March 25

Sinner, you are right to say your pleasure is now, for you cannot be sure it will last for another moment. Your present happiness is going, and that of the saints, though future, is coming, never to end. Will you, like Esau for a gulp of pottage and immediate gratification, part with the eternal inheritance of God's kingdom? What desperate madness makes sinners refuse a little hardship of the present? They foolishly choose to endure the eternal wrath of God hereafter in exchange for the short feast Satan spreads for them. If Satan keeps you royally entertained for a lifetime, what is that to eternity?

Let this encourage those of you who belong to Christ: The storm may be tempestuous, but it is only temporary. The clouds that are presently rolling over your head will pass, and then you will have fair weather, an eternal sunshine of glory. Can you not watch with Christ for an hour?

Bid faith look through the keyhole of the promise and see what God has laid up for those that love Him. You serve a God who keeps covenant forever. Having already bathed in the fountain of His tender mercies, how can you stand on this side of eternity, afraid to wet your feet with those short-lived sufferings which, like a little splash of water, run between you and glory?

Besides being bound by time, Satan's empire is also confined as to place. The devil rules in this world only. He cannot ascend to heaven, not even if he marshals all the power of all his demon hosts. The rebel once shared intimately in God's glory has not dared even to look into that holy place since he was first expelled. So he ranges to and fro here below as a vagabond, excommunicated from the presence of God though not from the saints on their way to heaven. You can, if you will, take this fact as a source of great joy: Satan has no power where your eternal happiness lies!

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