Recent Posts
God? Who Needs Him?May 31, 2013
Self-sufficient humanism. Paul saw it coming – “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Imago Dei
September 12, 2012
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Why Can't I Pray?
August 18, 2012
The bible gives us several reasons, but according to Jeremy Taylor, a deceitful heart is at the root of prayerlessness.
It's Not Rocket Science
July 23, 2012
To keep in step with the Spirit should be our daily quest. And if we are successful at that, all of life falls into place.
Theological Steak
April 10, 2012
These words by P. T. Forsythe on the magnificence of Christ's work are to theology what Ruth's Chris is to a good steak.
Describing the Indescribable
February 11, 2012
What we have in Christ will take all eternity to describe. But for one segment of one sermon, a great preacher made a mighty attempt.
Making Sense Of It All
January 30, 2012
Where are things headed? Is there rhyme and reason to the endless cycle of summer, fall, winter and spring? Is there a plan in place, or is randomness the explanation?
"Where Are You?"
May 21, 2010
Way back when, Adam and Eve transgressed, and God saw. And he came looking, as they attempted to hide. Nothing has changed. We still transgress, we still hide, and God still seeks."We were created for God."
Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.
"Every living soul belongs to me.”
Ezekiel 18:4
"We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me," said our Lord, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him," and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming."
A. W. Tozer THE PURSUIT OF GOD
"Christianity is not about the sinner finding God, but about God finding the sinner."
David F. Wells ABOVE ALL EARTHLY POWERS
The idea of a seeking God can be a bit threatening. In MIRACLES, C. S. Lewis addressed the concept with the use of words that only he could muster:
"The Pantheist's God does nothing, demands nothing. He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf. HE WILL NOT PURSUE YOU.
There is no danger that at any time heaven and earth should flee away at His glance. If He were the truth, then we could really say that all the Christian images of kingship were a historical accident of which our religion ought to be cleansed.
It is with a shock that we discover them to be INDESPENSABLE. You have had a shock like tht before, in connection with smaller matters - when the line pulls at your hand, when something breathes beside you in the darkness.
So here; the shock comes at the precise moment when the thrill of life is communicated to us along the clue we have been following.
It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. "Look out!' we cry, "it's alive!" And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back - I would have done so myself if I could - and proceed no further with Christianity.
An "impersonal God"? Well and good.
A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness inside our own heads? Better still.
A formless life-force surgin through us, a vast power which we can tap? Best of all.
But GOD HIMSELF, ALIVE, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed - the hunter, king, husband - that is QUITE ANOTHER MATTER.
There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall?
There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (Man's search for God"!) suddenly draw back.
SUPPOSING WE REALLY FOUND HIM? We never meant it to come to that! WORSE STILL, SUPPOSING HE HAD FOUND US?"
Think About His Love
March 3, 2009
Meditating on the love of God is faith-energizing, hope-building, and the opposite of wasting time. Comprehending God is impossible, but the little we can know will be health and life to our soul.Why a fool? Because if you think on the subject of God for even a moment, there dawns a sense of His greatness and our "dustness." Richard Baxter (the 1600's) the Puritan pastor shows us how this process of thinking on God can take shape.
If God be good, and infinitely good, then there is all the reason in the world that you should love Him; and there is no show of reason that you should love the world or sin before Him.
If He be faithful and true, His threatenings must be feared, and His promises must not be distrusted; and there is no reason that you should make any question of His word.
If He be holy....then He must be an enemy to sin, and to all that are unholy, because they are contrary to His nature.
Consider that He is almighty, and there is no resisting Him...in the twink of an eye can He snatch the guilty soul from thy body, and cast it where sin is better known.
A word of His mouth can set all the world against thee, and set thine own conscience against thee too....and if He be thine enemy, it is no matter who is thy friend; for all the world cannot save thee, if He do but condemn thee.
He was from eternity, and thou art but as it were of yesterday; thy being is from Him; thy life is always in His hands, thou canst not live an hour without Him, thou canst not fetch a breath without Him, nor think a thought, nor speak a word, nor stir a foot or a hand without Him.
No love can be great enough, and no praises can be high enough, and no service can be holy and good enough for such a God.
This is not a God to be neglected, or dallied with; nor a God to be resisted, nor proviked by the wilful breaking of His laws. O therefore dwell on the meditations of the almighty!
Extracted from A QUEST FOR GODLINESS by J. I. Packer
Whoever is wise let him heed these things, and consider the great love of the Lord. Psalm 107:43
Deserted, maybe. Forsaken, never!
February 24, 2009
Our walk with God has its high points, and its low ones. We have times when God seems intensely near, and other times when it seems our cry is ignored, and God is nowhere to be seen. Or so it seems. Bottom line - it is all for our good.
We Really Are Special!
November 6, 2008
Self-esteem. "You are special." This cultural mantra ignores the fact that, made in God's image, we have an identity of inestimable uniqueness and potential - communion with the Godhead - Father, Son and Spirit.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
November 6, 2008
The mere presence of these two words on the packaging admits that the product may not deliver. With God, there is no risk. We are offered a relationship of the most magnificent possibility, with the absolute certainty that He will never disappoint.
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep
November 3, 2008
One never knows what a day might hold. So to safely get through a day is a mercy of God, and He deserves our thanks. John Baillie gives us a helpful example from his prayer life.
A Pastor After God's Own Heart
October 22, 2008
The shift from pastor as shepherd to pastor as CEO has had devastating effects on the "sheep." They've wandered off. So what are the pastoral basics again, and how do we become "retro?"
Why God Will Not Tolerate Idolatry
October 15, 2008
You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3
The Best Time Of The Day
October 8, 2008
Most of us struggle to have a quiet time at all, so to argue for the early morning hours as "most desirable" seems a bit unfair. What secret did Jesus know that we need to rediscover?
Why Worship?
September 28, 2008
“If you don’t worship, you’ll shrink.” Words of wisdom from the psychologist in Peter Shaffer’s play "Equus."
"Adam, Where Are You?"
September 28, 2008
The greatest tragedy in the world today is that God has made man in His image and made him...to play the harp of worship before the face of God day and night, but he has failed God and dropped his harp. It lies voiceless at man's feet. Tozer
