Ten virgins by Thomas Shepard (Available from Amazon or free here). Read Chapters 8 & 9.
Then the much longer Chapter 9 gives four exhortations to have oil in your lamps. Shepard exhorts the readers by:
(i) answering the objections of those that question the love of Christ to them;
(ii) encouraging us to fix our love on Jesus and therefore look that our love be ready for his coming;
(iii) encouraging us to do the work of Christ - to be daily at it, and finish it;
(iv) encouraging us to be ever humble and ready to give the Lord honour of His grace that He ever gave anything to you to do.
What grabbed me
Particularly about the love of Christ during times he appears quite absent: 'Do not fear the love of Christ is not toward you, because he hides his face, and departs sometimes from you; husbands remain so when they depart, and leave the house for many a day; and it is simple to say he is not my husband now. So here the Lord loves his people, yet departs, (Is. liv. 1-7;) and truly it is very hard when inward blows, and sad desertions, and outward miseries, and no Christ found, though sought for. But how shall I then know and discern his love? Ans. Many things might be said this way, only one thing observe, whether thy love remains still to him for himself; for it is a rule that most commonly a Christian's purest and dearest love appears in Christ's absence from him. As it is with friends, while with us we lore them ; but when gone, we feel that love more quick than before.'
Just because our husband is absent, doesn't dissolve the marriage. Jesus still loves us very much.
Next week's reading
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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