Fri.-Sabbath, 5/24-26/19 Devotion

Praise God—Sunday is almost here! Let us prepare ourselves well for our high and holy calling of the worship of God in His church on the Lord's Day. Toward that end, here is Thomas Watson, from "A Test of Assurance: How we Know Whether we Love God?":

"He who loves God IS NOT MUCH IN LOVE WITH ANYTHING ELSE. His love is very cool to worldly things. His love to God moves swiftly, as the sun in the firmament; to the world it moves slowly, as the sun on the dial. The love of the world eats out the heart of religion; it chokes good affections, as earth puts out fire. The world was a dead thing to Paul: 'I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me,' (Gal. 6:14). In Paul we may see both the picture and pattern of a mortified man. He that loves God, uses the world but chooses God. The world engages him, but God delights and satisfies him. He says as David, 'God my exceeding joy,' the gladness or cream of my joy, (Ps. 43:4).

"He who loves God CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT HIM. Things we love we can-not be without. A man can do without music or flowers, but not food; so a soul deeply in love with God looks upon himself as undone without Him. 'Hide not Your face from me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit,' (Ps. 143:7).
. . . Is God our chief good, and we cannot live without Him? Alas! how do they show they have no love to God who can do well enough without Him! Let them have corn and oil, and you shall never hear them complain of the lack of God."