Whether you are withstanding the worst day of your life or enjoying the best of them, prayer and praise is the vocabulary of the Christian…
“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises” [James 5:13].
Whether life or death be mine, may Christ be magnified in me! If He has work for me to do, I cannot die
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| — | Henry Martyn |
Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, and more in light of what they suffer.
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| — | Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a German pastor, executed for his opposition to the Nazi party) |
Bringing Heaven to Earth
There is a strong movement promoting the infiltration of Christians into every sphere of life, with the intention of making Earth mirror Heaven. The belief (in a nutshell) holds that Jesus’ second coming will occur when His followers make Earth like Heaven.
Phoenix Preacher gave a fine, brief and balanced blog on the issue here.
I especially appreciate his emphasis on suffering.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
-William Cowper
Wealth
I spoke on Hebrews 13:1-8 today at Reality Carpinteria about the outflow of knowing Jesus. One of the bigger points of the text was a charge to refrain from desiring money, rather, to be content with what we have. What moved me the most was that Scripture doesn’t simply lead us to be content with what we have, but in our contentment to solely loose any attachment fo those possesions. It’s not wrong to be rich, but is a gift from God that He bestows on whomever He wills. Some He makes rich and some He makes poor according to His grace. I also understand that this is a difficult thing to maintain when you actually posses money. The richer you are, the easier it becomes to attach yourself to wealth. The more money you possess, the more it desires to possess you.
That’s the dichotomy, and many well-meaning Christians will fail at this by assuming that money and comfort are their God-given right. God will often bring suffering into our lives as a way of disciplining us to stay close to Him (Heb 12:6-11). For those who’s hearts are softened to His voice, they repent in the face of this kind of discipline.
American Christians are disgusted by suffering.
But Christians who read the Bible and have tasted the reward, have learned to embrace it for the greater glory of God.
