nosuch library book

on giving...

2011-05-20T17:22:00.002+10:00

If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.

C.S. Lewis

Facing a Task Unfinished

2010-10-10T21:00:00.003+11:00

Words by Frank Houghton

Facing a task unfinished,
That drives us to our knees,
A need that, undiminished,
Rebukes our slothful ease:
We, who rejoice to know Thee,
Renew before Thy throne
The solemn pledge we owe Thee
To go and make Thee known.

We bear the torch that flaming
Fell from the hands of those
Who gave their lives proclaiming
That Jesus died and rose.
Ours is the same commission,
The same glad message ours;
Fired by the same ambition,
To Thee we yield our powers.

Where other lords beside Thee
Hold their unhindered sway,
Where forces that defied Thee
Defy Thee still today;
With none to heed their crying
For life, and love, and light,
Unnumbered souls are dying,
And pass into the night.

O Father who sustained them,
O Spirit who inspired,
Saviour, whose love constrained them
To toil with zeal untired,
From cowardice defend us,
From lethargy awake!
Forth on Thine errands send us
To labour for Thy sake.

© Overseas Missionary Fellowship

Frank Houghton was the General Secretary of the China Inland Mission (now OMF) during WWII, and Bishop of East Szechwan. He wrote it as part of a campaign he was leading to recruit 200 new workers to China in 2 years.

O Great God

2010-08-04T14:14:00.000+10:00

Words and music by Bob Kauflin

O great God of highest heaven
Occupy my lowly heart
Own it all and reign supreme
Conquer every rebel power
Let no vice or sin remain
That resists Your holy war
You have loved and purchased me
Make me Yours forevermore

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

Help me now to live a life
That’s dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me

Nothing But The Blood

2010-07-08T19:27:00.003+10:00

Words & Music: Robert Lowry, 1876

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Glory! Glory! This I sing—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Come Thou Fount

2010-05-26T00:30:00.003+10:00

Words by Robert Robinson, 1757

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Why We Need Fairy Tales and Fantasy

2010-04-18T22:18:00.007+10:00

Fairy tales move us in a way that realistic fiction cannot. Fairy tales speak to several deep human longings that we are almost ashamed to admit and that we can never discard. We long to long to survey the depths of time and space. We long to get outside of time altogether and escape death. We long to hold communion with other living things like angels. We long to find a love that perfectly heals and from which we can never part. We long to triumph over evil finally and totally. When you are in the middle of a great fairy tale, the fairy tale lets you live, even briefly, with the dream that love without parting, escape from death, triumph over evil are real and realisable. That's why the stories stir us so deeply and why we will go on reading and writing them no matter what the critics say.

But the gospel's message is that through Jesus Christ, every single one of these things that the fairy tales talk about is true and will come to pass. We will hang out with angels. We will have loves from which we'll never we parted. We will see absolute triumph over evil. There is a beauty who will kiss you in all your beastliness and transform you. There is a prince who will save us forever...

Someday there will be a new heaven and a new earth, that everything sad will become untrue and all of our deepest human longings will come to pass. In the knowledge of that, we can go forth into the world to serve as those who love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, out of thankfulness.

Lifted from a Tim Keller sermon.

See also:
Between Two Worlds Blog

He is risen!

2010-04-04T20:29:00.005+10:00

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine —
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

~ From ‘In Christ Alone’ by Getty and Townend

The Wonderful Cross

2010-04-02T23:10:00.000+11:00

Words by Chris Tomlin, Isaac Watts, J.D. Walt & Jesse Reeves

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless
Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

Good Friday

2010-04-02T21:50:00.001+11:00

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

From "And Can It Be" by Charles Wesley, 1738.

I have a shelter

2010-03-30T10:31:00.002+11:00

Lyrics by Steve and Vicki Cook, and Bob Kauflin

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows

I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation

I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail
You’ll bring me home to heaven

Link: Sovereign Grace Music

My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness

2010-02-24T23:31:00.000+11:00

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again;
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With pow’r upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly;
Whose ev’ry promise is enough
For ev’ry step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To him who reigns above,
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,
Whose ev’ry thought is love.
For ev’ry day I have on earth
Is given by the King;
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow him.

pathways...

2010-02-22T15:54:00.002+11:00

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, 'The Road not Taken', from The Poetry of Robert Frost.

O Great God

2010-02-17T23:59:00.000+11:00

bitterness

2010-02-12T08:00:00.001+11:00

Sin of any kind grieves the Holy Spirit, but that form of it which finds expression in bitterness towards another child of God causes Him special pain.

D. E. Hoste

one life to live...

2010-02-11T21:52:00.003+11:00

It's easy to call yourself a Christian, go to church, and yet not be committed to your King's cause. You can fritter away your life, or you can wrap yourself up in affluence and material comfort. You have one life to live. Do you see that there is for you a lifework with a future; obeying the command of your Master to go and work for him, to seek to extend his kingdom, to build his church, to make disciples of all nations? This is a job with a future, because your King is coming back, and when he does return, and asks you to give an account, you want to hear him say to you: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

Michael Griffiths, Tinker, Taylor, Missionary?

a broken heart can be a good thing?

2010-02-04T22:58:00.003+11:00

Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

from 'Hosanna', by Hillsong United
Words by Brooke Fraser

bono did our bible reading today...

2010-01-31T23:33:00.006+11:00

40
Words and Music by U2

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?

Links:
Psalm 40
U2

cosmic disappointment

2010-01-28T09:34:00.004+11:00

... no matter what we put our hopes in, in the morning, it is always Leah, never Rachel.... this cosmic disappointment and disillusionment is there in all of life, but we especially feel it in the things upon which we most set our hopes.

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Keller suggests there are 4 responses to this realisation:

1. Continued idolatry and spiritual addiction - You can blame the things that are disappointing you and try to move on to better ones.

2. Self-loathing and shame - You can blame yourself and beat yourself.

3. Cynicism and emptiness - You can blame the world.

4. Reorientate your life towards God and find hope in Him.

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world [something supernatural and eternal]

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Links:
The story of Jacob and Leah from the Bible (Genesis 29:16-35)
'Counterfeit Gods' by Tim Keller

all you need is love?

2010-01-27T22:42:00.000+11:00

Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

three ways to live

2010-01-22T18:01:00.002+11:00

The gospel tells us that our root sin is not just failing in our obedience to God but relying on our obedience to save us. Therefore, the gospel is the “third way,” neither religion nor irreligion. The religious person may say, “I am dong the right things that God commands” and the irreligious person may say, “I decide what is right and wrong for myself.” But both ways reject Jesus as Savior (though they may revere him as Example or Helper). Both ways are strategies of self-salvation – both actually keep control of their own lives. So the gospel keeps us from legalism and moralism on one hand, and from hedonism and relativism on the other.

Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

wrestling

2010-01-21T16:38:00.004+11:00

Unless he [the leader] is constantly and faithfully wrestling in the heavenlies with the powers of darkness, there is a real danger in becoming involved in westling with his colleagues.

D.E. Hoste

we're bruised reeds

2010-01-20T23:00:00.001+11:00

After conversion we need bruising, so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks; even we need bruising by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy; and that weaker Christians may not be too much discouraged, when they see stronger ones shaken and bruised. Thus Peter was bruised when he wept bitterly. This reed, till he met with this bruise, had more wind in him than pith. "Though all forsake thee, I will not," (Matthew 36:35). The people of God cannot be without these examples. The heroical deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the Church so much as their falls and bruises do.

Richard Sibbes, "The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax" (1631)

humility

2009-06-15T13:39:00.000+10:00

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited, indeed.
C.S. Lewis

servanthood...

2009-04-27T14:18:00.000+10:00

We are not called to help people. We are called to follow Jesus, in whose service we learn who we are and how we are to help and be helped.
Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon

An invitation to mission work...

2009-03-22T19:31:00.001+11:00

If you want hard work, and little appreciation of it; value God's approbation more than you fear man's disapprobation; are prepared, if need be, to seal your testimony with blood, and perhaps oftentimes to take joyfully the spoiling of your goods... you may count on a harvest of souls here, and a crown of glory that fadeth not away, and the Master's 'well done'.
J. Hudson Taylor

get some sleep

2009-01-31T16:20:00.000+11:00

Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious time: pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God.
George Whitefield

what to do?

2008-12-01T16:09:00.001+11:00

Go forth and tell!
words by James E. Sneddon

Go forth and tell! O church of God awake!
God saving news to all the nations take.
Proclaim Christ Jesus, Saviour, Lord and King.
That all the world His worthy praise may sing.

Go forth and tell! God's love embraces all.
He will in grace respond to all who call.
How shall they call if they have never heard,
the gracious invitation of his word.

Go forth and tell! Some still in darkness lie.
In wealth or want, in sin they live and die.
Give us, O Lord, concern of heart and mind.
A love like yours which cares for all mankind.

Go forth and tell! The doors are open wide.
Share God's good gifts with people long denied.
Live out your life as Christ, your Lord, shall choose,
Your ransomed powers for His sole glory use.

forgiveness and suffering?

2008-11-06T21:25:00.000+11:00

Forgiveness is a form of suffering - when I forgive I have not only suffered the offense but also released or suppressed the rightful claims of strict retributive justice in favour of a costly redemptive justice.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1963

a new affection...

2008-11-05T21:02:00.000+11:00

There is not one personal transformation in which the heart is left without an object of ultimate beauty and joy. The heart's desire for one particular object can be conquered, but it's desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.
Thomas Chalmers, 18th century Scottish Presbyterian

Have you ever found something that not only grasps your mind but also rivets and captures your heart?

when in times of trouble...

2008-09-22T21:55:00.001+10:00

¹²Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
Psalm 74:12-17

When there seems little hope, it is most important for individual believers to recall the power of God both in creation (74:16-17) and in redemption (74:13-15). How should such a stance work out in our lives?

to have and to hold...

2008-09-06T15:54:00.000+10:00

I’ve held many things in my hand, and I’ve lost them all, but whatever I’ve placed in His hands, I still possess.
Martin Luther

the grace of God...

2008-08-28T19:05:00.004+10:00

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Robert Robinson, 1757

with or without...

2008-08-21T11:00:00.000+10:00

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Amy Carmichael

the cover and the title page...

2008-08-17T08:40:00.001+10:00

And as for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

C. S. Lewis, 'The Last Battle' (1956, p184)

contentment...

2008-07-20T23:21:00.004+10:00

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To welcome endless day?

Richard Baxter (1615-91)

seeing God bigger...

2008-07-14T06:55:00.002+10:00

"Aslan," said Lucy, "you’re bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow older, you find me bigger."

C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Chronicles of Narnia

all i need...

2008-05-13T22:00:00.005+10:00

Lead me to the cross
Words: Graham Kendrick

How can I be free from sin?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus
From the guilt, the power, the pain?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus

There's no other way
No price that I could pay
Simply to the cross I cling
This is all I need
This is all I plead
That his blood was shed for me

How can I know peace within?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus
Sing a song of joy again!
Lead me to the cross of Jesus

Flowing from above
All-forgiving love
From the Father's heart to me!
What a gift of grace
His own righteousness
Clothing me in purity!

How can I live day by day?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus
Following his narrow way?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus

one day...

2008-05-01T05:56:00.002+10:00

What will you do with Jesus,
Neutral you can not be,
One day your heart will be asking,
What will He do with me.
C. S. Lewis

make me thy fuel...

2008-02-29T16:19:00.001+11:00

Make me Thy fuel
by Amy Carmichael

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from wind that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
The soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified),
From all the dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire.
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

Christmas lights

2007-12-25T10:49:00.000+11:00

すべての人を照らすそのまことの光が世に来ようとしていた。
ヨハネの福音書第１章９

The true light that gives light to all people has come into the world
John chapter 1, verse 9

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

cause and effect...

2007-12-22T14:00:00.000+11:00

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:13

Be killing sin or it will be killing you.
John Owen

something to write in my bible: This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.

summing it up...

2007-12-20T19:00:00.000+11:00

You sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.
J.I. Packer, Knowing God

leave home...

2007-11-23T20:56:00.000+11:00

Consider the call from the Throne above, Go ye, and from round about, Come over and help us, and even the call from the damned souls below, 'Send Lazarus to my brothers, that they come not to this place'. Impelled, then, by these voices, I dare not stay home while [the Quichia Indians] perish. So what if the well-fed church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bankbooks and in the dust on their Bible covers.
Jim Elliot, from his journals (Shadow of the Almighty)

Teach me Thy way, O Lord

2007-10-18T10:35:00.000+10:00

Teach me Thy way, O Lord
By Benjamin Ramsey

Teach me Thy way, O Lord,
Teach me Thy way!
Thy guiding grace afford
Teach me Thy way!
Help me to walk aright,
More by faith, less by sight;
Lead me with heav'nly light,
Teach me Thy way!

When I am sad at heart,
Teach me Thy way!
When earthly joys depart,
Teach me Thy way!
In hours of loneliness,
In times of dire distress,
In failure or success,
Teach me Thy way!

When doubts and fears arise,
Teach me Thy way!
When storms o'erspread the skies,
Teach me Thy way!
Shine thro'the cloud and rain,
Thro' sorrow, toil and pain;
Make Thou my pathway plain,
Teach me Thy way!

Long as my life shall last,
Teach me Thy way!
Where'er my lot be cast,
Teach me Thy way!
Until the race is run,
Until the journey's done,
Until the crown is won,
Teach me Thy way!

the right prescription...

2007-10-08T19:02:00.000+10:00

If pain afflict or wrongs oppress,
If cares distract, or fears dismay;
If guilt deject, or sin distress,
The remedy's before you: Pray
Joseph Hart

God gives more grace...

2007-08-20T13:44:00.000+10:00

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."
James 4:6

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more grace when the labours increase. To added inflictions, he addeth His mercy. Multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance. When our strength has failed, ‘ere the day has half done; when we reach the end of our horded resources, our Father’s forgiving is only begun. His love has no limits. His Grace has no measure. His power has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
Annie Flint

do you want to...

2007-08-08T09:02:00.000+10:00

To grasp how wide and long and high and deep
This love of Christ, experience it when
Mere knowledge bursts its categories, then
Escape the fragile flame of language, reap
The richest crop salvation brings, and heap
Up memories of a sea of love, again
Yet again cascading o'er us---men
Can know no other bliss so rich and deep.

Lord God, in love you have established us,
And rooted us in soil no less fine:
Not single plants exposed to every gust
Of wind, but all the saints drink love sublime.

Make me to know---a creature hewn from sod---
The measure of all fullness found in God.
Don Carson, Holy Sonnets of the Twentieth Century

prayer: what difference does it make?

2007-08-07T07:11:00.000+10:00

One of the constitutional enforcements of the gospel is prayer. Without prayer, the gospel can neither be preached effectively, promulgated faithfully, experienced in the heart, nor be practiced in life. And for the very simple reason that by leaving prayer out of the catalogue of the religious duties, we leave God out, and His work cannot progress without Him.
E.M. Bounds

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew

2007-08-06T06:40:00.000+10:00

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
Words: Anonymous

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my heart to seek him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Savior true;
No, I was found by Thee.

Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold;
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea;
'Twas not so much that I on thee took hold,
As Yhou, dear Lord, on me.

I find, I walk, I love, but oh, the whole
Of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee;
For Thou wert long beforehand with my soul,
Always Thou lovedst me.

divine humility...

2007-08-04T08:37:00.000+10:00

It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell. Yet even this he accepts...

... it is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up "our own" when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is "nothing better" now to be had
C. S. Lewis

prayer

2007-08-02T05:47:00.000+10:00

What is prayer and what does it take to pray?

Matthew 6:5-8
The Lord's Prayer

⁵"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.⁶But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
⁷"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (ESV)

Don't do it to look good. Be genuine in your prayer.

Matthew 5:44
⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (ESV)

Pray for your enemies.

Ephesians 6:18
¹⁸praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, . (ESV)

Pray about anything.

Philippians 4:6
⁶do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (ESV)

Pray when you are anxious about something.

1 Thessalonians 5:17
¹⁷pray without ceasing, (ESV)

Do it regularly.

How does someone pray?
Jesus has given us a model of how we should pray. This model is called the 'Lord's Prayer'.

Matthew 6:9-13
⁹Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰Your kingdom come,
your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us this day our daily bread,
¹²and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. (ESV)

Some things Jesus tells us to pray:

verse 9: Address God as 'Father' and praise his name.
verse 10: That God's will be done.
verse 11: Provision of what we need
verse 12: Forgiveness for us and help to forgive others
verse 13: Protection from temptation and the evil one.

This is a summary of the Lord's Prayer:
Give thanks to God for who he is and what he has done.
Pray for the needs of others.
Pray for your needs.

Putting it into practise
Think about meeting with one or two other people to pray together.
Think about writing down your prayer requests in a book so you can remember what to pray for and also see how God answers each prayer over time.

pondering...

2007-07-26T07:02:00.000+10:00

Either the Bible will keep you away from sin, or sin will keep you away from the Bible I am convinced that a downgrading in priority of... prayer and biblical meditation is a major cause of weakness in many Christian communities... Bible study demands pondering deeply on a short passage, like a cow chewing her cud. It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little.
Denis Parsons Burkitt

i love the sound of you walking away...

2007-07-01T16:58:00.000+10:00

Along the Road
Words: Robert Browning Hamilton

I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

though there's pain in the offering...

2007-06-30T18:47:00.000+10:00

I am afraid that all the grace I have gotten out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I received from my sorrows and pains and griefs is altogether incalculable. What do I not owe to the hammer and the anvil, the fire and the file?
Charles Spurgeon

the best place to be...

2007-06-28T21:33:00.000+10:00

In Christ Alone
Words: Stuart Townend Music: Keith Getty

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song,
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine —
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

a short prayer...

2007-06-15T17:01:00.000+10:00

Our Heavenly Father, we pray that You would help us to see You clearly, to love You dearly, and to follow You nearly. And we pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

hope...

2007-05-31T00:32:00.000+10:00

In Heavenly Love Abiding

In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear.
And safe in such confiding, for nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid,
But God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?

Wherever He may guide me, no want shall turn me back.
My Shepherd is beside me, and nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waking, His sight is never dim.
He knows the way He’s taking, and I will walk with Him

Green pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be over me, where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure, my path to life is free.
My Savior has my treasure, and He will walk with me.

Anna Laetitia Waring (1823-1910)

what great commission?

2007-05-15T00:51:00.000+10:00

The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.
J. Hudson Taylor, founder of OMF International

exhale...

2007-05-10T10:14:00.000+10:00

The Light and Glory of the Word

The Spirit breathes upon the word,
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford
A sanctifying light.

A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun;
It gives a light to every age,
It gives, but borrows none.

The hand that gave it still supplies
The gracious light and heat;
His truths upon the nations rise,
They rise, but never set.

Let everlasting thanks be thine,
For such a bright display,
As makes a world of darkness shine
With beams of heavenly day.

My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of Him I love,
Till glory break upon my view
In brighter worlds above.

Without the Holy Spirit of God, you would never have come to conviction of your sin. Without the Holy Spirit of God, we would not have a Bible. Without the Holy Spirit of God, you would not understand the Bible. God means for you to be a lover of his word, he has given us this word, and he has given us the same Holy Spirit who is the author of this word to help us understand it.
David Cook, Starting Strong, Staying Strong p.58

audience of one...

2007-05-03T13:43:00.000+10:00

In working out our callings, we are to perform for one audience, the audience of One.
Os Guinness

guard the good deposit...

2007-05-02T12:17:00.000+10:00

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent...
John Calvin

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
2 Timothy 1:14

I don't know why. I can't tell you why.

2007-04-27T09:39:00.000+10:00

But this I know, that he was born of Mary.

I know he lived and walked and talked and laboured.

I know he heals the broken-hearted,
I know he forgives our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
I know all flesh shall see his glory,
and he shall reap the harvest he has sown...

I cannot tell you lots of things. But this I know.

I cannot tell
by William Young Fullerton (1857-1932), 1929

I cannot tell how he whom angels worship
should stoop to love the peoples of the earth,
or why as shepherd he should seek the wanderer
with his mysterious promise of new birth.
But this I know, that he was born of Mary,
when Bethlehem's manger was his only home,
and that he lived at Nazareth and labored,
and so the Savior, Savior of the world, is come.

I cannot tell how silently he suffered,
as with his peace he graced this place of tears,
or how his heart upon the cross was broken,
the crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, he heals the broken-hearted,
and stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
and lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
for yet the Savior, Savior of the world, is here.

I cannot tell how he will win the nations,
how he will claim his earthly heritage,
how satisfy the needs and aspirations
of east and west, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see his glory,
and he shall reap the harvest he has sown,
and some glad day his sun shall shine in splendor
when he the Savior, Savior of the world, is known.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
when, at his bidding, every storm is stilled,
or who can say how great the jubilation
when every heart with perfect love is filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
and myriad, myriad human voices sing,
and earth to heaven, and heaven to earth, will answer:
'At last the Savior, Savior of the world, is King!'

walking the plank... and surviving

2007-04-21T09:08:00.000+10:00

Someone has said that strong faith in a weak plank will land you in the river, but weak faith in a strong plank will get you across.
Paul Little, How to Give Away Your Faith, IVP, 2nd Edition, 1988, p192

The important thing about faith is its focus. The focus of our faith is the unique Son, in unique relationship with the Father, in the unique place with the Father, who uniquely reveals the Father and makes him known. Every thought I have of God that is inconsistent with Jesus is wrong.

for when i am weak..

2007-03-28T13:28:00.000+10:00

This one man, frail in body and of no unusual intellectual powers, called into being a missionary which, consecrated to one great task, the giving of the Faith to all Chinese who had never heard it, was to bear witness to the Gospel in every inland province in China
Latourette, A history of Christian Missions in China

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10

teach me your ways..

2007-03-16T15:33:00.000+11:00

The place of suffering in service and of passion in mission is hardly ever taught today. But the greatest single secret of evangelistic or missionary effectiveness is the willingness to suffer and die. It may be a death to popularity (by faithfully preaching the unpopular biblical gospel), or to pride (by the use of modest methods in reliance on the Holy Spirit), or to racial and national prejudice (by identification with another culture), or to material comfort (by adopting a simple lifestyle). But the servant must suffer if he is to bring light to the nations, and the seed must die if it is to multiply.
John Stott

eyes open..

2007-03-09T09:13:00.000+11:00

Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
By Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

motion picture message

2007-02-19T06:30:00.000+11:00

That is the message we need to press home to our friends and to our impressionable kids. They need to know that everyone embraces one philosophy or another-a worldview that defines his or her conception of the world, of reality, and of human life. These beliefs are woven into movies-often in subtle ways that viewers miss. That is why it's so important that we teach our kids how to find the worldview message in every film.
Chuck Colson

let's talk about..

2007-02-09T07:54:00.000+11:00

When you speak of Heaven, let your face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of Hell—well, then your ordinary face will do.
Charles Spurgeon

and you give yourself away..

2007-02-06T13:32:00.000+11:00

If you could finish this sentence, how you would finish it, 'The greatest thing that God can give to me is...' how would you finish that?

The Biblical answer – the most wonderful and real answer – is this: the greatest thing that God can give to us is Himself.

On the Day of Pentecost, we are reminded that God, who gave His Son, whom we did not deserve, now gives His Holy Spirit to the receiver and the believer, in order that he or she might live in the family of God, forever with God, at the expense of God.
Simon Manchester

God rules, OK?

2007-02-04T09:22:00.000+11:00

People say about a great event, "What a providence" but they miss what they think is the less important event. My brothers, the moss on a hill is as fixed as the castle of a king; and the dust in the air is as steered by God as the planets in their orbit. There is as much providence in the creeping of a bug on a leaf as the march of an army to ravage a continent. Everything – the most minute as well as the most magnificent – is ordered by the Lord, whose Kingdom rules over all. No-one even sleeps or wakes, except by the decree of the Lord.
Charles Spurgeon

God, the Father, knows exactly what He is doing. He is working all things, not some things, but all things for His good, for our good. And our part is to seek His Will and to do it with all our heart

meant to live..

2007-01-22T07:55:00.000+11:00

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
Woodrow Wilson

we break easy..

2007-01-19T19:15:00.000+11:00

Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart.
Bob Pierce, World Vision Founder

lost..

2007-01-18T17:39:00.000+11:00

Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us.
Keith Wright

the day you come..

2007-01-16T07:19:00.000+11:00

We talk of the second coming, half of the world has never heard of the first.
Oswald J. Smith.

got faith?

2007-01-03T15:18:00.000+11:00

Faith is a living deliberate confidence in the grace of God, so certain that for it one could die a thousand deaths, and such confidence . . . makes us joyous, intrepid, and cheerful towards God and all creation.
Martin Luther

what a profound insight..

this is the new year..

2007-01-01T14:38:00.006+11:00

Happy New Year!

kicking, screaming gucci little piggy..
2007 is the year of the boar.

Christmas..

2006-12-25T12:47:00.000+11:00

More light than we can learn, More wealth than we can treasure, More love than we can earn, More peace than we can measure, Because one Child is born.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

a poem..

2006-12-22T18:24:00.000+11:00

God appears, and God is Light,
To those poor souls who dwell in Night;
But does a Human Form display
To those who dwell in realms of Day.
William Blake (1757-1827)

Filed under Christianity,

More than words..

2006-12-12T23:05:00.000+11:00

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
From 'And Can It Be' by Charles Wesley 1738

J.I. Packer puts it like this: when you realize that God has taken you from the gutter, so to speak, and made you a son in his house - you, a miraculously pardoned offender, guilty, ungrateful, defiant, perverse as you were - your sense of God's 'love beyond degree' is more than words can express..

so true.

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

from slavery to sonship..

2006-12-07T16:34:00.000+11:00

When Charles Wesley found Christ on Whit Sunday, 1738, his experience overflowed into some marvellous verses ('The Wesleys' Conversion Hymn', Methodist Hymn Book 361) in which the transition from slavery to sonship is the main theme.

Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?

O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which Thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God,
Should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
Blessed with this antepast of Heaven!

Filed under Christianity

in the name of love..

2006-12-05T07:18:00.000+11:00

Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law, and viewing God as judge. In justification, God declares of penitent believers that they are not, and never will be, liable to the death that their sins deserve, because Jesus Christ, their substitute and sacrifice, tasted death in their place on the cross…

But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into His family and fellowship, and establishes us as His children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is a greater.
J.I. Packer, Knowing God

adoption.. it's the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. Heaps thankful!

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

be a soldier..

2006-12-03T13:31:00.000+11:00

The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, [laziness], and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like one traveling in an easy carriage... If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must 'fight'.
J. C. Ryle, Holiness

what a challenge..

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

before the throne..

2006-12-01T14:20:00.000+11:00

Before the throne
by Charitie Lees Smith Bancroft, 1863

Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is “Love,”
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav’n He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there! the risen Lamb,
My perfect, spotless Righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God.

everything in it's right place..

2006-11-14T21:13:00.000+11:00

Most of scripture speaks to us, the psalms speak for us. It is my view that in the words of this book, the whole human life its basic spiritual conduct and as well its occasional movements and thoughts, is comprehended and contained. Nothing to be found in human life is omitted.
Athanasius, Ad Marcellinum

radiohead might not have arranged music for the book of psalms, but these guys have.. check it.

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

i will follow..

2006-11-12T23:54:00.000+11:00

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1 Peter 2:11-12

anchor and hope..

2006-10-23T08:25:00.000+10:00

My knowledge of that life is small;
The eye of faith is dim:
But it's enought that Christ knows all;
And I shall be with Him.
Richard Baxter, 1660

If you are a believer, and so an adopted child, this prospect satisfies you completely; if it does not strike you as satisfying, it would seem that as yet you are neither - J.I. Packer

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

new order..

2006-10-13T16:23:00.000+10:00

Behold the Throne of God above
Words: Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads 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.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God

Filed under Christianity

the sound of silence..

2006-10-11T12:53:00.000+10:00

This is what Francis Schaefer said just before he died:

It may sound melodramatic, but sometimes in the morning I reach for my Bible, and just pat it. I am so thankful for it. If the God who is there had created the earth and then remained silent, we wouldn't know who he is.
Francis Schaefer (1912-1984), from his final interview with Melinda Delahoyde.

Filed under Christianity

we're backdrifting..

2006-10-06T13:00:00.000+10:00

hey, he's speaking of my generation too..

Anti-intellectualism is a disposition to discount the importance of truth and the life of the mind. Living in a sensuous culture and an increasingly emotional democracy, American evangelicals in the last generation have simultaneously toned up their bodies and dumbed down their minds. The result? Many suffer from a modern form of what the ancient stoics called "mental hedonism" - having fit bodies but fat minds.
Os Guinness

Filed under Christianity

all that you can't leave behind..

2006-09-20T12:44:00.000+10:00

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
C.S. Lewis

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

whatever makes you happy?

2006-09-17T10:50:00.000+10:00

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on, anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?
Jonathan Edwards

Filed under Christianity

amazement of unbelief..

2006-09-16T23:58:00.000+10:00

Someone has written an alternative to the hymn, 'Amazing Grace'. It's called the song of the non-convert… and it goes like this:

Amazing grace, how strange the thought, of trying to reach me.
I am quite lost, but won't be found. And blind, but will not see.
'Twas grace that tried to make me fear. And grace would then relieve.
But precious things are all ignored. So now, I don't believe.
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.
'Tis grace who's brought me safe thus far, but I am strangely dumb.
When you’ve been there, ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun
Perhaps I'll see the call I'd missed, and wish I'd too begun.

Filed under Christianity

looking for a good cause?

2006-09-11T00:31:00.000+10:00

For a Christian to live for self instead of serving others, would mean that we take no heed of our elder brother, our Lord - the Son of Man who came to serve rather than to be served. Service must run in the family.

The coat of arms is the cross. The motto is service. That is what life is about. So give yourselves to service.
David Cook

to look out for the interests of others, we look out for the interests of Jesus Christ.. what a challenge!

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

is God safe?

2006-08-29T09:32:00.000+10:00

In C.S. Lewis's book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, one of the children ask Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan the Lion.

"Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver. "If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, their either braver than most or just plain silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you."

God isn't safe - but he's good.

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

social disaster..

2006-08-21T18:45:00.000+10:00

Without a feel for the social dimension of believing, the church is like a person paralyzed from the neck down – quite insensible to the further damage being inflicted on her.
Os Guinness

Filed under Christianity

the life pursuit?

2006-08-18T12:40:00.000+10:00

Dear Friend, what are you doing? What have you been doing? And what do you contemplate doing? I should like every young man here just to look at himself. Here you are, young man. You certainly were not sent into this world merely to wear a coat and to stand so many feet in your stockings! You must have been sent here with some intention. A noble creature like man—and man is a noble creature as compared with the animal creation—is surely made for something. What were you made for? Not merely to enjoy yourself. That cannot be! You certainly are not “a butterfly born in a bower,” neither were you made to be creation’s blot and blank.

Neither can you have been created to do mischief. It were an evil thing for you to be a mere serpent in the world, to creep in the grass and wound the traveler. No, you must be made for something. What is that something? Are you answering your end? We were made for God’s glory. Nothing short of this is worthy of immortal beings! Have we sought that glory? Are we seeking it now? If not, I commend to your consideration this thought, that as the ships go on their business, so ought men to live with a fixed and worthy purpose. I would say this, not only to young men, but with greater earnestness, still, to men who may have wasted 40 years.

O, how could I dare to stand before this congregation tonight and have to say, “Friends, I have had no objective. I have lived in this world for myself, alone. I have had no grand purpose before me”? I should be utterly ashamed if that were the fact. And if any man is obliged to feel that his purpose was such that he dares not acknowledge it, or that he has only existed to make so much money, or gain a position in life, or to enjoy himself, but he has never purposed to serve his God, I would say to him, Wake up, wake up, I pray you, to a noble purpose, worthy of a man! May God, the ever-blessed Spirit, set this before you in the light of eternity and in the light of Jesus’ dying love! And may you be awakened to solemn, earnest purpose and pursuit.
CH Spurgeon

Filed under Christianity, Books | Reading

a prayer that we know well..

2006-08-17T13:17:00.000+10:00

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."And he said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation."
Luke 11:1-4

I have comforted myself with this fact: that when my prayers have been feeble or wandering, or even prevented from any proper attention, but I have prayed the Lord’s Prayer, I have covered all the essentials.
Martin Lloyd-Jones

Filed under Christianity

in my place..

2006-08-16T08:28:00.000+10:00

He stood in our place and purchased salvation.
We stand in his place and publish salvation.

... the primary function of the concept [penal subsitution] is to correlate my knowledge of being guilty before God with my knowledge that, on the one hand, no question of my ever being judged for my sins can now arise, and, on the other hand, that the risen Christ whom I am called to accept as Lord is none other than Jesus, who secured my immunity from judgment by bearing on the cross the penalty which was my due.
JI Packer

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divine humility..

2006-08-10T00:32:00.000+10:00

It is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up "our own" when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is "nothing better" now to be had. The same humility is shown by all those Divine appeals to our fears which trouble high-minded readers of scripture. It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose Him as an alternative to Hell: yet even this He accepts. The creature's illusion of self-sufficiency must, for the creature's sake, be shattered; and by trouble or fear of trouble on earth, by crude fear of the eternal flames, God shatters it "unmindful of His glory's diminution." Those who would like the God of scripture to be more purely ethical, do not know what they ask.
CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain

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definite atonement..

2006-08-09T12:57:00.000+10:00

A lot of the staying-power of limited atonement, is because it supplies the 'l' in the English acronym – tulip – which gives us the five so-called points of Calvinism. The five points of Calvinism are, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints.

Don Carson, however, calls limited atonement, a defensive, restricted expression, and he prefers definite atonement. He prefers atonement, and so did Broughton-Knox, and so does Jim Packer. And a writer called Roger Nicole, who says in one of his articles,

'limited atonement seems to take away from the beauty, glory and fullness of the work of Christ, so I will gladly send the tulips flying. I am not Dutch. I am Swiss, and I do not care about tulips. I want to say definite atonement.'

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15

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