Desires after Christ!

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    (John Flavel, "The Fountain of Life" 1691)

"Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16

"Whom have I in Heaven but you? Earth has nothing I desire besides You!" Psalm 73:25

Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures--the very soul and substance of them! As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world--so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet!

Are our desires for Christ ARDENT? Has Christ the supreme place in our hearts? Do we esteem all things but dung that we may win Christ and be found in Him?

Are our desires for Christ UNIVERSAL? Is everything about Christ desirable in our eyes? The hypocrite is for a divided Christ. The true believer loves . . .
  both His government and His grace,
  both His sovereignty and His mercy,
  both His Lordship and His priesthood.

Do our desires after Christ lead us to EFFORT--to use all the means of grace to accomplish His will?
He is revealed in His Word--do we read it?
He is preached in the gospel--do we hear it?
He will be found by those who seek Him--do we earnestly seek Him?

Are our desires after Christ PERMANENT--or only a sudden fit of emotion, fear or impulse? If our hearts and our longing for communion with Him--we will only be satisfied when we awake with His likeness. Nothing that this world affords can possibly take us from this goal!

Do our desires after Christ spring from a DEEP SENSE OF OUR NEED of Christ? Has conviction of sin opened our eyes . . .
  to see our misery,
  to feel our burden of sin,
  to understand our inability, and
  to make us sensible that the only remedy lies in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Bread and wine are made necessary by hunger and thirst. Christ is only precious to those who need Him!

"My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You!" Isaiah 26:9

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