Forgotten Glory

Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf

“Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.”

Veering Off-Course

Course Corrections

Norman Geisler provides an illustration of our tendency toward wandering from the truth of the gospel:

According to aeronautic experts, when a propeller-driven airplane takes off it naturally veers left unless it is steered right. Based on my observations of evangelical institutions and leaders over the past half century, it appears to me that the same principle applies. The only way to keep on the straight orthodox path is to keep turning to the right. Churches, schools, and even evangelical scholarship will naturally go left, unless they are deliberately turned to the right. The prevailing winds of doctrine blow against us. And if we are to resist them we must have a firm grip on the wheel of [the church] and steer it to the right.[1]

Unless we hold fast to the doctrines of the gospel and the implications that it has for our lives, we will inevitably veer off-course and suffer the consequences.

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[1] Norman Geisler, “Beware of Philosophy: A Warning to Biblical Scholars” Christian Apologetics Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1 (1999).

In Need of Grace

There’s a great old hymn entitled “I Need Thee Every Hour” that captures our need of God’s grace to sustain us.  In fact, as the following hymn suggests, God’s provision of grace comes chiefly through the presence of our Savior:

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord; no tender voice like Thine can peace afford. I need Thee, O’ I need Thee; every hour I need Thee; O’ bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour; stay Thou nearby; temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, O’ I need Thee; every hour I need Thee; O’ bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain; come quickly and abide, or life is vain. I need Thee, O’ I need Thee; every hour I need Thee; O’ bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will; and Thy rich promises in me fulfill. I need Thee, O’ I need Thee; every hour I need Thee; O’ bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, most Holy One; O’ make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son. I need Thee, O’ I need Thee; every hour I need Thee; O’ bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.

There are times in my life when I am more mindful of my need of grace than others. Tonight happens to be one of them. Sometimes my awareness is clothed in gratitude for my salvation and a desire for sanctification.  And, sometimes it stems from feeling helpless as a result of my sin or the challenges of living in a fallen world with fallen people. That’s when desperation and despair drive me to desire grace. Whether I acknowledge it or not, I am always utterly dependent on God’s grace throughout each moment of every day. There is absolutely no hope apart from God’s grace, and there will be no spiritual growth without it. The more consistently I acknowledge this fact, the better off I will be and the more gloriously will God be reflected through me.

The late Puritan pastor, John Owen, had a keen understanding of this human condition. He acknowledged that the Holy Spirit uses means to deliver God’s grace to us when He initiates regeneration; He then excites that grace within us throughout our sanctification. It’s a beautiful mess as God takes graceless sinners and establishes His grace within them. Nothing could be more marvelous and mind-blowing than that…

“God inclines our hearts to duties and obedience principally by strengthening, increasing, and exciting the grace we have received, and which is inherent in [believers]; but we neither have nor ever shall have, in this world, such a stock of spiritual strength as to do anything as we ought without renewed co-operations of grace.” (John Owen, The Holy Spirit, 491).

Charles Spurgeon made a similar observation when he wrote, “One thing is past all question; we shall bring our Lord most glory if we get from Him much grace.”  (An All-Around Ministry).

Oh, how desperately I feel my need of  God’s grace. I pray for both His provision of it and a growing sense of my own deep need of it.

Integrity of Heart

“A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed, lapping at them.”  Charles Spurgeon

Ezra 7:10 “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

“As water tastes of the soil it runs through, so does the soul taste of the authors that a man reads.” John Trapp

Psalm 78:72 “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands.”

“As the heart is, so shall the service be.”  Jeremiah Burroughs

Acts 17:25 “God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

“The keener the memory of our awful rescue, the more naturally we pity those in a similar plight.  The more deeply we feel how undeserved and free was the grace that plucked us from the flames, the freer will be our benevolence to sinners.” John Piper

Thomas Brooks on Prayer

“Christ choosing solitude for private prayer, doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer, but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayer.  Our own fickleness and Satan’s restlessness call upon us to get into such places where we may freely pour out our soul into the bosom of God [Mark 1:35].”

“God’s hearing our prayers doth not depend upon sanctification, but upon Christ’s intercession; not upon what we are in ourselves, but what we are in the Lord Jesus; both our persons and our prayers are acceptable in the Beloved [Eph. 1:6].”

Useful Quotes

Thomas Watson:

“We aim at God’s glory when we are content that God’s will should take place, though it may cross our own.”

“Thus to love God is to glorify Him.  That which is the chief of our happiness has the chief of our affections.”

Artrichus of Dreshaan:*

“God created the universe to glorify Him.  Thus, if I have not glorified God today, then I have failed in my purpose for existing.”

Thomas Wilcox:

“Untried faith is uncertain faith.”

Thomas a Kempis:

“It is by gradual advances, rather than impetuous efforts, that victory is obtained; rather by patient suffering, that looks to God for support, than by impatient solicitude and rigorous austerity.”

Jonathan Edwards:

“Humility is often found connected with long-suffering.”

Richard Baxter:

“It is a mercy to have a faithful friend that loveth you entirely… to whom you may open your mind and communicate your affairs… And it is a mercy to have so near a friend to be a helper to your soul and… to stir up in you the grace of God.”

*I came across this quote as attributed to Artrichus of Dreshaan; however, I’ve never been able to confirm the name or the quote.  Yet, I find it worth sharing despite my inability to find any legitimate citation.