Entries Tagged 'Quotations' ↓
June 3rd, 2008 — Application, Quotations, Theology
When tragedies occur, such as some one dying from a heart attack or a serious injury from a car crash or we hear of a huge weather phenomenon that wipes out thousands of people, we often turn our attention to death. We think about eternity and what will happen when we die. We are reminded of the fragility of human life and thus are thankful that we are still alive. Many deep feelings and thoughts that we do not often have, overtake us. I even recently have such thoughts when a dear 17-year-old friend went into cardiac arrest.
Calvin speaks of these type of thoughts. He says that God has made things on this earth to teach us that “human life is nothing but a vapor or shadow.” But then he says:
“But there is scarcely anything which we more carelessly consider or sooner banish from our memory; for we go about everything as if we want to make ourselves immortal.
If we watch a funeral or walk among the graves (or see a friend laying lifeless in a hospital bed), and thus clearly see the image of death before our eyes, we philosophize, I confess, about the vanity of life.
And even that does not happen every day, for often we are not moved at all.
But when we are, our philosophy is only short-lived; it vanishes as soon as we go away and does not leave the smallest trace behind.
It passes out of existence like the applause for an entertaining program.
We not only forget death, but the fact that we are mortals, as if no word concerning this has ever reached us, and we continue our foolish dream that we are to live forever.
If any man in the meantime reminds us of the proverb that man is only a creature of the day, we are willing to acknowledge this truth, but with such lack of attention that the idea of perpetual life keeps on lingering in our minds.
Who, then, can deny that we need to be warned not only by words, but that we should be convinced by every possible evidence that the present life is full of miseries!
For even if after we have become convinced of this, we hardly know how to stop our perverse and foolish admiration of it, as if life were nothing but one great accumulation of blessings.
But if it is necessary for us to be taught by God, it certainly is also our duty to listen to him when he speaks and arouses us from our sluggishness, that we may turn our backs upon this world and and try to meditate with all our heart on the life to come.
Calvin’s comments are incredibly insightful. He is basically saying that we may think about the brevity of life during certain situations, but as a whole we live as if we will live forever. I daily need to be reminded and taught about the empty, passing world that I live in because I am far too fascinated with it. May God continue to pull His bride’s affections heavenward.
April 24th, 2008 — Application, Quotations
I just read a tract by J.C. Ryle called “Do you pray?” Wow. I am only now barely pulling myself out of the pit of conviction. It is a great read and you can find it here, which is on a great site you check out: Evangelical Tracts. Here is an excerpt from the Ryle tract on prayer:
“It is essential to your soul’s health to make praying a part of the business of every 24 hours in your life. Just as you allot time to eating, sleeping, and business, so also allot time to prayer. Choose your own hours and seasons. At the very least, speak with God in the morning, before you speak with the world; and speak with God at night, after you have done with the world. But settle it down in your minds, that prayer is one of the great things of every day. Do not drive it into a corner. Do not give it the scraps and leavings and parings of your day. Whatever else you make a business of, make a business of prayer.”
I’m beginning to see a theme.
April 24th, 2008 — Application, Quotations
by Richard C. Halverson (Former Chaplain of the United States Senate)
You can offer your ideas to others as bullets or as seeds.
You can shoot them, or sow them; hit people in the head with them, or plant them in their hearts. Ideas used as bullets will kill inspiration and neutralize motivation. Used as seeds, they take root, grow, and become reality in the life in which they are planted.
The only risk in the seed approach: Once it grows and becomes part of those in whom it’s planted, you probably will get no credit for originating the idea. But if you’re willing to do without the credit . . . you’ll ream a rich harvest.
I know that I often don’t think of giving people ideas, but I do when I talk to people about truth. We will be discussing either what the Bible says or how we live out the reality of Christ as our Lord. Advice, wisdom, and ideas are all transferred to others in one way or another and I especially need to take special care in how I offer them to others.
For me, bullet ideas are typically marked with pride and a lack of love for the other person. I want to get my thought out in order to produce an image of having all the answers. I care more about what I’m saying than how the other person is receiving it. On the other hand, seed ideas are humble attempts to help someone to grasp a small truth of the gospel. I see these used when I listen more than I talk. I will plant seeds when I care more that my friend see Jesus clearer than see my competency in the Word.
Just because we plant seeds, does not mean that we compromise on the truth and fail to say the hard thing. It only means that communicate the truth with grace. There is a balance needed.
April 20th, 2008 — Quotations
April 20th. This day represents different things for different people. Here are just a few:
Even though those are some significant events, especially the birthdays of my friends Jesse and Grant, I want to highlight the birth of another great man in history that we don’t hear much about.
That man is David Brainerd who was born in 1718. He was a missionary who brought the gospel to the American Indians. I have read his life and diary compiled by Jonathan Edwards and I recommend it to all. You can read more about this amazing man here, but I want to give you a small taste of his affections for God through some excerpts from his journal entries.
“Oh! One hour with God infinitely exceeds all the pleasures and delights of this lower world.”
“Oh, that God would humble me deeply in the dust before Him! I deserve hell everyday for not loving my Lord more, who has loved me and given Himself for me.”
“God enabled me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and the cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much for the world, for multitudes of souls. I think I had more enlargement for sinners than for the children of God, though I felt as if I could spend my life in cries for both. I enjoyed great sweetness in communion with my dear Savior. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world and so much resigned to God!”
“I wanted to wear out my life in His service, and for His glory.”
“In the afternoon I withdrew to meet with my God, but found myself much declined . . . It grieved me exceedingly that I could not pray to and praise God with my heart full of divine heavenly love. Oh, that my soul might never offer any dead, cold services to my God!”
“God was so precious to my soul that the world with all its enjoyments was infinitely vile. I had no more value for the favor of men than for pebbles. The Lord was my ALL; and that He overruled all, greatly delighted me.”
April 2nd, 2008 — Church, Quotations
I found this phenomenal quotation from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He preached it in 1927 and yet it sounds like something the church today needs to hear. He gives us some needed insight into the emergent debate as we think about how the church should sit within the pagan culture. He had a well-articulated ecclesiology that stemmed from a deep understanding of the power of the Spirit of God in the life of believers.
“The world expects the Christian to be different and looks to him for something different, and therein it often shows an insight into life that regular church-goers often lack. The churches organize whist-drives, fetes, dramas, bazaars and things of that sort, so as to attract people. We are becoming almost as wily as the devil himself, but we are really very bad at it; all our attempts are hopeless failures and the world laughs at us. Now, when the world persecutes the church, she is performing her real mission, but when the world laughs at her she has lost her soul. And the world today is laughing at the church, laughing at her attempts to be nice and to make people feel at home.
My friends, if you feel at home in any church without believing in Christ as your personal Saviour, then that church is no church at all, but a place of entertainment or a social club. For the truth of Christianity and the preaching of the gospel should make a church intolerable and uncomfortable to all except those who believe, and even they should go away feeling chastened and humble.”
