Wednesdays with Words {06.10.15}

From Morning and Evening by Spurgeon, edited by Alistair Begg.

I hesitated to include the entire passage since it is somewhat lengthy but thought it best to do so. This is from the email sent via Bible Gateway from 6/10/15.

"We live unto the Lord."
Romans 14:8

If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at the moment of conversion. It was not absolutely necessary for our preparation for immortality that we should tarry here. It is possible for a man to be taken to heaven, and to be found meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, though he has but just believed in Jesus. It is true that our sanctification is a long and continued process, and we shall not be perfected till we lay aside our bodies and enter within the veil; but nevertheless, had the Lord so willed it, he might have changed us from imperfection to perfection, and have taken us to heaven at once. Why then are we here? Would God keep his children out of paradise a single moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the battle-field when one charge might give them the victory? Why are his children still wandering hither and thither through a maze, when a solitary word from his lips would bring them into the centre of their hopes in heaven? The answer is--they are here that they may "live unto the Lord," and may bring others to know his love. We remain on earth as sowers to scatter good seed; as ploughmen to break up the fallow ground; as heralds publishing salvation. We are here as the "salt of the earth," to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our daily life. We are here as workers for him, and as "workers together with him." Let us see that our life answereth its end. Let us live earnest, useful, holy lives, to "the praise of the glory of his grace." Meanwhile we long to be with him, and daily sing--

"My heart is with him on his throne,

And ill can brook delay;

Each moment listening for the voice,

Rise up, and come away.'"

Wednesdays with Words {06.03.15}

From the book Humilitas: A lost key to life, love, and leadership by John Dickson*. This book was referenced more than once in a college course I took a couple of months ago. I decided to check it out from the library. It is a small book but it is good.

Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself...First, humility presupposes your dignity...Second, humility is willing...Finally, humility is social. (pp. 24 & 25)

We live in a universe that looks uncannily like it was expecting us...We can all stand in awe of the amazing fact that we find ourselves in a universe that not only operates according to elegant "laws", but somehow, through those laws, produced a world of sentient beings who can now comprehend those laws. The fact that there are "laws" is odd; the fact that our brains comprehend those laws is spooky...Atheism lacks the theoretical framework for the kind of humility described in this book. Humility involves both a sense of finitude and a sense of inherent dignity...Thoughtful people recognize that what they don't know and can't do far exceeds what they do know and can do. (pp. 63, 64, & 66)

*Amazon affiliate link. See Disclosure/Policies.

Wednesdays with Words {5/20/15}

"Marvellous lovingkindness."
Psalm 17:7

When we give our hearts with our alms, we give well, but we must often plead to a failure in this respect. Not so our Master and our Lord. His favours are always performed with the love of his heart. He does not send to us the cold meat and the broken pieces from the table of his luxury, but he dips our morsel in his own dish, and seasons our provisions with the spices of his fragrant affections. When he puts the golden tokens of his grace into our palms, he accompanies the gift with such a warm pressure of our hand, that the manner of his giving is as precious as the boon itself. He will come into our houses upon his errands of kindness, and he will not act as some austere visitors do in the poor man's cottage, but he sits by our side, not despising our poverty, nor blaming our weakness. Beloved, with what smiles does he speak! What golden sentences drop from his gracious lips! What embraces of affection does he bestow upon us! If he had but given us farthings, the way of his giving would have gilded them; but as it is, the costly alms are set in a golden basket by his pleasant carriage. It is impossible to doubt the sincerity of his charity, for there is a bleeding heart stamped upon the face of all his benefactions. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not. Not one hint that we are burdensome to him; not one cold look for his poor pensioners; but he rejoices in his mercy, and presses us to his bosom while he is pouring out his life for us. There is a fragrance in his spikenard which nothing but his heart could produce; there is a sweetness in his honey-comb which could not be in it unless the very essence of his soul's affection had been mingled with it. Oh! the rare communion which such singular heartiness effecteth! May we continually taste and know the blessedness of it!

From Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Night, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Day 8: Wednesdays with Words {National Poetry Month & 30 Day Blog Challenge}

This is from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotion I receive in an email from BibleGateway. This particular one was from 04.01.2015

"It is time to seek the Lord."
Hosea 10:12

This month of April is said to derive its name from the Latin verb aperio, which signifies to open, because all the buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the gates of the flowery year. Reader, if you are yet unsaved, may your heart, in accord with the universal awakening of nature, be opened to receive the Lord. Every blossoming flower warns you that it is time to seek the Lord; be not out of tune with nature, but let your heart bud and bloom with holy desires. Do you tell me that the warm blood of youth leaps in your veins? then, I entreat you, give your vigour to the Lord. It was my unspeakable happiness to be called in early youth, and I could fain praise the Lord every day for it. Salvation is priceless, let it come when it may, but oh! an early salvation has a double value in it. Young men and maidens, since you may perish ere you reach your prime, "It is time to seek the Lord." Ye who feel the first signs of decay, quicken your pace: that hollow cough, that hectic flush, are warnings which you must not trifle with; with you it is indeed time to seek the Lord. Did I observe a little grey mingled with your once luxurious tresses? Years are stealing on apace, and death is drawing nearer by hasty marches, let each return of spring arouse you to set your house in order. Dear reader, if you are now advanced in life, let me entreat and implore you to delay no longer. There is a day of grace for you now--be thankful for that, but it is a limited season and grows shorter every time that clock ticks. Here in this silent chamber, on this first night of another month, I speak to you as best I can by paper and ink, and from my inmost soul, as God's servant, I lay before you this warning, "It is time to seek the Lord." Slight not that work, it may be your last call from destruction, the final syllable from the lip of grace.

Seek the Lord

All that are weary,

All that are lost,

Seek the Lord.

All that are hungering,

All that are thirsty,

Seek the Lord.

All that hope for something more,

That know this is not the end,

Seek the Lord.

Wednesdays with Words {04.01.15}

This is from an email I get through Bible Gateway. This one was from 03.21.15. It comes from the book Morning and Evening, by Charles Spurgeon, edited by Alistair Begg. This particular edition uses the ESV. I would like to eventually get the KJV edition*. 

*Amazon affiliate link. See Disclosure/Policies.

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?"
Job 38:31

If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?

In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad his delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the Comforter. When he deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul bondage, who can give him liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but he. What a blessing it is that he can do it. O that he would perform the wonder tonight. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dulness, but all things are possible with thee. I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of thy love, the beams of thy grace, the light of thy countenance; these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from sin and temptation; these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.

"Lord, what is man?"
"Lord, work wonders in me, and for me."

Wednesdays with Words {03.25.15}

Here are two posts about narration I've been reading:
Narration Helps at AO's blog, Archipelago
Narration for the Newbie by Carroll Smith

From decades of working with educators in schools, homes and colleges, I unreservedly say that narration is both an essential key to learning and a most satisfying and worthy life possession. ~Carroll Smith

From the beginning, narration is an essential part of a Charlotte Mason curriculum. It is not enough to read the excellent books- the children need the mind work necessary that goes into narrations. They need to think about what they have read, to go over it in their minds and think about what it is they are going to say about it. ~Wendi Capehart

We can only get at what Miss Mason intended with regard to narration if we go back to the reason for which she suggested the use of it. In her books, she lays the stress upon attention, and the habit of attention, and all considerations with regard to narration must centre round the question how far any way of using narration - and there are scores of ways - gives each child, either in a home schoolroom or a class, full opportunity to use his power of attention. We may not consider the attention of two or more children, either in a home schoolroom or in a class. The attention given by each individual child must be considered. ~Elsie Kitching (from one of the linked PR articles in Wendi's post)

It is interesting when I read about narration that it is not what the teacher 'wants to hear' or even what the 'teacher has taught' necessarily but rather what the student has taken for themselves. It is a necessary step that no matter how the information is presented, the student must make it their own. 

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. 

Wednesdays with Words {03.18.15}

From The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith*, orignally written in 1875. I am reading from the reprinted 2012 Spire edition. *Amazon affiliate link. See Disclosure/Policies.

"And your hearts have sunk within you, as, day after day, and year after year, your early visions of triumph have seemed to grow more and more dim, and you have been forced to settle down to the conviction, that the best you can expect from your religion is a life of alternate failure and victory, one hour sinning, and the next repenting, and then beginning again, only to fail again, and again to repent.

But is this all? Had the Lord Jesus only this in his mind when He laid down His precious life to deliver you from your sore and cruel bondage to sin? Did He propose to Himself only this partial deliverance? Did He intend to leave you thus struggling under a weary consciousness of defeat and discouragement? Did He fear that a continuous victory would dishonor Him, and bring reproach on His name? [She continues with many a question that I am certain many Christians have considered.]

In the very outset, then, settle down on this one thing, that Jesus came to save you now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin, and to make you more than conquerors through his power. If you doubt this, search your Bible, and collect together every announcement or declaration concerning the purposes and object of His death on the cross. You will be astonished to find how full they are. Everywhere and always, His work is said to be to deliver us from our sins, from our bondage, from our defilement; and not a hint is given, anywhere, that this deliverance was to be only the limited and partial one with which Christians so continually try to be satisfied." p. 13-14

Are we still sinners? Indeed. Paul says that we are carnal and therefore we have times where we do carnal things. But the reassurance that we are accepted by God by grace, not by ourselves doing something or not, is found throughout the Bible {to my mind it is most clear in the New Testament}. To dwell on our sins is to reject the forgiveness we have. Do we still sin? Unfortunately, yes. But God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us when we seek Him- when we confess and repent {1 John 1:9}. No need to dwell on the fact that we might sin at some point. There is no need to dwell on the fact that we have sinned. What we dwell on is that we are made a new creature and given new life. That is what we should dwell on.

God's salvation to us is complete.