Everything in Christ

There is everything in Christ to encourage poor sinners to apply to him, to look for salvation in his name, and to inspire their hearts with love to his person. There are motives and arguments of every kind to excite you to choose him for your Savior, your friend, and your portion. You are guilty—his blood cleanses from all sin. You are miserable—he is rich in mercy. You are helpless—he is mighty to save. You are impoverished—his riches are unsearchable. His treasures of grace are inexhaustible. Approach unto him, be not afraid of a disappointment; he has assured you he will in no wise cast you out.
John Fawcett

Incomparable Excellency in Jesus

There is an incomparable and transcendent excellency in the person of Christ, in every respect. He is fairer than the children of men; he is altogether lovely. The excellencies which are found in any of his creatures are as nothing, when compared with his excellency. Wisdom in them is but a beam; but he is the glorious Sun of Righteousness. Goodness in them is but as the drop of a bucket; but he is the fountain, the ocean of goodness. Holiness in them is but a glimmering spark—but he is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. He is equal in all glorious excellencies with the Father. His divine nature puts infinite dignity on his amazing condescension, gives eternal efficacy to the sacrifice which he offered up to expiate our sins, and to the righteousness which he wrought out to justify our persons.

John Fawcett, Christ Precious to Those Who Believe 

Jesus Christ Most Precious

As Jesus Christ is precious—so he is MOST precious. Oh, sirs! angels are precious, saints are precious, friends are precious, heaven is precious—but Christ is ten thousand times more precious than these! A believer had rather have Christ without heaven—than heaven without Christ! "Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none on earth that I desire besides you!" Psalm 73:25. Let a believer search heaven and earth, and yet he will find nothing comparable to Christ. To be like to him—it is our happiness; and to draw near to him—is our holiness. You will see, beloved, life is precious, freedom is precious, health is precious, peace is precious, food and clothing are precious, gold and silver are precious, kingdoms and crowns are precious. Indeed they are, in their places—but nothing is as precious as Jesus Christ.

William Dyer, Christ's Famous Titles

Jesus is Better

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" Philippians 3:8

Precious Jesus, grant your child the grace to say and to mean with all her heart, 

"Yes, I'd rather have You, dear Jesus! I'd rather have You."

I’d Rather Have Jesus 

Rhea F. Miller, 1922  

 
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hand.

Than to be a king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway,
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than world-wide fame,
I’d rather be true to His holy name.

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He’s sweeter than honey from out of the comb;
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs,
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.

Full, Filled, and Fulfilled Only in Jesus

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Colossians 2:9-10 

He, and he alone, is truly enough! He is all we will ever need.

The NASV makes this clear by translating the first half of v. 10 as, "in Him you have been made complete." There is fullness in only one: Jesus! In him, and therefore in no one else, you will find every resource, every truth, and all power. Look again at Colossians 2:3 where Paul declared that it is "in him" that we find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Instead of "made complete," this word has also been translated "you have been filled" or even "fulfilled." The same verb is used to describe Christians as being "filled" with the "fruit of righteousness" (Phil. 1:11), "joy" and "peace" (Rom. 15:13), as well as "goodness" and "knowledge" (Rom. 15:14), not to mention the "Spirit" himself (Eph. 5:18)! The false teachers tried to convince the Colossians that the fullness they desired was unattainable in Christ alone. Paul responds by reminding them that everything they need to be complete, full, and fulfilled is in Jesus, and Jesus alone. 

Sam Storms,  Fullness of Life

Christ the Desire of Souls

. . .when God opens the eyes of men to see their sin and danger by it, nothing but Christ can give them satisfaction: it is not the amenity, fertility, riches and pleasures, the inhabitants of any kingdom of the world do enjoy, that can satisfy the desires of their souls: when once God touches their hearts with the sense of sin and misery, then Christ, and no one but Christ, is desirable and necessary in the eyes of such persons. Many kingdoms of the world abound with riches and pleasures; the providence of God has carved liberal portions of the good things of this life to many of them, and scarcely left any thing lacking to their desires that the world can afford. Yet all this can give no satisfaction without Jesus Christ, the desire of all nations, the one thing necessary, when once they come to see the necessity and excellency of him. When this happens, give them whatever you wish of the world, nevertheless they must have Christ, the desire of their souls.

John Flavel, Christ the Desire of All Nations  

How Lovely is Jesus Christ!

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” Lamentations 3:24     

 

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

Blessed by this:

Oh, how lovely, how good-exceeding good -is Jesus Christ to unworthy me! He is enough to satisfy my soul. When disappointed in the creature, and I turn with a sickening feeling from the world to Christ, I find here no disappointment; here is fullness of joy, an ocean of love, a heart to feel and sympathize, an eye to pity, and a power, an infinite power, to supply all my wants, to comfort my drooping spirits, to refresh my fainting heart, and fill me with joy and peace in believing. Jesus is an all-satisfying portion, and He is thy portion, O my soul." (p. 98)

and this:

What a heart has Christ! Do you know what it is made of? It is an ocean of goodness. It is a sea, fathomless and shoreless, of matchless love-love to poor sinners who but look to Him or sigh for Him. It is the joy of His heart to save sinners. This was His express mission to our world. Then would I have you look, not to your evidences, or to your own goodness, or to your unworthiness, but to Jesus, with a believing heart, and you shall be saved in Christ and for Christ. By simply believing in the Lord Jesus, He becomes one with you, and you one with Him, the Holy Spirit taking possession of your souls for Himself. In a little while, and we pass away, and one thing only is needful. Come, then, to Jesus, and be saved; and give Him no rest until He manifests Himself to you, as He has promised. . . This manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ to your souls, when you experience it, will be worth more than millions of worlds to you.  (p.361)

Mary Winslow, Life in Jesus: a memoir of Mrs. Mary Winslow 

More Beautiful. . .

Do not wish to ask anything of God
except God.
Love him, desire him alone.
Leave all your desires.
He who made heaven and earth
is more beautiful than all; 
he will be to you everything you love.
Seek for him alone,
and despise everything else,
make your way to him.
Forget other things, remember him;
leave other things behind, stretch out to him.
Let him be your hope,
who is guiding you to your destination.
~St. Augustine

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.   (Ephesians 1:17)

Tell the Altogether Lovely One!

"For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God. . . ."   (Daniel 9:18-19)

I love this:

And, as if to crown the encouragements accumulating around our access to Jesus, there are His own personal attractions—all-inviting and irresistible. Everything in the person of Jesus encourages our advance. Does glory charm us—does beauty attract us—does love win us—does gentleness subdue us—does sympathy soothe us—does faithfulness inspire confidence?—then, all this is in Jesus, and all invites us to draw near. He is the “altogether lovely,” and if our minds can appreciate the grand, and our hearts are sensible of the tender; if they feel the power of that which is superlatively great and exquisitely lovely, then we shall need no persuasion to arise, and go and tell Jesus every emotion of our souls, and every circumstance of our history. Take all that is tender in love—all that is faithful in friendship—all that is wise in counsel—all that is longsuffering in patience, all that is balmy, soothing, and healing in the deepest sympathy—and its embodiment, its impersonation is—JESUS. Can we, then, be insensible to all this personal attraction, and hesitate repairing to His feet—telling Him all?

Octavius Winslow
Go and Tell Jesus

The Altogether Lovely Joy, Treasure, and Absorbing All

From the diary of Ruth Bryan:

What a peculiar year! How rich in mercy, high in joy, deep in conflict, sweet in love—the love of my precious Beloved!

Your love has softened and sweetened all my trials; and here I am—a monument of love's upholding power, feeling sweetly assured that the Lord has heard my prayers, and seen my tears. All shall be well—this deep and dark  trial shall end in songs of praise. "He knows the way that I take," and though, to the flesh, it is like a long dark road, with only occasional rays of brightness; yet, "my soul, wait only upon God"—it will not be in vain. He will either release from this fettering clay, or He will carry triumphantly on. And all shall redound to His praise who lived and died for me—my Lord, my life, my all. Praise for the past, trust for the future, befits Your favored worm, O Lord. I do afresh embrace You by faith, as my joy, my treasure, and my absorbing all. I fall heavily into Your arms, with all my weights. You will sustain me in Your love, in life or death—as seems best to You. Amen.

Thirsty for the Altogether Lovely One

"The LORD is good to all,

and his mercy is over all that he has made."

Psalm 145:9

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
. . . . And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

"I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer.
You are yourself the answer.
Before your face questions die away.
What other answer would suffice?"
~C.S. Lewis

The Best of the Best of the Best!!

You could not better anything which you find in Jesus. Wherever you shall cast your eye it may rest with satisfaction, for the best of the best of the best is to be seen in him. He is altogether lovely at every separate point. . .

from Charles Spurgeon's sermon  The Best Beloved

The Altogether Lovely Delight

Beloved Brothers and Sisters, what a blessed and transcendent joy this joy in the Lord is! Sometimes you joy in your children, yet they die and then you sorrow. At other times you rejoice in those who are grown up and are prospering, but perhaps they treat you with ingratitude and then, again, your joy is gone. You joy in your health and that is a great blessing—but you sicken and your joy departs. Some rejoice in their riches, but wealth takes to itself wings and flies away. You may joy in a choice friend, but after a while you may be forsaken and forgotten. You may joy, perhaps, in past achievements and there may come to you a joy in your prospects for the future—but there is no joy equal to joy in God! Suppose I have nothing in the house but God? Suppose there is nothing for me to rely upon but God, nothing that I can call my own but God? Well, is that a little thing? Are not all creatures but the visions of an hour? But the Creator is the substantial All in All, so that he who has God has all that he can possibly need! God, to His people, is the fullness out of which all their needs shall be supplied. What a mercy it is that when we can joy in nothing else, we can joy in God! We can joy in His power, for He can help us. We can joy in His faithfulness, for He cannot fail us. We can joy in His Immutability, for He changes not and, therefore, we are not consumed. We can joy in every thought that we have of Him, for altogether and observed from every point of view, He is the delight of His people!

Charles Spurgeon
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols43-45/chs2550.pdf

An Altogether Lovely Hope and Trust

A beautiful prayer:

What, Lord, is the trust which I have in this life, or what is my greatest comfort among all the things that appear under heaven? Is it not you, O Lord, my God, Whose mercies are without number? Where have I ever fared well but for You? Or how could things go badly when You were present? I had rather be poor for Your sake than rich without You. I prefer rather to wander on the earth with You than to possess heaven without You. Where You are there is heaven, and where You are not are death and hell. You are my desire and therefore I must cry after You and sigh and pray. In none can I fully trust to help me in my necessities, but in you alone, my God. You are my hope. You are my confidence. You are my consoler, most faithful in every need.

All seek their own interests. You, however, place my salvation and my profit first, and turn all things to my good. Even though exposing me to various temptations and hardships, You Who are accustomed to prove Your loved ones in a thousand ways, order all this is for my good. You ought not to be loved or praised less in this trial than if You had filled me with heavenly consolations.

In you, therefore, O Lord God, I place all my hope and my refuge. On You I cast all my troubles and anguish, because whatever I have outside of You I will find to be weak and unstable. It will not serve me to have many friends, nor will powerful helpers be able to assist me, nor prudent advisers to give useful answers, nor the books of learned men to console, nor any precious substance to win my freedom, nor any place, secret and beautiful though it be, to shelter me, if You Yourself do not assit, comfort, console, instruct and guard me. For all things which seem to be for our peace and happiness are nothing when You are absent, and truly confer no happiness.

You indeed, are the fountain of all good, the height of life, the depth of all that can be spoken. To trust in You above all things is the strongest comfort of your servants. 

My God, the Father of mercies, to You I look, in You I trust. Bless and sanctify my soul with heavenly benediction, so that it may become Your holy dwelling and the seat of Your eternal glory. And in this temple of your dignity let nothing be found that might offend Your majesty. If your great goodness, and in the multitude of Your mercies, look upon me and listen to the prayer of Your poor servant exiled from You in the region of the shadow of death. Protect and preserve the soul of Your poor servant among the many dangers of this corruptible life, and direct him by Your accompanying grace, through the ways of peace, to the land of everlasting life.  

Thomas a Kempis
Imitation of Christ, Book 3, #59

Altogether Worthy of All Affections

You men and women with large hearts, whose one desire is to have a worthy object for your affections to fix upon, turn to this Word of God, this Law of God, this Gospel of His and you will see there how God Himself becomes the Object of His creatures’ love, and how, in the Person of His Son, you have the loveliest Object upon which human eyes ever gazed! You have, in Him, One who is so lovely that a glance from His eyes is enough to set your soul on fire and to make your heart enamored of Him forever! You who have mighty founts of love welling up in your soul may come and let them flow most freely here, for here is One who is worthy of them all! And when you have loved Christ as much as you can, you have not loved Him half as much as He deserves to be loved! Here your passions may burn and blaze and glow with sacred ardor, without any fear of your being idolaters. . .

~Charles Spurgeon

An Altogether Lovely Friend

John Piper writes:

[John Paton] began his Autobiography with the words, "What I write here is for the glory of God." That is true. But God gets glory when his Son is exalted. And his Son is exalted when we cherish him above all things, especially when "all things" are about to be snatched from us, including our life on earth. That is what this story is about. Here is the story of Paton in the tree.

Being entirely at the mercy of such doubtful and vacillating friends, I, though perplexed, felt it best to obey. I climbed into the tree and was left there alone in the bush. The hours I spent there live all before me as if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent discharging of muskets, and the yells of the Savages. Yet I sat there among the branches, as safe as in the arms of Jesus. Never, in all my sorrows, did my Lord draw nearer to me, and speak more soothingly in my soul, than when the moonlight flickered among those chestnut leaves, and the night air played on my throbbing brow, as I told all my heart to Jesus. Alone, yet not alone! If it be to glorify my God, I will not grudge to spend many nights alone in such a tree, to feel again my Savior's spiritual presence, to enjoy His consoling fellowship. If thus thrown back upon your own soul, alone, all alone, in the midnight, in the bush, in the very embrace of earth itself, have you a Friend that will not fail you then? (Autobiography, p.21)

(Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ, p. 82)

Thank you, Jesus, for enduring rejection past understanding, so that even this undeserving, dirty sinner who puts all her hope and trust in You, can, with all confidence respond, "Yes! Yes, I do have such a friend! In Jesus I have an unfailing, Altogether Lovely Friend."  Enable me to cherish you above all things--to cherish you rightly--that You may be exalted!

An Altogether Lovely Cup of Salvation

Something to pontificate and praise God for often: 

"If God was to deal with me according to my deserts, if He was to send me as accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels, He would be a most holy and righteous God therein. But such was the infinite love of the Father to us, that He put the cup of damnation, of curse and wrath, into Christ's hand, and through His drinking it up for us, He puts the cup of salvation into ours!" (Anne Dutton)

The Cry of an Awakened Soul: Give Me Christ, Or I Die! None But Christ!

What is the one specific cry of a truly spiritually regenerated and awakened soul? Is it not for JESUS, the bread of life? Most assuredly! Go to the sinner bowed beneath the weight of the law, to the man awakened to a conviction of his sinful and lost condition, who has been brought to know the nothingness of his own righteousness, and ask him, 'What will make you happy?' Bid him go to his religious duties, to his sacraments, to his church, to his minister. Oh, how bitter will be his reproof--"I asked you, as a starving man, for bread, and you gave me husks. I need Christ--I need to know that my sins are pardoned--that my transgressions are blotted out--that I am an accepted, forgiven child of God. And nothing short of this will meet my case. I have tried every other expedient, have come to the end of all my own doings, and I perish with hunger. I have been feeding upon ashes. I have sought to meet the ravings of my spirit with the chaff. I have been drinking in the wind. Give me Christ, or I die! None but Christ! None but Christ! Place me upon a pinnacle, and give me the world. I survey from thence, still, without Christ I am undone--I starve--I perish! Lord, I fall at Your feet. You only have the bread of eternal life. Here will I lie, here will I cling; and if I perish in my hunger, it shall be asking You, imploring You, crying to You for bread!"
Oh, thank God if the blessed Spirit has brought you to see the difference between the bread of life and the husks with which man would seek to meet your spiritual craving! Fall on your knees, and thank God if you have been taught that none but Christ--a crucified, atoning, and full Savior--a Savior whose blood blots out the deepest stain of guilt, and whose flowing robe of righteousness justifies the believing soul from all sin--can meet your soul's necessity!

Octavius Winslow, The Fullness of Christ

Precious Jesus. . . ALL I need!!

My reader, it is the power of God alone that empties a man, that makes him clearly to see the imperfection of his own righteousness, his ignorance of truth, of God, and of Christ. It is the work of the Holy and Eternal Spirit to show to the poor sinner that all his righteousness is as filthy rags, that he has no spiritual strength, and not one pulse of love to God throbbing in his bosom. Oh, it is a power as great, as mighty, and as Divine as that which spoke this universe into being-which said, "Let there be light, and there was light,"-which alone can empty your soul of all its darkness, its rebellion, its ignorance, its love, homage of self, and bring you to the cross of Christ, to the feet of Jesus as a poor, empty beggar.
The means by which God the blessed Spirit accomplishes this great work are various. To begin with the minor ones: it is often by trial, adversity, and sorrow, that God opens a man's eyes to see the emptiness of himself and of all created things. Travel through the Church of God, and ask, What was it that first led you to Jesus? What first awoke spiritual, solemn, serious, and devout reflection in your mind? What first embittered and beclouded to you the sweet, sparkling streams and rivulets of created good?
The answer of thousands would be- God blighted my lovely flower, felled my stately cedar, laid low my heart's choicest treasure, blew on the accumulated earnings of many years, laid me on a sick and suffering bed. And thus was I brought to Jesus. Sorrow impelled me, the storms drove me, adversity led me to Him as the hiding-place from the wind, and the covert from the tempest. I sought the creature's sufficiency, the world's vanity, my own emptiness. He drew me with His love to seek and find all I needed in Himself. And now I can bless and praise Him blighting all, for blasting all, for ruining all, since it was but to make my soul His kingdom, my heart His home, my body His temple, and Himself more precious than countless worlds -my all and in all.
"In days when health and joy were mine,
And cloudless seemed my morning's shine,
I thought each bliss would still remain,
Nor knew how precious Christ was then.
But soon was dimmed my early light,
And sickness came with withering blight;
I turned to passed delights in vain,
But only Christ seemed precious then.
When sorrow sent her searching dart,
To probe and prove my erring heart,
Fainting beneath the bitter pain,
I felt that Christ was precious then.
And when before my startled eyes,
Sins past, and scarcely mourned, arise;
In vain my tears would cleanse the stain,
My Savior You are precious then.
And oh, when trembling near the tomb,
My spirit dreads the approaching gloom,
Then let the Cross my soul sustain,
And bid me think You are precious then."

Octavius Winslow, The Fullness of Christ

Oh, to look at His face forever!

Anne Dutton wrote:  

Dear Sister in our Precious Jesus,
 

We have had many sweet feasts with our Beloved in the 'wilderness'; but the richest provisions and the best wine are reserved until the last, and the Marriage Supper hastens. 

Oh, how little have we seen of His transcendent beauty! We have beheld so much of His glory as to make Him the chief of ten thousand in our esteem. But there is enough in Him to fill men and angels with new wonder to all eternity! 

Christ's riches are absolutely unsearchable; a mine that we can never bottom to eternity! We shall see more and more of His glory as we pass on towards perfection. And oh, the wonderful grace that is to be brought unto us at our Lord's next appearing, which will be the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

The views of His glory, which we have had here, though true and real, yet are so small that if compared with what we shall have then, it will be as if we had never seen Him, and as if He was but then revealed to us.

We shall be so ravished with the views of His glory that we shall never be able to look off His bright face forever!

Eyes on the Altogether Lovely One!

For every look at self — take ten looks at Christ! Live near to Jesus — and all things will appear little to you in comparison with eternal realities.
How many millions of dazzling pearls and gems are at this moment hidden in the deep recesses of the ocean caves. Likewise, unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again — you will never come to the bottom of these depths!

When you gaze upon the sun — it makes everything else dark; when you taste honey — it makes everything else tasteless. Likewise, when your soul feeds on Jesus — it takes away the sweetness of all earthly things; praise, pleasure, fleshly lusts, all lose their sweetness. Keep a continued gaze! Run, looking unto Jesus. So the world be crucified to you — and you unto the world! 

~Robert Murray McCheyne

Help me not to look back, not to look forward, not to look round me, not to look in; but to look up. . .up into Your face, Jesus: 

I See Jesus

I don't look back: God knows the fruitless efforts,
The wasted hours the sinning, the regrets;
I leave them all with Him Who blots the record,
And mercifully forgives, and then forgets

I don't look forward, God sees all the future,
The road that, short or long, will lead me home,
And He will face with me its every trial,
And bear for me the burdens that may come.

I don't look round me: then would fears assail me,
So wild the tumult of earth's restless seas;
So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,
So vain the hope of comfort or of ease.

I don't look in; for then am I most wretched;
Myself has naught on which to stay my trust;
Nothing I see save failures and short-comings,
And weak endeavors crumbling into dust.

But I look up -- into the face of Jesus,
For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled.
And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,
And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled
--Annie Johnson Flint

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 
Hebrews 12:1-3

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 
2 Chronicles 20:12b

The Most Precious Thing in Heaven or Earth

In giving Christ to die for poor sinners, God gave the
richest jewel in His cabinet; a mercy of the greatest
worth, and most inestimable value.

Heaven itself is not so valuable and precious as Christ
is! Ten thousand thousand worlds--as many worlds as
angels can number, would not outweigh Christ's love,
excellency and sweetness! O what a lovely One! What
an excellent, beautiful, ravishing One--is Christ!

Put the beauty of ten thousand paradises, like the garden
of Eden, into one; put all flowers, all fragrances, all colors,
all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness into one;
O what a lovely and excellent thing would that be! And yet
it would be less to that loveliest and dearest well-beloved
Christ--than one drop of rain to all the seas, rivers, lakes,
and fountains of ten thousand earths!

Now, for God to bestow the mercy of mercies, the most
precious thing in heaven or earth, upon poor sinners;
and, as great, as lovely, as excellent as His Son was--what
kind of love is this! 

~John Flavel

My needs are many, but His fullness is infinitely more!!!

My needs — His fullness!
(James Meikle, May 24, 1757)

All plenitude is in Christ, to answer all the needs of His people. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that out of His fullness I may receive all spiritual blessings!

Have I destroyed myself by sin? I have deliverance from Him who is mighty to save from sin and wrath!

Is my foolish mind darkened? Am I a guilty, polluted, and ruined wretch? Jesus is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption! 

Is my life fleeting — and passing away like a shadow? Jesus is the Ancient of days, and endures for evermore!

Are my days short-lived and full of trouble? Jesus is my life, the length of my days, and the joy of my heart!

Am I exposed to contempt? Jesus shall be my crown of glory, and diadem of beauty!

Am I traveling through the wilderness? Jesus is my staff, and on Him I lean all the way!

Am I on my last journey to my long home? Jesus is my leader, and my rewarder!

Am I a sheep? Jesus is my pasture, and my green pasture too!

Am I hungry and thirsty? Jesus is my heavenly manna, and gives me to drink of the water of life!

Am I weary? Jesus is my rest and refreshing!

Am I weak? Jesus is my strength!

Am I oppressed and wronged? Jesus is my judge, and my avenger!

Am I reproached? The reproach of His people, Jesus will wipe away!

Am I a soldier? Jesus is my Captain and shield!

Must I fight in the field of battle? Jesus is my armor in the day of war!

Do I sit in darkness? Jesus is my light!

Do I have doubts? Jesus is my counselor!

Am I ignorant? Jesus is my wisdom!

Am I guilty? Jesus is my justification!

Am I filthy? Jesus is my sanctification!

Am I dead in sin? Jesus is my life, and quickens those who are dead in trespasses and sins!

Am I poor? Jesus is the pearl of great price, and has immeasurable riches!

Am I blind? Jesus, and none but He can open the eyes of one born blind!

Am I naked? Jesus has white clothing to cover the shame of my nakedness!

Am I in the very utmost necessity? Jesus is a very present help in time of trouble!

Am I exposed to the hurricanes of adversity?
Jesus is . . .
 a refuge from the storm;
 a shelter from the blast;
 rivers of water in a desert;
 the shadow of a great rock in a weary land!

Am I afraid of being left alone? Jesus will never leave me, nor forsake me!

Do friends and brethren prove false? Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother!

Am I in danger from diseases and death; or from sin and Satan? My life is hidden with Christ in God! When He shall appear, I shall appear with Him — immortal in my body, and glorious in my soul!

Is my case considered in the court of heaven? There Jesus is my Advocate!

Do I offend the Father? Jesus is my Intercessor!

Do I suffer in my body, and am I grieved in my mind? Jesus bore my infirmities, and carried my griefs!

Is my mind disquieted, and my soul debarred from peace? Jesus is my sympathetic High Priest! He was
tempted in all points, and knows how to support those who are tempted!

Am I poor in my circumstances? Jesus, the heir of all things! Though He was rich, yet for my sake He became poor, that I through His poverty might be made rich! 

Do I suffer in my character? Jesus was numbered with transgressors, called a Samaritan, a glutton, a drunkard, and a devil!

Am I bereaved or alone? Well, Jesus in the fatal night was left alone; all the disciples forsook Him and fled! Jesus, my only friend, can never die!

Must I undergo death and be laid in the grave? Jesus has taken away the sting of death, and robbed the grave of its victory!

Must I rot in the grave? Jesus shall be my resurrection, and raise me to immortality and bliss!
Would I go to God and to glory? Jesus is my way, and must admit me into the palace of the great King, where I shall abide forever!

In summary, Jesus is . . .
 my brother,
 my physician,
 my prophet,
 my priest,
 my king,
 my father,
 my head,
 my husband!

In eternity, when I shall dwell in the land of bliss, in the city of God — Jesus will be the light thereof! 

And since I am to worship there forever, He will be the temple of all the redeemed!

My needs are many, but His fullness is infinitely more!

The morning dews and fructifying showers water the fields, and refresh the parched furrows. But what are
they, compared to the exhaustless ocean of Jesus?

What is all that I enjoy here below, compared to the exuberant fullness of the heavenly bliss? O! then, how shall my soul be replenished — when possessed of this infinite All, through eternity itself!

Surpassingly Excellent, Sweet, and Soul-Satisfying. . . Worth Infinitely More Than Millions of Worlds!

Precious Jesus, help me to just finally "get it"  - to understand your worth, to see your loveliness. . .

Brought to tears by this sweet, sweet reminder of my Altogether Lovely One from one of Anne Dutton's letters:

My Dear Sister in Christ,

Your Beloved is yours and you are His, and what can you want or desire more? Your one Lord Jesus is worth infinitely more than millions of worlds, were there so many! Oh, what little, uncertain, dying things, are all creature-enjoyments! Not a drop of refreshment can we find in them, unless the Creator fills them, and communicates of His own fullness through those pipes of conveyance; and yet, how prone are we to seek after creatures as if our happiness were in them! Ah, foolish we, to "forsake the fountain of living waters, and hew out to ourselves cisterns—broken cisterns—that can hold no water!" Were every pipe broken and every cistern dry, the Lord—the full fountain, the overflowing ocean of our life and bliss—would never fail. There is a river of love, life, and glory in God, the streams whereof, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, shall make glad the hearts of the citizens of Zion.

My dear sister, God, our kind Father, takes away the creatures from us that we may learn to live upon Himself as our present and eternal All; and not a soul that has Him for a well, while passing through the valley of Baca, of tears, shall ever lack supply of life and joy. A believer can never lack anything, languish and die in his spirit for lack of any good thing, unless he goes out of the bosom of Christ, where he has all things—to hunt for supplies among the creatures where there is nothing. Blessed is that soul that seeks God in the creatures it desires, that lives upon God in the creatures it enjoys, and that makes life a peaceful, joyous, glorious life out of God—or rather, that lives peacefully, joyfully, gloriously in Him when the creatures fail—for surpassingly excellent, sweet and soul-satisfying is God in all—is God in Himself.

O for more faith to live upon Him, and to Him, in all things that He gives us, and in what He withholds or takes from us; for our God will supply all our needs, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.

Don't you see, then, my dear sister, how well you are provided for? Oh, live joyfully, as a child of God—and heir of God—for no good thing will He allow you to lack—and soon He will bring you to His great, His glorious, His eternal Self! Your God, your all-supplying God, will be with you in every strait, to the last moment of your stay on earth, and then He will bring you home, to be forever with Him in heaven, where, in His immediate presence, and seated at His right hand, He will bless you with fullness of joy, and make you drink of the river of His pleasures for evermore!

Here there is hope!

Though your heart is bad, there is another heart that is good; and the goodness of that heart is a ground of exhortation to you. You remember Christ said, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavyladen," and then his argument would come to this, "for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls." Your heart is proud and high, and black, and lustful; but look at Christ's heart, it is meek and lowly. There is your encouragement. Do you feel tonight your sin? Christ is meek; if you come to him he will not spurn you. Do you feel your insignificance and worthlessness? Christ is lowly; he will not despise you. If Christ's heart were like your heart, you would be damned to a certainty. But Christ's heart is not as your heart, nor his ways like your ways. I can see no hope for you when I look into your hearts, but I can see plenty of hope when I look into Christ's heart.
~Spurgeon

Our Endurance: The Altogether Lovely One

"Never for a second does God lose sight of His objective. It is we who forget what it is. We are distracted by immediate circumstances, and it is no wonder we want to give up the whole thing. It was the "joy that was set before Him" that enabled Jesus to endure the cross.

Without a clear understanding of the ultimate objective, the intermediate objectives make no sense to us. "Why this, Lord?" we keep asking. But if we bear in mind that we shall, beyond any doubt whatsoever, finally dwell in the house of the Lord, settle down to stay in His presence, then the intermediate pastures and waters even the valley of the shadow or the place of dragons, are understood. They are stations and landings along the journey, and they will not last long."

~Elisabeth Elliot

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me. . . and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. 
Psalm 23:4, 7

The Altogether Lovely One is Absolutely Precious!

Charles Spurgeon, speaking about the absolute preciousness of Jesus:

Since no sparkling gems or precious metals, no royal regalia, or caskets of rare jewels can ever equal the value of Jesus, the comparison is vain. We therefore place Him by Himself, alone, and say that He is absolutely precious to Believers. Gold is precious, but the diamond is more so and, in comparison with the diamond, the gold is of small account. The diamond is precious, but give a man a bagful of diamonds of the first water and put him down in a desert, or let him be out on the wild waste of ocean—he would give all his diamonds for a draught of pure water to drink, or a crust of bread to eat—so that, in certain cases, even the excellent crystal would lose its value. In fact, mineral substances are merely arbitrary signs of value, they have but little worth in themselves. Gold in itself is less useful than iron and a diamond of little more account than a piece of glass. They have no absolute intrinsic value which would remain the same under all contingencies.

But Christ is absolutely precious! That is to say, nothing can ever match Him, much less excel Him, and He is precious under all circumstances! There never can arrive a time when we shall be compelled to confess His lack of value, or lower our estimate of Him. He is infinitely precious!

O my Soul, do you esteem Him so? My Heart, are you sure of this, that unto you He is precious beyond compare? Positively precious? Comparatively precious, though Heaven itself were compared? Superlatively precious beyond all things that can be dreamed of, or imagined? Is He to you essential preciousness, the very standard of all value? Thus it should be, for the text means no less—“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious.” (1 Peter 2:7) 


http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols52-54/chs3014.pdf

Jesus, the Incarnation of Mercy

Have faith enough, dear Hearer, to believe that you need mercy. Mercy is not for the meritorious—the claim of the meritorious is for justice—not for mercy. Only the guilty need and seek mercy. Believe that God delights in mercy, delights to give Grace where it cannot be deserved, delights to forgive where there is no reason for forgiveness but His own goodness. Believe also that the Lord Jesus Christ whom we preach to you is the Incarnation of mercy—His very existence is mercy to you, His every word means mercy—His life, His death, His intercession in Heaven, all mean mercy, mercy, mercy, nothing but mercy! You need Divine mercy and Jesus is the embodiment of Divine mercy—He is the Savior for you! Believe in Him and the mercy of God is yours. ~Charles Spurgeon

Jesus, a King Like No Other!

Condemned as a criminal and dressed like a pauper, Mary's son, lying in the street under the weight of a cross, is a great king -- a King like no other! Humble enough to die in the place of His faithless, rebellious subjects. Powerful enough to defeat death, crush the lord of darkness, and rise from His grave. Loving enough to give His people the life they do not deserve -- eternal life -- and the calling they cannot imagine: to be His cherished Bride forever. Jesus, the only King capable of creating a new world out of this broken one.
"Behold, I am making all things new!"
~Scotty Smith