Evening, August 23, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” — Ephesians 3:17

It is desirable beyond measure that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to fuel our love towards him, and to increase our knowledge of him. I would to God that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in Jesus’ college, students of “Corpus Christi”, or the body of Christ, resolved to attain a good degree in the learning of the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of him, welling up with his love, even to overflowing; therefore, the apostle prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” See how near he desires Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer to you than to have it in the heart itself. “That he may dwell;” not that he may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and remains for a night, but that he may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being, never again to leave.

Observe the words–that he may dwell in your heart, that best room of the human house; not in your thoughts alone, but in your affections; not merely in the mind’s meditations, but in the heart’s emotions. We should thirst after a love of Christ that is of the highest and most abiding character; not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by holy fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be beautiful. Faith is the lily’s root, and love is the lily’s bloom. Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart’s love except you have a firm hold of him by your heart’s faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love him. If your love is cold, you can be sure that your faith is drooping.