2 Samuel 15:6

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel." 2 Samuel 15:6 .

The rogue has often greater opportunities than the honest man. The way of falsehood is often smoother than the way of truth. Honesty must pause, and take into consideration interests, possibilities, and responsibilities, which dishonesty at once ignores. Absalom had set his heart upon a certain policy, and everything went down before his prosecution of it: he would do justice where others had been unjust; he would be beneficent where others had been selfish; he would see that every man had his rights. He humbled himself so far, "that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him." Falsehood, therefore, can be popular. We must not infer that a cause is good simply because it is popular. Take the case of Absalom as an illustration. How possible it is to be saying kind things with the lips, and yet feeling cruelty in the heart! How awful is this possibility of self-contradiction, so that the man shall be two men, the heart shall be two hearts, the policy shall be two policies, and every word shall have two meanings. In the case of Absalom we find the very refinement of selfishness. Nothing is too mean for him to do; no appearance is too humiliating for him to assume; he studies what the people like, and he grants them all their preferences with rough-and-ready generosity. We should distinguish carefully between initial processes and resulting policies. Men can be very smooth before gaining their way, but having once secured it they show their real selves. Knaves, however condescending, gracious, and conciliatory, should be treated in their native character, and driven away from the door of every honest household. When good things are done by bad men they become bad. The kiss of hollow friendship is a falsehood. The promise that means self-promotion never can be fulfilled in the sense in which it is received by the dupe. The cure for all this is a new heart. In the absence of the new birth all other processes are superficial and futile. They may look well, they may even be tempting and fascinating, but in the soul of them they are a lie and a treachery. Let us take care who governs our hearts. The heart should never be given away under its own value. He only can give the heart full return for its confidence who redeemed that heart, and opened up to mankind all the prospects and allurements of a blessed immortality. The Lord is king of the heart; Christ alone should occupy the throne of the affections; when our heart is in Christ's keeping and is continually under Christ's discipline, there is no fear of its straying away to false altars, or seeking fruit in forbidden paths. Son, give me thine heart!