Christ's Pursuit

  
"Christ is my righteousness.  Christ is my holiness.  Therefore, becoming holy is not primarily a matter of pursuing holiness but primarily a matter of pursuing Christ.  Rather, becoming holy is a matter of receiving his pursuit of me.  And any righteousness I pursue that doesn't have Jesus in the crosshairs of my effort - or, again rather, having myself in the crosshairs of his effort - is self-righteousness."

--Jared Wilson

True and Better

  
"Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us...  Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing whither he went to create a new people of God."
--Tim Keller

Doing Good

  
"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.  And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

--Galatians 6:7-10

The Providence of God

  
What do you understand by the providence of God?

Let Me Wander No More

  
Though my sins as mountains rise,
And swell and reach to heaven,
Mercy is above the skies,
And I shall stand forgiven.
Mighty is my guilt's increase,
But greater is thy mercy's store!
Love me freely, seal my peace,
And let me wander no more.

--Charles Wesley

A Trustworthy Saying

  
This is a trustworthy saying:

If we die with him,
we will also live with him.
If we endure hardship,
we will reign with him.
If we deny him,
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny who he is.

--2 Timothy 2:11-13 (NLT)

Lamb of God

  
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."

--Isaiah 53:7

"Suddenly, Abraham saw a ram caught in some brambles - the sacrifice.  God had given them what they needed just in time.  The ram would die so Isaac didn't have to.  And so Abraham sacrificed the ram, instead of his son.

And as they sat there on the mountaintop, watching the embers of the fire die in the cool night air, the stars above them sparkling in the velvet sky, God helped Abraham and Isaac understand something.  God wanted to rescue his people, not punish them.  But they must trust him.

"One day Someone will be born into your family," God promised them.  "And he will bring happiness to the whole world."  God was getting ready to give the whole world a wonderful present.  It would be God's way to tell his people, "I love you."

Many years later, another Son would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back.  Like Isaac, he would trust his Father and do what his Father asked.  He wouldn't struggle or run away.  Who was he?  God's Son, his only Son - the Son he loved.  The lamb of God."

--from "The Present: The Story of Abraham and Isaac, from Genesis 22" in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Betrayal

  
"We may all, and we all do, betray our Lord, though not as dramatically as Judas.  It remains a heinous thing to do, and we are answerable...  We should never be complacent about sin, since all sin betrays Jesus; but nor should we be destroyed by remorse of guilt when sin overtakes us -- there is forgiveness and restoration."

--D. English

"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."

--Robert Robinson

"Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet."

--Anne Steele

Odem

  
"Let every mortal ear attend,
And every heart rejoice;
The trumpet of the Gospel sounds
With an inviting voice.

Eternal Wisdom has prepared
A soul reviving feast,
And bids your longing appetites
The rich provision taste.

Ho! ye that pant for living streams,
And pine away and die,
Here you may quench your raging thirst
With springs that never dry.

Ye perishing and naked poor,
Who work with mighty pain
To weave a garment of your own
That will not hide your sin,

Come naked, and adorn your souls
In robes prepared by God,
Wrought by the labors of His Son,
And dyed in His own blood."

--The Sacred Harp, Hymn 295

Bread of Life

  
"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"
--Psalm 34:8

It Is Finished

  
"Christ said, 'It is finished,' and finished it is.  And oh, what a bliss is this - one of the things that may well stagger those who have never heard it before.  But let them not reject it because it staggers them but rather let them say, 'This wonderful system which saves and saves completely, in an instant, simply by looking out of self to Christ, is a system worthy of divine wisdom, for it magnifies the grace of God and meets man's deepest necessities."

--C. H. Spurgeon

Nor Silver, Nor Gold

  
Nor silver nor gold has secured my redemption,
Nor riches of earth could have saved my poor soul;
The blood of the cross is my only foundation,
The work of my Savior now maketh me whole.

Psalm 32

  
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Will Jesus Find Us Watching?

  
We enjoyed worshipping with my grandparents at their church, and the following hymn was a part of our worship service.

Consuming Christianity

  
An interesting Op-Ed piece in The New York Times by a Massachusetts minister highlights reasons why the minister believes American clergy is suffering from burnout.

All I Have is Christ

  
I once was lost in darkest night,
Yet thought I knew the way.
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave.
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will.
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still.

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost,
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross.
And I beheld God's love displayed
You suffered in my place,
You bore the wrath reserved for me;
Now all I know is grace.

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me.
Oh, Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You.

Hallelujah!  All I have is Christ.
Hallelujah!  Jesus is my life.

--Jordan Kauflin

The Subtlest of Snares

  
"There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God Himself...as if the good Lord had nothing to do but exist!  There have been some who were so occupied in spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ.  Man!  Ye see it in smaller matters.  Did ye never know a lover of books that with all his first editions and signed copies had lost the power to read them?  Or an organiser of charities that had lost all love for the poor?  It is the subtlest of all the snares."

--C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

The Day of Resurrection

  
The day of resurrection!  Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, from this world to the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory.

Now let the heavens be joyful!  Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is therein!
Invisible and visible, their notes, let all things blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy that hath no end.

--John of Damascus

The Digital Deity

  
"The job of the church then is not to conform its ministry to the digital whims of its virtual congregants, but to proclaim and live boldly God's redemptive work in Christ."

Our Father in Heaven

  
"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him."
-- Psalm 103:13

"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights."
-- Proverbs 3:11-12

"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
-- Luke 11:11-13

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."
-- 1 John 3:1-3