Evening, May 4
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
1 Peter 1:23
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible."
1 Peter 1:23
Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each other
"with a pure heart fervently" and he wisely fetched his argument, not
from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but from that high and
divine nature which God hath implanted in his people. Just as some
judicious tutor of princes might labour to beget and foster in them a
kingly spirit and dignified behaviour, finding arguments in their
position and descent, so, looking upon God's people as heirs of glory,
princes of the blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth's
truest and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them, "See that ye love
one another, because of your noble birth, being born of incorruptible
seed; because of your pedigree, being descended from God, the Creator
of all things; and because of your immortal destiny, for you shall
never pass away, though the glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its
existence shall cease." It would be well if, in the spirit of humility,
we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived up
to it. What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king, he adds
priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king's royalty often lieth only
in his crown, but with a Christian it is infused into his inmost
nature. He is as much above his fellows through his new birth, as a man
is above the beast that perisheth. Surely he ought to carry himself, in
all his dealings, as one who is not of the multitude, but chosen out of
the world, distinguished by sovereign grace, written among "the
peculiar people" and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as others,
nor live after the manner of the world's citizens. Let the dignity of
your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O believers in
Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and to avoid the very
appearance of evil.