“In the selfsame day, as God had said unto him” (Gen. 17:23).

Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Every time God calls us to any duty, He is offering to make a covenant with us; doing the duty is our part, and He will do His part in special blessing.

The only way we can obey is to obey “in the selfsame day,” as Abraham did. To be sure, we often postpone a duty and then later on do it as fully as we can. It is better to do this than not to do it at all. But it is then, at the best, only a crippled, disfigured, half-way sort of duty-doing; and a postponed duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended, and that it would have brought if done at the earliest possible moment.

It is a pity to rob ourselves, along with robbing God and others, by procrastination. “In the selfsame day” is the Genesis way of saying, “Do it now.”  –Messages for the Morning Watch

“Ours not to make reply,
Ours not to reason why,
Ours but to do and die.”

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” ( Psalm 16:11) As wonderful as the Christian life is, even the best saints occasionally find their joy interrupted. Here on earth, where we live in a fallen world, our joy is always mixed with sorrow. But in heaven it will be far different. Listen to these wonderful words written by Thomas Brooks in 1657:   Surely there is no believer but who finds that sometimes
sin interrupts his joy, and sometimes Satan disturbs his
joy, and sometimes afflictions eclipse his joy. Sometimes
the cares of the world, and sometimes the snares of the
world, and sometimes the fears of the world–mar his joy.

Here on earth, our joy is mixed with sorrow; our
rejoicing with trembling. The most godly have . . .
sorrow mixed with their joy,
water mixed with their wine,
vinegar mixed with their oil,
pain mixed with their ease,
winter mixed with their summer, etc.

But in heaven, they shall have . . .
joy without sorrow,
light without darkness,
sweetness without bitterness,
summer without winter,
health without sickness,
honor without disgrace,
glory without shame, and
life without death.

Mark–
for quality–there are pleasures;
for quantity–fullness;
for dignity–at God’s right hand;
for duration–forevermore.
And millions of years multiplied by millions, do
not make up one minute of this eternity of joy
which the saints shall have in heaven! In heaven
there shall be no sin to take away your joy, nor
any devil to take away your joy, nor any man
to take away your joy!

As they shall have in heaven pure joy, so they shall
have in heaven fullness of joy. Here on earth all joy
is at an ebb–but in heaven is the flood of joy! Here
shall be joy above joy, joy surmounting all joy. Here
shall be such great joys–as no geometrician can
measure; so many joys–as no arithmetician can
number; and such wonderful joys–as no rhetorician
can utter, had he the tongue of men and angels!

Sometimes great crosses, sometimes hard losses, and
sometimes unexpected changes–turn a Christian’s
harping into mourning.

Here shall be joy within you, and joy without you,
and joy above you, and joy beneath you, and joy
about you. Joy shall spread itself over all the members
of your bodies, and over all the faculties of your souls.

In heaven,
your knowledge shall be full,
your love full,
your visions of God full,
your communion with God full,
your enjoyment of God full,
and your conformity to God full;
and from thence will arise fullness of joy.

If all the earth were paper, and all the plants of the
earth were pens, and all the sea were ink, and if every
man, woman, and child, had the pen of a ready writer;
yet they would not able to express the thousandth part
of those joys which saints shall have in heaven!

All the joy which we have here in this world is but
pensiveness–compared to that joy which we shall
have in heaven. All the pleasure which we have
here in this world is but heaviness–compared to that
joy which we shall have in heaven. All sweetness
which we have here in this world is but bitterness–
compared to that joy which we shall have in heaven.   “–Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” ( 1 Cor. 2:9)

There was a story in a Rochester, Texas church bulletin about a young man who was working in a large department store, being told by his employer that he would be required to work on Sunday. It so happened that the hours assigned to him would have prevented his attending any of the worship services to which he had been accustomed to attending since childhood.

The young man informed his employer that he would not be able to continue his work under these conditions, and his employer told him he would have to go.

A few days later, the young man answered an ad in the paper from a bank which had advertised a vacancy for a teller. In checking the young man’s previous employers, the bank president contacted the department store head and inquired as to the boy’s record and whether he could recommend him. The store manager replied, “Why, yes, I will be glad to recommend him. He will make you a good man. I just fired him a few days ago.”

“Fired him?” the bank president exclaimed. “Why would you recommend a man whom you just recently dismissed from your service?” The store manager explained the circumstances under which the boy was released, and remarked, “I know he will make you a good man for your bank, because if he will not steal the Lord’s time, he will not steal your money.”–Copied

There is not a place which a believer walks in-which is free from snares. Behind every tree-is the tempter with his barbed arrow! Behind every bush-is the roaring lion, the Devil, your great enemy, prowling around, looking for some victim to devour! Under every piece of grass-hides the deadly adder!

This present world is the battlefield; Heaven is a place of complete victory and glorious triumph.

This present world is the land of the sword and the spear; Heaven is the land of the wreath and the crown.

This present world is the land of the garment rolled in blood and the dust of the fight; Heaven is the land of the trumpet’s joyful sound-the place of the white robe and of the shout of conquest.

Oh, what a thrill of joy shall shoot through the hearts of all the redeemed, when their conquests shall be complete; when death itself, the last of foes, shall be slain; when Satan shall be dragged captive at the chariot wheels of Christ; when He shall have overthrown sin and trampled corruption as the mire of the streets; when the great shout of universal victory shall rise from the hearts of all the redeemed!(Charles Spurgeon) Until then let us remember this glorious promise: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain: for the former things are passed away.–Revelation 21:4

J. R. Miller wrote in 1896,”Some people seem to have a genius for making others miserable! They are continually touching sensitive hearts, so as to cause pain. They are always saying things which sting and irritate.— They lack all delicacy of feeling, having no eye for the sensitive things in others, which demand gentleness of treatment.”   That’s sad, but true. We live in a day when there is little genuine consideration for others. People give little thought to the pain that they inflict on others. Thankfully there are some exceptions to this rule–some do care. Miller goes on to say,”Thoughtfulness is the reverse of all this. It simply does not do the things which thoughtlessness does.—– It respects your sorrow-and refrains from harshly touching your wound. It has the utmost kindliness of feeling and expression. A truly thoughtful person, is one who never needlessly gives pain to another.

Thoughtfulness does not merely keep one from doing thoughtless things; it also leads to continued acts of kindness and good will. It ever watches for opportunities to give pleasure and happiness. It does not wait to be asked for sympathy or help-but has eyes of its own, and sees every need, and supplies it unsolicited. When a friend is in sorrow, the thoughtful man is ready with his offer of comfort. He does not come the next day, when the need is past-but is prompt with his kindness, when kindness means something.

Thoughtfulness is always doing little kindnesses. It has an instinct for seeing the little things that need to be done, and then for doing them!

There are some rare Christians who seem born for thoughtfulness. They have a genius for sympathy. Instinctively they seem to understand the experiences of pain in others, and from their heart, there flows a blessing of tenderness which is full of healing. This is the highest and holiest ministry of love. It is not softness nor weakness; it is strength-but strength enriched by divine gentleness.

Thoughtfulness is one of the truest and best tests of a noble Christian character. It is love working in all delicate ways. It is unselfishness which forgets self, and thinks only of others. It is love which demands not to be served, to be honored, to be helped-but thinks continually of serving and honoring others. He who has a truly gentle heart, cannot but be thoughtful. Love is always thoughtful.”