Browse Tag: Faith

All the Day Long

All the Day Long
All the Day Long

I was thinking this morning about how my heart is not in a good state right now. My “flesh,” as St. Paul terms it, has gained an advantage over me. It has taken the higher ground. It has its foot upon my chest and is ready to sever my head while I am fallen in my weakness.

My “flesh” is my mind. It is not just my physical anatomy, as if that were the residence of sinful passions. No, my flesh includes my sinful mind, my fickle often hard heart. Even if there isn’t an outward manifestation of sinful behavior, the thoughts are there in my mind. Lust is running amok in my mind. It usually does show itself in my body sooner or later, in one way or another – even if it’s only the slightest glance of my eye in a lustful manner. My “flesh” is in my mind and body.

I have not been mortifying my flesh – in the sense of putting these things to death through the Holy Spirit. I want it to be dead at the source – in my mind. I want a pure heart – not just reformation or restriction of my behavior. But right now I am so far from that. Anger and passion and worldliness. The pursuit of pleasure. How did it enter in when I was walking closely with God? (Or maybe just thought I was.) How have I again resorted to idolatry?

This is where it has lead me: to a place of mind and heart where I can’t read the Scriptures with a true desire to walk in God’s ways; I can’t pray with a full united heart; I can’t speak to others about Truth without hypocrisy; I can’t love others. This is hell and death and barrenness.

Reflecting on these things, I then thought, I must repent right now, pray – however feebly, and open my Bible. After all, I am 61 years-old. How much earthly existence do I have left? I should prepare my heart for my exit. I should be banking up treasure in heaven with much more determination than I have in piling up cash in my retirement fund. I’ve been reading Ecclesiastes lately. Oh God! Help me to learn the lesson: VANITY! VANITY! VANITY! Twelve chapters proving the emptiness of earthly existence. BUT: “Let us hear the conclusion of the WHOLE matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the WHOLE duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14)

So, I got up at that moment. I did open my Bible. As my habit is, I first ready my daily chapter of Proverbs. Since today is the 23rd, I read chapter 23. What did I find there?

Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

Proverbs 23:17, 18

The words that struck me most were, “All the day long.” It pressed upon me that my concern should be for THIS day. Fear the Lord THIS day – for that is the whole duty of man – THIS day. The whole duty for THIS man THIS day. Forget the past – with all its failures, all its wayward moments, all its hardness of heart. Focus on THIS day. Forget the future – with its anxieties and fears. It’s tempting to say the cliched line, “One day at a time.” But it’s true. “TODAY if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” (Psalm 95:7, 8) “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) “All the day long” are words that brought me abruptly to the present. Honestly, it’s a relief. Didn’t Jesus say, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:34) The verse before it is better known to most of us: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” That is very much in line with the words from Proverbs 23: “Let not thine heart envy sinner: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.” God keeps bringing us back to the present. That is where the action is. The present is where we live. The present is where we can obey Him and walk with Him.

But also He points us to His righteous future kingdom: “For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.” Expectation is hope. Ultimately, what is our hope? It is “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ,” our “blessed hope.” (Titus 2:13) I was going to now point “us” to the previous two verses in Titus 2. But I need to shift from “us” to “me.” I need to speak verses 11 and 12 to myself: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, DENYING UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” I must have the hope of that glorious future. For surely there is an end! “Faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) I must walk by faith, certainly. “For surely there is an end!” It is a sure and certain fact, which my faith holds onto, that Jesus Christ will appear! “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2) What is the very next verse? “AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIETH HIMSELF, EVEN AS HE IS PURE.”

I cannot escape the message: I must mortify my flesh THIS DAY! The blessed hope gives me incentive and courage to begin hammering the nails to crucify my flesh. Come, Holy Spirit, make such death of my flesh real and effectual THIS DAY! Help me, Lord, to let go of the anger, to resist the lust – to cut off my right hand and pluck out my right eye. Breathe Your life into me. Create me anew, with a clean heart and a right spirit. Bear Your fruit through me this day, Lord. Keep me moment by moment to fear You. For there is the place of peace and joy and love. There is where kindness and goodness dwell. Lord Jesus, let me desire what You desire. Let my heart beat with Yours.

My Shepherd

Shepherd

This is a short chapter titled “The Christian’s Shepherd” from the book The Christian by William S. Plumer. It was first published in 1878.newrestfunerals.co.uk

“He leadeth me.” – I certainly need some one to lead me. I am so poor, so blind, so weak, so foolish that, if left to myself, I must fatally err. For a long time I required the help of nurses and the guidance of parents and teachers; and when I ceased to have these, I needed God’s help as much as ever. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. We have in our language hardly any form of speech that expresses a sadder state than when we say of a man, “He is awfully left to himself.” Lord, never leave me nor forsake me, lest I be undone.

Then He leadeth me so gently. Even when all around is uproar and confusion, I am carried along almost as if there was no commotion in the world. When God gives peace, who can make perturbation? The Lord is more true in His friendship than a brother, more pitiful than a father, more loving than a mother, more gently than a woman. He doth not afflict willingly. Nor does the Lord ever lead me otherwise than wisely. He makes no mistakes. He knows the way I ought to go. He knows how much sweet and how much bitter are best for me. He understands me fully. He knows my spirit would fail before Him if I were dealt with severely. Oh, how He mingles mercy with judgment!

True, He leads me often in a mysterious way. I see not the end from the beginning. I can not see afar off. If I perfectly comprehended all God’s ways, I think I should be capable of guiding myself, at least to some extent. When all His waves and billows go over me, how can I tell anything? Would Jacob, or Joseph, or Bunyan, or Rogers have chosen the way the Lord led them? Have not the saints long been crying, “O Lord, how long?” His footsteps are in the sea; clouds and darkness are round about Him. He giveth account of none of his matters. His judgments are a great deep. But He never does wrong. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. In review of all the past I can truly say, “Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord. I know that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me.”

Then He leads me always: in prosperity and in adversity; in joy and in sorrow; when alone and when surrounded by others. If He left me even for an hour I should be undone. When I sleep, Thou, Lord, keepest vigil over me. When I awake, I am still with Thee. On the land and on the sea I am kept by the mighty power of God.

He leadeth me, and I will trust Him. He deserves my entire confidence. It is my sin and my folly that I am so slow of heart to repose confidence in Him. I will try to do better. Lord, give me the heritage of them that seek shelter under the shadow of Thy wings. Thou art my Shield, my Refuge, my Strong Rock, my God and Saviour.

He leadeth me, and I will follow Him. I will put my hand in His, and go wherever His prudence shall direct. Never yet has He brought me into needless trouble. When affliction has gained its end, relief, in some form, has come. I will mark His footsteps, and go right forward. He will guide me by His counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Oh, well, if glory is to follow sorrow and anguish, I will say no more:

“The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrows are unknown.”

I must be content that He should have His way. My will is the will of a worm, a fool, a sinner. “Not my will, but Thine be done, O God.” I care not what comes if the end be eternal life – everlasting repose in the bosom of God. Guide me on and up and through, O Lord. Be Thou on my right hand and my left by day and by night. Strengthen me with strength in my soul.

(Photo from Pexels.com. Credit to Kailash Kumar.)

These Things Ought Not So To Be

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I’m all outta love, bro.

The utter absence of real charity and love among men in the days when our Lord was upon earth ought not to be overlooked. Well would it be if men had never quarreled about religion after He left the world! Quarrels among the crew of a sinking ship are not more hideous, unseemly, and irrational than the majority of quarrels among professors of religion. A historian might truly apply St. John’s words [“For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” – John 4:9] to many a period in church history, and say, “The Romanists [Catholics] have no dealings with the Protestants,” or “the Lutherans have no dealings with the Calvinists,” or “the Calvinists have no dealings with the Arminians,” or “the Episcopalians have no dealings with the Presbyterians,” or “the Baptists have no dealings with those who baptize infants,” or “the Plymouth Brethren have no dealings with anybody who does not join their company.” These things ought not so to be. They are the scandal of Christianity, the joy of the devil, and the greatest stumbling-block to the spread of the Gospel.

So wrote J. C. Ryle, an Anglican bishop, in 1869. Things are still the same today.

I’ve been guilty of this attitude. There have been many times in my past as a Christian where I was content to stay within the bubble of those who believed exactly what I believed. Everyone outside the bubble was wrong, or less serious about their faith, or maybe just evil. And by “everyone” I mean others who professed to be Christians.

I’m embarrassed by my past attitude. It’s not like I had always and consistently been that way. I had been quite charitable mostly. But I got sucked up into the club of exclusivity. It was cold, stark, unlike Jesus Christ. Ultimately, I got away from it, but fell extremely far away from Jesus too.

There are former associates of mine who, if they knew where I worship now and the respect I have for the community of Christians to which God has brought me, would see my current involvement with these folks as proof that I never had true faith and it was fitting that I was excommunicated from a church in 1999.

Did I just say that out loud? Yes, excommunicated. Not for matters of faith, but for conduct. Maybe someday I’ll write about that. But I’ll have to charge for that blog post. Save up your money to pay for a Substack subscription.

Truly, I am grateful that Jesus has led my family and me to a community of sincere believers. I pray that He will help me to serve my brothers and sisters, to love and honor them, to learn from them. And I pray that He will prevent me from forming any bubble here in order that I could love and fellowship with all I may encounter who have the Spirit of Christ living in them.