I am thankful for the option of online worship in times like these, but we need to be clear, it is not church. During this time, when we are sheltering at home to slow the spread of coronavirus, having the option of watching our local churches conduct some kind of worship program is a good … Continue reading Online Worship is Good, But it is Not Church
Desiring to be a moral person is not the same as hungering for righteousness; This beatitude is much more than that. The first three beatitudes focus on our lack. In poverty of spirit, we realize we have nothing that can contribute to our good standing before God. In our mourning, we lament that fact. We no longer rejoice in our sinful autonomy; instead we weep because we know what it deserves. In meekness, we stop struggling against God and begin to submit to Him because we have no way of salvation in ourselves. In our hunger for righteousness,
Sometimes, when I consider what a world you are growing up into, and what snares and dangers young people are exposed to, with little experience to help them—I have some painful feelings for you! Who can tell what storms you may meet with hereafter, and to what hazards you may be exposed!
Our Lord had no need to undertake the bearing of the cross except to attest and prove his obedience to the Father. But as for us, there are many reasons why we must pass our lives under a continual cross… We readily esteem our virtue above its due measure. And we do not doubt, whatever … Continue reading Why the Lord Gives us Crosses to Bear
Repentance begins in the humiliation of the heart, and ends in the reformation of the heart and of the life. Sincere repentance is never too late, but late repentance is seldom sincere. The thief on the cross repented, and was pardoned in the last hour of his life. We have one such instance in scripture--that none might despair; and only one--that none might presume.
The sin before us is a very old one. Ambition, self-esteem, and self-conceit--lie deep at the bottom of all men's hearts, and often in the hearts where they are least suspected! Thousands imagine that they are humble, who cannot bear to see an equal more honored and favored than themselves. Few indeed can be found who rejoice heartily in another's promotion over themselves.
We first looked at J.I. Packers description of the Restless Experientialists. Now we move on to the entrenched intellectualist. May we avoid both extremes. “Think now of the entrenched intellectualists in the evangelical world: a second familiar breed, though not as common as the previous type. Some of them seem to be victims of an … Continue reading The Entrenched Intellectualist
Those whom I call restless experientialists are a familiar breed, so much so that observers are sometimes tempted to define evangelicalism in terms of them. Their outlook is one of casual haphazardness and fretful impatience, of grasping after novelties, entertainments, and ‘highs’, and of valuing strong feelings above deep thoughts.
If we find that we have been leaving thanksgiving out of our lives, if we have been allowing ourselves to grumble instead of praise, if we have indulged in unhappiness instead of in gladness—we should instantly set about the breaking of a new path, a thanksgiving path. It will not be easy at first, for gloomy dispositions when long indulged persist in staying in our lives. But they can be conquered, and we should not pause in our effort until we have trained ourselves entirely away from everything that is cheerless and ungrateful, into the ways of joy and song.
"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" - Henry Ward Beecher "Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us … Continue reading Thanksgiving Quotes to Fuel Your Faith
The Fight of Faith 