day no. 15,763: too much

My friend, Linda Cox, sent me this quote from her morning devotionals this morning (6/12/20)

"If you’re following the Lord at a distance, you will have too much of the Lord to be happy in the world, and too much of the world to be happy in the Lord." -- Greg Laurie

This reminds me of the man in the iron cage at the Interpreter's House in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. 

Once you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, you can never fully enjoy what used to pass for fine wine; but neither can you fully enjoy the flavor of the Father with your mouth full of gravel. When you deliberately keep Christ at a distance, you cannot enjoy the adventure of the path or the company of the One who makes it worthwhile.

Hebrews 6:4-6
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 

"The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity--he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot... Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls... No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with our God!" -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening