December 30 "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof" (Ecclesiates 7: 8). Look at our Lord and Master. In His beginning, He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Do you see the end? He sits at His Father's right hand knowing His enemies will be made His footstool. "As he is, so are we also in this world" (1 John 4: 17). You must bear the cross, or you will never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you will never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." How contemptible is the appearance of a caterpillar. It is the beginning of a thing. Yet, later notice that insect with gorgeous wings and full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar is like yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death. But when Christ appears you will be like Him, for you will see Him as He is. That rough-looking diamond is put on the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much--much that seemed costly to itself. That very diamond which was severely cut by the lapidary, now glitters in the king's crown. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God's people; and this is the time of the cutting process. Let faith and patience have their pefect work, for in the day when the crown will be set on the head of the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray of glory will stream from you. "They shall be mine," saith the Lord, "in the day when I make up my jewels" (Malachi 3: 17).