Evening, June 18
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
Song of Solomon 5:1
"I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse."
Song of Solomon 5:1
The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it with his
precious blood, and he enters it and claims it as his own. A garden
implies separation. It is not the open common; it is not a wilderness;
it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that we could see the wall of
separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger.
It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, "Well, there is no harm in
this; there is no harm in that," thus getting as near to the world as
possible. Grace is at a low ebb in that soul which can even raise the
question of how far it may go in worldly conformity. A garden is a
place of beauty, it far surpasses the wild uncultivated lands. The
genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in his life than the
best moralist, because Christ's garden ought to produce the best
flowers in all the world. Even the best is poor compared with Christ's
deservings; let us not put him off with withering and dwarf plants. The
rarest, richest, choicest lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place
which Jesus calls his own. The garden is a place of growth. The saints
are not to remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the Husbandman, and the
Holy Spirit the dew from above. A garden is a place of retirement. So
the Lord Jesus Christ would have us reserve our souls as a place in
which he can manifest himself, as he doth not unto the world. O that
Christians were more retired, that they kept their hearts more closely
shut up for Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha,
with much serving, so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary
had, and do not sit at his feet as we should. The Lord grant the sweet
showers of his grace to water his garden this day.