"All the days of my appointed time will I wait."-Job 14:14

A little stay on earth will make heaven more heavenly. Nothing makes
rest so sweet as toil; nothing renders security so pleasant as exposure
to alarms. The bitter quassia cups of earth will give a relish to the
new wine which sparkles in the golden bowls of glory. Our battered armour
and scarred countenances will render more illustrious our victory
above, when we are welcomed to the seats of those who have overcome the
world. We should not have full fellowship with Christ if we did not for
awhile sojourn below, for He was baptized with a baptism of suffering
among men, and we must be baptized with the same if we would share his
kingdom. Fellowship with Christ is so honourable that the sorest sorrow is
a light price by which to procure it. Another reason for our lingering
here is for the good of others. We would not wish to enter heaven till
our work is done, and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister
light to souls benighted in the wilderness of sin. Our prolonged st!
ay here is doubtless for God's glory. A tried saint, like a well-cut
diamond, glitters much in the King's crown. Nothing reflects so much
honour on a workman as a protracted and severe trial of his work, and its
triumphant endurance of the ordeal without giving way in any part. We
are God's workmanship, in whom He will be glorified by our afflictions.
It is for the honour of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith
with sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of
Jesus, and feel, "If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so
much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on
earth for ever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven
to be shut out of heaven." Our time is fixed and settled by eternal
decree. Let us not be anxious about it, but wait with patience till the
gates of pearl shall open.