Holiness - Intend to fly? - William Law

 This selection is from William Law's (1686-1761) The Holy Life:


Just as we cannot live a holy life without prayer, so we cannot have prayer without a holy life. To be foolish in the way we spend our time and money is no greater mistake than to be foolish in relation to our prayers.

If our lives cannot be offered to God, how can our prayers?
.....

Our lives should be as holy and as heavenly as our prayers. It is our strict duty to live by reason, to devote all of the action of our lives to God, to walk before Him in wisdom and holiness...and to do everything in His name and for His glory.

If our prayers do not lead to this, they are of no value no matter how wise or heavenly.

No, such prayers would be absurdities. They would be like prayers for wings though we never intended to fly.

Who was the Prodigal?

 

                                                           Who was the Prodigal?

The story about the prodigal son (Luke 15) touches so many hearts.

A self-centered boy, asking for his inheritance early, runs away and squanders all of it, sinks lower than imaginable, desperately returns home to face the consequences of his prodigal lifestyle....

He expects to be treated as a slave and punished. But he is joyously received, forgiven and restored.

What does 'prodigal' mean? The dictionary tells us it means to spend your money or resources freely and recklessly, with wasteful extravagance;  to distribute lavishly and without thought for the future; overly generous to people you hardly know; to be careless with your money without considering what  will happen when it is all gone. What a short-sighted fellow! How foolish! Did he really think he was making true loyal friends with his conduct? Who was he impressing?

He ended up alone and desperate with no place to go but to crawl home and beg a crumb of bread!

But maybe the real prodigal was not the son -- but the father. Didn't he give of his love with reckless abandon? Probably his neighbors considered him foolish to waste his love on his ungrateful son? He was lavish and extravagant with his grace and forgiveness. He didn't even stop to consider if he should welcome his son home - just impulsively received and forgave him - and then restored him to his original position. Extravagant generosity! Talk about being 'prodigal'!  

But, wait -- isn't that the picture of our heavenly Father? 

Maybe we should change the name of the story of "The Prodigal Son" to "The Prodigal Father"?

Have you come home?

Feeling Out of Place?

               Are You Feeling Out of Place?

Great comments from Donald Grey Barnhouse:

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, writing on Revelation, wrote this:

There are four things out of place in the universe.

The church is out of place. She ought to be in heaven.

Israel is out of place. She should be in the land that has been sworn to her and possess every part of it.


The devil is out of place. He ought to be in the lake of fire, but he's still roaming free.

And Christ is out of place. He should be through with intercession and seated on His throne, reigning, instead of upon His Father's throne interceding.

So here in the vision (Revelation) we begin to see all of these things that are out of place being put in their rightful place.

The church is in heaven.

Israel is about to be given back her kingdom and her land and salvation.

The devil is going to be bound and cast into the lake of fire.

And Christ is about to reign.

And those in heaven know this. And so in verse 8 of Chapter 5, we read "after He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb."

And that initiates immense worship--extreme worship.

And everything is put back the way it is supposed to be!

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Fixing What's Broken

 Everything looks so broken now...seems beyond repair! Such wreckage everywhere ...politics, people, families. 

We caused it ourselves through our own disobedience to our Father, our stupid selfishness, our poor thoughtless choices. 

Remember what Aaron said to Moses when he came down from the mountain with God's Law in his hands and encountered the Hebrews in their acts of idolatry? Aaron said, "I told you these people were prone to evil!"

Looks like nothing has changed. But in spite of the wreckage and ruin we have caused through our sin, God's promise of ultimate restoration still stands.

In Revelation 21 we read about Jesus at His Throne saying, "Behold, I am making all things new!"

How we yearn for that day.

It is coming!

In the meantime we have the unique privilege of partnering with God -- co-workers with the Almighty Creator -- in the beginning of that renewal of creation...starting today. We can help mend what is broken, promote what is good, restore what is missing, and lead the challenge to resist evil. 

We can work on that today! And that means we are partnering with God in bringing His Kingdom to earth. We are helping to answer Jesus' prayer, "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth, as it is in heaven." 

Then when  Jesus comes back as the rightful Sovereign King of all creation, His Kingdom will arrive in its ultimate eternal glory!

As we spread the gospel we are recruiting His subjects all over the earth!

A King needs territory and subjects. And we are His subjects and our hearts are His territory.

Until then, we can help get ready for that day! We can start the process!

Still Amazed by Grace - John Newton

                             Remembering John Newton....

The following is written on the grave marker for John Newton, redeemed and forgiven atheist slave trader, the author of Amazing Grace and other hymns, and active participant and leader in the abolitionist movement of the 1700's.

He was born in 1725 and died in 1807 -- roughly an English contemporary of George Washington.


His epitaph:

John Newton, a clerk,
once an infidel and libertine,
a servant of slaves in Africa,
was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and
appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.

* * * * * * * *

Some of his remembered quotes:

I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I want to be; I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.

God sometimes does His work with gentle drizzles, not storms.

If we seem to get no good by attempting to draw to Him, we may be sure we will get none by keeping away from Him.

This is faith: a renouncing of everything we are apt to call our own and relying wholly upon the blood, righteousness and intercession of Jesus.

Near death, he said,

Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

 

His most famous quote:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.

[He also wrote the great hymn, Glorious things of Thee are Spoken, Zion City of our God! Today we sing those stirring words to a familiar tune by Franz Joseph Haydn.]

How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds is another hymn by John Newton:

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

in a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and

Drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole

And calms the troubled breast

'Tis manna to the hungry soul

And to the weary, rest.

Dear name -- the rock on which I build

My shield and hiding place

My never-ending treasure,

Filled with boundless stores of grace.

Jesus, my shepherd, brother, friend,

My prophet, priest and King

My Lord, my life, my way, my end

Accept the praise I bring!

Imagine the miracle: a confirmed atheist; cruel, self-serving slave trader; transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit - writing the gentle, loving words above.

 A transformed life is the greatest miracle of all! - restored and pardoned, as the words appear on his grave stone.