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Steps to Christ
hearts would be refreshed and they would refresh one another. We
may be daily learning more of our heavenly Father, gaining a fresh
experience of His grace; then we shall desire to speak of His love; and
as we do this, our own hearts will be warmed and encouraged. If we
thought and talked more of Jesus, and less of self, we should have far
more of His presence.
If we would but think of God as often as we have evidence of
His care for us we should keep Him ever in our thoughts and should
delight to talk of Him and to praise Him. We talk of temporal things
because we have an interest in them. We talk of our friends because
we love them; our joys and our sorrows are bound up with them. Yet
we have infinitely greater reason to love God than to love our earthly
friends; it should be the most natural thing in the world to make Him
first in all our thoughts, to talk of His goodness and tell of His power.
The rich gifts He has bestowed upon us were not intended to absorb
our thoughts and love so much that we should have nothing to give to
God; they are constantly to remind us of Him and to bind us in bonds
of love and gratitude to our heavenly Benefactor. We dwell too near
the lowlands of earth. Let us raise our eyes to the open door of the
sanctuary above, where the light of the glory of God shines in the face
of Christ, who “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him.”
Hebrews 7:25
.
We need to praise God more “for His goodness, and for His won-
derful works to the children of men.”
Psalm 107:8
. Our devotional
exercises should not consist wholly in asking and receiving. Let us not
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be always thinking of our wants and never of the benefits we receive.
We do not pray any too much, but we are too sparing of giving thanks.
We are the constant recipients of God’s mercies, and yet how little
gratitude we express, how little we praise Him for what He has done
for us.
Anciently the Lord bade Israel, when they met together for His
service, “Ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice
in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein
the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.”
Deuteronomy 12:7
. That which
is done for the glory of God should be done with cheerfulness, with
songs of praise and thanksgiving, not with sadness and gloom.
Our God is a tender, merciful Father. His service should not be
looked upon as a heart-saddening, distressing exercise. It should be a