Sunday, November 7, 2010

Don't Berate But Give Yourself Grace

So, I came across a devotional yesterday that inspired this entry. When we fail or do wrong, we tend to put ourselves down. It's as if continual berating of ourselves will give us the desire or motivation to do things better in the future. However, stop and think about that for a moment. Has this course of action helped you yet? Are you more motivated to do something when someone is berating you or when someone encourages you? There is a saying that goes, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." (Just a side note: I always thought it was bees until I looked it up. Smile.) Just as we would like for others to have grace upon us when we mess up, let's also have grace upon ourselves when we do the same. That grace will take us further in life--and closer to our goal which has created this time of change--than criticizing and berating will do.

Here is the aforementioned devotional, and it is from Charles Spurgeon's book Morning and Evening.
November 6th
Morning

I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”
- Isaiah 44:3, KJV

When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle’s wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards.

Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus’ bosom. Are you this morning thirsting for the living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to the delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of religion, and is this your prayer, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation”? Are you conscious also that you are barren, like the dry ground; that you are not bringing forth the fruit unto God which he has a right to expect of you; that you are not so useful in the Church, or in the world, as your heart desires to be? Then here is exactly the promise which you need, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.” You shall receive the grace you so much require, and you shall have it to the utmost reach of your needs.

Water refreshes the thirsty: you shall be refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripen; you shall have fructifying grace: you shall be made fruitful in the ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you be-the thirsty land shall be springs of water.

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:"
(Isaiah 44:3, KVJ)

No comments:

Post a Comment