I’ve long enjoyed the Private Thoughts on Religion by Thomas Adam. It is arguably the most heart-piercing and soul-humbling book in print. His words reach the depths of the soul in a way that other writers do not. In fact, I don’t know of any other book that puts words in my soul’s mouth like his. Consisting of private reflections from his notes and diaries (published after his death), it’s a window into my soul’s wrestlings to confront my own sin, to live honestly before God, to live by faith in a sense-driven body and world, and to walk holily before God in all I do. I’d like to share with you what I read today. Continue reading “Are you forgiven?”
Soul-sickness
We’ve got pills for everything! There’s a pill for every sickness, a dose of something or another for every discomfort. Given what stocks the shelves in your local pharmacy, there’s practically no reason to be sick today, no reason to be uncomfortable. Just to go the pharmacy, get what you need, and in no time you’ll be right as rain. And that’s just what we do. The minute we feel a sickness coming on, we’re off to the pharmacy for Vitamin C, Zinc, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, &c. No time to waste; no time to be sick; we can’t afford to be down. I’ve often wondered why we don’t treat soul-sickness the same way. Continue reading “Soul-sickness”
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Living under God’s eye
The motto of R. C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries has become famous: Coram Deo. It’s a Latin phrase that means before the face of God. The idea is that we’re to live and carry ourselves as before His face or under His eye. Our lives are to be lived as those who know that He looks on. Well enough. But is this not doing one’s work by way of eye-service, which Paul condemns in Col 3.22? Continue reading “Living under God’s eye”
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The Duties of Parents and Children, Col 3.20-21
This is an excerpt from the close of my sermon yesterday on Col 3.20-21. Paul says parents are not to provoke their children and children are to obey their parents in everything. I pray it blesses your own life and the life of your family. Continue reading “The Duties of Parents and Children, Col 3.20-21”
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How to live in light of the truth of God
Over the last two posts I’ve explained that the Christian is a man with the saving knowledge of God and, further, that he applies that knowledge. Are you such a man as that? Here are some helps to being such a man, helps to living in the light of the knowledge of God. Continue reading “How to live in light of the truth of God”
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The Christian applies the knowledge of God to his life
I made the point yesterday that the Christian is a man with the knowledge of God. But that’s not all. The truth of God is a living truth, a truth that begets life. Mere knowledge of God, even knowledge of God’s truth, isn’t an end in itself. Rather, a true and saving knowledge of God’s will is the foundation of Christian character and conduct. Continue reading “The Christian applies the knowledge of God to his life”
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The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 2
I explained in yesterday’s post about Puritan spirituality that it was the conviction of the Puritans (as well as my own) that the inherent righteousness of every believer was to be shaped by the Ten Commandments, the moral Law of God. This is because the Puritans rightly understood that the moral law provides the Christian with both light from heaven to expose his sin and truth from God to guide his feet in righteousness. Continue reading “The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 2”
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Getting victory over your sin
Jesus tells us to watch and pray in order that we might not enter into temptation (Mt 26.41). So why does it so often happen that we watch and pray and then still find ourselves falling into sin? The answer is because we’re watching and praying against the sin and not against the temptation. We’re on guard against the sin but not against the temptations which give rise to it. Continue reading “Getting victory over your sin”
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No longer a slave to sin, Part 2
In yesterday’s post I explained from Rom 7 that in regeneration believers are freed from the dominion of sin as a law over them. They are now placed under the law of the Spirit of life, by which they delight in good (6.17-18) and desire to do good (7.18, 21). And the discovery of the opposition and resistance of sin in them when they would do good (7.21-23) is actually an encouraging sign of grace. Continue reading “No longer a slave to sin, Part 2”
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Keeping the heart
What is the greatest business of the Christian life? According to Prov 4.23 it is to keep the heart. It is the Christian’s chief concern to keep his heart from sin–since this disorders it from godly conduct, and in turn to keep his heart in a godly and gracious frame–since this alone fits it for a life of communion with God and for the doing of all his deeds to the approval and glory of God. Several points can be offered in support of this. Continue reading “Keeping the heart”
