved bride and queen!

Evening

Get thee up into the high mountain. — Isa 40:9

Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living God and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley—when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsts to drink deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the mountain’s brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem!

Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines—who do not see the sun; they eat dust like the serpent—when they might taste the ambrosial food of angels; they are content to wear the miner’s garb—when they might put on king’s robes; tears mar their faces—when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Many a believer pines in a dungeon—when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon. Rouse yourself, O believer, from your low condition! Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love to Christ, your soul’s Husband. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.

What enchants you into such folly, as to remain in a pit—when you may sit on a throne? Do not live in the lowlands of bondage, now that mountain liberty is conferred upon you. Rest no longer satisfied with your dwarfish attainments but press forward to things more sublime and heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life! Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!