Month: December 2014

Categories
Christian Living

You Were Made To Burn

“You Were Made To Burn”
  by brian rushing

Today, I basically just want to share with you an extended quote from J. C. Ryle. This quote describes what it means to have zeal (or great passion) for God.
candle that is lit and slowly disintegrating fulfilling its purpose - it was meant to burn

Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature—which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted—but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others that they alone deserve to be called ‘zealous’ men ….

A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit.

He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God.

Whether he lives, or whether he dies—
whether he has health, or whether he has sickness—
whether he is rich, or whether he is poor—
whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offence—
whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish—
whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise—
whether he gets honour, or whether he gets shame—
for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all.
He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory.

If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it—he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him.

Such a one will always find a sphere for his zeal.
If he cannot preach, work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray…. If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill (Exodus 17:9-13). If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I speak of ’zeal’ in religion. (Practical Religion, 1959 ed., p. 130)

Jesus said that you are the light of the world. You are that lamp (or candle) that was made to burn. Are you willing to be consumed in the burning, allowing your wick to burn up and your wax to pour out, spending yourself and being spent, knowing that you are simply being consumed by the work that God has appointed for you?

God, help me to be willing to be consumed in the very burning of serving You.

        (Quotes in today’s post are from Practical Religion by J. C. Ryle)


Categories
Christian Living

Life Is Full of Trouble

“Life Is Full of Trouble”
  by brian rushing

If life was able to be ordered at the drive-thru window, we’d say something like: “God, I want combo #1… the Trouble-Free Life with the side of popularity and success. Leave off the pain, problems, and frustrations. Oh, and be sure to add lots of extra cash. And go ahead and Supersize it!”

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
Life is not Burger King. You can’t “Have it your way.”

But when we don’t get our way, and instead find ourselves on a path full of pain, heartache, and trouble, we often get disappointed with God. We wonder, “Why, God? Why is this happening to me? Why aren’t you keeping me happy?” When we have taken the false view that God’s job in our lives is to keep us happy, we’ll find that disappointment overtakes us quickly.
signs that read "disappointment" to signify life is often full of trouble
“But this idea of God’s intention is a complete mistake: God’s wisdom is not, and never was, pledged to keep a fallen world happy, or to make ungodliness comfortable. Not even to Christians has he promised a trouble-free life; rather the reverse. He has other ends in view for life in this world than simply to make it easy for everyone.”

Well that’s not what I want to hear!
If that’s the case, then what is His plan for my life?
If His plan for my life is not MY happiness, then what should I be looking for?

Maybe J. I. Packer has it right when he tells us that God is working for His Happiness.

It is staggering that God should love sinners; yet it is true. God loves creatures who have become unlovely and (one would have thought) unlovable. There was nothing whatever in the objects of his love to call it forth; nothing in us could attract or prompt it. Love among persons is awakened by something in the beloved, but the love of God is free, spontaneous, unevoked, uncaused. God loves people because he has chosen to love them and no reason for his love can be given except his own sovereign good pleasure.

God was happy without humans before they were made; he would have continued happy had he simply destroyed them after they had sinned; but as it is he has set his love upon particular sinners, and this means that, by his own free voluntary choice, he will not know perfect and unmixed happiness again till he has brought every one of them to heaven.

God is always working, but it is not toward my temporary happiness on earth based on a trouble-free life. Rather, God is working toward my eternal happiness based on me being with Him forever. And I have to learn that it is not my circumstances that bring me true joy and pleasure in this life, but rather it is my relationship and daily walking with Him. So trouble-free living living isn’t the goal that He has for me on this earth… walking with Him in contentment is.

How well am I walking in contentment with Him?

        (Quotes in today’s post are from Knowing God by J. I. Packer)


Categories
God

Your God Is Too Small

“Your God is Too Small”
  by brian rushing

After Hurricane Katrina, when I was rebuilding my library through the gifts of people donating books to me, one of the books that was sent to me was titled: “Your God is Too Small.” When I saw the book, I immediately thought: What a great title!
a tiny snail symbolizing how we sometimes feel about God - too small, too slow, too powerless to help us
Too often that seems to be the truth for us…
Our God is too small… That is, the God we have in mind is too small.
It was the reason that Moses questioned God’s ability to provide meat to all the Israelites when they were wandering toward the Promised Land. “God, ummm… I know you said you’d provide us with meat, but maybe while you are sitting up there in heaven you forgot to look down here and count us… there are a lot of us to feed. I’m not sure you are able to fulfill your promise.”

To which God replied: Is My arm too short? Do you think that my power is limited? Wait and see whether I can fulfill my promises.

And He did fulfill His promise.
He sent them so much meat, they got sick of eating it.

I am so very much like Moses and the Israelites. Too often, My God is too small. I don’t believe that He has the power to fulfill His promises. That is why I worry. When I worry, what I am actually saying is: “God, I’m not so sure that you are going to be able to come through for me this time.” But the truth is that God is never small. Just my faith and belief in Him are. Instead, God is too big for me to even comprehend.

The word majesty, when applied to God, is always a declaration of his greatness and an invitation to worship. The same is true when the Bible speaks of God as being on high and in heaven; the thought here is not that God is far distant from us in space, but that he is far above us in greatness, and therefore is to be adored.
”Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise” (Ps 48:1).
“The LORD is the great God, the great King. . . . Come, let us bow down in worship” (Ps 95:3, 6).
The Christian’s instincts of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God. But this is knowledge which Christians today largely lack: and that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby. We are modern people, and modern people, though they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts of God. When the person in the church, let alone the person in the street, uses the word God, the thought is rarely of divine majesty.

A well—known book is called Your God Is Too Small; it is a timely title. We are poles apart from our evangelical forefathers at this point, even when we confess our faith in their words. When you start reading Luther, or Edwards, or Whitefield, though your doctrine may be theirs, you soon find yourself wondering whether you have any acquaintance at all with the mighty God whom they knew so intimately.

I sometimes feel that way when I read books by godly men.
I sometimes feel that way when I sit in Sunday School class and hear other people speak about their relationship with God.
I sometimes feel that way when I hear other people pray to their Heavenly Daddy.

Do you ever feel that way?

My prayer today is that of the father who came to Jesus with a demon-possessed son and said:
“…if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
To which Jesus said: “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
And immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

God, I do believe You are big enough to meet my every need and fulfill my every desire; help my unbelief!”

What are you facing today? Do you trust that God is big enough to handle it? Do you need to pray that He will help you get past your unbelief?


        (Quotes in today’s post are from Knowing God by J. I. Packer)