Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Solomon said that it is not wise to think that former times were better than the present (Eccl. 7:10), but that is the way multitudes of unhappy and unwise people speak of times gone by. There is no day that has ever been as full of opportunity for blessing as this day. "Today is the day of salvation", wrote Paul, not yesterday, nor even tomorrow. Today, we can hear His voice; today, we can "go about doing good"; today, we can edify one another and provoke one another to love and do good works. One of the worst spiritual conditions a person can be in is to look back on an earlier time in his life and wish that he were living then rather than now.
All of us have been through times when our circumstances were less pleasant than some of those in the past. There is no evil in desiring to live in pleasant times again. That is perfectly normal and right. In his most agonizing moments, righteous Job wished that he were again "in days when God preserved me" (29:2). But he was longing for days then past because his physical pain was great, not because sin had crept into his life and severed his connection with God. Job was a wise man, and no matter how bad his condition grew or how hopeless it appeared to be, he continued to do the will of God, knowing that at some point in the future his Redeemer would come and set him free (19:25-27). His pure heart was set like a flint on the living God, the God of Job's NOW, even while his thoughts were drawn to a more pleasant past.
Job esteemed God's words to be more necessary than food (23:12). The words of God that had come to him in days past, however, were not his greatest joy. No, not at all. His greatest joy, the very reason he lived, was to hear that Voice again, today and in each day he lived. Fellowship with God was his life because his heart was pure.
There may have been great blessings in your life yesterday, my friend, but the heart of the wise builds upon the past; it does not mourn for it. This is true even concerning the day a person receives the holy Ghost and is born again. If the day of your being baptized with the holy Ghost into the body of Christ is the happiest day of your life, something is terribly out of order. I have met a number of people who wish they could be as free and happy as the day they were born of the Spirit of God. This is a tragic condition to be in. It is an indication that since they were born of the Spirit, they have either not been fed or have been rebellious against the Spirit they received from God. The new birth is a gateway to the knowledge of God. The new birth is a beginning, the first day in God's school; it is not the goal of the believer's life. It is to be built upon, not longed for, years after you receive it.
When the saints are in good spiritual condition, those who receive the baptism of the holy Ghost increase in the joy and knowledge of God, so that years later they do not look back on the day of their new birth and wish they could be that happy again. On the contrary, when a person is spiritually healthy, when he has been fed the truth and grown in the grace of God, he would not return to the time when he was born again for any amount of money because he is happier, he is wiser, and he is more godly in his conduct now than then.
If there is any day in your past in which you were closer to Jesus and more content in spirit than you are today, then, my dear brother, you are in a backslidden state. What happened to you? Who robbed you of your joy and peace? Why has your oil run low, and why is your lamp now so dim? You have lost something, or something ungodly has crept into your life. Renew your zeal for holiness and cast out the unclean thing, and today will become the sweetest day that you have ever lived.
Only the foolish want to go backwards. For the wise, today is the most wonderful day of their lives, and the best is yet to come.