Week 1

In The Beginning…  

When we look at the universe and the world we lived in, we may ask: Who? How? and Why?  The question of Who? is the most foundational. For Christians, the answer lies in Scripture: “In  the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). For unbelievers, the answer  varies depending on their beliefs. Many of our forebears have invested their lives in defending  our faith and beliefs. In his classic work on apologetics, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis argued  for the existence of God. Here is an excerpt from his book:

The Christian idea is quite different. They think God invented and made the universe—like  man making a picture or composing a tune. A painter is not a picture, and he does not die if  his picture is destroyed. You may say, ‘He’s put a lot of himself into it,’ but you only mean that  all its beauty and interest has come out of his head. His skill is not in the picture in the same  way that it is in his head, or even in his hands. I expect you see how this difference between Pantheists and Christians hangs together with the other one. If you do not take the distinction  between good and bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in this world is a part of God. But, of course, if you think some things really bad, and God really  good, then you cannot talk like that. You must believe that God is separate from the world  and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will.

Confronted with a cancer or a slum the Pantheist can say, ‘If you could only see it from the  divine point of view, you would realise that this also is God.’ The Christian replies, ‘Don’t talk  damned nonsense.’ For Christianity is a fighting religion. It thinks God made the world—that space and time, heat and cold, and all the colours and tastes, and all the animals and  vegetables, are things that God ‘made up out of His head’ as a man makes up a story. But it  also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that  God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again.

And, of course, that raises a very big question. If a good God made the world why has it gone  wrong? And for many years I simply refused to listen to the Christian answers to this question,  because I kept on feeling ‘whatever you say, and however clever your arguments are, isn’t it  much simpler and easier to say that the world was not made by any intelligent power? Aren’t  all your arguments simply a complicated attempt to avoid the obvious?’ But then that threw  me back into another difficulty

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I  got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea  of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole  show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be  part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet.

Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea  of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too—for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to  please my fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist—in other  words, that the whole of reality was senseless—I found I was forced to assume that one part  of reality—namely my idea of justice—was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be  too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has  no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with  eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.

Week 2

Sin is Crouching at Your Door

Genesis 4 is the beginning of human history in the aftermath of the fall and living in  separation from God. From the murder of Abel by Cain up to the Tower of Babel in chapter 11,  these chapters give us an overview of human rebellion and the consequences of sin. Ever  since then, mankind has been plagued by the power of sin, echoing the words of God to  Cain, “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

One of those who heeded God’s word to rule over sin is John Owen (1616-1683), a prominent  English Puritan theologian, church leader, and a prolific author who is known for his writings on sin and human depravity. In his book, On the Mortification of Sin, Owen explores in great

depth what it means to kill sin under the power of the Holy Spirit and the attitude we need to  master sin in our life. Here is an excerpt from his book:

Life, strength, and comfort in our spiritual life greatly depend on mortification. In our ordinary walk with God, and in his ordinary course of dealing with us, the strength and comfort of our  spiritual life greatly depends on our mortification. Mortification is not only the “causa sine qu non,” the indispensable cause, but it has an effectual influence on it. For, (1.) Mortificat alone keeps sin from depriving us of them.

Every unmortified sin will certainly do two things: — [1.] It will weaken the soul, and deprive it of its vigor. [2.] It will darken the soul, and deprive it of its comfort and peace.

[1.] Unmortified sin weakens the soul, and deprives it of its strength. When David harbored an unmortified lust in his heart, it broke all his bones, and left him no spiritual strength. For this reason, he complained that he was sick, weak, wounded, and faint. “There is, ” he says, “no  health in me. “I am feeble and sore broken, ”verse 8; “I cannot even look up. An unmortified lust will sap the spirit of all its vigor, weakening it for anything we do.

For, 1st. It brings the heart itself into disharmony, and weakens its attitude by misdirecting its  affections. It diverts the heart from the spiritual frame that is required for healthy communion with God. It grabs the affections, making itself the object that is most beloved and desirable It thereby displaces the love of the Father. In this way, the soul cannot truthfully say to God,  “You are all I need, ” because it has something else that it loves. Fear, desire, and hope, which  are choice affections of the soul and should be full of God, become entangled with this unmortified sin.

2nd. It fills our thoughts with plots and schemes about it. Thoughts are the great procurers of the soul. They find the provisions needed to satisfy the soul’s affections. If sin remain unmortified in the heart, then thoughts will always make provision to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. They will enamel, adorn, and dress the objects of the flesh, and then bring them home to give satisfaction to the flesh. They do this in the service of a defiled imagination that is beyond description.

3rd. It breaks out of the mind and actually hinders our physical duty as well. When he should  be worshipping God, the ambitious man is driven to study, the worldly one is driven to scheme, and the sensual person is driven to provide himself with all the adornments of his  vanity. If I were to list the breaches, ruin, weakness, and destruction that one unmortified lust will bring to us, this discourse would expand far beyond its subject.

[2.] As sin weakens the soul, it darkens the soul. It is a thick cloud that spreads itself over the  face of the soul and blocks all the light of God’s love and favor. It takes away all sense of the  privilege of our adoption. If the soul entertains thoughts of consolation, sin quickly scatters  them. This is where the strength and power of our spiritual life depend on our mortification. It is the only way to remove the thing that denies us the strength or comfort we want. Men that  are sick and wounded under the power of lust make many cries for help. They cry to God  when the confusion of their thoughts overwhelms them, but they are not rescued. They try  other remedies in vain. “They will not be healed. “Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his  wound, ”but nothing will cure them until they come to “acknowledge their offense, ”verse 15 Men may see their sickness and wounds, but if they do not come to God to acknowledge  their sin, and mortify it, they will not be cured.

Week 3

The Altar

George Herbert’s The Temple was published in 1633 and is considered one of the most  influential poetic volumes of the period. It consists of three parts, and The Altar is contained in the second part, known as The Church. The Altar is a poem that you “see” even before  reading and understanding it.

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman’s tool hath touch’d the same.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

Did you “see” the poem? The lines of The Altar are shaped like an altar. Kinda cool, huh? This  is an example of a shape poem, a poem in the shape of the subject matter. This devotional  poem describes the metaphorical process of building an altar out of one’s heart and the  desire of the poet to make a sacrifice similar to that of Christ’s.

The skill required to make a shape poem is not just about chopping up lines so that they can  be put into the shape desired. It requires the ability to make the lines correspond to the  shape, and at the same time maintain the rhythm and rhyme of the entire poem. If a shape  poem is done well, the shape can be seen and also be heard when reading it based on the  lengthening and shortening of the lines.

The capitalised words—ALTAR, HEART, SACRIFICE, ALTAR — reinforce the emphasis of poem.  At the centre of this altar is the heart, the poet’s hard heart that is so hard no human tools can  cut it. It is only “thy pow’r” that can cut it. As God’s servant, he is building an altar out of his

heart, and his tears hold the pieces together like cement. When the altar is complete, he will  use his heart to worship and grow closer to God.

Both an altar and a human heart exist to offer praise to God. Both are also made fro materials that are hard to cut and shape, that must be put into a proper frame and sanctified to fulfil their purpose. The poet’s last lines are directed to God, asking to take on God’s sacrifice, to do something just as difficult, and finally completed through the construction an altar out of his own heart.

~ George Herbert (1593-1633) was an English religious poet, a major metaphysical poet, and  one devoted to his rural parish. He wrote poems throughout his life and was notable for the  purity and effectiveness of his choice of words. He sent out a manuscript of poems from hi deathbed, which was eventually published as The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private  Ejaculations in 1633.~ 

Week 4

Look Again and Consecrate

“We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we  are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our  bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.”  

These sobering words give us a glimpse of the person behind the classic devotional My  Utmost for His Highest. Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher. He was born in Scotland and died  in Egypt while serving as chaplain to Allied troops in Egypt during World War I. Chambers has  a teaching and preaching ministry that took him as far as the United States and Japan but he  is best known as the author of the widely-read devotional My Utmost for His Highest, a book  that was compiled by his wife after his death from her verbatim shorthand notes of his talks.  Here is an excerpt from his devotional:  

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field. . . will he not much more clothe you?  Matthew 6:30 

A simple message is always a puzzle to those who aren’t simple. What Jesus is saying here is  “God looks after those who seek his kingdom, so seek and don’t worry about anything else.”  But we’ll never be able to take this message to heart if we don’t possess Jesus’s own  simplicity.  

To be simple is to concentrate on our relationship with him. We slip out of spiritual  communion when we complicate things, worrying and overthinking and insisting we know  better than God. We get lost in the cares of the world, and we forget the promise of “much  more.” Jesus compares us to the “birds of the air” (Matthew 6:26): their only goal is to obey  the principle of life inside them. What principle is inside us? Jesus says that if we are rightly  related to him, obeying the Spirit inside, God will look after our “feathers.”  

To be simple is to grow where we are planted. “See how the flowers of the field grow,” Jesu says (v. 28). Many of us refuse to grow where we’re planted, and the result is that we never  take root, never blossom fully. Jesus says that we shouldn’t go running after the things we  think we need. If we obey the life God has given us, he will look after the rest.  

To be simple is to consecrate each moment to God. Consecration involves setting ourselves  aside for one particular thing—giving it our attention, dedicating our actions to it. We can’t  consecrate ourselves to God once and be done with it. We must consecrate continually, each  moment and every action. If we do, we will find ourselves absolutely free: free to do God’s work, free to live lives of amazing simplicity, free to set aside confusion, angst, and worry. 

Week 5

Great Expectations, Humble Entreaty

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? What kind of resolutions do you make? How do they impact your life? These may seem like odd questions to ask as we step into the month of February, but resolutions do not have to be just for the beginning of a new year. They can be part of our devotion to God in our aspiration to live a life worthy of our calling.

In the winter of 1722, a 19-year-old young man started writing his resolutions and finally completed them almost one year later in August 1973. In total, he wrote 70 Resolutions, which became part of his prayer and devotional life, as he would return to them on a weekly basis. This young man is none other than Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a Puritan pastor and one of the most important and original philosophical theologians of the Great Awakening. Edwards’ resolutions show great expectations of himself undergirded by humble entreaty to the Lord.

As you read an excerpt of his resolutions (random), may you be inspired to consider living intentionally and purposefully for the glory of God:

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will for Christ’s sake. Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or ever so many myriad’s of ages hence.

2. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

5. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

7. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

10. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

11. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

12. Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances don’t hinder.

13. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.

18. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

23. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power; might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

29. Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession, which I cannot hope God will accept.

52. I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age.

53. Resolved, to improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him; that from this I may have assurance of my safety, knowing that I confide in my Redeemer.

55. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do, if I had already seen the happiness of heaven, and hell torments.

62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man; “knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.”

65. Resolved, very much to exercise myself in this all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness I am capable of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and every thing, and every circumstance.

70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak. Aug. 17, 1723.

Week 6

Idea, Energy, Power

“The characteristic common to God and man is the desire and ability to make things.” This quote by Dorothy Sayers sets the premise for her book, The Mind of the Maker, where she draws a vivid analogy between the Christian Trinity and human’s creative imagination. Sayers compares the Godhead to author, book, and literary power. Broadly speaking, the work of God the Father is the Idea that the author has; the work of God the Son is the Energy that commmunicates the Idea (the book itself), and God the Spirit is the Power (literary power) who has effect on the writer and reader alike. Here’s an excerpt from Sayers’ book:

Lastly: “these three are one, each equally in itself the whole work, whereof none can exist without other.” If you were to ask a writer which is “the real book” — his Idea of it, his Activity in writing it or its return to himself in Power, he would be at a loss to tell you, because these things are essentially inseparable. Each of them is the complete book separately; yet in the complete book all of them exist together. He can, by an act of the intellect, “distinguish the persons” but he cannot by any means “divide the substance”. How could he? He cannot know the Idea, except by the Power interpreting his own Activity to him; he knows the Activity only as it reveals the Idea in Power; he knows the Power only as the revelation of the Idea in the Activity. All he can say is that these three are equally and eternally present in his own act of creation, and at every moment of it, whether or not the act ever becomes manifest in the form of a written and printed book. These things are not confined to the material manifestation: they exist in — they are — the creative mind itself.

I ought perhaps to emphasise this point a little. The whole complex relation that I have been trying to describe may remain entirely within the sphere of the imagination, and is there complete. The Trinity abides and works and is responsive to itself “in Heaven”. A writer may be heard to say: “My book is finished — I have only to write it”; or even, “My book is written — I have only to put it on paper”. The creative act, that is, does not depend for its fulfilment upon its manifestation in a material creation.

The glib assertion that “God needs His creation as much as His creation needs Him” is not a true analogy from the mind of the human creator. Nevertheless, it is true that the urgent desire of the creative mind is towards expression in material form. The writer, in writing his book on paper, is expressing the freedom of his own nature in accordance with the law of his being; and we argue from this that material creation expresses the nature of the Divine Imagination. We may perhaps say that creation in some form or another is necessary to the nature of God; what we cannot say is that this or any particular form of creation is necessary to Him. It is in His mind, complete, whether He writes it down or not. To say that God depends on His creation as a poet depends on his written poem is an abuse of metaphor: the poet does nothing of the sort. To write the poem (or, of course, to give it material form in speech or song), is an act of love towards the poet’s own imaginative act and towards his fellow-beings. It is a social act; but the poet is, first and foremost, his own society, and would be none the less a poet if the means of material expression were refused by him or denied him.

Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893 – 1957) was a renowned English crime mystery writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, Christian humanist and theologian. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. The Dorothy L Sayers Society was founded in 1976 “to promote the study of the life, works and thoughts of this great scholar and writer, to encourage the performance of her plays and the publication of books by and about her, to preserve original material for posterity and to provide assistance for researchers.”

Week 7

Is it a Small Matter?

“The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God.” How true is this quote by John Flavel, as our hearts tend to stray and drift from God. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” In Keeping the Heart, Flavel maintains that one of the most important responsibilities as Christians is to watch our hearts and guard them against sin and lifelessness in spiritual duties. This watchfulness throughout the vicissitudes of life results in a greater ability to keep our hearts in tune with God. Here’s an excerpt from his short yet timeless and profound book:

Lastly—Keep your heart, and then the COMFORTS of the Spirit and the influence of all ordinances will be more fixed and lasting than they now are. Do the consolations of God seem small to you? Ah, you have reason to be ashamed that the ordinances of God, as to their quickening and comforting effects, should make so light and transient an impression on your heart! Now, reader, consider well these special benefits of keeping the heart which I have mentioned. Examine their importance. Are they small matters? Is it a small matter to have your understanding assisted? Is it a small matter to have your endangered soul rendered safe? Is it a small matter to have your sincerity proved? Is it a small matter to have your communion with God sweetened? Is it a small matter to have your heart filled with matter for prayer? Is it a small thing to have the power of godliness? Is it a small matter to have fatal scandals removed? Is it a small matter to obtain a great fitness to serve Christ? Is it a small matter to have the communion of saints restored to its primitive glory? Is it a small matter to have the influence of ordinances abiding in the souls of saints? If these are no common blessings, no ordinary benefits, then surely it is a great and indispensable duty to keep the heart with all diligence.

And now are you inclined to undertake the business of keeping your heart? Are you resolved upon it? I charge you, then, to engage in it earnestly! Away with every cowardly feeling, and make up your mind to encounter difficulties. Draw your armor from the word of God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in its commands, its promises, its threatenings Let the word of Christ be fixed in your understanding, your memory, your conscience, your affections. You must learn to wield the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God) familiarly, if you would defend your heart and conquer your enemies. You must call yourself frequently to an account. Examine yourself as in the presence of the all seeing God. Bring your conscience, as it were, to the bar of judgment.

Beware how you plunge yourself into a multiplicity of worldly business—how you practice upon the maxims of the world—and how you venture to indulge your depraved propensities. You must exercise the utmost vigilance to discover and check the first symptoms of departure from God, the least decline of spirituality, or the least indisposition to private meditation, and holy conversation and fellowship with others. These things you must undertake, in the strength of Christ, with invincible resolution at the outset.

And if you thus engage in this great work, be assured you shall not spend your strength for nothing! Comforts which you never felt or thought of, will flow in upon you from every side. The diligent prosecution of this work will constantly afford you the most powerful excitements to vigilance and ardor in the life of faith, while it increases our strength and wears out your enemies. And when you have kept your heart with all diligence a little while— when you have fought the battles of this spiritual warfare, gained the ascendancy over the corruptions within, and vanquished the enemies without—then God will open the gate of heaven to you, and give you the portion which is promised to those who overcome! Awake then, this moment; get the world under your felt, pant not for the things which a man may have, and eternally lose his soul! Bless God that you may have his service here, and the glory hereafter which he appoints to his chosen.

“Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Brothers, I urge you to receive this word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words.” Hebrews 13:20-22

John Flavel (1627–1691) was an English Puritan Presbyterian minister, a prolific preacher, and author. His writings are doctrinal and pastoral with a twofold emphasis: exposition and application. He was part of the English Puritanism—what J. I. Packer calls “a spiritual movement, passionately concerned with God and godliness.”

Week 8

Solitude and Silence

In the Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis exhorts us with these words, “He who follows  Me, walks not in darkness,” says the Lord. By these words of Christ we are advised to imitate  His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened and free from all blindness of heart. Let  our chief effort; therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ.” His words are timely reminders  for us to take time, in the midst of distractions and attractions, to meditate on the life of  Christ and imitate Him. Perhaps it’s time for some solitude and silence, as Kempis encourages  us here:

SEEK a suitable time for leisure and meditate often on the favors of God. Leave  curiosities alone. Read such matters as bring sorrow to the heart rather than occupation  to the mind. If you withdraw yourself from unnecessary talking and idle running about,  from listening to gossip and rumors, you will find enough time that is suitable for holy  meditation.

Very many great saints avoided the company of men wherever possible and  chose to serve God in retirement. “As often as I have been among men,” said one  writer, “I have returned less a man.” We often find this to be true when we take part in  long conversations. It is easier to be silent altogether than not to speak too much. To  stay at home is easier than to be sufficiently on guard while away. Anyone, then, who  aims to live the inner and spiritual life must go apart, with Jesus, from the crowd.

No man appears in safety before the public eye unless he first relishes obscurity.  No man is safe in speaking unless he loves to be silent. No man rules safely unless he  is willing to be ruled. No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey.  No man rejoices safely unless he has within him the testimony of a good conscience.

More than this, the security of the saints was always enveloped in the fear of  God, nor were they less cautious and humble because they were conspicuous for great  virtues and graces. The security of the wicked, on the contrary, springs from pride and  presumption, and will end in their own deception.

Never promise yourself security in this life, even though you seem to be a good  religious, or a devout hermit. It happens very often that those whom men esteem highly  are more seriously endangered by their own excessive confidence. Hence, for many it is  better not to be too free from temptations, but often to be tried lest they become too  secure, too filled with pride, or even too eager to fall back upon external comforts.

If only a man would never seek passing joys or entangle himself with worldly  affairs, what a good conscience he would have. What great peace and tranquillity would  be his, if he cut himself off from all empty care and thought only of things divine, things  helpful to his soul, and put all his trust in God.

No man deserves the consolation of heaven unless he persistently arouses  himself to holy contrition. If you desire true sorrow of heart, seek the privacy of your cell  and shut out the uproar of the world, as it is written: “In your chamber bewail your sins.”  There you will find what too often you lose abroad.

Your cell will become dear to you if you remain in it, but if you do not, it will  become wearisome. If in the beginning of your religious life, you live within your cell and  keep to it, it will soon become a special friend and a very great comfort.

In silence and quiet the devout soul advances in virtue and learns the hidden  truths of Scripture. There she finds a flood of tears with which to bathe and cleanse  herself nightly, that she may become the more intimate with her Creator the farther she  withdraws from all the tumult of the world. For God and His holy angels will draw near to  him who withdraws from friends and acquaintances.

It is better for a man to be obscure and to attend to his salvation than to neglect it  and work miracles. It is praiseworthy for a religious seldom to go abroad, to flee the  sight of men and have no wish to see them.

Why wish to see what you are not permitted to have? “The world passes away  and the concupiscence thereof.” Sensual craving sometimes entices you to wander  around, but when the moment is past, what do you bring back with you save a disturbed  conscience and heavy heart? A happy going often leads to a sad return, a merry  evening to a mournful dawn. Thus, all carnal joy begins sweetly but in the end brings  remorse and death.

What can you find elsewhere that you cannot find here in your cell? Behold  heaven and earth and all the elements, for of these all things are made. What can you  see anywhere under the sun that will remain long? Perhaps you think you will  completely satisfy yourself, but you cannot do so, for if you should see all existing  things, what would they be but an empty vision?

Raise your eyes to God in heaven and pray because of your sins and shortcomings. Leave vanity to the vain. Set yourself to the things which God has  commanded you to do. Close the door upon yourself and call to you Jesus, your  Beloved. Remain with Him in your cell, for nowhere else will you find such peace. If you  had not left it, and had not listened to idle gossip, you would have remained in greater  peace. But since you love, sometimes, to hear news, it is only right that you should  suffer sorrow of heart from it.

The Imitation of Christ is a spiritual treatise written in the early 15th century by the  Augustinian monk Thomas à Kempis. It offers profound wisdom on the importance of  embodying the teachings of Jesus Christ, renouncing worldly vanities, emphasizing humility,  a life of devotion to God, and achieving spiritual enlightenment.

Week 9

The Art of Divine Contentment

There is much in this world to leave us disillusioned and discontented. Yet Apostle Paul could say in Philippians 4:11, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” How can we gain the same contentment as Paul? In The Art of Divine Contentment, Thomas Watson says, “The way for a man to be contented is not by raising his estate higher, but by bringing his heart lower.”

Watson believes that Christian can be and should be content as he spends the entire book expounding Philippians 4:11. The central idea of his book is that “a gracious spirit is a contented spirit.” May you get a glimpse of divine contentment as you read an excerpt from this book:

Showing the Nature of Contentment.

Having answered these questions, I shall in the next place, come to describe this contentment. It is a sweet temper of spirit, whereby a Christian carries himself in an equal poise in every condition. The nature of this will appear more clear in these three aphorisms.

1.  Contentment is a DIVINE thing.

It becomes ours, not by acquisition—but as a gift from God. It is a slip taken off from the tree of life, and planted by the Spirit of God in the soul. It is a fruit that grows not in the garden of human learning—but is of a heavenly birth. It is therefore very observable that contentment is joined with godliness, “godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Tim. 6:6) Contentment being an outgrowth of godliness, I call it divine, to distinguish it to that contentment, which a moral man may arrive at. Heathens have seemed to have this contentment—but it was only the shadow and picture of it not the true diamond. Theirs was but civil, this is sacred; theirs was only from principles of human reason, this of religion; theirs was only lighted at nature’s torch, this at the lamp of scripture. Reason may a little teach contentment, as thus: whatever my condition be, this is what I am born to; and if I meet with crosses, it is but the universal misery: all have their share, why therefore should I be troubled? Reason may suggest this; and indeed, this may be rather constraint; but to live securely and cheerfully upon God in the abatement of creature supplies, only piety can bring this into the soul’s treasury.

2.  Contentment is an INTERNAL thing.

It lies within a man; not in the bark—but the root. Contentment has both its fountain and stream in the soul. The beams of comfort which a contented man has, do not arise from foreign comfort—but from within. As sorrow is seated in the spirit; “the heart knows its own bitterness;” (Proverbs 14:10) so contentment lies within the soul, and does not depend upon externals. Hence I gather, that outward troubles cannot hinder this blessed contentment. It is a spiritual thing, and arises from spiritual grounds—the apprehension of God’s love. When there is a tempest without, there may be music within. A bee may sting through the skin—but it cannot sting to the heart; outward afflictions cannot sting to a Christian’s heart, where contentment lies. Thieves may plunder us of our money and goods—but not of this pearl of contentment, unless we are willing to part with it, for it is locked up in the cabinet of the heart. The soul which is possessed of this rich treasure of contentment, is like Noah in the ark—it can sing in the midst of a deluge.

3.  Contentment is a HABITUAL thing.

It shines with a fixed light in the soul. Contentment does not appear only now and then, as some stars which are seen but seldom; it is a settled temper of the heart. One action does not denominate a person to be a contented person. One is not said to be a liberal man, who gives alms once in his life; a covetous man may do so. But he is said to be liberal, who is “given to hospitality,” that is, who upon all occasions is willing to relieve the necessities of the poor. Just so, he is said to be a contented man, who is given to contentment. It is not casual but constant. Aristotle distinguishes between colors in the face that arise from passion, and those which arise from complexion. The pale face may look red when it blushes—but this is only a passion. He is said properly to be ruddy who is constantly so—it is his complexion. He is not a contented man, who is so upon some occasions, when things go well with him. A contented man, is so constantly—it is the habit and complexion in his soul.

Thomas Watson (ca. 1620–1686) was one of the leading English Puritan ministers and pastored at St. Stephen’s Walbrook in London. He was a non-conformist preacher and author of over 17 books. He retired to Essex, where he died suddenly while at prayer.

Week 10

Fellowship of Life

Jesus tells us in John 15 to abide in Him and abide in His love, and He and His words abide in us. This is the gist of Andrew Murray’s book, Abide in Christ. In his classic devotional, Murray reminds us with depth and simplicity how life should be if we abide in Christ. It is God who grafts us as branches onto Christ, the vine, who loves us. He nourishes us and helps us become faithful followers who glorify Him and are fruitful for the kingdom of God. Murray said, “Our abiding in Jesus is even more than a fellowship of love–it is a fellowship of life.” May you find this fellowship of life with Christ as you abide in Him with wholehearted surrender. Here is an excerpt from this short yet biblically rich book:

EVERY MOMENT

“In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.”–ISA.27:2,3.

THE vineyard was the symbol of the people of Israel, in whose midst the True Vine was to stand. The branch is the symbol of the individual believer, who stands in the Vine. The song of the vineyard is also the song of the Vine and its every branch. The command still goes forth to the watchers of the vineyard–would that they obeyed it, and sang till every feeble-hearted believer had learned and joined the joyful strain–“Sing ye unto her: I, JEHOVAH, Do KEEP IT; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I WILL KEEP it night and day.” What an answer from the mouth of God Himself to the question so often asked: Is it possible for the believer always to abide in Jesus? Is a life of unbroken fellowship with the Son of God indeed attainable here in this earthly life? Truly not, if the abiding is our work, to be done in our strength. But the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. If the Lord Himself will keep the soul night and day, yea, will watch and water it every moment, then surely the uninterrupted communion with Jesus becomes a blessed possibility to those who can trust God to mean and to do what He says. Then surely the abiding of the branch of the vine day and night, summer and winter, in a never-ceasing life-fellowship, is nothing less than the simple but certain promise of your abiding in your Lord.

In one sense, it is true, there is no believer who does not always abide in Jesus; without this there could not be true life. “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth.” But when the Saviour gives the command, “Abide in me,” with the promise, “He that abideth in me bringeth forth much fruit,” He speaks of that willing, intelligent, and whole-hearted surrender by which we accept His offer, and consent to the abiding in Him as the only life we choose or seek. The objections raised against our right to expect that we shall always be able thus voluntarily and consciously to abide in Jesus are chiefly two.

The one is derived from the nature of man. It is said that our limited powers prevent our being occupied with two things at the same moment. God’s providence places many Christians in business, where for hours at a time the closest attention is required to the work they have to do.

How can such a man, it is asked, with his whole mind in the work he has to do, be at the same time occupied with Christ, and keeping up fellowship with Him? The consciousness of abiding in Jesus is regarded as requiring such a strain, and such a direct occupation of the mind with heavenly thoughts, that to enjoy the blessing would imply a withdrawing of oneself from all the ordinary avocations of life. This is the same error as drove the first monks into the wilderness. Blessed be God, there is no necessity for such a going out of the world. Abiding in Jesus is not a work that needs each moment the mind to be engaged, or the affections to be directly and actively occupied with it. It is an entrusting of oneself to the keeping of the Eternal Love, in the faith that it will abide near us, and with its holy presence watch over us and ward off the evil, even when we have to be most intently occupied with other things. And so the heart has rest and peace and joy in the consciousness of being kept when it cannot keep itself.

Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) was a South African Dutch Reformed Church minister, writer, teacher, tneologian and mission organiser. He considered missions to be “the chief end of the church.” He helped found three key missionary organizations and two colleges and wrote 250 publications. He is best known today for his devotional writings, including Abide in Christ, With Christ in the School of Prayer and Waiting on God. Murray’s two most important books are The Key to the Mission Problem and The State of the Church.

Week 11

The Wings of Prayer

A prayer by Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, who was known to suffer from depression and had a history of poor health:

Our Father, Your children who know You delight themselves in Your presence. We are never happier than when we are near You. We have found a little heaven in prayer.

It has eased our load to tell You of its weight;

It has relieved our wound to tell You of its smart;

It has restored our spirit to confess to You its wanderings.

No place like the mercy seat for us.

We thank You, Lord, that we have not only found benefit in prayer, but in the answers to it we have been greatly enriched. You have opened Your hid treasures to the voice of prayer; You have supplied our necessities as soon as ever we have cried unto You; yea, we have found it true: “Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” We do bless You, Lord, for instituting the blessed ordinance of prayer. What could we do without it, and we take great shame to ourselves that we should use it so little. We pray that we may be men of prayer, taken up with it, that it may take us up and bear us as on its wings towards heaven.

And now at this hour will You hear the voice of our supplication. First, we ask at Your hands, great Father, complete forgiveness for all our trespasses and shortcomings. We hope we can say with truthfulness that we do from our heart forgive all those who have in any way trespassed against us. There lies not in our heart, we hope, a thought of enmity towards any man. However we have been slandered or wronged, we would, with our inmost heart, forgive and forget it all. We come to You and pray that, for Jesus’ sake, and through the virtue of the blood once shed for many for the remission of sins, You would give us perfect pardon of every transgression of the past. Blot out, O God, all our sins like a cloud, and let them never be seen again. Grant us also the peace-speaking word of promise applied by the Holy Spirit, that being justified by faith we may have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us be forgiven and know it, and may there remain no lingering question in our heart about our reconciliation with God, but by a firm, full assurance based upon faith in the finished work of Christ, may we stand as forgiven men and women against whom transgression shall be mentioned never again for ever. And then, Lord, we have another mercy to ask which shall be the burden of our prayer. It is that You would help us to live such lives as pardoned men should live. We have but a little time to tarry here, for our life is but a vapor; soon it vanishes away; but we are most anxious that we may spend the time of our sojourning here in holy fear, that grace may be upon us from the commencement of our Christian life even to the earthly close of it.

Lord, You know there are some that have not yet begun to live for You, and the prayer is now offered that they may today be born again. Others have been long in Your ways, and are not weary of them. We sometimes wonder that You are not weary of us, but assuredly we delight ourselves in the ways of holiness more than ever we did. Oh! that our ways were directed to keep Your statutes without slip or flaw. We wish we were perfectly obedient in thought, and word, and deed, entirely sanctified. We shall never be satisfied till we wake up in Christ’s likeness, the likeness of perfection itself. Oh! work us to this self same thing, we beseech You.

May experience teach us more and more how to avoid occasions of sin. May we grow more watchful; may we have a greater supremacy over our own spirit; may we be able to control ourselves under all circumstances, and so act that if the Master were to come at any moment we should not be ashamed to give our account into His hands.

Lord, we are not what we want to be. This is our sorrow. Oh! that You would, by Your Spirit, help us in the walks of life to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. As men of business, as work-people, as parents, as children, as servants, as masters, whatever we may be, may we be such that Christ may look upon us with pleasure. May His joy be in us, for then only can our joy be full.

Dear Savior, we are Your disciples, and You are teaching us the art of living; but we are very dull and very slow, and beside, there is such a bias in our corrupt nature, and there are such examples in the world, and the influence of an ungodly generation tells even upon those that know You. O, dear Savior, be not impatient with us, but still school us at Your feet, till at last we shall have learned some of the sublime lessons of self-sacrifice, of meekness, humility, fervor, boldness, and love which Your life is fit to teach us.

O Lord, we beseech You mold us into Your own image. Let us live in You and live like You. Let us gaze upon Your glory till we are transformed by the sight, and become Christ-like among the sons of men…

We pray You use every one of us according as we have ability to be used. Take us, and let no talent lie to canker in the treasure house, but may every talent of Yours be put out in trading for You in the blessed market of soul-winning. Oh! give us success. Increase the gifts and graces of those that are saved. Bind us in closer unity to one another than ever. Let peace reign; let holiness adorn us. Hear us as we pray for all countries, and then for all sorts of men, from the Sovereign on the throne to the servant in the cottage. Let the benediction of heaven descend on men, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was an English Baptist preacher who was called to pastor a church when he was only nineteen. This church became the 6,000 seat Metropolitan Tabernacle, which he pastored until his death at age 58. He is also known as the “Prince of Preachers” as he preached 600+ times even before he was 20 years old. He had a shortlived but very productive ministry as he pastored and directed a Pastor’s College, oversaw a Bible and tract society, organized Stockwell Orphanage, published the monthly magazine Sword and Trowel, edited a weekly sermon, and wrote numerous books, including the Treasury of David.

Week 12

The Soul of Prayer

P.T. Forsyth says in The Soul of Prayer, “we shall come one day to a heaven where we shall gratefully know that God’s great refusals were sometimes the true answers to our truest prayers.” In this devotional examination of prayer, Forsyth encourages readers to search their hearts as they commune with God. He surveys the purpose and practices of prayer, delving deeply into human motivations, values, and understanding. At times it can be difficult to read because of its probing nature but it is still worthwhile. Here’s an excerpt from this little treasure:

There are many plain obstacles to the deepening of spiritual life, amid which I desire to name here only one; it is prayer conceived merely, or chiefly, as submission, resignation, quietism. We say too soon, “Thy will be done”; and too ready acceptance of a situation as His will often means feebleness or sloth. It may be His will that we surmount His will. It may be His higher will that we resist His lower. Prayer is an act of will much more than of sentiment, and its triumph is more than acquiescence. Let us submit when we must, but let us keep the submission in reserve rather than in action, as a ground tone rather than the stole effort. Prayer with us has largely ceased to be wrestling. But is that not the dominant scriptural idea? It is not the sole idea, but is it not the dominant? And is not our subdued note often but superinduced and unreal? I venture to enlarge on this last head, by way of meeting some who hesitate to speak of the power of prayer to alter God’s will. I offer two points:

1. Prayer may really change the will of God, or, if not His will, His intention.
2. It may, like other human energies of godly sort, take the form of resisting the will of God. Resisting His will may be doing His will.

As to the first point. If this is not believed the earnestness goes out of prayer. It becomes either a ritual, or a soliloquy only overheard by God; just as thought with the will out of it degenerates into dreaming or brooding, where we are more passive than active. Prayer is not merely the meeting of two moods or two affections, the laying of the head on a divine bosom in trust and surrender. That may have its place in religion, but it is not the nerve and soul of prayer. Nor is it religious reverie. Prayer is an encounter of wills- till one will or the other give way. It is not a spiritual exercise merely, but in its maturity it is a cause acting on the course of God’s world. It is, indeed, by God’s grace that prayer is a real cause, but such it is. And of course there must be in us a faith corresponding to the grace. Of course also there is always, behind all, the readiness to accept God’s will without a murmur when it is perfectly evident and final. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Yes, but there is also the repeated effort to alter its form according to our sanctified needs and desires.

You will notice that in Paul’s case the power to accept the sufficiency of God’s grace only came in the course of an importunate prayer aiming to turn God’s hand. Paul ended, rather than began, with “Thy will be done.” The peace of God is an end and not a beginning. “Thy will be done” was no utterance of mere resignation; thought it has mostly come to mean this in a Christianity which tends to canonize the weak instead of strengthening them. As prayer it was a piece of active cooperation with God’s will. It was a positive part of it. It is one thing to submit to a stronger will, it is another to be one with it. We submit because we cannot resist it; but when we are one with it we cannot succumb. It is not a power, but our power.

But the natural will is not one with God’s; and so we come to use these words in a mere negative way, meaning that we cease to resist. Our will does not accept God’s, it just stops work. We give in and lie down. But is that the sense of the words in the Lord’s Prayer? Do they mean that we have no objection to God’s will being done? or that we do not withstand any more? or even that we accept it gladly? Do they not mean something far more positive–that we actively will God’s will and aid it, that it is the whole content of our own, that we put into it all the will that there can be in prayer, which is at last the great will power of the race? It is our heart’s passion that God’s will be done and His kingdom come. And can His kingdom come otherwise than as it is a passion with us? Can His will be done? God’s will was not Christ’s consent merely, nor His pleasure, but His meat and drink, the source of His energy and the substance of His work.

P.T. (Peter Taylor) Forsyth (1848-1921) was a Scottish preacher and theologian. The son of a postman, he was ordained as a Congregational minister and pastored several churches throughout his life. In 1901 he became Principal of Hackney College, London, where he served until his death.  He was a prolific writer with a passion for the holiness of God and the cross of Christ as the center point of all of God’s dealings with humanity and history.

Week 13

Find Your Image In Scripture

In an article from the collection of The Best of Andrew Murray, Murray exhorts us to emulate Jesus who submitted himself to the Word of God. Jesus is himself the living Word, yet he tells us to be yielded and sustained by the Word, to be formed by Scripture into the image of God. May this article encouraged you to draw closer to God through His word:

Not By Bread Alone: How Jesus Used The Scriptures

What the Lord Jesus accomplished here on earth as a man He owed greatly to His use of the Scriptures. He found in them the way marked in which He had to walk, the food and the strength on which He could work, the weapon by which He could overcome the Enemy. The Scriptures were indeed indispensable to Him through all His life and passion: from beginning to end His life was the fulfillment of what had been written of Him in the volume of the Book (Hebrews 10:7).

In the temptation in the wilderness it was by His “It is written” that He conquered Satan. In His conflicts with the Pharisees He continually appealed to the Word: “What saith the Scripture?” “Have ye not read?” “Is it not written?” In His intercourse with His disciples it was always from the Scriptures that He proved the certainty and necessity of His sufferings and resurrection: “How otherwise can the Scriptures be fulfilled?” And in His intercourse with His Father in His last sufferings it is in the words of Scripture that He pours out the complaint of being forsaken, and then again commends His spirit into the Father’s hands.

He was Himself the living Word. He had the Spirit without measure. If ever anyone, He could have done without the written Word. And yet we see that it is everything to Him. More than anyone else He thus shows us that the life of God in human flesh and the Word of God in human speech are inseparably connected. Jesus would not have been what He was, could not have done what He did, had He not yielded Himself step by step to be led and sustained by the Word of God.

Dependent on the Word

When the Lord Jesus was made man, He became entirely dependent on the Word of God; He submitted Himself wholly to it. His mother taught it [to] Him. The teachers of Nazareth instructed Him in it. In meditation and prayer, in the exercise of obedience and faith, He was led, during His silent years of preparation, to understand and appropriate it.

The Word of the Father was to the Son the life of His soul. What He said in the wilderness was spoken from His inmost personal experience: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, KJV).

He felt He could not live but as the Word brought Him the life of the Father. His whole life was a life of faith, a depending on the Word of the Father. The Word was to Him the vehicle for the living fellowship with the living God. And He had His whole mind and heart so filled with it that the Holy Spirit could at each moment find within Him, all ready for use, the right word to suggest just as He needed it.

Child of God, would you become a man [or woman] of God, strong in faith, full of blessing, rich in fruit to the glory of God? Be full of the Word of God, then; like Christ, make the Word your bread. Let it dwell richly in you. Have your heart full of it. Feed on it. Believe it. Obey it. It is only by believing and obeying that the Word can enter into our inward parts, into our very being.

Take it day by day as the Word that proceedeth —not has proceeded, but proceedeth, is proceeding— out of the mouth of God, as the Word of the living God, who in it holds living fellowship with His children, and speaks to them in living power. Take your thoughts of God’s will, and God’s work, and God’s purpose with you and the world, not from the Church, not from Christians around you, but from the Word taught you by the Father; and, like Christ, you will be able to fulfill all that is written in the Scriptures concerning you.

We Find Our Image in Him

In Christ’s use of Scripture the most remarkable thing is this: He found Himself there; He saw there His own image and likeness. And He gave Himself to the fulfillment of what He found written there. It was this that encouraged Him under the bitterest sufferings, and strengthened Him for the most difficult work. He had but one thought: to be what the Father had said He should be.

Disciple of Jesus, in the Scriptures thy likeness, too, is to be found, a picture of what the Father means thee to be. Seek to have a deep and clear impression of what the Father says in His Word that thou shouldst be. If this is once fully understood, it is inconceivable what courage it will give to conquer every difficulty. To know: It is ordained of God. This thought inspires the soul with a faith that conquers the world.

The Lord Jesus found His own image in the believers of the Old Testament. Moses and Aaron, Joshua, David, and the prophets, were types. And so He is Himself again the image of believers in the New Testament. It is especially in Him and His example that we must find our own image in Scripture. To be “changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18, KJV), we must in the Scripture-glass gaze on that image as our own. Blessed the Christian who has truly done this, who not only has found Jesus in the Scriptures, but also in His image the promise and example of what he is to become.

Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) was a South African Dutch Reformed Church minister, writer, teacher, tneologian and mission organiser. He considered missions to be “the chief end of the church.” He helped found three key missionary organizations and two colleges and wrote 250 publications. He is best known today for his devotional writings, including Abide in Christ, With Christ in the School of Prayer and Waiting on God. Murray’s two most important books are The Key to the Mission Problem and The State of the Church.

Week 14

Our Daily Battles

In John 8:44, Jesus gives us a glimpse about the character of the devil, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” In his book The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis gives us a glimpse into the dynamics of spiritual warfare and the works of the devil through a series of letters written between two demons – Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood.

The portrayal of human life in this book is from the vantage point of Screwtape, who is an important assistant to “Our Father Below.” Through the letters, he is teaching his nephew, who is a novice demon on how to tempt an ordinary young man (the patient) and cause him to fall away from God and the path of salvation. Though it is written in a satirical manner,  The Screwtape Letters truly reflects the reality of spiritual battles that we encounter every day. Here’s an excerpt from this entertaining yet deadly serious book:

MY DEAR WORMWOOD,

I am very pleased by what you tell me about this man’s relations with his mother. But you must press your advantage. The Enemy will be working from the centre outwards, gradually bringing more and more of the patient’s conduct under the new standard, and may reach his behaviour to the old lady at any moment. You want to get in first. Keep in close touch with our colleague Glubose who is in charge of the mother, and build up between you in that house a good settled habit of mutual annoyance; daily pinpricks. The following methods are useful.

1. Keep his mind on the inner life. He thinks his conversion is something inside him and his attention is therefore chiefly turned at present to the states of his own mind — or rather to that very expurgated version of them which is all you should allow him to see. Encourage this. Keep his mind off the most elementary duties by directing it to the most advanced and spiritual ones. Aggravate that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious. You must bring him to a condition in which he can practise self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself ,which are perfectly clear to anyone who has over lived in the same house with him or worked the same office.
2. It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous. Make sure that they are always very “spiritual”, that he is always concerned with the state of her soul and never with her rheumatism. Two advantages follow. In the first place, his attention will be kept on what he regards as her sins, by which, with a little guidance from you, he can be induced to mean any of her actions which are inconvenient or irritating to himself. Thus you can keep rubbing the wounds of the day a little sorer even while he is on his knees; the operation is not at all difficult and you will find it very entertaining. In the second place, since his ideas about her soul will be very crude and often erroneous, he will, in some degree, be praying for an imaginary person, and it will be your task to make that imaginary person daily less and less like the real mother — the sharp-tongued old lady at the breakfast table. In time, you may get the cleavage so wide that no thought or feeling from his prayers for the imagined mother will ever flow over into his treatment of the real one. I have had patients of my own so well in hand that they could be turned at a moment’s notice from impassioned prayer for a wife’s or son’s “soul” to beating or insulting the real wife or son without a qualm.
3. When two humans have lived together for many years it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other. Work on that. Bring fully into the consciousness of your patient that particular lift of his mother’s eyebrows which he learned to dislike in the nursery, and let him think how much he dislikes it. Let him assume that she knows how annoying it is and does it to annoy — if you know your job he will not notice the immense improbability of the assumption. And, of course, never let him suspect that he has tones and looks which similarly annoy her. As he cannot see or hear himself, this is easily managed.
4. In civilised life domestic hatred usually expresses itself by saying things which would appear quite harmless on paper (the words are not offensive) but in such a voice, or at such a moment, that they are not far short of a blow in the face. To keep this game up you and Glubose must see to it that each of these two fools has a sort of double standard. Your patient must demand that all his own utterances are to be taken at their face value and judged simply on the actual words, while at the same time judging all his mother’s utterances with the fullest and most oversensitive interpretation of the tone and the context and the suspected intention. She must be encouraged to do the same to him. Hence from every quarrel they can both go away convinced, or very nearly convinced, that they are quite innocent. You know the kind of thing: “I simply ask her what time dinner will be and she flies into a temper.” Once this habit is well established you have the delightful situation of a human saying things with the express purpose of offending and yet having a grievance when offence is taken.

Finally, tell me something about the old lady’s religious position. Is she at all jealous of the new factor in her son’s life? — at all piqued that he should have learned from others, and so late, what she considers she gave him such good opportunity of learning in childhood? Does she feel he is making a great deal of “fuss” about it — or that he’s getting in on very easy terms? Remember the elder brother in the Enemy’s story,

Your affectionate uncle,

SCREWTAPE

Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) was a South African Dutch Reformed Church minister, writer, teacher, tneologian and mission organiser. He considered missions to be “the chief end of the church.” He helped found three key missionary organizations and two colleges and wrote 250 publications. He is best known today for his devotional writings, including Abide in Christ, With Christ in the School of Prayer and Waiting on God. Murray’s two most important books are The Key to the Mission Problem and The State of the Church.

Week 15

Moment-by-moment Communion

What does it mean to be spiritual? According to renowned Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer in his book, True Spirituality, spirituality is not a mechanical process like some sort of to-do list. It is an active experience—moment-by-moment communion with God, informed by the truth of what God has said in his word. It is concerned with sanctification, marked by “active passivity”—by opening our hands in faith for God to use us for his purposes. Get a glimpse of true spirituality through an excerpt from this book:

Now we have spoken of faith, so let us pause here. Living in the second half of the twentieth century, we must keep on saying what faith is, in the biblical sense. Christian faith is never faith in faith. Christian faith is never without content. Christian faith is never a jump in the dark. Christian faith is always believing what God has said. And Christian faith rests upon Christ’s finished work on the cross. The reality of living by faith as though we were already dead, of living by faith in open communion with God, and then stepping back into the external world as though we are already raised from the dead, this is not once for all, it is a matter of moment-by-moment faith, and living moment by moment. This morning’s faith will never do for this noon. The faith of this noon will never do for supper time. The faith of supper time will never do for the time of going to bed. The faith of midnight will never do for the next morning. Thank God for the reality for which we were created, a moment-by-moment communication with God himself. We should indeed be thankful because the moment-by-moment quality brings the whole thing to the size which we are, as God has made us.

This being the case, it is obvious that there is no mechanical solution to true spirituality or the true Christian life. Anything that has the mark of the mechanical upon it is a mistake. It is not possible to say, read so many of the chapters of the Bible every day, and you will have this much sanctification. It is not possible to say, pray so long every day, and you will have a certain amount of sanctification. It is not possible to add the two together and to say, you will have this big a piece of sanctification. This is a purely mechanical solution, and denies the whole Christian position. For the fact is that the Christian life, true spirituality, can never have a mechanical solution. The real solution is being cast up into the moment-by-moment communion, personal communion, with God himself, and letting Christ’s truth flow through me through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

Let us notice the place to which we have come. It is precisely what we would expect in the light of the total unity of the Bible’s most basic teaching. The most basic teaching of the Bible is that God exists, and what he is, and the corollary of what man is as made in God’s own image. We live in a personal universe, and not in an impersonal one. God exists, God is personal; we are personal, as we have been made in the image of God, and our relationship to God is to be personal, not mechanical. We are not machines, we are not plants, we are not mere animals, but men, created in the image of God-rational and moral. When we were created, we were created for a purpose. And the purpose of our creation, in which all our subsidiary purposes fit, is to be in a personal relationship to God, in communion with him, in love, by choice, the creature before the Creator.

But sin destroyed this. The creature tried to be on the same level as the Creator; the finite sought to be placed on the same level as the infinite. And now, when we are saved on the basis of the finished work of Christ, our guilt is gone and we are returned to this proper relationship, not in a mechanical sense, but in a personal relationship of communion. So modern man is struggling properly when he is struggling with this basic question, as to the problem of personality and communication. According to the Scripture, this struggle is at the right point: not the point of a few superficial taboos, a few superficial conformities, but of the tremendous problem of personality. The Bible’s answer to the problem is that the central communication, which makes all the other communications meaningful, is the communication of the Creator and the creature, which is restored when I have accepted Christ as my Savior and my guilt is gone.

When this has happened I am not supposed to set up a rival center in the universe all over again. That would be contrary to the whole thing. When I have accepted Christ as my Savior, I am to be in my appointed position, in the proper place and in a personal relationship with God. This is that for which we were made in the first place. The only difference between our relationship with God now, and that which man’s would have been if he had not sinned, is that now it is under the covenant of grace, and not under the covenant of works; therefore, it rests on the basis of Christ’s finished mediatorial work. That is the only difference.

On man’s side, it is redeemed man as a unity who now stands before the personal God. It is not just one part of man. The will, the mind, the emotions-all are involved: the complete man, as a unit, involved in this moment by moment, one moment at a time, believing God’s promises about the significance of the work of Christ in our present lives. Eve doubted God, that was her sin. She called God a liar. Eve doubted God, and I as a child of God am now to do exactly the opposite: I am to believe him. Eve doubted, and mankind in revolt doubts God. To believe him, not just when I accept Christ as Savior, but every moment, one moment at a time: this is the Christian life, and this is true spirituality.

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912–1984) was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. As a theologian and apologist, he authored more than twenty books, which have sold millions globally. He and his wife, Edith, founded the L’Abri Fellowship international study and discipleship centers. His mission in life is to relate Christianity to the surrounding culture.

Week 16

Enter God’s Rest

Hebrews 4:9-10 tells us, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” In his book The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, Richard Baxter calls Christians to contemplate our eternal heavenly rest as a way of life. He wrote this book during a long, severe illness when death seems likely. Baxter exhorts us not to seek our rest and comfort on earth and emphasises the importance of godliness and heavenly contemplation as we await our eternal joy. Here’s an excerpt from this 17th century theological treatise:

Hindrances to a Heavenly Life on Earth

If you value a heavenly life upon earth, I must charge you to avoid some dangerous hindrances.

LIVING IN ANY KNOWN SIN is a great impediment to a heavenly life. If this be your situation, I dare say that heaven and your soul are strangers. These beams in your eye (Matthew 7:4) will not let you look to heaven. They will be a cloud between you and God. When you attempt to study eternity and gather refreshment from the life to come, your sin will look you in the face and say, “These things do not belong to you.” How can you take comfort from heaven when you take so much pleasure in the lusts of the flesh? Every intentional sin will be to your happiness as water to the fire. It will quench your joy. It will disable you, so that you can no more ascend in divine meditation than a bird can fly with clipped wings. We surely need to pray daily, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13).

AN EARTHLY MIND is another hindrance to be avoided. When the heavenly believer is rejoicing in hope of the glory to come, perhaps you are blessing yourself with thoughts of worldly prosperity. You are rejoicing in hopes of earthly success. When he is comforting his soul with the views of Christ, of angels and saints, with whom he shall live forever; you are comforting yourself with your money, and in thinking of the advancement of your family. Your earthly mind may coexist with church membership and formal religious activities, but it cannot coexist with heavenly contemplation. Keep worldly matters as loose as a light jacket, that you may take it off whenever you can; but let God and heaven be next to your heart. Ever remember, that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). This is plain speaking, and happy is he who faithfully receives it.

BEWARE OF THE COMPANY OF THE UNGODLY. Of course, I would not dissuade you from necessary dealings with the ungodly, nor from helping them, and certainly not from endeavoring to draw them to God when you have opportunity. It is the unnecessary fellowship with the ungodly from which I would dissuade you. Chiefly to be avoided are the profane, the swearer, the drunkard, and the enemies of godliness. But they are not the only ones who will prove harmful companions to us. Too frequent fellowship with people whose conversation is empty, will also divert our thoughts from heaven. We need all the help we can get in living the heavenly life on earth.

AVOID FREQUENT DISPUTES ABOUT LESSER TRUTHS, and religion that lies only in opinions. He whose religion is all in his opinions, will be most frequently and enthusiastically mouthing them; but he whose religion lies in the knowledge and love of God, will be most delightfully speaking of that happy time when he shall enjoy them. The least controversial points are usually the most important and most necessary for our souls. “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive” (2 Tim. 2:23-24). “Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain” (Titus 3:9).

TAKE HEED OF A PROUD AND LOFTY SPIRIT. If such a spirit cast the angels out of heaven, it must keep your heart from heaven. Communion with God will keep people humble, and that humility will also promote their communion. When a man is absorbed in the study of God’s glorious characteristics, he scorns himself. That self-humiliation is his best preparation for obtaining admittance to God again. Therefore, after a soul-humbling day, or in times of trouble when the soul is lowest, it has freest access to God. “God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble” (James 4:6).

Are you delighted when you hear of your popularity, and depressed when you hear that others criticize you? Do you love those best that honor you? Is your anger kindled if your will is crossed? Can you serve God in a low place as well as a high? Are you unacquainted with the deceitfulness and wickedness of your heart? Are you more ready to defend yourself than accuse yourself and confess your fault? Can you scarcely take criticism? If these symptoms persist in your life, you are a proud person. There is too much of hell abiding in you to have any acquaintance with heaven. Your soul is too much like the devil to have any close fellowship with God. A proud man makes himself his god, and sets up himself as his idol. I am saying so much about this, because it is such a common and dangerous sin.

Richard Baxter (1615–1691) was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer and theologian who influenced 17th-century English Protestantism. He produced more than 200 works are devotional manuals, pastoral handbooks, and doctrinal writings Aphorismes of Justification (1649). His best-known works are The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (1650) and The Reformed Pastor (1656). He was known as a peacemaker who sought unity among the clashing Protestant denominations.

Week 17

The God Behind Truth

In his book The God Who Is There, Francis Schaeffer presents a wide-ranging and remarkable analysis of clashing ideas about God, philosophy, art, history and liberal theology. He argues that Christians can confront the competing philosophies and the importance of grounding apologetics and spirituality in absolute truth. Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on The Importance of Truth:

I have chosen to use this expression “God is there” as being equivalent to “God exists,” not because I am unaware of the theological discussions today, nor because I have met anyone who, holding to the truth of the Bible, believes in a three-story universe, but in order to meet the problem of the modern theology, which denies that God is there in the historical biblical sense. We must have the courage to say that God is there, or to use different terminology, that the final environment of what is there is God himself, the One who has created everything else.

Let us notice carefully that in saying God is there, we are saying God exists, and not just talking about the word god or the idea god. We are speaking of the proper relationship to the living God who exists. In order to understand the problems of our generation, we should be very alive to this distinction.

Semantics (linguistic analysis) for a certain period made up the heart of modern philosophical study in the Anglo-Saxon world. Though the Christian cannot accept this study as a philosophy, there is no reason why he should not be glad for the concept that words need to be defined before they can be used in communication. As Christians we must understand that there is no word so meaningless as the word god until it is defined. No word has been used to teach absolutely opposite concepts as much as the word god. Consequently, let us not be confused. There is much “spirituality” about us today that relates itself to the word god or to the idea god; but this is not what we are talking about. Biblical truth and spirituality is not a relationship to the word god, or to the idea god. It is a relationship to the One who is there. This is an entirely different concept.

Following on from the discussion as to who or what God is, springs the second fundamental question of today, “Who or what am I?” In order to make it possible to have a meaningful relationship between God and man, an answer to both questions must be given.

The answer we give here profoundly affects our idea of the form of the relationship between God and man. Whether we regard this relationship as mechanical, deterministic or—infinitely more wonderful—personal will turn upon our answers to the questions “Who is the God who is there?” and “Who am I?”

Many sensitive people today are really struggling for their lives, asking the question “What is the purpose of man?” In fact, modern man has not come up with a satisfactory answer to this question in any of his fields of thinking. It does not matter much whether he has approached it along the lines of naked rationalism or the leap into the dark of modern secular and theological mysticism; twentieth-century man has failed to answer this question.

When someone asks me the Christian answer to this question of purpose, the reason for man’s existence, I always take them to the first commandment of Christ. In passing, let us note that there is no reason to think that the first commandment—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength”1—is merely a first commandment uttered by Jesus. We know it is not so because he quoted it from the last book of Moses, the book of Deuteronomy. But we can say something more. Surely it is the first commandment because it is the one that expresses the purpose of man and, individually, my purpose.

But it is not enough to quote this on its own. Without the answer given by historic Christianity that God is really there, such an answer can only be another cliché to the honest inquirer, just one more twentieth-century “religious answer”; and we cannot blame him if he stops listening. When I hear this first commandment to love the God who is there with everything that I am, it carries with it a total concept of life and of truth. A man can love only a God who exists and who is personal and about whom he has knowledge. So the fact that this God has communicated is also of supreme importance. But this commandment carries something more; it tells me something very fundamental and exciting about myself.

There is indeed something to be excited about if we know the dilemmas of our generation. If you could see the sober, sensitive men and women who come to our chalet asking the question “who, or what, am I?” with real longings, you would realize there is something electrifying to know about “myself.”

As far as the modern mentality is concerned, it is shattering to be told that there is nothing intrinsically nonsensical in calling upon me to love the God who is there, and that God is of such a nature and that I am of such a nature as to make this a valid proposition. Those who understand what is involved will not dismiss this as “something I have heard since I was little.” To think through the implications is totally exciting. The God who is there is of such a nature that he can be loved, and I am of such a nature that I can love; and thus this first commandment, or basic purpose of man, is the very opposite of a nonsense statement. I know what man is, and I know who I am.

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912–1984) was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. As a theologian and apologist, he authored more than twenty books, which have sold millions globally. He and his wife, Edith, founded the L’Abri Fellowship international study and discipleship centers. His mission in life is to relate Christianity to the surrounding culture.

Week 18

The Gaze of the Soul

In his spiritual classic work, The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer challenges complacency in faith and calls for a sincere longing after God. He invites readers to have a deeper and richer relationship with God through spiritual hunger, faith, and fostering a genuine connection with God. In the chapter about faith, Tozer concludes that “faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.” Here’s an excerpt from this short yet profound book:

Now if faith is so vitally important, if it is an indispensable must in our pursuit of God, it is perfectly natural that we should be deeply concerned over whether or not we possess this most precious gift. And our minds being what they are, it is inevitable that sooner or later we should get around to inquiring after the nature of faith. What is faith? would lie close to the question, Do I have faith? and would demand an answer if it were anywhere to be found.

Almost all who preach or write on the subject of faith have much the same things to say concerning it. They tell us that it is believing a promise, that it is taking God at His word, that it is reckoning the Bible to be true and stepping out upon it. The rest of the book or sermon is usually taken up with stories of persons who have had their prayers answered as a result of their faith. These answers are mostly direct gifts of a practical and temporal nature such as health, money, physical protection or success in business. Or if the teacher is of a philosophic turn of mind he may take another course and lose us in a welter of metaphysics or snow us under with psychological jargon as he defines and re-defines, paring the slender hair of faith thinner and thinner till it disappears in gossamer shavings at last. When he is finished we get up disappointed and go out “by that same door where in we went.” Surely there must be something better than this.

In the Scriptures there is practically no effort made to define faith. Outside of a brief fourteen-word definition in Hebrews 11:1, I know of no Biblical definition, and even there faith is defined functionally, not philosophically; that is, it is a statement of what faith is in operation, not what it is in essence. It assumes the presence of faith and shows what it results in, rather than what it is. We  will be wise to go just that far and attempt to go no further. We are told from whence it comes and by what means: “Faith is a gift of God,” and “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This much is clear, and, to paraphrase Thomas à Kempis, “I had rather exercise faith than know the definition thereof.”

From here on, when the words “faith is” or their equivalent occur in this chapter I ask that they be understood to refer to what faith is in operation as exercised by a believing man. Right here we drop the notion of definition and think about faith as it may be experienced in action. The complexion of our thoughts will be practical, not theoretical.

In a dramatic story in the Book of Numbers faith is seen in action. Israel became discouraged and spoke against God, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. “And they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” Then Moses sought the Lord for them and He heard and gave them a remedy against the bite of the serpents. He commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people, “and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” Moses obeyed, “and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived (Num. 21:4-9).

In the New Testament this important bit of history is interpreted for us by no less an authority than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is explaining to His hearers how they may be saved. He tells them that it is by believing. Then to make it clear He refers to this incident in the Book of Numbers. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

Our plain man in reading this would make an important discovery. He would notice that “look” and “believe” were synonymous terms. “Looking” on the Old Testament serpent is identical with” “believing” on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing. And he would understand that while Israel looked with their external eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.

Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897—1963) was an influential American pastor in the Christian and Missionary Alliance. A. W. Tozer was often called a “twentieth-century prophet” and an “evangelical mystic” due to his emphasis on the inner life and a deeper knowledge of God. His preaching and his writings were extensions of his prayer life and he is known to spend more time on his knees than at his desk.

Week 19

A Statement of Life

In his book, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Oswald Chambers said, “The Sermon on the Mount is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting his way with us.” In this study, which he first taught in 1911, he aims to remind us of the importance of focusing on God alone and to enlarge our understanding of Jesus’ teaching about His life and what it really means to believers. Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on Divine Declaration (Matthew 5:17–20):

His Mission • Matthew 5:17–19: “I came . . . to fulfill.”

What an amazing statement! When we hear Jesus Christ speak, we should remove our shoes as if we are standing on holy ground, and strip every careless, commonsense attitude from our minds. In Jesus, we deal with God as man, the God-Man, the representative of the whole human race in one Person. The men of His day traced their religious pedigree back to the nature of God, and this young Nazarene carpenter said, “I am the nature of God.” So to them He was blasphemous.

Our Lord makes himself the exact meaning and fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy. His mission, He says, is to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. He further says that any person who breaks the old laws (because they belong to a former dispensation) and teaches other people to break them as well, will suffer severe impoverishment.

If the old commandments were difficult, our Lord’s principles are unbelievably more difficult. Everything He teaches is impossible unless He can put into us His Spirit and remake us from within. The Sermon on the Mount is quite unlike the Ten Commandments in the sense of its being absolutely unworkable—unless Jesus Christ can remake us.

There are teachers who argue that the Sermon on the Mount supersedes the Ten Commandments, and that—“because we are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:15)—it does not matter whether we honor our father and mother, whether we covet, or so on.

To be “not under law but under grace” does not mean that we can do as we like. It is surprising how easily we can wriggle out of Jesus Christ’s principles by one or two pious sayings repeated often. The only safeguard against this is to keep personally related to God. The secret of all spiritual understanding is to walk in the light—not the light of our convictions or our own theories, but the light of God (1 John 1:7).

His Message • Matthew 5:20

Think of the most upright person you know who has never received the Holy Spirit. Think of the most moral, sterling, religious person, such as Nicodemus or his fellow Pharisee Saul of Tarsus, who was called “blameless” according to the law (Philippians 3:6). Jesus says you must exceed that person in righteousness. You have to be not only as moral as the most moral human being you know, but infinitely more—to be so right in your actions, so pure in your motives, that almighty God can see nothing to blame in you.

Is it too strong to call this a spiritual torpedo? These statements of Jesus are the most revolutionary statements human ears ever heard, and we need the Holy Spirit to interpret them to us. Today’s shallow admiration for “Jesus Christ as a teacher” is of no use.

Jesus says our inclinations must be right to their depths, not only our conscious motives but also our unconscious ones. Now we are beyond our own abilities. Can God make me pure in heart? Blessed be His name, He can! Can He alter my disposition so that when circumstances reveal me to myself, I am amazed? He can. Can He impart His nature to me until it is identically the same as His own? He can. That, and nothing less, is the meaning of His cross and resurrection.

“Unless your righteousness exceeds . . .” The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was right, not wrong. Of course, they did things that were not righteous, but Jesus is speaking here of their righteousness, which His disciples are to exceed. What exceeds right doing? Is it not the addition of right being? Right being without right doing is possible if we refuse to enter into relationship with God, but that cannot exceed “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.” Jesus Christ’s message here is that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, who were very good at doing, though they were nothing in being. Otherwise, we will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Monks in the Middle Ages refused to take the responsibilities of life and shut themselves away from the world; all they wanted was the being. Many people today want to do the same thing and cut themselves off from one relationship or another. But that does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. If our Lord had meant exceed in being only, He would not have used the word exceed—He would have said, “Except your righteousness be otherwise than . . .”

We cannot exceed the righteousness of the most moral people we know on the line of what they do, but only on the line of what they are.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount must produce despair in the unsaved person; if it does not, it is because he or she has paid no attention to it. When you do pay attention to Jesus Christ’s teaching, you will soon say, like the apostle Paul, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). The answer is this: “Blessed are the pure in heart.” If Jesus Christ means what He says, where do we stand? “Come to Me,” He says (Matthew 11:28).

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher. He was born in Scotland and died in Egypt while serving as chaplain to Allied troops in Egypt during World War I. Chambers has a teaching and preaching ministry that took him as far as the United States and Japan but he is best known as the author of the widely read devotional My Utmost for His Highest, a book that was compiled by his wife after his death from her verbatim shorthand notes of his talks.

Week 20

The Jail

In his book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tells an allegorical story of a man named Christian and his spiritual journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City (heaven). This masterpiece has been translated into some two hundred languages, including eighty in Africa. Here’s an excerpt from this account of a man who seeks and finds salvation and release from the burden of sin:

As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a den; and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and, behold, “I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.” I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, “What shall I do?”

In this plight, therefore, he went home, and refrained himself as long as he could, that his wife and children should not perceive his distress; but he could not be silent long, because that his trouble increased. Wherefore at length he brake his mind to his wife and children; and thus he began to talk to them: “O my dear wife,” said he, “and you, the children of my bowels, I, your dear friend, am in myself undone, by reason of a burden that lieth hard upon me; moreover, I am for certain informed that this our city will be burned with fire from Heaven; in which fearful overthrow, both myself, with thee, my wife, and you, my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin, except (the which yet I see not) some way of escape can be found, whereby we may be delivered.”

At this, his relations were sore amazed; not for that they believed that what he had said to them was true, but because they thought that some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing towards night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains, with all haste they got him to bed. But the night was as troublesome to him as the day; wherefore, instead of sleeping, he spent it in sighs and tears. So when the morning was come, they would know how he did; he told them, worse and worse; he also set to talking to them again, but they began to be hardened. They also thought to drive away his distemper by harsh and surly carriages to him. Sometimes they would deride, sometimes they would chide, and sometimes they would quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to retire himself to his chamber to pray for, and pity them, and also to condole his own misery. He would also walk solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading, and sometimes praying; and thus for some days he spent his time.

Now I saw upon a time, when he was walking in the fields, that he was, as he was wont, reading in his book, and greatly distressed in his mind; and as he read, he burst out, as he had done before, crying, “What shall I do to be saved?”

I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still, because, as I perceived, he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named Evangelist coming to him, who asked, “Where fore dost thou cry?”

He answered, Sir, I perceive, by the book in my hand, that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to judgment, and I find that I am not willing to do the first, nor able to do the second.

Then said Evangelist, Why not willing to die, since this life is attended with so many evils? The man answered, because I fear that this burden that is upon my back will sink me lower than the grave; and I shall fall into Tophet. And, Sir, if I be not fit to go to prison, I am not fit, I am sure, to go to judgment, and from thence to execution; and the thoughts of these things make me cry.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was an English minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), a Christian classic that expresses the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and the allegory The Holy War (1682).

Week 21

Conviction of the Necessity of Flying

Last week in The Pilgrim’s Progress, we read about Christian who was burdened by the judgment and destruction that is coming and how can he be saved. Then he met Evangelist who convicted him to flee from the judgment that is coming. This set Christian off on a journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City (heaven). Here’s an excerpt of his encounter with Evangelist:

Then said Evangelist, If this be thy condition, why standest thou still? He answered, Because I know not whither to go. Then he gave him a parchment roll, and there was written within, “Fly from the wrath to come”.

The man therefore, read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, Whither must I fly? Then said Evangelist, pointing with his finger over a very wide field, Do you see yonder wicket gate? The man said, No. Then said the other, Do you see yonder shining light? He said, I think I do.

Then said Evangelist, Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto, so shalt thou see then gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do. So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now, he had not ran far from his own door, but his wife and children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, Life! life! Eternal life! So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain.

The neighbours also came out to see him run, and as he ran, some mocked, others threatened, and some cried after him to return; and among those that did so, there were two that were resolved to fetch him back by force. The name of the one was Obstinate, and the name of the other Pliable. Now by this time, the man was got a good distance from them; but, however, they were resolved to pursue him; which they did, and in a little time they overtook him.

Then said the man, Neighbours, wherefore are ye come? They said, To persuade you to go back with us. But he said, That can by no means be. You dwell, said he, in the City of Destruction, the place also where I was born; I see it to be so; and dying there, sooner or later, you will sink lower than the grave, into a place that burns with fire and brimstone. Be content, good neighbours, and go along with me.

What, said Obstinate, and leave our friends and our comforts behind us?

Yes, said Christian, for that was his name, because that all “which you shall forsake” is not worthy to be compared with a little of that which I am seeking to enjoy; and if you will go along with me, and hold it, you shall fare as I myself, for there, where I go, is enough and to spare. Come away, and prove my words.

OBSTINATE: What are the things you seek, since you leave all the world to find them?

CHRISTIAN: I seek an “inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away”and it is laid up in Heaven, and safe there, to be bestowed, at the time appointed, on them that diligently seek it. Read it so, if you will, in my book.

OBSTINATE: Tush, said Obstinate, away with your book; will you go back with us, or no?

CHRISTIAN: No, not I, saith the other; because I have laid my hand to the plough.

OBSTINATE: Come, then, neighbour Pliable, let us turn again, and go home without him; there is a company of these crazed-headed coxcombs, that when they take a fancy by the end, are wiser in their own eyes than seven men that can render a reason.

PLIABLE. Then said Pliable, Do not revile; if what the good Christian says is true, the things he looks after are better than ours; my heart inclines to go with my neighbour.

OBSTINATE: What! more fools still? Be ruled by me, and go back; who knows whither such a brainsick fellow will lead you? Go back, go back, and be wise.

CHRISTIAN:  Nay, but do thou come with thy neighbour Pliable: there are such things to be had which I spoke of, and many more glories besides; if you believe not me, read here in this book, and for the truth of what is expressed therein, behold, all is confirmed by the blood of Him that made it.

PLIABLE: Well, neighbour Obstinate, saith Pliable, I begin to come to a point; I intend to go along with this good man, and to cast in my lot with him. But, my good companion, do you know the way to this desired place?

CHRISTIAN: I am directed by a man whose name is Evangelist, to speed me to a little gate that is before us, where we shall receive instructions about the way.

PLIABLE: Come then, good neighbour, let us be going. Then they went both together.

OBSTINATE: And I will go back to my place, said Obstinate; I will be no companion of such misled fantastical fellows.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was an English minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), a Christian classic that expresses the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and the allegory The Holy War (1682).

Week 22

The Valour and Victories of Faith

Many saints of old expressed their thoughts and emotions through poems. Here’s a poem by Ralph Erskine (1685-1752), a Scottish churchman whose work consist of sermons, poetical paraphrases and gospel sonnets. What are your thoughts as you ponder on this poem?

The Valour and Victories of Faith

By faith I unseen Being see,
Forth lower beings call,
And say to nothing, Let it be;
And nothing hatches all.

By faith I know the worlds were made
By God’s great word of might;
How soon, Let there be light, he said,
That moment there was light.

By faith I soar and force my flight
Through all the clouds of sense;
I see the glories out of sight,
With brightest evidence.

By faith I mount the azure sky,
And from the lofty sphere,
The earth a little mote espy,
Unworthy of my care.

By faith I see the unseen things
Hid from all mortal eyes;
Proud reason stretching all its wings,
Beneath me flutt’ring lies.

By faith I build my lasting hope
On righteousness divine;
Nor can I sink with such a prop,
Whatever storms combine.

By faith my works, my righteousness,
And duties all I own
But loss and dung; and lay my stress
On what my Lord has done.

By faith I overcome the world,
And all its hurtful charms;
I’m in the heav’nly chariot hurl’d
Through all opposing harms.

By faith I have a conqu’ring pow’r
To tread upon my foes,
To triumph in a dying hour,
And banish all my woes.

By faith in midst of wrongs I’m right,
In sad decays I thrive:
In weakness I am strong in might,
In death I am alive.

By faith I stand when deep I fall,
In darkness I have light;
Nor dare I doubt and question all
When all is out of sight.

By faith I trust a pardon free,
Which puzzles flesh and blood;
To think that God can justify,
Where yet he sees no good.

By faith I keep my Lord’s commands,
To verify my trust;
I purify my heart and hands,
And mortify my lust.

By faith my melting soul repents,
When pierced Christ appears;
My heart in grateful praises vents,
Mine eyes in joyful tears.

By faith I can the mountains vast
Of sin and guilt remove;
And them into the ocean cast
The sea of blood and love.

By faith I see Jehovah high,
Upon a throne of grace;
I see him lay his vengeance by,
And smile in Jesus’face.

By faith I hope to see the Sun,
The light of grace that lent:
His everlasting circles run
In glory’s firmament.

By faith I’m more than conqueror,
Ev’n though I nothing can;
Because I set Jehovah’s pow’r
Before me in the van.

By faith I counterplot my foes,
Nor need their ambush fear;
Because my life-guard also goes
Behind me in the rear.

By faith I walk, I run, I fly,
By faith I suffer thrall;
By faith I’m fit to live and die,
By faith I can do all.

Week 23

The Glory of the Common Life

In J. R. Miller’s book, The Beauty of Everyday, he shows us the beauty of living a common everyday life with God and seizing the opportunity to do what we can in the present because such opportunities may never come to us again. Here’s an excerpt about the common life:

It was only a scrubby bush, which Moses saw in the desert, and yet it gleamed with splendor, as if it were burning. No wonder the old shepherd turned aside to look at the strange sight! He wanted to solve the mystery. But a voice halted him. God was in the bush!

Mrs. Browning, referring to this singular incident says:
“Earth ‘s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees—takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries!”

The poet’s thought is that the glory of God is in everything, in every tree, in every flower, in every lowly bush, and that almost nobody sees the glory! Most people see only the bush or the plant. Only now and then—one sees the flame, the splendor of God, and takes off his shoes!

To many people, life is all a dreary commonplace. Some see nothing beautiful in nature. They will walk through the loveliest gardens—and see nothing to admire. They will move among Christian people—and never observe in them, any glimpses of immortality, any revealings of the divine nature. They will go through all the years and never see God in anything! It would give us a radiant world in nature—if our eyes were opened to see the splendor that is in every tree, plant, and flower!

An artist was painting a picture which he hoped might be honored at the Academy. It was of a woman, struggling up a street, on a wild, stormy night, carrying her baby in her arms. Doors were shut in her face. Nowhere was there warmth, sympathy or love for her. The artist called the picture, “Homeless.” As he was painting it, imagination filled his soul with divine pity. “Why do I not go to lost people themselves, to try to save them, instead of merely painting pictures of them?” he began to ask. The common bush burned with fire. Under the impulse of the new feeling, he gave himself to Christ and to the Christian ministry. He went to Africa as a missionary, devoting his life to the saving of the lowest lost! If we had eyes touched by divine anointing, we would see in every outcast, in every most depraved life—the gleaming of every possible glory.

Many of the best people in the world are lowly and obscure. They have no shining qualities, no brilliant gifts. Yet if we could see them as they really are—we would find the thorn bush burning with fire. They are full of God. Christ lives in them!

There is a story of an Italian Christian who works with pick and shovel, walking two miles every morning to his task. He lives on the plainest food. Yet he is the happiest man in all his neighborhood. He has a secret which keeps him happy in all his toil and pinching. Away in Italy, he has a wife and two children, and he is working and saving to bring them to America, where he is building a home for them. This lowly thorn bush of hardness and poverty—is aflame with the fire of love.

God is usually found in most unlikely places. When the shepherds went to seek for the Holy Child, they did not go to fine mansions, to the homes of the great or rich, to earthly palaces—they found the Babe in a stable, sleeping in a feeding trough!

Lowell’s legend is a story for all days and all places. As the knight rode out from his castle gate at the beginning of his quest for the holy grail, he tossed a coin to the leper who sat by the wayside begging. Through all lands he rode in a vain search for the sacred cup. At length, old, broken, and disappointed—but chastened, he returned home. There sat the leper as before, by the castle gate. The knight has learned love’s lesson. He shares his last crust with the leper. He breaks the ice on the stream near by, brings water in his wooden bowl, and gives the beggar a drink. Then the leper is revealed as the Christ—and the bowl as the holy cup.

Ofttimes it is in lowliest ways—that God is found, after men have sought long for him in vain, in ways of splendor. A disciple asked the Master to show him the Father. He thought the revealing would come in some heavenly splendor. Jesus said that he had been showing the Father in all the years he had been with the disciples. He referred to his everyday life of love and kindness. You say you never have seen God, and that you wish you could see him. You could believe in him more easily, if you could see him sometimes. That is what the disciples thought and said, “Show us the Father, and it is enough,” was their pleading. Yet, they really had been seeing the Father the whole three years!

So it is that Christ comes to us continually in plain garb, in lowly ways, without any apparent brightness. We decline tasks and duties that are assigned to us, thinking they are not worthy of our fine hands—not knowing that they are holy ministries which angels would eagerly perform! Not one of the disciples that last night, would take the basin and the towel and wash the feet of the others and of the Master. Washing feet was the lowliest of all tasks—the lowest slave in the household did it. But while these proud men scoffed and shrank from the service—Jesus himself did it! Then they saw that washing the feet of others in love—is divine in its splendor. The thorn bush burned with fire!

Some of the happiest people in the world—are doing the plainest tasks, are living in the plainest way, have the fewest luxuries, and scarcely ever have an hour for rest or play. They are happy because they are contented. They love God. They follow Christ. They have learned to love their work and do it with delight, with eagerness, with enthusiasm.

James Russell Miller (1840 – 1912) was a popular and prolific Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois. The deepest passion of his life was to know and love Jesus Christ and as he often repeat again and again, “Jesus and I are friends!“

Week 24

Never Been Led Into Temptation?

Daily Thoughts by DeWitt Talmage is a collection of his best thoughts for daily readings. It consists of choice selections from the writings of Talmage with the earnest hope that many, by its daily perusal, may be encouraged, strengthened and blessed. Here’s an excerpt from his entry on January tenth:

“Cast thy burdens on the Lord, and he will sustain thee.” -Ps. Iv. 22.

I have heard men in mid life say they had never been led into temptation. If you have not felt temptation it is because you have not tried to do right. A man hoppled and handcuffed, as long as he lies quietly, does not test the power of the chain; but when he rises up, and with determination resolves to snap the handcuff or break the hopple, then he finds the power of the iron. And there are men who have been for ten and twenty and thirty years bound hand and foot of evil habit, who have never felt the power of the chain, because they have never tried to break it. It is very easy to go on down with the stream and with the wind, lying on your oars; but you just turn around, and try to go against the wind and the tide, and you will find it is a very different the wind and the tide, and you will find it is a very different matter. As long as we go down the current of our evil habit we seem to get along quite smoothly; but after a while we turn around, and head the other way towards Christ and pardon and heaven, oh, then how we have to lay to the oars!

You all have your temptation. You have one kind, you another, you another, not one person escaping. It is all folly for you to say to some one : “I could not be tempted as you are.” The lion thinks it is so strange that the fish should be caught with a hook. The fish thinks it is so strange that the lion should be caught with a trap. You see some man with a cold, phlegmatic temperament, and you say: “I suppose that man has not any temptation.” Yes, as much as you have. In his phlegmatic nature he has a temptation to indolence and censoriousness and over-eating and drinking; to sink down into a great latitude and longitude of fattiness; a temptation to ignore the great work of life; a temptation to lay down an obstacle in the way of all good enterprises.

The temperament decides the style of temptation; but sanguine or lymphatic, you will have temptation. Satan has a grappling-hook just fitted for your soul. A man never lives beyond the reach of temptation. You say when a man gets to be seventy or eighty years of age he is safe from all satanic assault. You are very much mistaken. A man at eighty-five years of age has as many temptations as a man at twenty-five. They are only different styles of temptation.

No man has finally and forever overcome temptation until he has left the world. But what are you to do with these temptations? Tell everybody about them? Ah, what a silly man you would be! As well might a commander in a fort send word to the enemy which gate of the castle is least barred, as for you to go and tell what all your frailties are, and what all your temptations are.

The world will only caricature you, will only scoff at you. What then must a man do? When the wave strikes him with terrific dash, shall he have nothing to hold on to? In this contest wit the world, the flesh, and the devil,” shall a man have no help? no counsel? The text intimates something different. In those eyes that wept with the Bethany sisters, I see shining hope. In that voice which spoke until the grave broke ind the widow of Nain had back her lost son, and the seas part, and sorrow stupendous woke up in the arms of rapture, in that voice I hear the command and the promise: “Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He will sustain thee.”

Thomas Dewitt Talmage (1832 – 1902) was a lecturer, clergyman, prolific writer and preacher. He graduated from the University of New York and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. During the Civil War he served as chaplain in the Union Army. In 1869 he became pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, New York. Talmage was one of the most widely read of the preachers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Week 25

The Maimed Saint

Oswald Chambers in his widely-read devotional My Utmost for His Highest gives us a short exposition on Matthew 5:30, “And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” As you reflect on this excerpt, may you be encouraged to live a life that God desires for you to live:

Pay close attention to the words Jesus speaks here. Jesus doesn’t say that everyone, without exception, must cut off their right hand. He says that if your right hand causes you to stumble, then you must cut it off. Yet even with this condition, Jesus’s command is the toughest discipline ever to strike humankind. Your right hand is one of the best and most useful things you have—and still Jesus says it must go if it causes you to stumble.

After God changes you through spiritual rebirth, you will find that there are a hundred and one perfectly legitimate things you dare not do, because they break your concentration on him. These things are like your right hand: in your eyes and the eyes of the world, they appear good, even necessary. When you begin to cut them out, your life will be maimed and scarred. Unspiritual people will be appalled. “What on earth is wrong with that?” they’ll ask. “How absurd you’re being!” Remember, when this happens, how and why you’ve been given your new insight. Jesus Christ is using his Spirit to warn you away from things which are no longer right for you. These things may still be perfectly fine for everyone else. Make sure you do not use your new limits to criticize others.

There has never been a saint who didn’t lead a maimed life at first. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in the eyes of the world and unfit in God’s. Take heart, and remember that your life will not always be maimed. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus gives a picture of the life he desires you to lead, a life that is full-orbed, a life in him: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

————————————-

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher. He was born in Scotland and died in Egypt while serving as chaplain to Allied troops in Egypt during World War I. Chambers has a teaching and preaching ministry that took him as far as the United States and Japan but he is best known as the author of the widely read devotional My Utmost for His Highest, a book that was compiled by his wife after his death from her verbatim shorthand notes of his talks.

Week 26

Conformity To The Image Of God

Thomas Charles, an 18th century Welsh preacher, first published his book, Thomas Charles’ Spiritual Counsels in 1838. It gives insight into real, biblical Christianity, what that life was in Thomas Charles’ own experience and how wisely he taught it to others. Here’s an excerpt about being conformed to the image of God:

Do I find Christ indeed precious to me? Do I long to know more of him, and be filled more with his fullness? The Apostle says to the Galatians, that “he travailed for them in birth again until Christ was formed in them. ” Galatians 4.19. This was the end he had in view in all his labors and prayers. He was not willing that they should continue all their days as babes—but grow into manhood by having Christ formed in them, and living in them.

Paul says of himself that “Christ lived in him. ” He lived, though in a lesser degree, as Christ would have lived, had he been then on earth, being influenced and strengthened in all his actions by the same Spirit, which dwelt above measure in Christ. If Christ “lived in him” —then Christ was also formed in him, both as to his knowledge of him, and conformity to him.

The image of God in which man was at first created, consisted, as the Apostle says, “in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.” The mind of man took the exact form of God, according to its capacity; it had a just and true knowledge and comprehension of him, according to the revelation which God had made to man of himself. His love of God, trust in him, and obedience to him—were also proportioned to his clear and just knowledge of him. His moral character bore some distant resemblance to that of God himself. The law of God, which is a transcript of the divine mind, was in all its purity and extent written on his heart. Thus the true form or image of God was on his mind and on his heart.

By the fall man lost from his mind, the true knowledge of God; and from his heart, the inward conformity to God’s moral character. The image of Satan followed in its stead, and he became “earthly, sensual, and devilish.” “Ungodliness and worldly lusts “now constitute the very essence of his character. He is now conformed to the world in heart and mind. Romans 12.2. He is now “fashioned “according to the lusts in the heart, which he follows through the darkness of his mind, 1 Peter 1.14. His mind now sees no glory in God, and consequently loves him not. Satan now shows to his mind. as he did to Christ, “the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.” Earthly things now appear as the great image did to Nebuchadnezzar—full of glory, “a great image whose brightness was excellent.” When things appear thus attractive to the mind—then the heart runs after them, and the heart cleaves to them and is conformed to them.

But to destroy the work of the devil, was the purpose of Christ’s manifestation. And by the preaching of the Gospel, the work of the devil within us is destroyed, the heart is changed and Christ is formed in us.

Christ is the express image of the Father. He is so originally, as the Son of God. His Person is exactly the same in all the divine perfections, common to each of the three divine Persons. He is in the form of God, essentially considered, from all eternity. And he is as God-man and Mediator—God’s image or exact representation to us. In the face or person of Christ alone—can we see the glory of God and of all the divine perfections. When we see his glory as held forth in the gospel, we see the glory and image of God. And by this believing sight, we are changed into the same image, we are “renewed after the image of him who created us” —and thus it is that Christ is formed in us.

He is first formed in our minds, and we have a just and exact knowledge of him, before we are transformed in our hearts. The Gospel is the glass that exactly represents him, and holds him forth to a guilty and ruined world. Those who have their understandings renewed and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, see his glory in this mirror. Ephesians 1.18. And those who thus see him, are changed in heart, into the same image.

Thomas Charles (14 October 1755 – 5 October 1814) was a WelshCalvinistic Methodist clergyman who was at the center of the change and transformation akin to that of the apostolic era in North of Wales in 1770s. Charles became the leader of the people (‘Calvinistic Methodists’) whose God-anointed witness gathered thousands to the gospel. There was an outpouring of the Spirit of God with quality spiritual life.

Week 27

The Love of Solitude and Silence

“Vain and brief is all human comfort. Blessed and true is that comfort which is derived inwardly from the Truth.” These words by Thomas à Kempis in his book, The Imitation of Christ, shows us the right ordering of one’s priorities and the source of all comfort. This small and charming book is free from intellectual pretensions and appealing to those probing beyond the surface life. Here’s an excerpt about the importance of silence and solitude:

SEEK a suitable time for leisure and meditate often on the favors of God. Leave curiosities alone. Read such matters as bring sorrow to the heart rather than occupation to the mind. If you withdraw yourself from unnecessary talking and idle running about, from listening to gossip and rumors, you will find enough time that is suitable for holy meditation.

Very many great saints avoided the company of men wherever possible and chose to serve God in retirement. “As often as I have been among men,” said one writer, “I have returned less a man.” We often find this to be true when we take part in long conversations. It is easier to be silent altogether than not to speak too much. To stay at home is easier than to be sufficiently on guard while away. Anyone, then, who aims to live the inner and spiritual life must go apart, with Jesus, from the crowd.

No man appears in safety before the public eye unless he first relishes obscurity. No man is safe in speaking unless he loves to be silent. No man rules safely unless he is willing to be ruled. No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey. No man rejoices safely unless he has within him the testimony of a good conscience.

More than this, the security of the saints was always enveloped in the fear of God, nor were they less cautious and humble because they were conspicuous for great virtues and graces. The security of the wicked, on the contrary, springs from pride and presumption, and will end in their own deception.

Never promise yourself security in this life, even though you seem to be a good religious, or a devout hermit. It happens very often that those whom men esteem highly are more seriously endangered by their own excessive confidence. Hence, for many it is better not to be too free from temptations, but often to be tried lest they become too secure, too filled with pride, or even too eager to fall back upon external comforts.

If only a man would never seek passing joys or entangle himself with worldly affairs, what a good conscience he would have. What great peace and tranquillity would be his, if he cut himself off from all empty care and thought only of things divine, things helpful to his soul, and put all his trust in God.

No man deserves the consolation of heaven unless he persistently arouses himself to holy contrition. If you desire true sorrow of heart, seek the privacy of your cell and shut out the uproar of the world, as it is written: “In your chamber bewail your sins.” There you will find what too often you lose abroad.

Your cell will become dear to you if you remain in it, but if you do not, it will become wearisome. If in the beginning of your religious life, you live within your cell and keep to it, it will soon become a special friend and a very great comfort.

In silence and quiet the devout soul advances in virtue and learns the hidden truths of Scripture. There she finds a flood of tears with which to bathe and cleanse herself nightly, that she may become the more intimate with her Creator the farther she withdraws from all the tumult of the world. For God and His holy angels will draw near to him who withdraws from friends and acquaintances.

It is better for a man to be obscure and to attend to his salvation than to neglect it and work miracles. It is praiseworthy for a religious seldom to go abroad, to flee the sight of men and have no wish to see them.

Why wish to see what you are not permitted to have? “The world passes away and the concupiscence thereof.” Sensual craving sometimes entices you to wander around, but when the moment is past, what do you bring back with you save a disturbed conscience and heavy heart? A happygoing often leads to a sad return, a merry evening to a mournful dawn. Thus, all carnal joy begins sweetly but in the end brings remorse and death.

What can you find elsewhere that you cannot find here in your cell? Behold heaven and earth and all the elements, for of these all things are made. What can you see anywhere under the sun that will remain long? Perhaps you think you will completely satisfy yourself, but you cannot do so, for if you should see all existing things, what would they be but an empty vision?

Raise your eyes to God in heaven and pray because of your sins and shortcomings. Leave vanity to the vain. Set yourself to the things which God has commanded you to do. Close the door upon yourself and call to you Jesus, your Beloved. Remain with Him in your cell, for nowhere else will you find such peace. If you had not left it, and had not listened to idle gossip, you would have remained in greater peace. But since you love, sometimes, to hear news, it is only right that you should suffer sorrow of heart from it.

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) was a priest, monk and writer born in Kempen near Düsseldorf in Germany. He entered the monastery of Mount St. Agnes at 19 years old and spent the rest of his life behind the walls of that monastery. He devoted his time to prayer, study, copying manuscripts, teaching novices, offering Mass, and hearing the confessions of people who came to the monastery church. Thomas wrote a number of sermons, letters, hymns, and information about the lives of the saints. The Imitation of Christ was his most famous writings and is one of the most widely translated book in Christian literature.

Week 28

Don’t Load the Donkey of Devotion

In He Is There and He Is Not Silent, Francis Schaeffer addresses some of the most perplexing questions to believers and unbelievers alike. Questions like the existence of God, can we understand God or is it all guesswork? Or must we rely on some irrational experience? Does it even make sense to believe in God? Can we truly know God?

Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction of this small but profound book:

Francis Schaeffer believed passionately that Christianity is the truth about the universe in which we live. God is there, and he is not silent. God is not an idea projected from our minds, or from our longings, onto the giant screen of the heavens, a kind of superhuman created to meet our needs. God is not a thought in the system of a philosopher who cannot cope with having no answers to the dilemmas of our human existence. No, God truly exists, and he has spoken to us in the Bible to tell us about himself, about ourselves, and about our world. He has made known to us what we could never discover by ourselves in our questioning and searching.

God has revealed to us the truth about the world in which we live, the truth about our human existence and the truth about himself. He has spoken truly to us in his Word, and therefore, the message of the Bible fits with the nature of reality as we experience it. To use an image, the biblical account of human life fits like a glove on the hand of reality. Christianity is true to the way things are. “Schaeffer was deeply convinced of this, and indeed every believer should be convinced of this. When we stand up in a worship service and declare the affirmations of the Creed, we are saying what we believe to be true.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth”

“And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate;

Was crucified, dead and buried;

On the third day he rose again from the dead,

And ascended into heaven.

These affirmations are not like cartoon balloons floating loose in the air. No, they are statements about the way things truly are. The Christian is saying, “This is the truth about the world, about God, about history.”

Schaeffer used to say, “I am more sure of God’s existence than I am of my own!” That may sound strange or extreme, but he was simply acknowledging that if God did not exist, then we would not exist. His existence is prior to ours in time, of course, but also prior to ours as he is our Creator. Human life is possible for us because God lives.

In the same way, God’s moral perfection is prior to our understanding of morality. God’s character has always been one of holiness, goodness, and justice. It is because God is good that we can affirm that there is a difference between good and evil. “It is because God is good that we can commit ourselves to the pursuit of moral beauty. Morals are possible for us because God is moral.

In the same way, God’s love is prior to our love. The members of the Trinity have loved each other for all eternity, from “before the beginning,” as Schaeffer used to say. Because we are made in the image of our Creator, we are designed to love, designed for relationships —a relationship of love with our Creator and with one another. Love is possible for us because God is love.

In the same way, God’s knowledge is prior to our knowledge. God knows all things truly, and “exhaustively,” as Schaeffer would “say. We humans are created by God to have knowledge: knowledge about him, knowledge about ourselves, and knowledge about our world. We will never know exhaustively, for we are finite, but we can know truly, otherwise we would not be able to function at all in this world. Despite our fallen condition, we can still have true knowledge because of God’s commitment to care for us and for all creation, and because of His kindness in granting His wisdom to the whole human race. Knowledge is possible for us because God knows all things and because He upholds all things.

Because Christianity is the truth about the world in which we live and about our lives, it is proper for the Christian believer to encourage unbelievers to ask their questions, to express their doubts, and to raise their objections against Christianity. We do not need to say to the unbeliever, “Don’t ask questions – just believe!” We do not need to say, when a Christian has struggles and doubts, “Just pray harder!” Francis Schaeffer would say, “If you try to load every doubt, objection, and question on the donkey of devotion – “eventually the donkey will lay down and die, for it is being asked to bear a load God never intended it to bear.”

God has made himself known in his Word in such a way that we can think carefully about what he tells us. He has made himself known in the created order and in human nature in such a way that we can think carefully about what he has revealed. What God says is “true and reasonable” —to quote the apostle Paul when he is defending the message of the gospel.

In the same way, the apostle Peter encourages Christians to always be prepared to give a reasoned defense of their hope in Christ (1 Peter 3:15). Schaeffer saw this calling to be able to give a reasoned defense as part of the birthright of every believer. He was terribly distressed when people would come to his home at “the point of giving up their faith because no one in their church would take their questions seriously.”

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912–1984) was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. As a theologian and apologist, he authored more than twenty books, which have sold millions globally. He and his wife, Edith, founded the L’Abri Fellowship international study and discipleship centers. His mission in life is to relate Christianity to the surrounding culture and his works continue to have relevance today.

Week 29

True and False Sprits

In 1 John 4:1, apostle John warns us, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a Puritan pastor and one of the most important and original philosophical theologians of the Great Awakening, echoes this warning in one of his works: Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. May this excerpt helps us to see the need to discern between true and false spirits:

In the apostolic age, there was the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God that ever was; both as to his extraordinary influences and gifts, and his ordinary operations, in convincing, converting, enlightening, and sanctifying the souls of men. But as the influences of the true Spirit abounded, so counterfeits did also abound: the devil was abundant in mimicking, both the ordinary and extraordinary influences of the Spirit of God, as is manifest by innumerable passages of the apostles’ writings. This made it very necessary that the church of Christ should be furnished with some certain rules, distinguishing and clear marks, by which she might proceed safely in judging of the true from the false without danger of being imposed upon. The giving of such rules is the plain design of this chapter, where we have this matter more expressly and fully treated of than any where else in the Bible.

The apostle, of set purpose, undertakes to supply the church of God with such marks of the true Spirit as may be plain and safe, and well accommodated to use and practice; and that the subject might be clearly and sufficiently handled, he insists upon it throughout the chapter, which makes it wonderful that what is here said is no more taken notice of in this extraordinary day, when there is such an uncommon and extensive operation on the minds of people, such a variety of opinions concerning it, and so much talk about the work of the Spirit.

The apostle’s discourse on this subject is introduced by an occasional mention of the indwelling of the Spirit, as the sure evidence of an interest in Christ. “And he that keepeth his  commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him; and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” Whence we may infer, that the design of the apostle is not only to give marks whereby to distinguish the true Spirit from the false, in his extraordinary gifts of prophecy and miracles, but also in his ordinary influences on the minds of his people, in order to their union to Christ, and being built up in him; which is also manifest from the marks themselves that are given, which we shall hereafter notice.

The words of the text are an introduction to this discourse of the distinguishing signs of the true and false Spirit.—Before the apostle proceeds to lay down these signs, he exhorteth Christians, first, against an over credulousness, and a forwardness to admit every specious appearance as the work of a true Spirit. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” And, second, he shows, that there were many counterfeits, “because many false prophets were gone out into the world.” These did not only pretend to have the Spirit of God in his extraordinary gifts of inspiration, but also to be the great friends and favourites of heaven, to be eminently holy persons, and to have much of the ordinary saving, sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God on their hearts. Hence we are to look upon these words as a direction to examine and try their pretences to the Spirit of God, in both these respects.

My design therefore at this time is to show what are the true, certain, and distinguishing evidences of a work of the Spirit of God, by which we may safely proceed in judging of any operation we find in ourselves, or see in others. And here I would observe, that we are to take the Scriptures as our guide in such cases. This is the great and standing rule which God has given to his church, in order to guide them in things relating to the great concerns of their souls; and it is an infallible and sufficient rule. There are undoubtedly sufficient marks given to guide the church of God in this great affair of judging of spirits, without which it would lie open to woeful delusion, and would be remedilessly exposed to be imposed on and devoured by its enemies. And we need not be afraid to trust these rules.

Doubtless that Spirit who indited the Scriptures knew how to give us good rules, by which to distinguish his operations from all that is falsely pretended to be from him. And this, as I observed before, the Spirit of God has here done of set purpose, and done it more particularly and fully than any where else: so that in my present discourse I shall go no where else for rules or marks for the trial of spirits, but shall confine myself to those that I find in this chapter.—But before I proceed particularly to speak to these, I would prepare my way by, first, observing negatively, in some instances, what are not signs or evidences of a work of the Spirit of God.

Week 30

The Saints have Communion with God

In 1 John 1:3, Apostle John wrote that the fellowship of believers “is with the the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” To know God is to have fellowship with Him and commune with Him. John Owen (1616-1683), a prominent English Puritan theologian, church leader, and a prolific author, explains this communion in his classic Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Each Person Distinctly, in Love, Grace, and Consolation; or, The Saints’ Fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Unfolded (1657). Here’s an excerpt about the nature of this communion:

“Since sin entered the world, no man has had communion with God because of his sinful nature. He is light; we are darkness; and what communion has light with darkness? (2Cor.6:14). He is life; we are dead. He is love; we are enmity. What agreement can there be between us? Men in such a condition have neither Christ, nor hope, nor God in the world, Eph. 2:12. “Being alienated from the life of God through their ignorance,” chap. 4:18. Now, two cannot walk together unless they are agreed, Amos 3:3. So, while this distance between God and man exists, they cannot walk together in fellowship or communion. Our first interest in God was so lost by sin, that no recovery remained in ourselves. We deprived ourselves of all power to return to him. And God had not revealed that there was any way to regain access to him. Nor did he reveal that sinners could approach him in peace for any reason. Nothing that God made, and no attribute that he revealed, provided the least hint of such a possibility.

The manifestation of God’s grace and pardoning mercy is the only door we have to such communion. It is committed only to the one who atoned. He is the one in whom it is evidenced. He is the one by whom grace and mercy was purchased. He is the one through whom it is dispensed, and from whom it is revealed from the heart of the Father. Hence, this communion and fellowship with God is not expressly mentioned in the Old Testament. It is found there, but its clear light, and the boldness of faith contained in it, is discovered only in the gospel of the New Testament. There the Spirit administers it.

By the Spirit we have this liberty of communion, 2 Cor. 3:17, 18. Abraham was the friend, of God, Isa. 41:8. David was a man after his own heart. Enoch walked with him, Gen. 5:22. All of them enjoyed the substance of this communion and fellowship. But the way into the holiest of holies was not evident while the first tabernacle was still standing, Heb. 9:8. Although they had communion with God, they did not have parresian [NT:3954], Eph.3:12, which is a boldness and confidence in that communion. It came only after our High Priest entered into the most holy place, Heb. 4:16, 10:19. And so, the veil remained on those in the Old Testament. They did not have eleuterian [NT:1657], or freedom and liberty in their access to God, 2Cor. 3:15, 16, etc.

But in Christ we now have boldness and confident access to God, Eph. 3:12. The saints of old were not familiar with this. This distance from God is removed by Jesus Christ alone. He has consecrated a new and living way for us “through the veil, that is, his flesh,” Heb. 10:20. The old way is sealed. “Through him we have access by one Spirit to the Father,” Eph. 2:18. “You who sometimes were far off, are made close by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace…,” verses 13, 14. More of this foundation of our communion with God will follow afterward. On this new foundation, by this new and living way, sinners are admitted into communion with God. They have fellowship with him. It is a truly astonishing provision for sinners to have fellowship with God, the infinitely holy God.

Communion relates to things and persons. It means jointly participating in something, whether good or evil, duty or enjoyment, nature or actions. Sharing a common nature means all men have fellowship or communion in that nature. It is said of the elect, in Heb. 2:14, “Those children partook of” (shared or had fellowship with) “flesh and blood” (their common nature with mankind); “and, therefore, Christ likewise shared in the same fellowship.”

There is also communion as to our state or condition, whether good or evil, or things internal and spiritual. Such is the communion of saints among themselves, or with regard to their experience of outward things. Christ shared a condition with the two thieves. They were all sentenced to the cross, Luke 23:40. They shared the evil condition they were judged to suffer under. And one of them requested, and obtained, a share in that blessed condition our Savior would enter shortly.

There is also a communion or fellowship in actions, whether those actions are good or evil. Among good actions is the communion and fellowship that the saints enjoy in the gospel, or in performing and celebrating the worship of God that is instituted in the gospel, Phil. 1:5. David rejoices in the same general kind of actions, Ps. 42:4. Among evil actions, there was communion in that cruel act of revenge and murder shared between the brothers Simon and Levi in Gen. 49:5.

Our communion with God is no single one of these; indeed it excludes some of them. It cannot be natural communion. It must be voluntary and by consent. It cannot be communion in a shared state or condition, but in actions. It cannot be communion in shared actions on a third party. It must be shared actions between God and us. The infinite disparity between God and man made the great philosopher conclude that there could be no friendship between them. He could allow some undetermined closeness between friends; but in his understanding, there was no place for closeness between God and man.

Another says that while there is a certain fellowship between God and man, it is only the general interaction of providence. Some expressed higher regard for this communion, but they understood nothing of which they spoke. This knowledge is hidden in Christ, as will be made apparent later. It is too wonderful for our sinful and corrupted nature to comprehend. Guessing only leads to terror and fear of death if we were to come into the presence of God. But as was said, we have a new foundation, and a new revelation of this privilege.”

Week 31

The Troubled Heart

Jesus tells us in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Such precious words from our Lord Jesus Christ, to remind us to put our trust in Him. This is the premise of this devotional piece by Susannah Spurgeon, found in her book Free Grace and Dying Love.

Susannah Spurgeon was the wife of the famous Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. She was an author of books, a lover of the poor, a church-plant helper, and a devoted mother and grandmother. She started the Book Fund ministry to give out free theological books to ministers and missionaries. By the time of her death, over 200,000 volumes had been sent out. Her work expanded to include other ministries, such as the Pastors’ Aid Fund and the Westwood Clothing Society.

Though afflicted, chronically ill and room bound most of her life, she was determined to live with Christ as her life and the joy of others as her mission (Philippians 1:21–26). May you be encouraged by this little write-up:

“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

From whose lips do these tender words fall “like rain upon the mown grass”? Whose heart has such intimate knowledge of my need, and such profound sympathy with my weakness, as thus to meet both with the grace of His exceeding love?

It could be no other than “Jesus Christ Himself,” my gracious Lord and Master, who thus speaks, and I shall do well to ponder each weighty sentence as I listen to His loving voice.

“Let not your heart be troubled.” Dear Lord, these words of Yours, though so sweet, are imperative. They are a command, and should be instantly obeyed. Perhaps I have never before looked upon them in this light, never realized that, in carrying about within me a troubled spirit, I am acting in direct disobedience to Your bidding!”

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.” Say the words over again to me, dear Lord! Speak “as one having authority,” and, with Your gracious command, issue also the mighty power which will enable me to fulfill it. How often must I have grieved You by my lack of trust in Your tender love and care! How often must You have marveled at my foolishness, in attempting to bear burdens which might have been cast at Your feet!

“Let not your heart be troubled.” Truly, I hear a grave note of rebuke and disappointment mingling with the music of these sweet words on my Lord’s lips. It may indeed be so, dear Master, for after all that You have done and said — my heart should never be troubled. I ought not to “let” it be afraid. And yet how soon does fear overtake the steps of joyful assurance! How quickly do I pass out of the light of Your presence, into the deep shadow cast by the mountain of my sin!

Lord, help me to reason with myself about this, for a few moments, or rather, say unto me, “Come now, and let us reason together,” for then I know that Your infinite love will conclusively silence my fears, and hush all the disquietude of my soul.

Why should my heart be troubled? Is it on account of the overwhelming sense of sin and of unworthiness which sometimes threatens to crush all the spiritual energy out of my life? Then, I have but to turn again to “the fountain of blood”, and there see all my iniquities pardoned — because laid upon the Sin-bearer; all my guilt forgiven — because He suffered in my stead. Can I keep a troubled heart — when He died that I might have peace through believing? Can I have trusted Him with my soul’s salvation — and yet permit myself to doubt whether He has truly saved me?

Why should my heart be troubled? Is it the things which are seen and temporal, which are distressing me? The cares of this life, the struggle for daily bread, perhaps, or if not that, the thousand vexations and disappointments which are the lot of our poor humanity?

Come again to your dear Lord, my soul, and bring to His feet all that perplexes and grieves you. You will surely hear Him say, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid; all your sorrows are known to Me, and I am guiding and directing all that concerns you. Is it more difficult to trust My love in earthly ills — than for eternal joys?”

Why should my heart be troubled or afraid? There is nothing on earth or in Hell, which can harm a soul who believes in Jesus. Every fear is put to flight — by His perfect love. Even the fear of death — so great a bondage in some lives — is lifted quite away — when “God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Blessed Lord, help me to be obedient to Your command, and to receive meekly Your well-deserved rebuke, glorifying You henceforth in my daily life by a restful faith, which nothing can disturb or dismay! The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose — ought never to know trouble or fear.

Week 32

The Deep Spirituality of the Word of God

M. Bounds may be a familiar name to those who have read his books on prayer. Born Edward McKendree Bounds (1835 – 1913), he was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, an associate editor of the official Methodist newspaper (The Christian Advocate) and author of eleven books, nine of which focused on the subject of prayer.

He prayed for long years in solitary prayer vigils for the needs of the world, taking the command, ‘pray without ceasing’ almost literally. Out of these prayer vigils came his teachings on prayer. In his book The Necessity of Prayer, Bounds reminds us of the vital need for the Word of God in prayer. “The word of God is the food by which prayer is nourished and made strong.” Here’s an excerpt from this powerful little book:

In Psalm 19, David magnifies the Word of God in six statements concerning it. It converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures eternally, and is true and righteous altogether. The Word of God is perfect, sure, right, pure. It is heart-searching, and at the same time purifying, in its effect. It is no surprise therefore that after considering the deep spirituality of the Word of God, its power to search the inner nature of man, and its deep purity, the Psalmist should close his dissertation with this passage:

“Who can understand his errors?” And then praying after this fashion: “Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”

James recognizes the deep spirituality of the Word, and its inherent saving power, in the following exhortation: “Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

And Peter talks along the same line, when describing the saving power of the Word of God:

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

Not only does Peter speak of being born again, by the incorruptible Word of God, but he informs us that to grow in grace we must be like new-born babes, desiring or feeding upon the “sincere milk of the Word.”

That is not to say, however, that the mere form of words as they occur in the Bible have in them any saving efficacy. But the Word of God, be it remembered, is impregnated with the Holy Spirit. And just as there is a Divine element in the words of Scripture, so also is the same Divine element to be found in all true preaching of the Word, which is able to save and convert the soul.

Prayer invariably begets a love for the Word of God, and sets people to the reading of it. Prayer leads people to obey the Word of God, and puts into the heart which obeys a joy unspeakable. Praying people and Bible-reading people are the same sort of folk. The God of the Bible and the God of prayer are one. God speaks to man in the Bible; man speaks to God in prayer. One reads the Bible to discover God’s will; he prays in order that he may receive power to do that will.

Bible reading and praying are the distinguishing traits of those who strive to know and please God. And just as prayer begets a love for the Scriptures, and sets people to reading the Bible, so, also, does prayer cause men and women to visit the house of God, to hear the Scriptures expounded. Church-going is closely connected with the Bible, not so much because the Bible cautions us against “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is,” but because in God’s house, God’s chosen minister declares His Word to dying men, explains the Scriptures, and enforces their teachings upon his hearers. And prayer germinates a resolve, in those who practise it, not to forsake the house of God.

Prayer begets a church-going conscience, a church-loving heart, a church-supporting spirit. It is the praying people, who make it a matter of conscience, to attend the preaching of the Word; who delight in its reading; exposition; who support it with their influence and their means. Prayer exalts the Word of God and gives it preeminence in the estimation of those who faithfully and wholeheartedly call upon the Name of the Lord.

Prayer draws its very life from the Bible, and has no standing ground outside of the warrant of the Scriptures. Its very existence and character is dependent on revelation made by God to man in His holy Word. Prayer, in turn, exalts this same revelation, and turns men toward that Word. The nature, necessity and all-comprehending character of prayer, is based on the Word of God.

Week 33

A Broken Heart is Esteemed by God

King David wrote in Psalm 51:7, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” John Bunyan in his book, “The Acceptable Sacrifice,” explores the transformative power of the broken heart and a contrite spirit. Bunyan expounds how human goodness can hinder our relationship with God and and the importance of having a heart that is willing to be shattered when we confront our own sinful nature. Here’s an excerpt from chapter V on the reasons why a broken heart is esteemed by God:

And so, I have concluded the previous section and will now proceed to discuss the reasons behind this point. My aim is to demonstrate why and how a broken heart, a truly contrite heart, is considered such an excellent thing to God. We have already proven its significance to him through six demonstrations, explained its nature through six signs, and established its necessity through the nine reasons previously mentioned. Now, let me reveal why a broken heart is regarded as excellent by God.

Firstly, a broken heart is the work of God himself. It is a heart that God has prepared for his own purposes. It is a sacrifice provided by him, for himself, just as Abraham said in another instance, “God will provide himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8).

This is why it is said, “The preparations of the heart in man, etc., are from the Lord.” And also, “God makes my heart soft, and the Almighty troubles me” (Job 23:16). The heart, by its very nature, is hard, dull, and impenetrable. It remains as such, and will continue to do so, until God, as mentioned before, breaks it with his hammer and melts it with his fire. It is said that God takes away the stony nature of the heart. “I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you,” he says, “a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). I will remove the hardness, stoniness, and stubbornness from your heart, and I will give you a heart that is sensitive, soft, malleable, obedient, and penitent.

Sometimes, God instructs people to rend their hearts, not because they are capable of doing so, but rather to convince them that, although it must be done, they are unable to accomplish it themselves. He also commands them to create a new heart and a new spirit for the same purpose. If God does not rend the heart, it remains unbroken; if God does not make it new, it remains old.

This is what is meant by God bending men to himself and working in them that which is pleasing in his sight (Zechariah 9:13). The heart, soul, or spirit, as it originally came from God’s hands, is a precious thing, valued by God more than the entire world. However, sin has hardened this heart, the devil has deceived it, and the world has ensnared it. This beguiled heart is what God desires and covets. “My son,” he says, “give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways” (Proverbs 23:26).

But man cannot fulfill this command because his heart has dominion over him, leading him astray towards all forms of vanity. So what must be done? God must forcefully seize the heart, using his power to bring it into alignment with his Word. However, the heart itself will not comply; it is deceived and drawn towards entities other than God. Therefore, God takes up his sword, humbles the heart through labor, opens it up, casts out the strong man who guarded it, inflicts wounds upon it, and causes it to feel the pain of its rebellion, leading it to cry out. In this way, he rectifies the heart for himself. “He wounds, and his hands make whole” (Job 5:18). Having fashioned it for himself, it becomes his dwelling place. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17).

However, let us not digress from the matter at hand. I have already mentioned that a broken heart is the work of God, a sacrifice he has prepared for himself. It is a material perfectly suited to him.

1. By breaking the heart, God opens it and makes it a vessel for the graces of his Spirit. It becomes a cabinet where God stores the precious jewels of the gospel. He instills his fear in it, writes his law upon it, and fills it with his Spirit. “I will put my fear in their hearts,” he declares. “I will write my law in their hearts.” “I will put my Spirit within you” (Jeremiah 31:31–33; 32:39–41; Ezekiel 36:26, 27). I affirm that God chooses the heart as his cabinet, where he hides his treasures, where justice, mercy, and every grace of God reside. However, this is only true when the heart is broken, contrite, and governed by the holy Word.
2. A broken heart, when it is like fragrant gums and spices that have been beaten, releases a sweet aroma. Just as such fragrances captivate the senses of men, a broken heart emits its sweet fragrance into the presence of God. In the past, incense, which symbolized prayer, had to be beaten or crushed before being burned in the censer. Similarly, the heart must be broken and crushed for its sweet scent to be released. It is through groans, cries, and sighs for God’s mercy that a broken heart offers its pleasing fragrance to him.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was an English minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), a Christian classic that expresses the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and the allegory The Holy War (1682).

Week 34

The Hidden Life Makes the Character

Scripture tells us in in 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV), “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

In his book “The Hidden Life,” J. R. Miller delves into the profound realities of this verse—to live closer to the heart of God, nothing is more important than a hidden life that is pure, beautiful, and true. It is the hidden life which makes the character. May you be inspired by Miller’s timeless wisdom to nurture an inner life that reflects God. Here’s an excerpt for your reflection:

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart!” 1 Samuel 16:7. In a sense, all life is hidden. The blood courses through the veins as the heart keeps throbbing, throbbing, day and night. You can lay your finger on your wrist and feel the pulsings. The lungs also continue breathing, inhaling, exhaling, without pause, from infancy’s first gasp until at last watching friends say, “He is gone!” Pulsings, breathings—yes; but have you found the life? What is it that keeps the heart throbbing and the lungs respiring? “Life,” you say. Yes—but what is life?

Take the mind. It is very active. One man thinks, and writes beautiful poems or charming stories. Another thinks and puts marvelous visions on canvas, or throws great bridges over rivers, or erects a noble cathedral. But who ever saw the process of thought? Mental life is hidden.

Take heart life—the life you lived yesterday, with its hopes and fears, its joys and sorrows, its pleasures and pains, its cares and its affections, its thousand varying experiences. Does the world know what is going on in your heart today—or any day? People see the smile or the shadow which flits across your face—but they do not see the emotion which produced it. Even to your closest bosom friend your life is unrevealed, cannot be revealed. Says Keble— “Not even the tenderest heart next to our own. Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh.”

Take spiritual life. We see the effects of the Holy Spirit’s work—new dispositions, new conduct, new character; but the divine spark of spiritual life—we cannot see as it comes down from above. It is secret, hidden. One day you are sad, disheartened; and, taking up your Bible, you find a sweet word of promise, a revealing of God’s love—and into your heart there comes a strange peace. One day you are in sorrow. A friend sits down beside you, and speaks a few words of strong comfort. You are calmed and quieted. Yet no one sees any of these processes. They are hidden, secret.

There is an inspired word which says, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The thought is wonderfully bold and strong. Christ is the source of the Christian life. Christ is in the heaven with God, in God, wrapped up in the very glory of divinity. Hence the Christian’s life is with Christ in God. Its source is thus in the very heart of God.

Outside an old garden wall hung a great branch covered with purple clusters of grapes. No root was visible anywhere; and those who saw it wondered how the vine grew, how its life was nourished, where its roots clung. It was then discovered that the great vine from which this branch sprung, grew inside the garden. There it had an immense root, with a stem like the trunk of a tree.

This one branch had pushed out over the wall and hung there, bearing in the mellow autumn its clusters of luscious fruit.

Likewise—every Christian life in this world is a branch of a great vine which grows in heaven—a branch growing outside the wall. “Your life is hidden with Christ in God. We have heaven’s life in us in this world. The fruits which grow upon our life are heavenly fruits. Jesus spoke of giving his own peace to his disciples. He prayed that they might have his joy fulfilled in themselves. We read too that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness—are fruits of the Holy Spirit. Thus in our human experience in this world—we are drawing our life and its support from the hidden source of life which is in the heart of God. This assures us of its security. It is beyond the reach of earthly harm.

Herein, too, lies the secret of the quiet peace which we find so often in Christian sufferers. In all their pain they are sustained by some hidden strength which the world cannot understand. They are drawing their life from a source which no earthly experience can reach or affect.

“Oh! There are some who, while on earth they dwell,

And seem to differ little from the throng,

Already to the heavenly choir belong,
And even hear the same sweet anthem swell.
They joy, at times, with joy unspeakable,
Pouring to him they love their heartfelt song;
While to behold him face to face they long,
As the parched traveler for the cooling well.
Ask you how such from other may be known?
Mark those whose look is calm, their brow serene,
Gentle their words, love breathing in each tone,
Scattering rich blessings all around unseen.
They draw each hour—from living founts above—
The streams they pour around of peace and joy and love.”

James Russell Miller (1840 – 1912) was a popular and prolific Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois. The deepest passion of his life was to know and love Jesus Christ and as he often repeat again and again, “Jesus and I are friends!“

Week 35

Intercession Every Christian’s Duty

George Whitefield (1714–1770), was a Church of England’s evangelist and one of the most well-known religious figure of the eighteenth-century English-speaking world. In a little less than thirty-four years of ministry, Whitefield preached about eighteen thousand sermons and stimulates the 18th-century Protestant revival throughout Britain and the American Colonies.

Some of his sermons was collected into a book called Select Sermons of George Whitefield. Today’s excerpt is from one of Whitefiled’s sermon on intercession where he stressed the importance of praying for others and the neglect of intercession is a sign of lack of love amongst Christians. May you be encouraged to learn more about intercession and to do this labour of love:

“But farther, to excite you to the constant practice of this duty of intercession, consider the many instances in holy scripture, of the power and efficacy of it. Great and excellent things are there recorded as the effects of this divine employ. It has stopped plagues, it has opened and shut heaven; and has frequently turned away God’s fury from his people. How was Abimelech’s house freed from the disease God sent amongst them, at the intercession of Abraham! When “Phineas stood up and prayed,” how soon did the plague cease! When Daniel humbled and afflicted his soul, and interceded for the Lord’s inheritance, how quickly was an angel dispatched to tell him, “his prayer was heard!” And, to mention but one instance more, how does God own himself as it were overcome with the importunity of Moses, when he was interceding for his idolatrous people, “Let me alone,” says God!

This sufficiently shows, I could almost say, the omnipotency of intercession, and how we may, like Jacob, wrestle with God, and by an holy violence prevail both for ourselves and others. And no doubt it is owing to the secret and prevailing intercessions of the few righteous souls who still remain among us, that God has yet spared this miserably sinful nation: for were there not some such faithful ones, like Moses, left to stand in the gap, we should soon be destroyed, even as was Sodom, and reduced to ashes like unto Gomorrah.

But, to stir you up yet farther to this exercise of intercession, consider, that in all probability, it is the frequent employment even of the glorified saints: for though they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, and restored to the glorious liberty of the sons of God, yet as their happiness cannot be perfectly consummated till the resurrection of the last day, when all their brethren will be glorified with them, we cannot but think they are often importunate in beseeching our heavenly Father, shortly to accomplish the number of his elect, and to hasten his kingdom.

And shall now we, who are on earth, be often exercised in this divine employ with the glorious company of the spirits of just men made perfect? Since our happiness is so much to consist in the communion of saints in the church triumphant above, shall we not frequently intercede for the church militant here below; and earnestly beg, that we may all be one, even as the Holy Jesus and his Father are one, that we may also be made perfect in one?

To provoke you to this great work and labor of love, remember, that it is the never ceasing employment of the holy and highly exalted Jesus himself, who sits at the right hand of God, to hear all our prayers, and to make continual intercession for us! So that he who is constantly employed in interceding for others, is doing that on earth, which the eternal Son of God is always doing in heaven.

Imagine therefore, when you are lifting up holy hands in prayer for one another, that you see the heavens opened, and the Son of God in all his glory, as the great high-priest of your salvation, pleading for you the all-sufficient merit of his sacrifice before the throne of his heavenly Father! Join then your intercessions with his, and beseech him, that they may, through him, come up as incense, and be received as a sweet-smelling favor, acceptable in the sight of God! This imagination will strengthen your faith, excite a holy earnestness in your prayers, and make you wrestle with God, as Jacob did, when he saw him face to face, and his life was preserved; as Abraham, when he pleaded for Sodom; and as Jesus Christ himself, when he prayed, being in an agony, so much the more earnestly the night before his bitter passion.

And now, brethren, what shall I say more, since you are taught of Jesus Christ himself, to abound in love, and in this good work of praying one for another. Though ever so mean, though as poor as Lazarus, you will then become benefactors to all mankind; thousands, and twenty times ten thousands, will then be blessed for your sakes! And after you have employed a few years in this divine exercise here, you will be translated to that happy place, where you have so often wished others might be advanced; and be exalted to sit at the right hand of our All-powerful, All-prevailing Intercessor, in the kingdom of his heavenly Father hereafter.”

Week 36

Humility : The Secret of Redemption

In his book, Humility: The Beauty of Holiness, Andrew Murray explores the profound significance of humility as a central virtue in the Christian faith. He posits that true holiness is inextricably linked to a deep sense of humility, and humility is both a virtue and a source of grace. Humility is the natural state in which creation should exist in relation to the Creator. This understanding of humility can lead to greater holiness in our daily living, whether physical or spiritual. May this excerpt encourages you to dwell deeper into the connection between humility and holiness.

“In this view it is of inconceivable importance that we should have right thoughts of what Christ is, of what really constitutes Him the Christ, and specially of what may be counted His chief characteristic, the root and essence of all His character as our Redeemer. There can be but one answer: it is His humility. What is the incarnation but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And what is His atonement but humility? ‘He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.’ And what is His ascension and His glory, but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? ‘He humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.’

In heaven, where He was with the Father, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His sitting on the throne, it is all, it is nothing but humility. Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us. As the love and condescension of God makes Him the benefactor and helper and servant of all, so Jesus of necessity was the Incarnate Humility. And so He is still in the midst of the throne, the meek and lowly Lamb of God.

If this be the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every branch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus,—if humility be the secret of His atonement,—then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else. (See Note B.)

Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and fruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is unknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt, when that in which Christ found it and brings it, is so little sought? Until a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and death of self; which gives up all the honour of men as Jesus did, to seek the honour that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and counts itself nothing, that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be exalted,—until such a humility be what we seek in Christ above our chief joy, and welcome at any price, there is very little hope of a religion that will conquer the world.

I cannot too earnestly plead with my reader, if possibly his attention has never yet been specially directed to the want there is of humility within him or around him, to pause and ask whether he sees much of the spirit of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in those who are called by His name. Let him consider how all want of love, all indifference to the needs, the feelings, the weakness of others; all sharp and hasty judgments and utterances, so often excused under the plea of being outright and honest; all manifestations of temper and touchiness and irritation; all feelings of bitterness and estrangement, have their root in nothing but pride, that ever seeks itself, and his eyes will be opened to see how a dark, shall I not say a devilish pride, creeps in almost everywhere, the assemblies of the saints not excepted.

Let him begin to ask what would be the effect, if in himself and around him, if towards fellow-saints and the world, believers were really permanently guided by the humility of Jesus; and let him say if the cry of our whole heart, night and day, ought not to be, Oh for the humility of Jesus in myself and all around me! Let him honestly fix his heart on his own lack of the humility which has been revealed in the likeness of Christ’s life, and in the whole character of His redemption, and he will begin to feel as if he had never yet really known what Christ and His salvation is.

Believer! study the humility of Jesus. This is the secret, the hidden root of thy redemption. Sink down into it deeper day by day. Believe with thy whole heart that this Christ, whom God has given thee, even as His divine humility wrought the work for thee, will enter in to dwell and work within thee too, and make thee what the Father would have thee be.”

Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) was a South African Dutch Reformed Church minister, writer, teacher, tneologian and mission organiser. He considered missions to be “the chief end of the church.” He helped found three key missionary organizations and two colleges and wrote 250 publications. He is best known today for his devotional writings, including Abide in Christ, With Christ in the School of Prayer and Waiting on God. Murray’s two most important books are The Key to the Mission Problem and The State of the Church.

Week 37

Solid Food to Train Power of Discernment

In Hebrews 5:11-14, apostle Paul reproofs us, “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a Puritan pastor and one of the most important and original philosophical theologians of the Great Awakening, expounds on this reproof in one of his sermons: Christian Knowledge. May this excerpt encourages us to grow in maturity through the Word and not become dull of hearing or remain a babe:

“These words are a complaint, which the apostle makes against the Christian Hebrews, for their want of such proficiency in the knowledge of the doctrines and mysteries of religion, as might have been expected of them. The apostle complains, that they had not made that progress in their acquaintance with the things taught in the oracles of God, which they ought to have made. And he means to reprove them, not merely for their deficiency in spiritual and experimental knowledge of divine things, but for their deficiency in a doctrinal acquaintance with the principles of religion, and the truths of Christian divinity; as is evident by the manner in which the apostle introduces this reproof.

The occasion of his introducing it is this: In the next text but one preceding. he mentions Christ as being ” Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” In the Old Testament, the oracles of God, Melchizedek was held forth as an eminent type of Christ; and the account we there have of him contains many gospel mysteries. These mysteries the apostle was willing to point out to the Christian Hebrews; but he apprehended, that through their weakness in knowledge, they would not understand him; and therefore breaks off for the present from saying any thing about Melchizedek, thus (ver. 11.) “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered; seeing ye are all dull of hearing;” i.e. there are many things concerning Melchizedek which contain wonderful gospel-mysteries, and which I would take notice of to you, were it not that I am afraid, that through your dulness, and backwardness in understanding these things, you would only be puzzled and confounded by my discourse, and so receive no benefit; and that it would be too hard for you, as meat that is too strong.

Then come in the words of the text: ” For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” As much as to say, Indeed it might have been expected of you, that you should have known enough of the Holy Scriptures, to be able to understand and digest such mysteries: but it is not so with you. The apostle speaks of their proficiency in such knowledge as is conveyed by human teaching: as appears by that expression, ” When for the time ye ought to be teachers;” which includes not only a practical and experimental, but also a doctrinal, knowledge of the truths and mysteries of religion.

Again, the apostle speaks of such knowledge, whereby Christians are enabled to understand those things in divinity which are more abstruse and difficult to be understood, and which require great skill in things of this nature. This is more fully expressed in the two next verses: ” For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” It is such knowledge, that proficiency in it shall carry persons beyond the first principles of religion. As here; ” Ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” Therefore the apostle, in the beginning of the next chapter, advises them ” to leave the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and to go on unto perfection.”

We may observe that the fault of this defect appears, in that they had not made proficiency according to their time.-For the time, they ought to have been teachers. As they were Christians, their business was to learn and gain Christian knowledge. They were scholars in the school of Christ; and if they had improved their time in learning, as they ought to have done, they might, by the time when the apostle wrote, have been fit to be teachers in this school. To whatever business any one is devoted, it may be expected that his perfection in it shall be answerable to the time he has had to learn and perfect himself.-Christians should not always remain babes, but should grow in Christian knowledge; and leaving the food of babes, they should learn to digest strong meat.”

Week 38

Respectable Sins

In his book, Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges addresses sins that bring dishonour to God but are often overlooked among Christians. This is what he says about his book: “The motivation for this book stems from a growing conviction that those of us whom I call conservative evangelicals may have become so preoccupied with some of the major sins of society around us that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own more ‘refined’ or subtle sins.” Here’s an excerpt to help us consider those subtle, dangerous, respectable sins:

“We present-day believers have, to some extent, been influenced by the “feel good about myself” philosophy of our times. By contrast, believers in the Puritan era of the seventeenth century had a different view of themselves. They feared the reality of sin still dwelling in them. I have in my library four books on sin by pastors of that era. Here are their titles: The Sinfulness of Sin, The Mischief of Sin, The Anatomy of Secret Sins, The Evil of Evils or The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin.

These pastors all saw sin for what it actually is: a diabolical force within us.

Ralph Venning, the author of The Sinfulness of Sin, uses especially colorful (in the negative sense) words to describe sin. Over the space of only a few pages, he says that sin is vile, ugly, odious, malignant, pestilent, pernicious, hideous, spiteful, poisonous, virulent, villainous, abominable, and deadly.

Take a few moments to ponder those words so as to get the full impact of them. Those words describe not just the scandalous sins of society but also the respectable sins we tolerate in our own lives. Think of such tolerated sins as impatience, pride, resentment, frustration, and self-pity. Do they seem odious and pernicious to you? They really are. To tolerate those sins in our spiritual lives is as dangerous as to tolerate cancer in our bodies. Seemingly small sins can lead to more serious ones. Lustful looks often lead to pornography addiction and perhaps even adultery. Murder often has its genesis in anger, which grows into bitterness, then to hatred, and finally the murder.

About this time, you may be tempted to throw this book across the room. You didn’t pick it up to be condemned or to have your subtle sins exposed. So far everything in this book seems dark and dismal. You want to be encouraged, not condemned. If you feel that way, I appeal to you to stay with me. We are indeed going to get to some good news later on. But for now, we’ve got to continue to explore the bad news. In fact, it is going to get worse. When we see how really bad the bad news is, we’ll be in a better position to appreciate how really good the good news is.

So how does the already bad news get worse? So far we’ve looked at our sin as it affects us. We’ve seen its malignant tendency in both our lives and the lives of others around us. The more important issue, however, is how our sin affects God. Someone has described sin as cosmic treason. If that seems like an overstatement, consider that the word transgression in the Bible, as seen for example in Leviticus 16:21, actually means rebellion against authority — in this case, God’s authority. So when I gossip, I am rebelling against God. When I harbor resentful thoughts toward someone instead of forgiving him or her in my heart, I am rebelling against God.

In Isaiah 6:1-8, the prophet Isaiah sees a vision of God in His absolute majesty. He hears angelic beings calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (verse 3). Any Jew would have understood that the threefold repetition of the word holy is intended to convey the highest possible degree of holiness. In other words, God is said to be infinitely holy. But what does it mean to say that God is infinitely holy? Certainly it speaks of His absolute moral purity, but it means much more than that. Primarily, the word holy, when used of God, speaks of His infinite, transcendent majesty. It speaks of His sovereign reign over all His creation. Therefore, when we sin, when we violate the law of God in any way, be it ever so small in our eyes, we rebel against the sovereign authority and transcendent majesty of God. To put it bluntly, our sin is an assault on the majesty and sovereign rule of God. It is indeed cosmic treason.

Jerry Bridges (1929 –2016) was an evangelical Christian author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators for more than 50 years. He was a prolific author with numerous best selling and award winning books including The Pursuit of Holiness, Holiness Day by Day and The Discipline of Grace.

Week 39

Why Are We Not Happy?

W. Tozer’s book, The Attributes of God Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart, brings us on an inspiring journey into the Father’s heart. He seeks to answer the question “What is God Like?” through these ten chapters on God’s attributes, such as His goodness, justice, mercy, grace, holiness, etc. Here’s an excerpt from this inspiring and insightful book:

“As Lady Julian thought about this she said, “If this is all true, then why be we not all of great ease of heart and soul? Why aren’t Christians the happiest, the most easeful people in all the wide world?” Then she “answered her own question: “Because we seek to have our rest in things that are so little. This hazelnut into which is condensed all that is—we try to find our pleasure in those little things.”

What is it that makes you happy? What cheers you up and gives your morale a lift? Is it your job? Is it the fact that you have good clothes? Is it that you’ve married well or have a fine position? Just what is it that brings you joy?

That’s our trouble. We know that God is so vast that in comparison everything is just the size of a hazelnut. And yet we’re not a happy people because we’ve got our minds set on things. We multiply things, and we increase things and we perfect things. We beautify things and put our confidence in things and God. We have our job and God; we have our husband and God; we have our strong body and God; we have our good job and God; we have our home and God. We have our ambition for the future and God, and so we put God as a plus sign after something else.

“All the great souls of the world from David and Paul and Augustine and all the rest down through this present hour—every responsible writer who has ever been illuminated from the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit has said the same thing. And whether he came from one school of Christian thought or another, as long as he was orthodox and spiritual he said the same thing: Our problem is that we are putting our confidence in things and not in God. And Julian said, “God showed me that all things are only the size of the hazelnut. Why therefore should I put my confidence in things so little that God has to hold it together? Why should I trust things?”

“We multiply, we increase, and still we’re anxious and unsatisfied. Why? Because all that is beneath God will not satisfy us. God made you in His image and you’re stuck with it. God did not make the chimpanzee in His image. He did not make the horse, that symphony in motion, in His image. God did not make that beautiful bird that the poet says “sings darkling… his nocturnal note” in His image. God made him beautiful, but He didn’t make him in His image.”

God made only you in His image and you’re stuck with it, sinner and Christian both. You’re made in the image of God, and nothing short of God will satisfy you. And even if you happen to be one of those “nickle-in-the-slot, get saved, escape hell and take heaven” Christians (that poor little kindergarten view of heaven), remember one thing—even you will find over the years that you are not content with “things plus God.” You’ll have to have God minus all things.

You may ask me, “Don’t you have things?” Sure I do. God knows that I don’t have much, only a lot of books. I have a wife and some children and grandchildren and friends—I have all that.

“But as soon as I set my hopes and comforts upon things and people I’ll lose something out of my heart. It dare not be things and God, it dare not be people and God: it must be God and nothing else. Then whatever else God gives us, we can hold at arm’s length and hold it dear for Jesus’ sake. And we can love it for His sake, but it is not necessary to our happiness. If there’s anything necessary to your eternal happiness but God, you’re not yet the kind of Christian that you ought to be. For only God is the true rest.”

“God takes great pleasure in having a helpless soul come to Him simply and plainly and intimately. He takes pleasure in having us come to Him. This kind of Christianity doesn’t draw big crowds. It draws only those who have their hearts set on God, who want God more than they want anything else in the world. These people want the spiritual experience that comes from knowing God for Himself. They could “have everything stripped away from them and still have God.

These people are not vastly numerous in any given locality. This kind of Christianity doesn’t draw big crowds, but it is likely to draw the hungriest ones, the thirstiest ones and some of the best ones. And so God takes great pleasure in having helpless people come to Him, simply and plainly and intimately. He wants us to come without all that great overloading of theology. He wants us to come as simply and as plainly as a little child. And if the Holy Spirit touches you, you’ll come like that.”

Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897—1963) was an influential American pastor in the Christian and Missionary Alliance. A. W. Tozer was often called a “twentieth-century prophet” and an “evangelical mystic” due to his emphasis on the inner life and a deeper knowledge of God. His preaching and his writings were extensions of his prayer life and he is known to spend more time on his knees than at his desk.

Week 40

Joy in the Lord

John Wesley (1703 – 1791) was an Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and founder of the religious movement that became the Methodist Church. In 1738, he had a profound experience where he had the assurance and trust in Christ alone for salvation. Soon afterwards Wesley began his career as a preacher, preaching outdoors to enormous working-class audiences. He preached about 40,000 sermons and travelled 250,000 miles until his death in 1791. He brought reforms on social issues like prison reform and universal education.

Today’s sharing is from one of Wesley’s sermon on “Joy in the Lord”. May you also find fullness of joy in His presence. Here’s an excerpt from his sermon:

JOY IN THE LORD, OPENED IN A SERMON, PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S, MAY 6. PHIL. 4:4. Rejoice in the LORD always; and again I say, rejoice.

THERE is nothing which believers either more willingly hear, or more difficultly observe, than those precepts which invite them to joy and gladness; they being on the one hand so suitable to the natural desires, and yet on the other so dissonant to the miserable condition of sinful man. Had our Apostle called on the blessed angels to rejoice, who have neither sin, nor sorrow, nor fear, nor sufferings, nor enemies to annoy them, it might have seemed far more congruous: But what is it less than a paradox to persuade poor creatures, loaded with guilt, defiled with corruption, clothed with infirmities, assaulted with temptations, hated, persecuted, afflicted by SATAN and the world, compassed about with dangers and sorrows, “born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward,” that, notwithstanding all this, ” they may rejoice, and rejoice always” But we have a double corrective to all these doubts in the text; one in the object, another in the preacher of this joy.

The object of it is CHRIST the LORD, as appears by the same thing twice before mentioned. (Chap. 3:1. 3.) The LORD that pardoneth our guilt, subdueth our lusts, healeth our infirmities, rebuketh our temptations, vanquisheth our enemies, sweeteneth our sufferings, heighteneth our consolations above our afflictions, and at last ” wipeth all tears from our eyes.” Here is matter of great joy, if we may be satisfied in the truth of it: And for that we have the word of an Apostle, who gave assurance of it by divine revelation, and by personal experience. He who, next to the LORD himself, was of all his servants a man of sorrow, in ” afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in perils, in deaths, in weariness, in watchings, in hunger, in thirst, in cold, in nakedness, beaten with rods, stoned with stones, shipwrecked at sea, beset at land;” he who in the prison, the inner prison, the stocks, (a kind of case of prisons one within another,) did yet rejoice and sing psalms unto Gov: (Acts 16:24, 25:) He it is, who from the LORD calls upon believers to ” rejoice always.”

The servants of GOD may then securely, notwithstanding their sorrow for sin, their sense of sufferings, their certainty of temptations, their conflicts with enemies, their sympathy with brethren, yet I say securely ” Rejoice:” and ” rejoice always” they have the LORD to warrant it, they have his Apostles to witness it. Let worldlings delight in sensual pleasures, let false Apostles delight in carnal worship, and ceremonial privileges; but you, my brethren, have another kind of object to fix your joys upon: ” Rejoice in the LORD, and again rejoice,” and rejoice ” always” and that upon the word and credit of an Apostle.

There are many particulars couched in the words.

1. The subject of them, spiritual joy, or an holy exultation of the soul in the LORD, as the most beloved, desired, supreme good, wrought in it by the SPIRIT of grace, rendering CHRIST by faith present unto it; whereby it is not only supported under all afflictions, but enabled to glory in them, and to triumph over them.
2. The difficulty of this joy intimated, in that believers are so often invited to it.
3. The sureness and the greatness of it, noted in the doubling of the words.
4. The stability and perpetuity of it; they may rejoice always in the midst of their sorest fears or distresses.
5. The object of it, a glorious and replenishing object, CHRIST the LORD.

(I. The apostolical attention given unto it, ” again I say, rejoice; ” I speak it by commission from the mouth of CHRIST requiring it; I speak it by the experience of mine own heart, enjoying it in the midst of all my sufferings: ” Rejoice in the LORD always and again I say, rejoice.” But, because I love not to crumble the bread of life into too many particulars, I shall comprise all in this one proposition, which I shall make the subject of my present service: That the LORD JESUS is the great, sure, and perpetual joy of his people.

By accident, unto wicked and impenitent sinners, he is a stumbling block; as wholesome meat is offensive to sick stomachs, and the light of the sun to distempered eyes: But to those that believe, he is altogether lovely, precious, and desirable. “Abraham rejoiced” to see his day; “Mary rejoiced” more that he was her SAVIOR than her SON; SIMEON embraced him with a Nunc dimittis; MATTHEW made a great feast to receive him; ZACCHEUS entertained him at his house joyfully; the Eunuch, as soon as he knew him, went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:39.) The gaoler, who even now was ready to have killed himself, when CHRIST was preached unto him, rejoiced and believed. CHRIST is the Author of our joy; he calls it His “joy.” (John 15:11.) It is the work and fruit of his SPIRIT. (Gal. 5:22.) And he is the object of our joy; it is fixed and terminated on him, as on the adequate matter thereof. (Phil. 3:3.)

There are many things belonging to the object of a full and complete joy. 1. It must be good in itself, and to us. 2. That good must have several qualifications to heighten it to that pitch which the joy of the heart may fix on.

Week 41

The Object of Our Joy

Last week’s sharing was from one of John Wesley’s sermon on “Joy in the Lord”. In the remaining part of the sermon, Wesley expounds for us why Christ is the object of our joy. Here’s an excerpt from the sermon:

“There are many things belonging to the object of a full and complete joy. 1. It must be good in itself, and to us. 2. That good must have several qualifications to heighten it to that pitch which the joy of the heart may fix on.

(1.) It must be a present good, in the view and possession of him whom it delighteth: Absent good is the object of desire; present good, of delight. It is true a man may rejoice at some good that is past, as that he did at such a time escape a danger, or receive a benefit; but then the memory makes it as it were present, and the fruit of that past good is some way or other still remaining. Also a man may rejoice in a good to come; ” ABRAHAM rejoiced to see CHRIST’S day,” and believers ” rejoice in the hope of glory;” but then faith gives a substance to the things so hoped for. (Heb. 11:1.) And the virtue and benefit of them is in being, though they themselves be but in hope; and so in regard of efficacy, ” CHRIST was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world,” though not actually slain, before the fullness of time: So still the most proper ground of delight is fruition, which presupposeth the presence of the thing enjoyed.

(2.) It must be a precious good, which has some special value belonging unto it. ’We read of the ” joy of harvest;” (Isa. 9:3;) because men then reap the precious things of the earth, as they are called. (Dent. xxxiii. 14, 16.)

(3.) It must be a full good, sufficient and thoroughly proportionable to all the desires and exigencies of him that is delighted with it: Bring the richest pearl to a man under some sore fit of the gout or stone!; he cries, groans, sweats, is in pain still: The object, though good, though precious, yet is not suitable to his present condition; in that case he takes more pleasure in an anodine medicine, than in a rich jewel: It would be little good news to such a man, to tell him that his kidneys or his bladder were full of pearls, or diamonds, because there they would not be his treasure, but his torment.

(4.) It must be a pure good, without any dregs or dross to abate the sweetness of it: All earthly delights are bitter sweets; wine tainted by the vessel, which brings a loathing along with it: The best corn has its chaff, the richest wine its lees, the sweetest oil its dregs, the sun itself its spots; nothing of mere creatures can cause an unmixed joy, free from all tincture of the vessel from whence it proceeds: And any one defect may corrupt all the content which the rest ministereth, as a “dead fly will spoil the whole pot of ointment.”

(5.) It must be rare, wonderful, glorious. The commonness, even of good things, takes from the loveliness of hens. If diamonds were as plentiful as pebbles, or goldas iron, they would be as little esteemed; if there were but one balsam or drug in the world that would cure any mortal disease, a man would value the monopoly of that above the richest jewel. Because the pool of Bethesda had a rare healing virtue, multitudes of impotent, blind, halt, withered, were waiting continually for the moving of it.

(6.) It must be various, like the holy anointing oil, compounded of many principal species. (Exod. 30:23, 25.) In rich hangings, in choice gardens, in great feasts, in select libraries, variety is that which greatly delighteth; were a table filled with one and the same dish, or a study with the same book, or a garden with the same flower, it would wholly take away from the delight of it. And this variety is then much more delightful, when each particular good does answer some particular defect or desire in him that enjoyeth it; when it is as a rich storehouse, as the shop of the apothecary, or as a physic garden, wherein a man may in any distemper fix on something proper to help him.

(7.) It must be a prevalent and sovereign good, most efficacious against evils. Victory even in trifles, where no evil is to be removed, as in bowling or shooting, is that which makes the pleasure in those games; much more delightful must that needs be, which can help a man to overcome all the evils and enemies that assault him. No joy to be compared to the ” joy of a triumph,” when men divide the spoils. In this case JEHOSHAPIIAT and his people came to ” Jerusalem with psalteries, harps, and trumpets to the house of GOD, rejoicing over their enemies.” (2 Caron. 20:25, 28.)

(8.) It must be a perpetual good, commensurate in duration to the soul that is to be satisfied with it; they are but poor and lying delights, which, like Jordan, empty all their sweetness into a stinking and sulphureous lake. True comfort is a growing thing, which never bends to a declination. That man will find little pleasure in his expedition, whose voyage is for a year, and his victuals but for a day, who sets out for eternity with the pleasures of nothing but mortality; such as are natural, sensual, secular, sinful joys. As the sheep feeds on the grass, and then the owner feeds on him; so poor sinners feed a while on dead comforts, and then death at last feeds on them.

Lastly, That which crowns all, is, it must be our own proper good; all the rest without this signifies nothing to us. A beggar feels not the joy of another man’s wealth, nor a cripple of another man’s strength; the prisoner that is leading to death, has no comfort in the pardon which is brought to another malefactor. As every man must live by his own faith, so every man must have his rejoicing in himself, and not in another.”

John Wesley (1703 – 1791) was an Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and founder of the religious movement that became the Methodist Church. In 1738 he had a profound experience where he had the assurance and trust in Christ alone for salvation. Soon afterwards Wesley began his career as a preacher, preaching outdoors to enormous working-class audiences. He preached about 40,000 sermons and travelled 250,000 miles until his death in 1791. He brought reforms on social issues like prison reform and universal education.

Week 42

Hidden With Christ

Oswald Chambers in his widely-read devotional My Utmost for His Highest gives us a short exposition on Colossians 3:3 – For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. As you reflect on this excerpt, may you enjoy deep, lasting peace found only in Christ:-

“The Spirit of God witnesses to the simple, almighty security of the life that is hidden with Christ in God. This is continually brought out in the Epistles. We talk as if living the sanctified life were the most precarious thing, when actually it’s the most secure thing. The sanctified life has God in and behind it. Trying to live without God is what is precarious. If we’re born again, it is the easiest thing to live in right relationship to God and the most difficult thing to go wrong. All we have to do is heed his warnings and walk in the light (1 John 1:7).

When we think of being delivered from sin, of being filled with the Spirit and walking in the light, we picture the peak of a great mountain, very high and wonderful—a peak so removed from everyday life that we think, “I could never live up there!” But when, by God’s grace, we do get up there, we find that it isn’t a peak at all but a great plateau with ample room to live and grow: “You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way” (Psalm 18:36).

When you really do see Jesus, I defy you to doubt him. When he appears to you and says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1), I defy you to trouble your mind. It’s a moral impossibility to doubt when he is there. Every time you get into personal contact with Jesus, his words are real.

“My peace I give you” (v. 27). It’s a peace all over—from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, an irrepressible confidence. “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God,” and the unshakable peace of Jesus Christ is imparted to you.”

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher. He was born in Scotland and died in Egypt while serving as chaplain to Allied troops in Egypt during World War I. Chambers has a teaching and preaching ministry that took him as far as the United States and Japan but he is best known as the author of the widely read devotional My Utmost for His Highest, a book that was compiled by his wife after his death from her verbatim shorthand notes of his talks.

Week 43

Pie in the Sky

In his book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis seeks to understand how a loving, good and powerful God can coexist with pain and suffering that so pervasive in our world. Lewis attempts to disentangle this knotty issue with compassion and insight, sharing his wisdom on divine omnipotence, divine goodness, humanity wickedness, the fall of man, human pain, hell, animal pain and heaven. Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on ‘Heaven’:

“I reckon,’ said St Paul, ‘that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.’ If this is so, a book on suffering which says nothing of heaven, is leaving out almost the whole of one side of the account. Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one. We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about ‘pie in the sky’, and of being told that we are trying to ‘escape’ from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere. “But either there is ‘pie in the sky’ or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into it’s whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no.

Again, we are afraid that heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. There are rewards that do not sully motives. A man’s love for a woman is not mercenary because he wants to marry her, nor his love for poetry mercenary because he wants to read it, nor his love of exercise less disinterested because he wants to run and leap and walk. Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy it’s object.

You may think that there is another reason for our silence about heaven—namely, that we do not really desire it. But that may be an illusion. What I am now going to say is merely an opinion of my own without the slightest authority, which I submit to the judgement of better Christians and better scholars than myself. There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven; but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, you should also like that.

Again, you have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw—but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realise that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported. Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of—something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat’s side?

Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it—tantalising glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest—if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound it’self—you would know it.

Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say ‘Here at last is the thing I was made for.’ We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.

This signature on each soul may be a product of heredity and environment, but that only means that heredity and environment are among the instruments whereby God creates a soul. I am considering not how, but why, He makes each soul unique. If He had no use for all these differences, I do not see why He should have created more souls than one. Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you. The mould in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key it’self a strange thing if you had never seen a lock.

Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the Divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. For it is not humanity in the abstract that is to be saved, but you—you, the individual reader, John Stubbs or Janet Smith. Blessed and fortunate creature, your eyes shall behold Him and not another’s. All that you are, sins apart, is destined, if you will let God have His good way, to utter satisfaction. The Brocken spectre ‘looked to every man like his first love’, because she was a cheat. But God will look to every soul like it’s first love because He is for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.”

“CLIVE STAPLES LEWIS (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. He was a Fellow and tutor in English literature at Oxford University until 1954 when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include The Chronicles of Narnia, Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity. ”

Week 43

Is the Lord’s Hand Waxed Short?

James Smith (1802-1862) was a faithful pastor and predecessor to Charles Spurgeon at the London Metropolitan Tabernacle. His devotional, The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer, subtitled Pastor’s Morning and Evening Visit, was very popular in its own day. It is soul-stirring, a feast of spiritual encouragement with remarkable insight and pastoral warmth.

As you reflect on the following excerpt, may you be comforted if troubled, and be drawn closer to the heart of God:

Numbers 11: 23 – And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’S hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

“NO—what He hath done, He can do; and all He hath promised, or His people need, He will do. He has all power. He knows no difficulty. Why then are we cast down? Because we do not believe His word, depend simply on His veracity, and expect all we need from His hand. He was displeased with Moses when he questioned His power, and He is displeased with us when we doubt His love, distrust His providence, or ask, “How can this thing be?” Whatever may be your difficulty, trial, or want, plead with the Lord, and confidently expect deliverance; and if any temptation is presented to weaken your faith, rouse your fears, or disturb your tranquility, meet it with this question, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?”

Beloved, look not to the hand of man, but look simply to the hand of God; man may disappoint you, God will not. He is faithful that promised. He is a God at hand. He will be near you throughout this day; His hand is able and ready to help you; therefore trust, and be not afraid.

In heaven, and earth, and air, and seas,

He executes His firm decrees;

And by His saints it stands confess’d,

That what He does is ever best;

Then on His powerful arm rely,

And He will bring salvation nigh.”

Week 43

God-Centered Holiness

In his book, Holiness Day by Day—Transfomational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey, Jerry Bridges offers a rock-solid 365-day devotional, steeped in Scripture and one that will stand the test of time. Each entry has been carefully selected with thoughtful daily guidance to help us meditate on God’s Word and diligently seek Him. This quick daily read is full of inspiration, commitment, and transformation for those who desire to grow in spiritual maturity. Here’s an excerpt about holiness and our attitude toward sin:

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 PETER 1:16)

If holiness is so basic to the Christian life, why do we not experience it more in daily living? Why do so many Christians feel constantly defeated in their struggle with sin? Why does the church of Jesus Christ so often seem to be more conformed to the world around it than to God?

Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We’re  more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve God’s heart. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it’s offensive to God.

W. S. Plumer said, “We never see sin aright until we see it as against God. . . . All sin is against God in this sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught. . . . Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, ‘I have sinned’; but the returning prodigal said, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee’; and David said, ‘Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned.’” God wants us to walk in obedience — not victory.

Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there’s a subtle, self- centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we deal with this attitude, we won’t consistently walk in holiness.

Victory is a by-product of obedience. As we concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, we’ll certainly experience the joy of victory over sin. Will you begin to look at sin as an offense against a holy God, instead of as a personal defeat only?

Jerry Bridges (1929 –2016) was an evangelical Christian author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators for more than 50 years. He was a prolific author with numerous best selling and award winning books including The Pursuit of Holiness, Holiness Day by Day and The Discipline of Grace.

Week 46

A Short Intermission

Christian Heritage is taking a break this week. Will be back next week.

Week 47

The Divine Call and The Throne of Grace

The Journal and Selected Letters of William Carey is a journal collection written by Carey from 1793-1795, his first years in India. It also contains excerpts from Carey’s letters addressing mission strategy, support, struggles, daily life, spirituality, and other important issues missionaries faced. Today’s excerpt is a letter he wrote to his son Jabez on the eve of the latter’s launching out on an extremely important ministry venture at the tender age of twenty. The letter is beneficial for us too as it brims over with Carey’s sage fatherly advice and sound, spiritual counsel to an adult child:

On January 24, two days before Jabez’s commissioning service, Carey penned his invaluable letter of substantive, savory advice to his son:

“You are now engaging in a most important undertaking, in which you and Eliza have not only my prayers for your success, but those of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ and know of your engagement. I know a few hints for your future conduct, from a parent who loves you very tenderly, will be acceptable, and I shall, therefore, give you them, assured that they will not be given in vain.

“Pay the utmost attention at all times to the state of your own mind both towards God and man. Cultivate an intimate acquaintance with your own heart; labor to obtain a deep sense of your depravity and to trust always in Christ. Be pure in heart and meditate much on the pure and holy character of God. Live a life of prayer and devotedness to God. Cherish every amiable and right disposition towards man. Be mild, gentle and unassuming, yet firm and manly. As soon as you perceive any wrong in your spirit or behavior, set about correcting it, and never suppose yourself so perfect as to need no correction.

“You are now a married man. Be not satisfied with conducting yourself towards your wife [merely] with propriety. Let love to her be the spring of your conduct towards her. Esteem her highly and so act that she may be induced thereby to esteem you highly. The first impressions of love arising from form or beauty will soon wear off, but the esteem arising from excellency of disposition and substance of character will endure and increase. Her honor is now yours, and she cannot be insulted without you being degraded.

“I hope as soon as you get on board and are settled in your cabin, you will begin and end each day in uniting together to pray and praise God. Let religion always have a place in your house. If the Lord bless you with children, bring them up in the fear of God, and be always an example to others of the power of godliness. This advice I also give to Eliza and, if followed, you will be happy.

“Behave affably and genteelly to all, but not cringingly or unsteadily towards any. Feel that you are a man and always act with that dignified sincerity and truth which will command the esteem of all. Seek not the society of worldly men, but when called to be with them act and converse with dignity and propriety. … A gentleman is the next best character after a Christian, and the latter includes the former. Money never makes a gentleman, much less a fine appearance, but an enlarged understanding joined to engaging manners.”

After giving Jabez some pointers on how to commence his responsibilities as superintendent, Carey counseled: “Do not, however, consider yourself as a mere superintendent of schools. Consider yourself as the spiritual instructor of the people and devote yourself to their good. God has committed the spiritual interests of the island – 20,000 men or more, a vast charge – to you. But He can enable you to be fruitful to the trust. Revise the catechisms, tracts and schoolbooks used among them, and labor to introduce among them sound doctrine and genuine piety.

Pray with them as soon as you can, and labor after a gift to preach to them … Form them into Gospel churches when you meet with a few who truly fear God, and as soon as you see any fit to preach to others, call them to the ministry and settle them with the churches. You must baptize and administer the Lord’s Supper according to your own discretion when there is proper occasion for it. Avoid indolence and love of ease, and never attempt to act the part of the great and gay in this world.” (All these weighty spiritual responsibilities were to be carried out by a young man of just twenty years of age!)

Your great work, my Dear Jabez, is that of a Christian minister. … The success of your labors does not depend upon outward ceremony, nor does your right to preach the Gospel or administer the ordinances of the Gospel depend on any such thing, but only on the divine call expressed in the word of God. The church has, however, in their intentions and wishes, borne a testimony to the grace given to you, and will not cease to pray for you that you may be successful.

May you be kept from all temptation, supported under every trial, made victorious in every conflict. And may our hearts be mutually gladdened with accounts from each other of the triumphs of divine grace. God has conferred a great favor on you in permitting to you this ministry. Take heed to it, therefore, in the Lord, that you fulfill it. We shall often meet at the throne of grace.”

William Carey (1761-1834) was an English Baptist pastor, a reformer, and the “Father of the Modern Mission Movement.” He joined the Baptist missionaries in the Danish colony of Frederiksnagore in Serampore. He opened the first theological university in Serampore offering divinity degrees and campaigned to end the practice of sati. He translated the Hindu classic, the Ramayana, into English, and the Bible into Bengali, Punjabi, Oriya, Assamese, Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit.

Week 48

Forgive Me and Help Me to Forgive

Cornelia Arnolda Johanna “Corrie” ten Boom (1892 – 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker. She and her family helped more than 800 Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust by hiding them in their home. On February 28, 1944, the ten Boom family was arrested. Corrie’s father died in the local prison. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were sent to Ravensbruck, a concentration camp for women located north of Berlin. Throughout their incarceration, Corrie and Betsie held worship services in the evening.

Betsie died on December 16, 1944 at the age of 59 due to her declining health. Corrie was encouraged by Betsie’s affirmation just days before her death: “There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still.” Corrie was released 12 days after her sister’s death. After the war, Corrie returned to the Netherlands and opened the rehabilitation center that she and her sister had planned. She had come full circle from providing a “hiding place” to a “healing place” for those affected by the war. Corrie died on her 91st birthday, on April 15, 1983, after suffering her third stroke.

Corrie’s famed biography “The Hiding Place” recounts the story of her family’s efforts and her personal testimony of how she found and shared hope in God throughout her imprisonment. Here’s an excerpt about forgiveness and loving your enemies:

“I CONTINUED to speak, partly because the home in Bloemendaal ran on contributions, partly because the hunger for Betsie’s story seemed to increase with time. I traveled all over Holland, to other parts of Europe, to the United States.

But the place where the hunger was greatest was Germany. Germany was a land in ruin, cities of ashes and rubble, but more terrifying still, minds and hearts of ashes. Just to cross the border was to feel the great weight that hung over that land.

It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there—the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” he said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

It took a lot of love. The most pressing need in postwar Germany was homes; nine million people were said to be without them. They were living in rubble heaps, half-standing buildings, and abandoned army trucks. A church group invited me to speak to a hundred families living in an abandoned factory building. Sheets and blankets had been hung between the various living quarters to make a pretense of privacy. But there was no insulating the sounds: the wail of a baby, the din of radios, the angry words of a family quarrel. How could I speak to these people of the reality of God and then go back to my quiet room in the church hostel outside the city? No, before I could bring a message to them, I would have to live among them.

And it was during the months that I spent in the factory that a director of a relief organization came to see me. They had heard of my rehabilitation work in Holland, he said, and they wondered—I was opening my mouth to say that I had no professional training in such things, when his next words silenced me. “We’ve located a place for the work,” he said. “It was a former concentration camp that’s just been released by the government.”

We drove to Darmstadt to look over the camp. Rolls of rusting barbed wire still surrounded it. I walked slowly up a cinder path between drab gray barracks. I pushed open a creaking door; I stepped between rows of metal cots.

“Windowboxes, “ I said. “We’ll have them at every window. The barbed wire must come down, of course, and then we’ll need paint. Green paint. Bright yellow-green, the color of things coming up new in the spring. . . .”

Week 49

Closing Reflections

Dear readers,

This is our final Saturday Christian Heritage article for the year. Thank you for joining us on this journey of discovering the “treasures” that we have in the lives of those who have gone before us. We hope you have been blessed and challenged!

In this season of Advent, let us pause to renew our trust in the Lord. Sign up for Advent Reflections on 11 & 18 December 2025, 8.15pm to 9.00pm via ZOOM.
Register here: tinyurl.com/QuietRhythms.

In closing, let us meditate on Psalm 103 as we behold the beauty, goodness, and magnificence of our God, our Father, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, my soul.