When you see a Rainbow, it is beautiful its colours are glorious but observe that it fades away quickly. The fair colours give way to fleecy cloud and the beauty disappear from the sky, it is not established. How can it be? It is a glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops.
The graces of the Christian character must not
resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be
stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have
may be an abiding thing.
May your character not be a writing upon the
sand, but an inscription upon the rock!
May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a
vision," but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire
which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite.
May you be rooted and grounded in love.
May your convictions be deep, your love real,
your desires earnest.
May your whole life be so settled and
established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall
never be able to remove you.
But notice how this blessing of being
"stablished in the faith" is gained.
The apostle's words point us to suffering as the
means employed—"After that ye have suffered awhile." It is of no use
to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old
gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the
branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are
also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way.
So the Christian is made strong, and firmly
rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the
tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough
discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.
I read this on the 7th
July 2014 and it blessed my heart! It is culled from Spurgeon's Morning &
Evening, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 1999, 2003,
2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) (paraphrased)
