Evening, April 17, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“We wish to see Jesus.” — John 12:21

Without relenting, the worldly one’s cry is, “Who will show us any good?” He seeks satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the enlivened sinner knows of only one good petition: “O that I knew where I might find Him!” When he is truly awakened to feel his guilt, even if you could pour the gold of India at his feet, he would say, “Take it away: I want to find Him.” It is a blessed thing for a man to bring his desires into a focus, so that they all center in one object. When he has fifty different desires, his heart resembles a mire of stagnant water, spread out into a marsh, breeding fog and pestilence; but when all his desires are brought into one channel, his heart becomes like a river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize the fields. Happy is the person who has one desire, if that one desire is set on Christ, even though it may not yet have been realized. If Jesus is a soul’s desire, it is a blessed sign of divine work within. Such a man will never be content with mere regulations. He will say, “I want Christ; I must have him—mere regulations are of no use to me—I want only him; do not offer me these regulations; you offer me the empty pitcher, while I am dying of thirst; give me water, or I die. Jesus is my soul’s desire. I would see Jesus!”

Is this your condition, my reader, at this moment? Have you but one desire, and is that for Christ? Then you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. Have you only one wish in your heart, and that one wish that you may be washed from all your sins in Jesus’ blood? Can you really say, “I would give all I have to be a Christian; I would give up everything I have and hope for, if I might only feel that I have an investment in Christ?” Then, despite all your fears, be of good cheer, the Lord loves you, and you shall come out into daylight soon, and rejoice in the liberty by which Christ makes men free.