Evening, April 17
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
John 12:21
"We would see Jesus."
John 12:21
Evermore the worldling's cry is, "Who will show us any good?" He seeks
satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the
quickened sinner knows of only one good. "O that I knew where I might
find Him !" When he is truly awakened to feel his guilt, if you could
pour the gold of India at his feet, he would say, "Take it away: I want
to find Him." It is a blessed thing for a man, when he has brought his
desires into a focus, so that they all centre in one object. When he
has fifty different desires, his heart resembles a mire of stagnant
water, spread out into a marsh, breeding miasma and pestilence; but
when all his desires are brought into one channel, his heart becomes
like a river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize the fields.
Happy is he who hath one desire, if that one desire be set on Christ,
though it may not yet have been realized. If Jesus be a soul's desire,
it is a blessed sign of divine work within. Such a man will never be
content with mere ordinances. He will say, "I want Christ; I must have
him--mere ordinances are of no use to me; I want himself; do not offer
me these; you offer me the empty pitcher, while I am dying of thirst;
give me water, or I die. Jesus is my soul's desire. I would see Jesus!"
Is this thy condition, my reader, at this moment? Hast thou but one
desire, and is that after Christ? Then thou art not far from the
kingdom of heaven. Hast thou but one wish in thy heart, and that one
wish that thou mayst be washed from all thy sins in Jesus' blood? Canst
thou really say, "I would give all I have to be a Christian; I would
give up everything I have and hope for, if I might but feel that I have
an interest in Christ?" Then, despite all thy fears, be of good cheer,
the Lord loveth thee, and thou shalt come out into daylight soon, and
rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free.