A Quiet Heart…

We hear a great deal about people’s intentions, and hopes, and wishes, and feelings, and professions.  It would be well if we could hear more about people’s practice.  It is not the servant who is found wishing and professing, but the servant who is found “doing” whom Jesus calls “blessed.”

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The lesson is one which many, unhappily, shrink from giving, and many more shrink from receiving.  We are gravely told that to talk of “working,” and “doing,” is legal, and brings Christians into bondage! Remarks of this kind should never move us.  They savor of ignorance or perverseness.  The lesson before us is not about justification, but about sanctification, not about faith, but about holiness.  The point is not what a man should do to be saved, but what ought a saved man to do?  The teaching of Scripture is clear and express upon this subject.  A saved man ought to be “careful to maintain good works.” (Titus 3:8)  The desire of a true Christian ought to be, to be found “doing.”

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~J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (vol. 2), pg. 90

The single heart is a heart which is not only changed, converted, and renewed; but thoroughly, powerfully, and habitually under the influence of the Holy Ghost.  It is a heart which abhors all compromises, all luke-warmness, all halting between two opinions in religion.  It sees one mighty object, the love of Christ dying for sinners.  It has one mighty aim, to glorify God and do His will.  It has one mighty desire, to please God and be commended by Him.  Compared with such objects, aims, and desires, the single heart knows nothing worthy to be named.  The praise and favor of man are nothing.  The blame and disapprobation of man are trifles light as air.  “One thing I desire, one thing I do, one thing I live for:” this is the language of the single heart.

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~J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (vol. 2), pg.39

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“…I cannot read the Bible without desiring to see many believers more spiritual, more holy, more single-eyed, more heavenly-minded, more wholehearted than they are in the nineteenth century.  I want to see among believers more of a pilgrim spirit, a more decided separation from the world, a conversation more evidently in heaven, a closer walk with God….”  ~J.C. Ryle, Holiness

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Although these words were originally written about the church in nineteenth century England, this is my prayer for the Christians of twenty-first century America.

“Our Lord attracted sinners because He was different.  They drew near to Him because they felt that there was something different about Him….And the world always expects us to be different.  This idea that you are going to win people to the Christian faith by showing them that after all you are remarkably like them, is theologically and psychologically a profound blunder.”

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~Martin Lloyd-Jones (as quoted in Ashamed of the Gospel, pg. 31)

“I have had a deep conviction for many years that practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not sufficiently attended to by modern Christians in this country.  Politics, or controversy, or party spirit, or worldliness have eaten out the heart of lively piety in too many of us.  The subject of personal godliness has fallen sadly into the background.  The standard of living has become painfully low in many quarters.  The immense importance of ‘adorning the doctrine of God our Savior’ (Titus 2:10), and making it lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and tempers, has been far too much overlooked.  Worldly people sometimes complain with reason that ‘religious’ persons, so-called, are not so amiable, and unselfish, and good-natured, as others who make no profession of religion.  Yet sanctification, in its place and proportion, is quite as important as justification.  Sound Protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life.”

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~J.C. Ryle, Holiness (from the Introduction, pg. XVI)

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Glorious God,

It is the flame of my life to worship thee,

       the crown and glory of my soul to adore thee,

       heavenly pleasure to approach thee.

Give me power by thy Spirit to help me worship now,

              that I may forget the world,

                               be brought into fullness of life,

                               be refreshed, comforted, blessed.

Give me knowledge of thy goodness

               that I might not be over-awed by they greatness;

Give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God,

               that I might not be terrified,

               but be drawn near with filial love,

                                             with holy boldness;

He is my mediator, brother, interpreter

               branch, daysman, Lamb;

               him I glorify,

               in him I am set on high.

Crowns to give I have none,

               but what thou has given I return,

               content to feel that everything is mine when it is thine,

               and the more fully mine when I have yielded it to thee.

Let me live wholly to my Savior,

               free from distractions,

               from carking care,

               from hindrances to the pursuit of the narrow way.

I am pardoned through the blood of Jesus –

               give me a new sense of it,

               continue to pardon me by it,

               may I come every day to the fountain,

               and every day be washed anew,

               that I may worship thee always in spirit and truth.

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From The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, pg. 196

“A goverment big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” ~Thomas Jefferson

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“We must not look to government to solve our problems. Government is the problem.” ~Ronald Reagan

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The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
~Psalm 33:10-11

“The Great Commission tells us not only to tell people the gospel and get them baptized, but also to teach them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us.  Everything.  The gospel creates new people, people radically committed to Christ in every area of their lives.  People like these will change the world.  They will fill and rule the earth to the glory of Jesus.  They will plant churches, establish godly families, and will also plant godly hospitals, schools, arts, and sciences.” ~John Frame (as quoted in Unfashionable, pg. 60)

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My husband attended the 2010 Shepherds’ Conference last week, and brought back well over 30 books!  And, although I plan on stealing borrowing several of them, 3 of them were just for me!!  Better than flowers any day.  (Why yes, books are my “love language” why do you ask?)

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“If we doubt God’s Word about one thing, we shall have small confidence in it upon another thing. Sincere faith in God must treat all God’s Word alike; for the faith which accepts one word of God and rejects another is evidently not faith in God, but faith in our own judgment, faith in our own taste.” ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 36, pg. 303 (as quoted in Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, by Iain Murray, pg. 6)

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“At the heart of Scripture lies the assertion that God’s attitude to men is vitally related to their attitude to his Word.  According to Scripture, faithfulness to God and faithfulness to Christ are synonymous with faithfulness to their words. There is no such thing as reverence for God, or loyalty to Christ, without obedience and faith in their words (Matt. 7:24-6; Matt. 28:20; John 8:31; John 14:23, etc.).” ~Ian Murray, Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching, pg. 9

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“It’s not enough to get our doctrine straight. Life and doctrine can’t be separated. Our lives either put the beauty of God’s truth on display, or they obscure it.” ~Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep, pg. 227

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Visit Melissa at Breath of Life to link up your words here.   They can be from any written source, i.e. magazine, newspaper, blog, book. The only requirement is that they be words you read.

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I am a little late with this Week in Words, because I have spent basically all of February (so far) fighting, and finally, it would seem, recovering from bronchitis.  It has been brutal!  But, after a round of antibiotics, and multiple cough medicines, I am feeling much better!!  The bright side, if there is one, of feeling so awful for so long is that I have had plenty of time to work on my reading list!! 

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For the past week or so, I have been ignoring almost everything else on my list, because I cannot seem to put down Dug Down Deep, by Joshua Harris.  There are so many great quotes in there, and if copyright laws didn’t prevent it, I would probably try to transcribe the entire book for you right here.  But, since I can’t, I’ll just share one of my favorites from this week:

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“God’s Word teaches that sanctification isn’t optional for believers.  Hebrews 12:14 says, ‘Strive for…holiness without which no one will see the Lord.’ That verse always sobers me.  It says that if there isn’t some degree of holiness in our lives, there’s a real question of whether we’ve truly experienced God’s saving work.  If we don’t love what Jesus loves, if we don’t want to be like him, then maybe we’ve never really met him.

This isn’t to say that our good works earn our salvation – we are saved only by grace (Ephesians 2:8). But the way we live proves the reality of our salvation.” (pg. 151)

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If you’d like to play along, visit Melissa at Breath of Life, and link up your words here.   They can be from any written source, i.e. magazine, newspaper, blog, book. The only requirement is that they be words you read.