Morning, January 18, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” — Hebrews 4:9

How different will be the state of the believer in heaven from what it is here! Here he is born to labor and suffer weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Here, anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength unequal to his passon; his constant cry is, “Help me to serve you, O my God.” If he is totally involved, he will have much labor; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his strength, so that he will cry out, “I am not weary of labor, but I am drained by it.” Ah! Christian, the hot day of weariness does not last forever; the sun is nearing the horizon; it shall rise again with a brighter day than you have ever seen upon a land where they serve God day and night, and yet rest from their labor. Here, rest is but partial, there, it is perfect. Here, the Christian is always unsettled; he feels that he has not yet attained. There, all are at rest; they have attained the summit of the mountain; they have ascended to the embrace of their God. They cannot go higher. Ah, work-worn laborer, only look forward to when you shall rest forever! Can you conceive of it? It is a rest eternal; a rest that “remains.” Here, my best joys display “mortal” on their forehead; my lovely flowers fade; my elegant cups are drained to dregs; my adorable birds fall before Death’s arrows; my most pleasant days are shadowed into nights; and the high tides of my happiness subside into ebbs of sorrow.

But there, everything is immortal; the harp abides unrusted, the crown uncorroded, the eye undimmed, the voice unfaltering, the heart unwavering, and the immortal being is wholly absorbed in infinite delight. Happy day! Happy, when mortality shall be swallowed up by life, and the Eternal Sabbath shall begin.