Friday, December 25, 2009

The Incarnation

"The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God." C.S. Lewis

Monday, November 23, 2009

Lufe God

The motto carved on John Knox's Edinburgh home says it all, "Lufe God abufe al and yi nychtbur as yi self."

Near to Hand

"Our duty in serving Christ lies always near to our hand. It is never some impossible thing that He wants us to do." --J.R. Miller

Monday, October 26, 2009

Gospel Praying

The prayer of Martin Luther just before the Diet of Worms in 1521: "O God, send help."

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Thoughtfulness

Some people seem to have a genius for making others miserable! They are continually touching sensitive hearts, so as to cause pain. They are always saying things which sting and irritate. If you have any bodily defect, they never see you without in some crude way, making you conscious of it. If any relative or friend of yours has done some dishonorable thing, they seem to take a cruel delight in constantly referring to it when speaking with you. They lack all delicacy of feeling, having no eye for the sensitive things in others, which demand gentleness of treatment.

Thoughtfulness is the reverse of all this. It simply does not do the things which thoughtlessness does. It avoids the painful subject. It never alludes to a man's clubfoot or humpback, nor ever casts an eye at the defect, nor does anything to direct attention to it or to make the man conscious of it. It respects your sorrow--and refrains from harshly touching your wound. It has the utmost kindliness of feeling and expression. A truly thoughtful person, is one who never needlessly gives pain to another.

Thoughtfulness does not merely keep one from doing thoughtless things; it also leads to continued acts of kindness and good will. It ever watches for opportunities to give pleasure and happiness. It does not wait to be asked for sympathy or help--but has eyes of its own, and sees every need, and supplies it unsolicited. When a friend is in sorrow, the thoughtful man is ready with his offer of comfort. He does not come the next day, when the need is past--but is prompt with his kindness, when kindness means something.

Thoughtfulness is always doing little kindnesses. It has an instinct for seeing the little things that need to be done, and then for doing them!

There are some rare Christians who seem born for thoughtfulness. They have a genius for sympathy. Instinctively they seem to understand the experiences of pain in others, and from their heart, there flows a blessing of tenderness which is full of healing. This is the highest and holiest ministry of love. It is not softness nor weakness; it is strength--but strength enriched by divine gentleness.

Thoughtfulness is one of the truest and best tests of a noble Christian character. It is love working in all delicate ways. It is unselfishness which forgets self, and thinks only of others. It is love which demands not to be served, to be honored, to be helped--but thinks continually of serving and honoring others. He who has a truly gentle heart, cannot but be thoughtful. Love is always thoughtful.
J.R. Miller

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Soon and Very Soon

"Soon and very soon, the saints of the earth--shall be saints in heaven! Their hairs of 'snowy old age'--shall be crowned with perpetual joy and everlasting youth! Their eyes bathed with tears--shall be made as bright as stars, never to be clouded again by sorrow! Their hearts that now tremble--are to be made joyous and strong, and set forever like pillars in the temple of God. Their follies, their burdens, their griefs, their woes--are soon to be over! Sin is to be forever slain, corruption is to be forever removed--and a heaven of spotless purity and of unmingled peace is to be theirs forever!" --Charles Spurgeon

"For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in heaven for you--pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay!" 1 Peter 1:4

Monday, October 5, 2009

Cast Your Troubles

"Cast your burden on the Lord--and He will sustain you." Psalm 55:21

"Cast all your cares upon Him--because He cares about you!" 1 Peter 5:7

Cast your troubles where you have cast your sins; you have cast your sins onto Jesus--cast your troubles there also! As soon as the trouble comes, quick, the first thing, tell it to your Father in heaven! Remember, that the longer you take telling your trouble to God--the more your peace will be impaired. The longer the frost lasts--the more likely the ponds will be frozen.

Oh! It is a happy way of smoothing sorrow, when we can cast our burden upon the Lord. Oh, you agitated Christians, do not dishonor your religion by always wearing a 'frown of concern'. Come, cast your burden upon the Lord. I see you staggering beneath a weight, which He would not feel. What seems to you a crushing burden--would be nothing but a bit of dust to Him. See! The Almighty bends His shoulders, and He says, "Here--put your troubles here!"
--Charles Spurgeon

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Guard the Heart

"See that your chief study is about your heart:
- that there, God's image is planted;
- that there, His interests are advanced;
- that there, the world and flesh are subdued;
- that there, the love of every sin is cast out;
- that there, the love of holiness grows." Jonathan Edwards


"I, the Lord, search the heart and examine
the mind!" Jeremiah 17:10

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it
is the wellspring of life!" Proverbs 4:23

Sunday, August 23, 2009

God's Presence

"Then Moses said to Him, 'If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here!'" Exodus 33:15

God's presence is infinitely better than the presence of all outward comforts. God is with His people to counsel them in all doubtful and difficult cases, and to defend and secure them against all their enemies and opposers.

A sound sincere Christian can never have enough:
- power against sin, nor
- strength against temptation, nor
- weanedness from this world, nor
- ripeness for heaven, nor
- of the presence of the Lord;

The special presence of God with His people, is a most sovereign antidote:
- troubles will be no troubles,
- distresses will be no distresses,
- dangers will be no dangers.

Mountains--will be molehills; stabs at the heart--will be as scratches upon the hand; if God's presence is with you.
--Thomas Brooks

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

As If You Were the Only One

"He who calls the stars by their names is in no danger of forgetting His own children. He knows your situation as if you were the only creature He ever made and the only saint He ever loved." --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Grace Sufficient

The heart is deceitful,
the world is ensnaring,
the enemy is subtle and powerful.
But we know Him who has said, "My grace is sufficient for you!" He is able to keep us from falling, in every circumstance and situation to which His providence calls us.

The Lord preserves His people--by putting His fear in their hearts, by making them sensible of their dangers, and drawing them to come boldly to His throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need.
--John Newton

Thursday, July 16, 2009

TJ on Intelligent Design

"I hold, without appeal to revelation, that when we take a view of the Universe, in its parts general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of its composition. It is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe that there is, in all this, design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and motion." --Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Contentment and Disappointment

"Godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

"There is many a thing which the world calls 'disappointment', but there is no such a word in the 'dictionary of faith'. What to others are disappointments, are divine appointments to believers. If two angels were sent down from heaven--one to conduct an empire, and the other to sweep a street--they would feel no inclination to change employments." --John Newton

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in need." Philippians 4:11-12

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Closet Hours

"There ought to be no adjustment of life or spirit for the closet hours. Without intermission, incessantly, assiduously; that ought to describe the opulence, and energy, and unabated ceaseless strength and fullness of effort in prayer; like the full and exhaustless and spontaneous flow of an artesian stream." --E.M. Bounds

"Prayer should be the breath of our breathing, the thought of our thinking, the soul of our feeling, the life of our living, the sound of our hearing, and the growth of our growing. Prayer is length without end, width without bounds, height without top, and depth without bottom; illimitable in its breadth, exhaustless in height, fathomless in depths, and infinite in extension. Oh, for determined men and women who will rise early and really burn for God. Oh for a faith that will sweep into heaven with the early dawning of morning and have ships from a shoreless sea loaded in the soul's harbor ere the ordinary laborer has knocked the dew from the scythe or the lackluster has turned from his pallet of straw to spread nature's treasures of fruit before the early buyers. Oh, for such." --Homer W. Hodge

Monday, June 1, 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

Chosen for the Fight

"The Lord has chosen, called, and armed us for the fight! Shall we wish to be excused from the battle? Shall we not rather rejoice that we have the honor to appear in such a cause, under such a Captain, with such a banner, and in such a company?" --John Newton

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Giving Thanks

"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank." --Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Friday, May 22, 2009

More and Simpler

“The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more child-like will be our faith.” --J. Gresham Machen

Monday, May 4, 2009

An Embassy from Heaven

"An embassy from Heaven is waiting to be heard; it is charged with the tidings of an atonement for sin wherewith God is satisfied, and whereby our own deepest satisfaction is won; for we lie under and peremptory invitation to look unto Christ." --Thomas Chalmers

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Not a Chance

"God is very good to those who trust in Him, and often surprises them with unlooked for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us in the future; but this sweet fact should cheer us--that nothing which is really good for us--shall be withheld from us! The word chance is banished from the Christian's vocabulary--for we see the hand of God in everything. The seemingly trivial events of today or tomorrow, may involve consequences of the highest importance." --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Ligon Duncan’s Counsel

Ligon Duncan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS, former moderator of the PCA, and a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary was recently interviewed by the only journal, Cal.vini.st. Not surprisingly, many of Dr. Duncan's observations are very insightful. But, I am particularly struck by his counsel to pastors and church leaders:

First, be patient.

Second, preach the Word from the pulpit with fervency, clarity and power, and let the prime means of grace do its work.

Third, emphasize the importance of a weekly prayer meeting.

Fourth, invite a core group of potential leaders in the congregation to study the Bible and pray with you, weekly and personally. Meet as a small group and do a Bible survey, and lead them in prayer. Model for them how to do it. Make them take part and be active participants. Watch the contagion spread among them for the study of God’s Word and prayer in the church, homes and their personal lives. Let them become recruiters and encouragers of others to study the Word and pray for themselves.

Fifth, in the course of your teaching/preaching the Bible in the local church, spend time explicitly and specifically on explaining why it is important for Christians to study the Word and to pray, and how one ought to do it.

Sixth, get your people to read good books about Bible study and prayer.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Wiser Today

“Never be ashamed to own you have been in the wrong; ‘tis but saying you are wiser today than yesterday.” Jonathan Swift

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Empire

"As the disciples of Christ, we cannot in conscience surrender the universality of His empire." --Thomas Chalmers

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Body and Soul

“If the people in a church do not believe the first question and answer to the Heidelberg Catechism, then everything else they may say or do doesn’t matter.” --Karl Ludwig of the Hungarian Reformed Church

Q: What is thy only comfort in life and death?

A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Living in Peace

"Give me, Almighty Father, to make peace my assiduous study so that as much as in me lieth, I may live peacably with all men." --Thomas Chalmers

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

No Exceptions

"Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule." --Stephen King

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Infinitely More Precise

"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite." --C.S. Lewis

Monday, March 9, 2009

Mortifying Corruption

When you are to resist a temptation, or to mortify a corruption--do not go out in your own strength, but in the strength of Christ. Some go out to duty in the strength of their abilities; and go out against sin in the strength of their resolutions--and they both come home foiled. Alas! What are our resolutions, but like the green cords which bound Samson! A sinful heart will soon break these! Do as David when he was to go up against Goliath. He said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord!" So say to your Goliath lust, "I come to you in the name of Christ!" Then we conquer, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah marches before us! --Thomas Watson

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Regenerating Grace

Grace is favor shown to the undeserving and ill-deserving. When Divine grace bestows salvation upon the ill-deserving, it makes them conscious of the infinite favor that has been shown them. Fallen man is naturally proud, self-complacent, and self-righteous.

But wherever the miracle of regenerating grace is wrought--all this is reversed. Its subject is stripped of his peacock feathers, made poor in spirit, and humbled into the dust before God. He is made painfully aware of the loathsome plague of his heart, given a sight of his vileness in the light of God's holiness, and brought to realize that he is a spiritual pauper, dependent upon Divine charity. He now readily acknowledges that he is a Hell-deserving sinner.

"I am not worthy of the least of all Your mercies and unfailing love, which You have shown to me, Your servant" (Genesis 32:10). This is the confession made by all who are the recipients of the saving grace of God. Whenever a miracle of saving grace is wrought in the heart--pride is subdued, self is effaced, and a sense of ill-desert takes possession of the heart.

One of the elements of great faith--is deep humility. "For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not worthy to be called an Apostle" (1 Cor. 15:9). "I am less than the least of all saints" (Eph. 3:8). What complete self-abasement! The most eminent Christians--are always the most lowly ones; those most honored in Christ's service--are deeply conscious of their unprofitableness.
--Arthur Pink

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Unanswerable Questions

"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable." --C.S. Lewis

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Baptism

"Do I believe in infant baptism? Heck, sir, I've seen it with my own eyes!" --Mark Twain

Monday, February 16, 2009

True and Permanent Rest

“On the system of ‘Do this and live,’ no peace, and even no true obedience, can ever be attained. It is ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ When this belief enters the heart, joy and confidence enter along with it. The righteousness we try to work out for ourselves eludes our impotent grasp, and never can a soul arrive at a true and permanent rest in the pursuit of this object.” -- Thomas Chalmers

Friday, February 13, 2009

Humility and Modesty

"Perfect humility dispenses with modesty." --C.S. Lewis

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Virtues Gone Mad

"The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering along. Thus, some scientists care for truth, but their truth is pitiless. And thus some humanitarians care for pity, but their pity--I am sorry to say--is often untruthful." --G.K. Chesterton

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Knowledge and Virtue

"No people will tamely surrender their liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the contrary, when people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders." Samuel Adams, November 4, 1775

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Happiness and Peace

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." --C.S. Lewis

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Fresh Error

"Every uncorrected error and unrepented sin is, in its own right, a fountain of fresh error and fresh sin flowing on to the end of time."
--C.S. Lewis

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Promises Like Pie Crust

"Those who are quick to promise are generally slow to perform. They promise mountains and perform molehills. He who gives you fair words and nothing more feeds you with an empty spoon. People don't think much of a man's piety when his promises are like pie-crust: made to be broken." --Charles H. Spurgeon

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Faith Alone

Strong Son of God, Immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace.

--Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunday, January 4, 2009

At the Cross

"Abide hard by the Cross, and search the mystery of his wounds."
--C.H. Spurgeon

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Semper Reformanda

“Hier stehe ich; Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen!”
--Martin Luther

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess.”
--Martin Luther

“Our hearts are idol factories.” --John Calvin

“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great Pope:
Self. I more fear what is within me than anything that might come from without.”
--Martin Luther

“The Scriptural church must ever be Reformed and ever-reforming.”
--John Calvin

Friday, January 2, 2009

Our Resolution

"A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father's face, and live in thy Father's love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of his love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. Our resolution this year must be: continue in prayer."
--Charles Spurgeon