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A jaded Christian is an oxymoron. Anything that is hurtful to God must hurt us as well. We must not become so self-protective that we are not emotionally impacted by rebellion against God. And any such identification pleases God.
Recent Entries
Making Sense Of It AllJanuary 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?
Suffering Saints
January 25, 2012
We get nervous thinking about it - suffering for the sake of Christ. How necessary is it, and what does it produce in us?
George Herbert on Prayer Meetings
January 21, 2012
Prayer Meetings are a thing of the past. Or so it seems. What has been lost? Maybe more than we realize.
When Fear Is Good
January 7, 2012
NO FEAR, we are told. And the point is well taken. But fear can be healthy, at least when it comes to eternal matters.
Happy, Happy, Happy
January 4, 2012
The declaration of independence holds up the pursuit of happiness as a right. Did you ever consider the reading the bible might be the one source that will never let you down?
The Twelve Signs Of Grace
December 22, 2011
Self-examination is not easy to do. The tendency is to let ourselves off easy. But examine we must, for eternity is at stake.
"Ouch!!"
July 22, 2011
Spiritual pride is hard to detect. Jonathan Edwards gives some tips. The process can be painful, but necessary.
Outrage and The Holiness of God
March 5, 2009
"Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it." Ezekiel 9:4
During the middle part of the 20th century, Wilbur Smith "stood in the gap" for God in the academic theological climate, as winter closed in and loss of trust in the written word accelerated. First at Moody Bible Institute, and then at Fuller Seminary and finally at Trinity Seminary, Smith stood firm for the accuracy of scripture, and its trustworthiness.
In his book THEREFORE STAND, Smith holds up Paul and his challenge on Mars Hill as his inspiration, and a model for future generations to follow.
Luke tells us that when Paul beheld a city of such learning polluted by thhis mass of dead superstition, he was provoked, really, provoked to anger. The Greek word here is parozuno, which means to stimulate, to urge on, and then, to irritate.
In the Septuagint we find that in almost every case in which this word is used the reference is to the anger of God....As God is provoked to anger with the sins of His people, for rebellion and idolatry, so Paul, possessed by the Spirit of Christ, was provoked to anger with these awful monuments proclaiming the victory of Satan, the power of darkness, and dooming men to an ignorance of God, to a degrading superstition, to a perpetual darkness, and to an unending despair.
Only in one other place is this particular word found in the New Testament, and that is in Paul's beautiful hymn of love, where he says that love is not easily provoked - but though not easily provoked, it can be provoked, and when it is aroused, it becomes wrath.
Would to God every Christian could have and experience like this, even if only once in a lifetime, as he beholds if not the visible idols of men, then at least the false cults that draw the souls of men away from Christ - books written for the express purpose of destroying the faith of young men in God, universities into which precious lives have come with all the hope and glow of youth only to be bowed out, with a sheepskin in their hands and their hearts filled even with a hatred for everything religious, and a loathing for Jesus Christ.
It is time we were moved by some of these things. Calvin was right when he said, "Those who are not touched when they see and hear God blasphemed and do not only wink thereat but also carelessly brush over it are not worthy to be counted the children of God, who at the very least do not give Him so much honor as they do an earthly Father."
During the middle part of the 20th century, Wilbur Smith "stood in the gap" for God in the academic theological climate, as winter closed in and loss of trust in the written word accelerated. First at Moody Bible Institute, and then at Fuller Seminary and finally at Trinity Seminary, Smith stood firm for the accuracy of scripture, and its trustworthiness.
In his book THEREFORE STAND, Smith holds up Paul and his challenge on Mars Hill as his inspiration, and a model for future generations to follow.
Luke tells us that when Paul beheld a city of such learning polluted by thhis mass of dead superstition, he was provoked, really, provoked to anger. The Greek word here is parozuno, which means to stimulate, to urge on, and then, to irritate.
In the Septuagint we find that in almost every case in which this word is used the reference is to the anger of God....As God is provoked to anger with the sins of His people, for rebellion and idolatry, so Paul, possessed by the Spirit of Christ, was provoked to anger with these awful monuments proclaiming the victory of Satan, the power of darkness, and dooming men to an ignorance of God, to a degrading superstition, to a perpetual darkness, and to an unending despair.
Only in one other place is this particular word found in the New Testament, and that is in Paul's beautiful hymn of love, where he says that love is not easily provoked - but though not easily provoked, it can be provoked, and when it is aroused, it becomes wrath.
Would to God every Christian could have and experience like this, even if only once in a lifetime, as he beholds if not the visible idols of men, then at least the false cults that draw the souls of men away from Christ - books written for the express purpose of destroying the faith of young men in God, universities into which precious lives have come with all the hope and glow of youth only to be bowed out, with a sheepskin in their hands and their hearts filled even with a hatred for everything religious, and a loathing for Jesus Christ.
It is time we were moved by some of these things. Calvin was right when he said, "Those who are not touched when they see and hear God blasphemed and do not only wink thereat but also carelessly brush over it are not worthy to be counted the children of God, who at the very least do not give Him so much honor as they do an earthly Father."
