The Whole of the Christian Life

Christians are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And that's it, that's the whole of the Christian life. The whole of the Christian life is coming to understand how I got to be baptized into that name, to a fellowship with God the Trinity; and who I am now that I have communion with God the Trinity, and how I am going to live as someone who has the name of the blessed God written over my life because I have been brought into his family (S. Ferguson).

A Counter-Cultural Thought on Marriage

Married couples don't fall out of love, they fall out of repentance (Burk Parsons).

Let's Redeem the Time

Time is undoubtedly short. But it is the only season in which Christians can do any active work of mercy. In the world to come there will be no ignorant to instruct, no mourners to comfort, no spiritual darkness to enlighten, no distress to relieve, no sorrow to make less. Whatever work we do of this kind must be done on this side of the grave. Let us awake to a sense of our individual responsibility. Souls are perishing, and time is flying! Let us resolve, by God's grace, to do something for God's glory before we die. Once more let us remember our Lord's example, and, like Him, be diligent and "redeem the time” (J.C. Ryle).

Believer, You Are Gifted!

Everyone has some gifts, therefore all should be encouraged. Nobody has all the gifts, therefore all should be humble. All gifts are from the Lord, therefore all should be contented (A.T. Pierson).

The Things that Make You Angry Reveals Your Idols

Anger is the result of love. It is energy for defense of something you love when it is threatened. If you don’t love something at all, you are not angry when it is threatened. If you love something a little, you get a little angry when it is threatened. If something you love is an ‘ultimate concern,’ if it is something that gives you meaning in life, then when it is threatened you will get uncontrollably angry. When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, is is essentially an ‘idol,’ something you are actually worshiping. When such a thing is threatened, your anger is absolute. Your anger is actually the way the idol keeps you in its service, in its chains. Therefore if you find that, despite all the efforts to forgive, your anger and bitterness cannot subside, you may need to look deeper and ask, ‘What am I defending? What is so important that I cannot live without?’ It may be that, until some inordinate desire is identified and confronted, you will not be able to master your anger.--Tim Keller

Human Approval

The fear of man and the inordinate desire for human approval is a besetting sin for many of us. I found these thoughts from Ray Ortlund to be very helpful on the issue:

1. Human approval is divided. Some like you, others dislike you. A split vote. Who can you believe?

2. Human approval is shallow. None of them know your deepest heart. What if they did?

3. Human approval is distorted. Your friends overlook many failings. Your enemies can’t see anything right with you. How do you sort it all out?

4. Human approval is unsatisfying. The need of your heart for belovedness goes far beyond anything another sinner can say or do.

5. Human approval is a blessing. The loving favor of true friends is a gift from God. Receive it cheerfully, with thanks to him. And be sure to give it out to others in generous measure every day. They need it too.

Christ, Our Very Life!

We took him for all that we knew of him and we found that he was much more than we then thought he was; but we did not pick & choose and say, We will have his pardon but we will not have his sanctification. We took the many-sided Christ, the Christ of many glorious characters . . .we took a whole Christ and then we gave him our whole selves. . . . We made no bargains with him; we gave the freehold of our souls to Jesus and of our bodies too and we only asked that we might not have a pulse beating except for him, or our lungs heaving except as he was our very life [Charles H. Spurgeon, MTP, vol. 55, 587].

Prayer: Not Just for Emergencies

The impression that one often gets at prayer meetings is that petition is the pivot upon which prayer turns and that the main function of prayer is to handle life's emergencies....If prayer is fostered only by emergencies and is only and always just petition, then...some very important aspects of prayer are being ignored. Prayer is more than the church's ambulance, called out to deal with various crises after the damage has already been done....To pray in an emergency is altogether right. But to pray only in an emergency cannot be right because this limits prayer to the area of our own self-awareness in the events of life. It makes prayer a convenience, something to which we are driven by our human perspective on the crisis, not something in which we are drawn and energized by the Holy Spirit (R. Arthur Mathews, Born For Battle, 65).

Prayer: A Battle Against Whatever Is Not God's Will

Prayer is a weapon, a mighty weapon in a terrible conflict. Our prayers are to be a continual, conscious, earnest effort of battle, the battle against whatever is not God's will (P.T. Forsyth).

Spurgeon on Prayer

This week I'm preaching on prayer from Ephesians 6:18 and came across this remarkable thought from the great 19th century Baptist preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening):
What a multitude of prayers we have put up from the very first moment we learned to pray. Our very first prayer was a prayer for ourselves. We asked God that He would have mercy on us and blot out our sin. He heard us. But when He had blotted out our sins, we had some more prayers for ourselves. We had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and restraining grace. We’ve been led to pray for a fresh assurance of faith, for a comfortable application of God’s promises, for deliverances in the hour of temptation, for help in the time of duty, for aid in the day of trial. We’ve been compelled to go to God for our souls as beggars asking for everything. Bear witness, children of God: You have never been able to get anything for your souls from anywhere else. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven. All the water which it has drunk has flowed from the Living Rock, Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in itself. It has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of God, and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your needs are innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely great. Your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have been countless. Therefore, don’t you have cause to say, “I love the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication”? For your prayers have been many, but so have been God’s answers to them. He has heard in your day of trouble; he has strengthened you; He has helped you even when you dishonored Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy seat. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor, weak prayers. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of His benefits.