Our lives are made for balance Christian life must have balance. We are not hanging on a few verses or a pet doctrine or a one-dimensional approach. Our lives are made for balance and the other side is fanaticism. Friends, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Why the need for equilibrium? Why the necessity for a set of scales? Longevity, baby, longevity. We’re not in a sprint, folks, this is a marathon. Twenty six/odd mile runners gotta pace themselves, even the very well trained. Well, we think, “I’m going full steam ahead; I wanna burn out for Jesus.” You will. Impacting impingement happens to all“The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” Ecclesiastes 9:11. Time and chance? Yes…
Category: <span>Liberty – Redemption</span>
“Superstition always breeds such sorrows, when men make themselves religious duties which God never made them, and then come short in the performance of them” Richard Baxter This excerpt from Baxter’s “The cure of Melancholy and Overmuch Sorrow, by Faith,” is based on 2 Corinthians 2:7. “…lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up by overmuch sorrow?” The author goes on to say, “Many souls are assaulted by the erroneous, and told they are in a wrong way; and they must take up some error as a necessary truth, and so are cast into perplexing difficulties, and perhaps repent of the truth which they before owned.” What’s the problem? Why do we backtrack so easily? — Deeper than we might think. It’s an over-safeguarded soul, a provision for the flesh; just in case God’s ways and means don’t come through in the pinch. It’s hanging on to the railings…
“And when this life is through; even then, your hand will lead me, your right hand will hold me.” “No more night, no more pain, no more tears, never crying again.” “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” “Wonderful, merciful Savior; Precious Redeemer and Friend … you give the healing and grace, our hearts always hunger for. You rescue the souls of men.” We hunger for it. “Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great High Priest whose name is Love, who ever lives to plead for me. My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart, I know that while in heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.” “Mercy there was great and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied for me, there my burdened soul found liberty, at…
Confidence is a great thing. Don’t throw it away. Reliance, trust, belief in the powers of; these thoughts relate to confidence. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” Eleanor Roosevelt. “When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” Joe Namath. “To have faith doesn’t mean you get any less frustrated when you don’t do your best, but you know that it is not life or death.” “Take what you are given, and when you continue to work hard, you will see results. That will give you the confidence you need to keep going.” Tom Lehman “The moment you doubt whether you can fly,…
Did you ever lose the want-to’s? Ever feel powerless? Are you focused on a long range eternal future to the detriment of an eternal now? Is eternal life a time related concept or a present moment reality for you? Lastly, what does a present day eternal life look like? The answer to these questions is a revelation of interest to every Christian life. See, if eternal life is yet future and related to in only that future way, we are subject to ambivalence. Yes, we could be stuck with two inner driving forces which war against each other and stifle our resolve. One constraint is “I clearly must,” and the other is “I am clearly afraid to.” A neighbor’s words illustrate, “I am so excited about that prospective house purchase; but on second thought, I fear it will bring a headache and so I’ll wait.” In contrast, a person living…
Cast not away your “confidence” — “freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech, openly, frankly, without concealment, without ambiguity or circumlocution, without the use of figures and comparisons.” “… which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Heb 10:35-36 Straight from the shoulder, without beating around the bush, with no holds barred, candidly, freely, cast not away your confidence, for it has great recompense of reward. Clarke writes “Having so great a fight of sufferings to pass through, and they of so long continuance, God furnishes the grace; you must exercise it.” What is the promise to be received? Elevation. Humility, of the sort which suffers above, receives elevation or honor; those clothed in humility get grace. Those who run the race with patience, have laid aside encumbrances and sins. The weights have…
Then the wood-carver measures a block of wood and draws a pattern on it. He works with chisel and plane and carves it into a human figure. He gives it human beauty and puts it in a little shrine. He cuts down cedars; he selects the cypress and the oak; he plants the pine in the forest to be nourished by the rain. Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire. With it he warms himself and bakes his bread. Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship! He makes an idol and bows down in front of it! He burns part of the tree to roast his meat and to keep himself warm. He says “Ah, that fire feels good.” Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down in front of it,…
Proverbs 30:18 three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: Proverbs 30:19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin. These first three cannot be tracked, neither the fourth. The illustration builds on natural phenomena. So the true believer in Christ goes similarly, only theirs operates on spiritual phenomena. The spiritual life carries untraceable as much as the bird, snake, ship, or man with virgin; yet even more-so. See, the blood of Christ cleanses our sin beyond hint, suggestion, tinge, or smidgen of remembrance. It carries our sin into the forgetting determination of an Almighty God as a permanent washing. As far as the east is from the west, into the depth of the sea, and to a land uninhabited our sin has gone.…
“To the praise of the glory of his grace (Ephesians 1:6) Ephesians 1:3 teaches, “we are holy and without blame before Him in love.” In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence. CJB “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Psalm 84:11 “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” “For who hath despised the day of small things?” Zechariah 4:7 and 10. Matthew Henry says, “that we should live and behave ourselves in such a manner that his rich grace; might be magnified, appear glorious, be worthy of the highest…
Ezekiel 44:17 “…no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.” Ezekiel 44:18 follows; “They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat.” These priests were forbidden to wear wool. Why? Maybe because of pesky moths who eat holes in it? Could it be that the price of mothballs was going up? Was there a shortage on Woolite or the Sheep-shearers union had gone on strike? None of the above was true. Then what? The problem with wool was that it caused perspiration due to its air-tightness. God didn’t want that, it didn’t picture the way things ought to be in the presence of God. See, sweat comes with the wrong clothing and is a sign of a body laboring. Is it possible that…