BALM AND SPICE

BALM AND SPICE

Oh, how blessed it is to have a balm for every sorrow! The path of conflict in faith here leads to perfection. So the Melchisedec priesthood of Christ is called in Hebrews 7. Look at Genesis 14; Abram is in faithful service, a conflict by night - but it leads to where ^[p. 510] Melchisedec is, and to company with him. Abram’s own spirit is cheered, and he gets also a true judgment respecting his position with the king of Sodom. Company with Christ gives us bread and wine for our wearied spirits, and true judgment as to how to meet the temptations of the world. Neither of these did Lot enjoy, though he was a believer! I must go on to perfection, or I cannot be perfect; a perfect person (see Hebrews 5) is one who is able to discern good and evil. Be in the place of perfection, that is, in the company of our Melchisedec, and you will have the judgment of a matured person.

A christian has two things to learn, and he learns one a great deal sooner than the other; one is that heaven with Christ is the place of bliss; the other that he is not to love the world, neither the things that are in it! This latter we learn, like Jonah, very slowly and at times only as the things of this world fade from before us.

I am learning that companionship with the Lord by the Spirit without any reserve of heart is beyond all other.