Until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; no, unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity.
May 21, 2013
May 13, 2013
I just wrote a book on marriage called “[This] Momentary Marriage.” I’ve been married 40 years this December. I named it “[This] Momentary Marriage” just because Jesus said, “in the resurrection there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage.” You get a little window here, and it’s all about a parable of something more permanent, which means that singleness, by the way, can have massive significance in its witness to that later marriage, rather than absolutizing the one that we can enjoy here for a moment. This is a momentary marriage, which means if you risk one of you dying, you have an occasion, like Graham Staines’ wife and his 13-year-old daughter Esther who after he, and his two sons – one six, one ten – burned alive in the back of their SUV in India, were asked “you going home now to Australia after 30 years working with lepers in India?” and she said “why would we go home? We’ve given our life here. We love India. We hold no grudges.” And then they turned to the 13-year-old daughter. Some of you are 13; okay, heads up 13-year-olds. Your dad’s just been burned alive, your two brothers have just [been] killed. What do you think about your dad’s murder?… “It is an honor that my dad was counted worthy to die for Jesus” something like that she said, 13 years old. These are heroes, [are] they not? They will rejoin him very quickly. It will be as nothing. The marriage is over, forever. It’s just going to be better in the age to come. You think marriage is good? You think sex is good? It is. It’s a parable of what’s really good. So every time it happens, or you just dream of it happening as a single person, remember it’s all about something else. Something else a thousand times better than sexual intercourse is coming.
May 7, 2013
Does anyone truly understand the message of the cross apart from brokenness, contrition, repentance, and faith? To repeat rather mechanically the nature of the transaction that Christians think took place at Golgotha is one thing; to look at God and his holiness, and people and their sin, from the perspective of the cross, is life-changing.
April 30, 2013
If I have observed anything by experience, it is this: a man may take the measure of his growth and decay in grace according to his thoughts and meditations upon the person of Christ, and the glory of Christ’s kingdom, and of His love.
April 23, 2013
The Age to Come has overlapped with This Age. We may taste its powers and thereby be delivered in This Age and no longer live in conformity to it. This new transforming power is the power of the Age to Come; it is indeed the power of the Kingdom of God.
- George Ladd
April 17, 2013
Writer’s Wednesday – Tempted and Tried
Posted by Keith Walters under Writers' Wednesday | Tags: Anointed, Christus Victor, Jesus, Russell Moore, Salvation, Sin, Temptation, Tempted and Tried, Victory |Leave a Comment
For anyone looking for a fantastic and practical Christ-centered resource on the temptation I would recommend Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ by Russell D. Moore. Dr. Moore was one of my favorite professors in seminary due to his consistent emphasis upon the person of Christ and applying what we learned in the classroom to life. Tempted and Tried is currently on sale for $7 at the Westminster Bookstore so get a copy and when you are done let me know as I would love to discuss this book with anyone reading it!
April 16, 2013
The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages—such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life.
Christ enriches his people with all things necessary for the eternal salvation of souls and fortifies them with courage to stand unconquerable against all the assaults of spiritual enemies. From this we infer that he rules—inwardly and outwardly—more for our own sake than his.
Thus it is that we may patiently pass through this life with its misery, hunger, cold, contempt, reproaches, and other troubles—content with this one thing: that our King will never leave us destitute, but will provide for our needs until, our warfare ended, we are called to triumph.
