31 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
31 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Morning and Evening—Charles Spurgeon</title>
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<div class="head">Meditation for This Morning</div>
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<div class="subhead">Charles Spurgeon</div>
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<div class="pad2020" style="font-weight:bold">April 5<sup>th</sup><br><em>Morning Reading</em></div>
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<p>On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. — Luke 23:26</p>
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<p>We see in Simon’'s carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross‐bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.</p>
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<p>But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon’s, <em>it is not our cross,</em> but Christ’s cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not <em>your</em> cross, it is Christ’s cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!</p>
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<p><em>You carry the cross after Him.</em> You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of His blood‐red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. ’Tis <em>His</em> cross, and He goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow Him.</p>
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<p>Do not forget, also, <em>that you bear this cross in partnership.</em> It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier end.</p>
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<p>And remember, <em>though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honour.</em> Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, <em>count it very dear,</em> when it works out for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”</p>
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<a href="./devotions/morneve/04/0405pm.html">Today’s Evening Reading</a>
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