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

You have not bought Me sweet cane with money.” — Isaiah 43:24

Worshippers at the temple were accustomed to bringing presents of sweet perfumes like calamus to be burned upon the altar of God: but Israel, in the time of her backsliding, became stingy, and made only a few votive offerings to her Lord: this was an evidence of coldness of heart towards God and his house. Reader, does this ever occur with you? Might not the complaint of the text be occasionally, if not frequently, brought against you? Those who are poor in pocket, if rich in faith, will be accepted none the less because their gifts are small; but, poor reader, do you give in fair proportion to the Lord, or is the widow’s mite kept back from the sacred treasury? The rich believer should be thankful for the wealth entrusted to him, but should not forget his large responsibility, for where much is given much will be required; but, rich reader, are you mindful of your obligations, and rendering to the Lord according to the benefit received? Jesus gave his blood for us, what shall we give to him? We are his, and all that we have, for he has purchased us for  himself—can we act as if we were our own? O for more consecration! And to this end, O for more love! Blessed Jesus, how good it is of you to accept our incense bought with money! Nothing is too costly as a tribute to your unrivalled love, and yet you do receive with favor the smallest sincere token of affection! You receive our poor forget-me-nots and tokens of love as though they were intrinsically precious, though indeed they are but as the bunch of wild flowers which the child brings to its mother. Never may we grow ungenerous towards you, and from this hour never may we hear you complain of us again for withholding the gifts of our love. We will give you the first fruits of our increase, and pay you tithes of all, and then we will confess “of your own we have given you.”