February 2012
6 posts
Internalizing the Word
The challenge had been laid down. My dad said he wanted us to memorize one hundred verses over the year. I was 11. One hundred verses seemed daunting, and I wondered how I’d ever do it. But since our church was celebrating 100 years, part of the challenge to the congregation was to take in and memorize 100 verses.
One of the great privileges of growing up in a Christian home was the...
Great quotes from Luther's Commentary on Galatians
The world bears the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the religious wisdom of the world. Jealous for its own religious views, the world in turn charges the Gospel with being a subversive and licentious doctrine, offensive to God and man, a doctrine to be persecuted as the worst plague on earth. As a result we have this paradoxical situation: The Gospel supplies the world with the...
4 tags
The Essentials of Christianity
Being a Christian doesn’t only mean that you subscribe to a certain set of doctrines. There are other equally important things that must be true. Jonathan Edwards explains.
It is essential to Christianity
that we repent of our sins,
that we be convinced of our own sinfulness,
that we are sensible we have justly exposed ourselves to God’s wrath,
that our hearts do renounce all sin,
that we...
2 tags
The Grace of Adoption
From Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity:
“We have enough in us to move God to correct us, but nothing to move him to adopt us, therefore exalt free grace, begin the work of angels here; bless him with your praises who hath blessed you in making you his sons and daughters.”
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Me Worship?
There’s nothing quite like taking a child through the check-out line at the grocery store. After spending a long time walking along or sitting in the shopping cart, marketers know that a well-placed chocolate bar, pack of gum, or a colourful candy wrapper will grab the child’s attention as they wait for the clerk to scan each item. And that eye-catching item becomes more than...
3 tags
Patience in Controversy
John Newton:
“In controversy, commend your opponent by earnest prayer to the Lord’s blessing. If a believer, deal gently with him for Christ’s sake. The Lord loves him and bears with him; therefore, you must not despise him or treat him harshly. The Lord bears with you and expects you to show tenderness from a sense of the much forgiveness you need yourself. Soon you will meet...