God Is a Crown of Glory

Consider Isaiah 28:5: "In the day of the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, for his remnant." What will it mean that he will be a crown of glory? Whose head will it be on? He's the crown. He is not the head. It's going to be on your head. Take a deep breath. He will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. In other words, he will satisfy every longing for glory and beauty. Everything good that you ever longed for will be satisfied in him.

Therefore, it is loving for him to lift himself up and say, Here I am, world! Admire! If you did that, you would be unloving, because you are not all-satisfying. He is. You should simply go all over the world, pointing to him. Say: World, look! Look at Christ especially, because there, when Christ died, the glory of the grace of God was magnified, which is the apex of all his glory, which is why Christ is the center of everything.

John Piper, "A Holy Ambition: To Preach Where Christ Has Not Been Named"

Live Upon the Atoning Blood of Jesus!

"No real good can come to thee, no healing to thy spirit, no fruitfulness to thy soul, from a perpetual living upon convictions of sin, legal fears, or transient joys: the Divine life can derive no aliment from these. But live upon the atoning blood of Jesus. Here is the fatness of thy soul found; this it is that heals the wound…It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit, that moistens each fibre of the root of holiness in the soul, and is productive of its fruitfulness; this it is that sends the warm current of life through every part of the regenerate man, quickening the pulse of love, and imparting a healthy and vigorous power to every act of obedience. And when the spiritual seasons change--for it is not always spring-time with the soul of a child of God--when the summer's sun withers, or the autumnal blast scatters the leaves, and the winter's fiercer storm beats upon the smitten bough, the blood and righteousness of Christ, lived upon, loved, and cherished, will yet sustain the Divine life in the soul…" 

-O. Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival, p.165.

Look on Christ

If you would have your heart removed from the things of the world, behold the crucified and glorified Lord Jesus Christ. Set Christ crucified often before your eyes, and look on Him with the eye of faith. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). That is, "I look on Christ crucified, and by the eye of faith I can see Him hanging there, and all the glory of the world stained there. Is all the world comparable to Christ? There is the King, the High Priest, the Mediator, the great Prophet. There is the Heir of the world crucified. There is His blood running down. He has laid down His life for sinners, and to take my heart off from the world." If you look on a dead man, it deadens your spirit. What will looking on Christ do then? It will deaden your heart toward the world if you look on Jesus Christ crucified. "I am crucified to the world," said Paul.

Then look on Christ glorified, and your heart will be raised above the world. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:1-2). Christ has died, risen, and gone to glory. If now you are risen out of the state of sin, transferred from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, you will have your heart where Christ is. Consider Christ in this way: "There is my Head, my King, my Husband. There is my Redeemer, the one who is a thousand times better than the world. Therefore, I will not set my heart on things of the earth, but on things above. How glorious it is to see the King in His glory!" Look much, and consider much of Christ crucified and glorified.

William Greenhill, Stop Loving the World

Something to ponder. . .

“Will you take Him for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer? Though your Lord be a King, yet His kingdom is not of this world. He came not to minister to, but to minister. He came to serve and to suffer, and all those that will follow Him must suffer with Him. He did not come to divide lands and spoils and crowns and temporal dignities and honors among His disciples, but crosses and prisons and scourges and wants. You will join yourself to the Lord, but will you take up your lot with Him? You will live with Him and abide with Him, but do you know where He dwells, and what His entertainment is? Sometimes He has bread, and sometimes He is hungry; sometimes He has clothes, and sometimes is naked; sometimes He has a house, and sometimes He has none; sometimes He has friends, and sometimes He has none; He is sometimes used kindly, and sometimes used coarsely; sometimes it is Hosanna, and sometimes it is Crucify. Sometimes He is cried up as a King, sometimes cried out against as a devil. And as it is with the Master, so will it be with the scholar; as with the Lord, so with the disciple; where He is, you must be also. Can you say Where you go, I will go with You; where you feed, I will feed with You; where my Lord dwells, if in a tent, if in a cave, if in a dungeon, let me dwell with Him? Consider what you say, and be not overhasty”

(Richard Alleine, Heaven Opened, p.338-39).

This Is That Jesus Who Is Given to Us. . . .

"Christian, do you feel as if you are nothing?  It matters not, for you are enough in your Jesus.
Are you dark?  He is a fountain of light. 
Are you dead?  He is a fountain of life. 
Are you poor and low, weak in knowledge, in faith, in love, in patience?  He is a treasure of all grace. 
And whatever He is, He is for you! 
Is He wise?  He is wise for you. 
Is He holy?  He is holy for you. 
He is meek, He is merciful, humble, patient for you. 
He is strong, rich, and full for you. 
Bewail your own poverty and weakness, but bless yourself in your Lord, for He is rich, righteous, and all powerful.....
As the head and the body, as the husband and wife, so Christ and His saints are mutually concerned.  They are rich or poor, stand and fall, live and die together. 
The husband conveys to the wife a title to what he has; as the wife holds of the husband, so it is between Christ and His church.  They have nothing but through Him.  Their whole tenure is in Him as the Head.  Whatever is His is theirs.  Whatever is theirs is His. 
His God is their God, His Father is their Father, His blood, His merits, His Spirit, His victories, all the spoils He has captured, all the revenue and income of His life and death--ALL IS THEIRS! 
He obeyed for them, He suffered for them, He lived for them, He died for them, He rose for them, He ascended for them, and He has set down on the right hand of God to act for them.
This is that Jesus who is given to us.  This is He who by covenant is made over to all His saints." 

Richard Alleine, Heaven Opened.

Not Another Such A Beauty. . . .

"You see, Madam, how precarious and uncertain all things here are! Live beside the creatures while you have them—let Christ be the all of your enjoyment in them—and then, when they fail, and your own heart and flesh too, Christ will be your all in Himself—the strength of your heart, and your portion forever—an all of bliss and glory, ineffable and eternal. Value your own Lord Jesus. Let His price (His worth in your esteem) be far above rubies, and all creatures and things, desirable and desired. The all-beauteous Godhead is in Him. He is the mighty God, as well as the Man Jesus, for you. Emanuel is His wonderful, glorious name. His personal and relative glories are, and shall be, the wonder and praise of men and angels unto ages without end. Look upon His lovely face—there is not another such a beauty in both worlds! See, Madam, this is your Beloved, and this is your Friend. This is He who has loved you, and given Himself for you; that laid aside His glory and joy, who was the adoration of angels, and the darling of the Father's bosom, to clothe Himself, His matchless Self, with your sin, shame, and sorrow, that He might raise you from the ash-heap of sinful nature to inherit with Him the joys and glories of the upper world; yes, to set you with Him upon His own throne! Oh, dear Madam, you are the Lamb's bride, even you, who come unto God, as the God of peace, only by and through the sacrificed Lamb. Admire the Lamb's love—the Lamb who was slain for you, that has wooed and won and betrothed you to Himself forever. Live upon Him, live to Him, and long to live with Him."

From a letter written by Anne Dutton

Think About This:

"The deepest untapped joys in this world are in Christ." ~JB

Enough in Christ Jesus to Satisfy!

The Lord is my all-sufficient portion. God fills himself. And as Manton says, in his exposition of the 119th Psalm, "If God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us." And then he uses this figure—"That which fills an ocean will fill a bucket. That which will fill a gallon will fill a pint. Those revenues that will defray an emperor’s expenses, are enough for a beggar or a poor man—so when the Lord Himself is satisfied with Himself, and it is His happiness to enjoy Himself, there needs no more—there is enough in God to satisfy." This is clear reasoning, Brethren, and surely if the expenses of Heaven’s court never did affect God’s riches, all the expenses of our trial and affliction while we are here, never can diminish the unsearchable riches of God which are in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Charles Spurgeon, Choice Portions

There is Enough in Jesus. . .

Above all, contemplate your blessed Redeemer, seated on his great white throne, encircled with heavenly glory. Look at the King in his beauty! It is the sight of a glorified Savior that will make the heaven of the believer. Endeavor now, by the eye of faith, to behold the Lord Jesus in all his matchless beauty and excellence. Contemplate his glorious character; his infinite mercy; his unparalleled condescension, and his boundless love. There is enough in Jesus to employ the soul in rapturous meditation through a vast eternity– his excellence, his goodness, and his love can never be fathomed. O, then, keep your eye fixed on this adorable Savior, while you sojourn in this valley of tears; and in a little while you shall see him as he is- face to face, and ascribe to him unceasing praise.

David Harsha, The Christian On Pisgah's Mount