“Pause and wonder. You had ‘goings forth’ in the person of Jesus ‘from everlasting.’ Before you were born, Christ loved you., for His delights were with human beings even before there were any children. He though often of them, and from ‘everlasting to everlasting’ He had set His affection on them.

My soul, has He been drawing you  to Him for such a long time that He will not accomplish it? Has He from everlasting been going to save me and will He lose me now?  Has He carried me like a precious jewel for so long only to let me slip through His fingers now? Did He choose me before the mountains were created, before the oceans were dug, only to reject me today?

Impossible! He would not have loved me this long had he not been a changeless Lover. If He could have grown weary of me it would have happened long before now. If His love were not as deep as hell and as strong as death, He would have abandoned me long ago.

Joy above all joys, I know that I am His everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to Him by His Father before creation. Everlasting love will be my pillow tonight” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening).

Every year, I pick out a new devotional to accompany my morning Bible reading. In years past, I’ve read the likes of Henri Nouwen, Frederick Buechner, and Oswald Chambers.

This year, I chose Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening. As the title indicates, there’s two devotionals for each day. As I’m continuing to find out, you can’t go wrong with the classics. While I hold nothing against new books and new writers, there’s something about an old book that has stood the test of time and ministered to people for generations.

If you’re looking for a classic, I recommend My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers or Streams in the Desert by Lettie Cowman, as well as Mornings and Evenings. A good rule of thumb for me is that anything that’s over 100 years old and still in print is bound to be valuable and worthwhile.