Category: Theology

devotional · Personal · Theology

Glorying only in the Cross of Christ

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Eternal life is promised to us, but it is promised to the dead; we are told

of the resurrection of the blessed, but meantime we are involved in corruption; we are declared to be just, and sin dwells within us; we hear that we are blessed, but meantime we are overwhelmed by untold miseries;

we are promised an abundance of good things, but we are often hungry

and thirsty; God proclaims that He will come to us immediately, but

seems deaf to our cries. . . . Faith is therefore rightly called the substance

of things which are still the objects of hope. (John Calvin)

Hope…….blessed hope, I do not know about you, friend, but I have to side with Calvin here. I cannot fathom the grace of God, because I know myself so thoroughly to be undeserving of it. I know only of spiritual and emotional and physical struggles. Imminent catastrophe as the world goes mad around me, what shall a man put his hope in? If not in God I do not know of anything else, if not in that Christ died in my stead, taking the blow for me, taking the hell I deserved and opened heaven for me, I would have no hope.

I don’t know about you friend, but I hate the sin I find in my life, the little foxes that ruin life and make living a painful affair. Yet I hope, and believe in God who has chosen to be gracious to me. Do you never wonder that Christ has a care for you friend? Has the thought crossed your mind that you are really a hell deserving man, and not deserving of any divine favor?

Or are you still insistent that somehow God is still owing you something? Look to the Cross I tell you, look to the Cross. There is no hope for any wretched soul other than in the cross. Leave your life sin and religious piety and look to the cross. It is Christ Jesus who Justifies, yet if you let this fact pass you by, you will answer to the Law of Moses, and its punishments.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, be saved from the wrath of God, that is coming on the face of the earth. More surely than the sunrise and sunset, is the wrath that is to come. Come then, before then, and welcome to Jesus Christ!

Apologetics · Personal · Research · Theology

The Apostle Paul’s Grand Theme of Redemption

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To attempt to summarize the apostle Paul’s doctrine of salvation in the compass of a short essay might seem an act of folly. Yet try we must.

Paul’s preaching of the Gospel proceeds from the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised “Messiah” and Son of God, whom God sent into the world in “the fullness of time” to fulfill His promises to His people, Israel (2 Cor. 1:18–22; 6:2; Gal. 4:4). The great message of Paul’s preaching is the “mystery” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:26; Rom. 16:26; 2 Tim. 1:10). Though previously hidden, this mystery was now entrusted to him and the other apostles as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 3:2ff.).

This Pauline conviction helps to clarify the relation between his teaching regarding salvation and the teaching of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. Just as Christ emphasized the coming of the kingdom of God, which introduces the blessings of the “age to come” into “this age,” so Paul emphasizes the coming of Jesus Christ as the One through whom the saving blessings of God are now being granted to His people. The teaching of Jesus in the Gospels is similar to a musical overture that announces the theme of the whole New Testament: the kingdom of God is “at hand.” Paul’s preaching develops this theme by offering a comprehensive explanation of the saving blessings of the kingdom.

But how does the apostle explain the salvation that Christ brings? What has Christ accomplished by His death and resurrection that provides redemption for those who belong to Him?

Paul summarizes his answer to this question in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” This summary is similar to others in Paul’s epistles (see 1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 6:14). In these passages, Paul declares that the Gospel he preaches focuses upon the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Paul’s epistles, several biblical themes are used to designate distinct aspects of the salvation Christ has procured for believers. The principal themes that Paul uses to describe Christ’s work of atonement include: First, “sacrifice” for or “expiation” of the guilt of human sin; Second, “propitiation” of God’s holy wrath against his sinful creatures; Third, “reconciliation” or peace with God; Fourth, “redemption” from the curse and condemnation of the Law; and Fifth, “victory” over sin, death, and all powers that oppose God’s kingdom.

That Paul understands Christ’s death as a sacrifice for sin is indisputable. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, Paul declares that Christ died “for our sins.” In another passage, he says that God sent His own Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Rom. 8:3). Paul also teaches that Christ’s death was a propitiation of the wrath of God. In His holiness, God can only abhor sin. However, the marvel of the Gospel is that God has lovingly propitiated His wrath through the death of His own Son (Rom. 3:25; 5:9−10; 2 Cor. 5:21). Christ’s atoning work is also a work of reconciliation. By His death, Christ has removed every obstacle to the sinner’s peace with God.

This work of reconciliation includes a God-ward and a human-ward aspect. It not only removes the obstacle of God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9–10), but it also summons the sinner to “be reconciled” to God (2 Cor. 5:20). The theme of redemption also figures prominently in Paul’s understanding of Christ’s atonement. The biblical idea of redemption emphasizes the payment of a price that secures the deliverance of the sinner from bondage (1 Tim. 2:5–6). In one of the clearest statements of Christ’s atonement as a work of redemption, the apostle Paul declares that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). Finally, an overlooked feature of Christ’s work of atonement is the victory that it achieves over the power of sin, death, and indeed every form of opposition to God’s kingly rule (1 Cor. 15:54–57). By His death and resurrection, Christ disarmed the powers that oppose God’s kingdom (Col. 2:13–15).

Undoubtedly, the central message of Paul’s preaching is that God has entered history in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, whose atoning death and resurrection have brought salvation. However, the Gospel according to Saint Paul also includes the application of salvation in Christ to believers who are united to Christ by the ministry of His Spirit. Even though Paul does not explicitly articulate an “order of salvation” (ordo salutis), the rudiments of such an order are evident in his epistles (see Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11).

The most inclusive way in which Paul describes the application of salvation is in terms of the believer’s union with Christ. When believers are joined to Christ through the ministry of His Spirit, they participate fully in all the benefits of His atoning work on their behalf (Rom. 8:2,11; 1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 4:30).

For the purpose of our brief summary, three benefits of union with Christ are of particular importance to Paul’s understanding of the application of salvation: free justification, Spirit-authored sanctification, and glorification.

Free justification. We noted in our introduction that it has become popular in some circles to oppose Paul’s emphasis upon union with Christ to his teaching about forensic justification. This is a profound mistake, however. The Reformation was certainly correct to assert that a principal feature of Paul’s teaching was the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone. Moreover, contrary to the more recent claims of authors of the “new perspective” on Paul, Paul clearly views justification as a “soteriological” theme. Justification doesn’t simply answer the question whether Gentiles as well as Jews belong to the covenant people of God, as many new perspective authors maintain. It primarily answers the question how any sinner, Jew or Gentile, can find acceptance with God in spite of his sin and guilt.

According to Paul, justification is a gracious act of God whereby He forgives the sins of believers and declares them righteous on the basis of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 4:1–5; 5:15–17; 10:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). Though all have sinned, Christ was put to death for the sins of His people and raised for their justification (Rom. 4:25). Apart from any “works” performed in obedience to the Law, God justifies those who receive Christ by faith (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16). This benefit of justification is a thoroughly eschatological blessing of salvation, which declares that there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

Spirit-authored sanctification. All those who are united to Christ are indwelt by His life-giving Spirit (Rom. 8:4–11). Believers are not only declared righteous in free justification, but they are also being renewed after the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:17–18). The power and reign of sin are broken. Through their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, believers are now to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to righteousness (Rom. 6:12–14). The new status that believers enjoy (justification) is always accompanied by a renewed life of obedience, which is worked in believers by the Spirit of Christ (sanctification).

Glorification. Though it is customary to think of glorification as the future consummation of the believer’s salvation, Paul speaks of glorification as a present and a future reality (Rom. 8:18ff., 30). Due to the intimate union of believers with Christ, the glorification of Christ in His resurrection and ascension is also the glorification of believers. Already now believers are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). However, there remains the expectation of a still-future glorification of believers (2 Thess. 1:10). So long as they live in this world, believers wait eagerly for the day when their “bodies of humiliation” will be transformed to be like Christ’s glorious body (Phil. 3:21).

The Gospel according to Saint Paul can be summed up as the glorious message of God’s fulfillment of all His promises of salvation for His people in Christ. The central message of all Paul’s preaching is salvation through the crucified and risen Christ. Christ has provided an atonement for the sins of His people that answers to every aspect of their sinful condition. Through faith-union with Christ, believers enjoy all the benefits of this atoning work. In the remarkable words of 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” Those who are in Christ enjoy a new status of free acceptance with God, in spite of their unworthiness as sinners. They also experience the grace of a new life of obedience to the “law of Christ” by the working of the Holy Spirit. And they know the grace of present as well as future glorification, when the “first fruits” of salvation in Christ will issue in the eschatological harvest of complete participation in Christ’s resurrection victory.

 

Apologetics · Personal · Theology

Keeping the End in Mind

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If there is one thing I know, its that one die, I like the rest of mankind, will die. Dreadful thought that this incredibly handsome frame, will be nothing but wormfood. But there it is, Jonathan Edwards who has changed the mortal for immortality himself some centuries ago, said in his “resolutions” It is a good thing to ponder the day of your death, to think upon the day you will die. And to live in the light of that.

Most people I know do not consider that “all flesh is like grass” here today and gone tomorrow, so we toy with death, everything from Harry Potter to the new Vampire fad, and the like. Its almost like modern writers and storytellers have romanticized the thought of death. For the thought of it is fearful. We do not like to consider the unknown, yet those who have embraced Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, do not have to be mystified by this at all. Christ has plainly told us, “I have gone to prepare a place for you, and where I am you shall be also”

Movies like “the Bucket List” make light of what mans last aspirations should be, one final fling with the world, one last ditch party. And that is all it will be. There is no fellowship for those outside of Christ, for those there will only be a hell of neverending isolation and separation from God and from life. All for what? For a mere indulgence. C. S Lewis had it right when hen he said we are too easy to please, we aim for the passing indulgences of money, sex and power when we have heaven held out to us. It is indeed the evil of evils to shun the love of God for a mere trifle. What higher pleasure is there but pleasure in God?

I have considered much the prospect of my own death, and the very thought of it is like an out of body experience. I cannot imagine it, it is beyond the grasp of my intellect and emotions. I can not more grasp it than I can grasp how an infinitely Holy God can love a vile sinner like me. Yet I may have this hope. I am an image bearer of my creator, He knows why he made me. And to what end , there is mystery in living. But in the words of Luther, “it is no mistake to trust an unknown future to a known God”

I am well aware that I am my youth has slipped quietly by and I seem to have more gray hair than I used to. I see a whole new generation of young people doing some amazing things that were not even thought of when I was a boy. A hard drive was something you did when you got in the car and drove a long way, so things have changed a little, or is it that they have just become more accessible. Never before has entertaining evil become easier, with the television and internet so ready on hand, you can pretty much watch what you want from the comfort of your hand held cell phone. And download whatever you want to read onto your e-reader.

Not that I have any of these new fangled toys. But I can see where they can be handy. Yet to have them also puts many in harms way. Just by virtue of the accessibility of all kinds of evils which could and would have been avoided in earlier days.

The point I want to make is that we have an expiry date, an appointment with our God, who will judge us and either pardon us by the merits of Jesus, or send us to an eternal hell where there is nothing but an eternal death.

I consider these things, for I see many don’t, in the book of Amos, the prophet tells Israel, “prepare to meet your God” yes prepare to meet Him. This is not play time it is prep time. There is a glorious world to come and a hell to pay for those who carry on in unbelief.

It will be glorious to set aside this mortality for the immortality Christ has promised. May do not consider that they sell themselves short by indulging in a world that is sick to the core and passing away day by day. Do not defraud yourself of this Eternal Life Jesus offers Look around you, consider everyone around you. In less than 100 years from now they will either be in glory with Jesus or in eternal hell.

A very telling inscription on a graves tone read.

As I am, you also shall be, I was lively just like you, yet you shall follow me too. – Scratched on the headstone was this quip. “ I will not follow you until I know, which way you did go”

Maybe the venerable Edwards had a good point there.” Live with one eye on the glory of eternity with Jesus, and the other eye the groans form those who misspent their lives and went to hell. “

Mind your step friend. You too have an expiry date, and an appointment to keep.

devotional · Theology

A Knowing your Need For God

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Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly dream; All the fitness He requireth; Is to feel your need of Him.

This quote from a Hymn,” All the fitness He requireth; Is to feel your need of Him.” I like that, the human tendency is to first when drawn to the throne of grace and to Come to Christ, receive His gift, and then promptly try to earn it. John Piper has put a name to this tendency, he calls it the Debtors ethic.

We have been given grace so now we think we “owe” It is such a deeply ingrained thing, in our human nature, and to be sure, gratitude is a good thing. Can a man repay for anything? It seems a considerable impossibility. Luther put it this way.

Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at [Romans 1:17], most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted. At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.'” There I began to understand [that] the righteousness of God is . . . righteousness with which [the] merciful God justifies us by faith. . . . Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. (Martin Luther: Selections, pp. 11-12)

That is the heart of the matter, “feeling our need of Him, the more we feel our need of Him, the more we are inclined to obey. Suffering has never ceased to be the school of the Spirit, and the sons of the world don’t seem to be harassed by their talk or actions. Yet those who fear the Lord can know this, those whom He loves he disciplines.

Yet we cannot linger over matters of conscience for the accuser of the brethren uses tender consciences to accuse, those who would fear the Lord and obey His decrees. It was as Luther said for me too, when I saw that the righteousness God requires is the righteousness He gives to those who but receive it by faith my aching conscience could find peace.

This puts me in the place of feeling my need of Him daily, running to God when all we feel is shame for sin, is never easy, but it is the only thing to do. The invitation still is, “Come ye who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest….” Jesus know better than we do that we can out of ourselves do nothing. The righteousness given to those who receive it by faith is the logic of heaven. And today again I feel my need of it. Do you?

 

Random Interest · Theology

A Book review- The Problem of Pain by CS Lewis

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Firstly, the reason I selected this book by C. S Lewis on the subject of the Christian, suffering and the problem of evil. This is a subject that lends itself to much speculation especially in certain faith healing type of ministries so the truth of how suffering, the problem of evil and Christian spirituality connect I think is one of crucial importance since many false teachings around the subject abounds. Lewis offers a answer from a philosophical perspective, with a all round perspective of how the human psyche engages the problem of pain in a fallen world.

In the first two chapters Lewis upholds two basic character attributes of God that he lay down as a foundation for his book. The first is the Omnipotence of God, speaking of God’s power and almighty ability uphold and suction his creatures in any given situation they might be in, and secondly he speaks of the “Divine goodness” of God who in His almighty power would do only good to the creatures He made. Lewis does extend this goodness to the “animal kingdom” but does not in my view get a very sympathetic argument across for the suffering and evils that befall the animals that inhabit this world. Rather he says the goodness or evil they experience is limited to the human caretakers that oversee them who can treat them either for good or ill. Their suffering is only according to Lewis anyway, limited to this world and they do not have a soul of any significance that can suffer beyond the physical realm.

On the issue of human wickedness and cruelty Lewis says that for a man to fail to share and partake in the goodness offered to is in itself a depraved thing to do, since God whose absolute goodness is refused by a mortal man can have no end but in himself then and that in the normal course of his life a man would inevitably make bad choices that very often lead to destructive behavior. That is a man who has loosed himself from Gods’ offer of goodness. Such a man remains a slave to his own lusts and ambitions and left to his own devices will only make more bad or destructive choices.

It is at this juncture in the book that Lewis brings in the doctrine of the Fall, stating that in our “first parents” God created goodness and when the failed to obey the divine command to abstain from partaking of the fruit of the forbidden tree, the lost their innocence and gained a knowledge able to discern and practice either good or evil. From this Lewis says that “evil and suffering stem” since mankind from then on chose to follow their own choices and not follow the good design that God had planned for them. It is my view that Lewis offers a rather weak argument for the consequences of the fall, but he does say that he realizes that with the fall came the consequence that man died spiritually and that when a man is left in that dead spiritual state what emerges is a soulish selfish man that fends only for himself and only looked out for his own interests. This according to Lewis is the problem of evil, a soulish man bent on meeting his own desires and following his own will and not bowing to the will of His Creator.

In the next chapter Lewis seems to be back on a more biblical track addressing the question of human pain, saying that the Fall left man destitute of the known or felt presence o God, and this is according to Lewis the cause of much mental pain, or depression that people go through. He does make the point which I appreciate that such pain is a pain that is very often connected to a sense of a true futility that man feels when he does not walk in the light and does not experience a presence of God. In this sense Lewis was a bit of a mystic. However I do agree with him that physical pain and even mental can often have its root in spiritual deficiencies. Lewis does not like using the word “repentance’ but in essence that is what he also says has to happen for healing of wounded and seared consciences. One does have to “change your behavior Lewis says and to conform to the new nature on has in Christ. In this Lewis does not differentiate between Protestant views or Catholic views on repentance. Which I do find rather disturbing.

What I do appreciate about Lewis is his candor, he does not support the notion of hell so much yet because Jesus spoke of it he does not deny it, and also takes the view that at last divine justice has to have a say, that there will be those who say “no” to a Good Creator, who made a Redemptive offer but these who refuse will by necessity be sent to hell since they do so by choice. Lewis does not have much support from the Bible in this view, I think that he ascribed too much freedom and the wrong kind of freedom to the human will in this matter, but the point he makes is good. Justice will be served, at the end.In his chapter on “heaven” Lewis speaks of man being restored to the ultimate goodness God created him for.

In a assessment of the book I found that Lewis made a reasonable argument but he failed to put much biblical support behind his thoughts, his books makes a couple of good points as he points to divine omnipotence, divine goodness, the impact of the fall, but he does not present a clear understanding of the atoning work of Christ, I glean from this work, something of God’s magnificence, and man’s catastrophe. But in the topic itself “The problem of pain” and why there is so much evil and suffering, Lewis does not give anything but a blend of spirituality and psychology to remedy the situation. It is nevertheless a very insightfull read and helpful in many aspects.

Theology

Top Ten Reasons Not To Join A Reformed Baptist Church.

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Great article by a good online friend

A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

If you are church shopping [this article was first published in OCTOBER 2011] or looking for a local Christian fellowship a Reformed Baptist Church may not be your cup of tea 🙂

Well you see, Dr. James White has (honestly) noted that in a Reformed Baptist Church…

  1. You don’t get to leave after every sermon feeling good about yourself. You may even desire repentance.
  2. You don’t get to hear the sermons in the same way you may be used to. It’s frequently verse by verse, maybe not even relevant to your current situation.
  3. You don’t get to be entertained. We don’t want to entertain you.

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Personal · Philosophical · Theology

Being real in a False world

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makingfriends

 

A thing is what it is, and nothing more, a thing cannot be what is not if it says it is something it is not, then you must look at its fruit, a chair cannot be a pear, and a apple not a bear- ” (Alice in Wonderland)

Being real, is a journey, if we are blessed, and God opens our eyes, to see ourselves for who we are, sinners who do not deserve any redemption, and we see God as Holy, and entitled to dispense only justice, yet he dispenses mercy. Then we can start seeing things for what they are. So how do we get out of the mire of sinful, sometimes addictive behaviors that so often beset us.

I like the story John Bunya n tells about himself in Grace Abounding” He says ” I was walking in a field struggling with the fact that I was so unworthy of salvation and that I would never attain to it myself, and then I suddenly realized, the righteousness I need does not come from myself, it comes from God. “

What God requires God provides, if He requires you to walk in holiness, He supplies the holiness you need in Christ. Whatever God requires you to be or to do, He supplies.

Many people still say, a man can be saved by the power of his own will, that somehow, he can bend his own inner nature to submit it to God’s will. That is not how the story started from the beginning. In fact to say that God somehow has to listen to what we tell Him to do, just because we “made a decision to accept Christ as our Savior” That is sheer fallacy. God does not bend to our will, if we submit ourselves to God, He will bend us to His will. That is what we call the “doctrine of sanctification” God makes us what we are not by nature. He makes us holy, He makes us pure, through the trails and troubles of life, He molds and shapes us.

It is true, that once a person has been regenerated by the Spirit of God, he can respond and in saving faith embrace the gift of God, which is the substitutionary death of Christ in our stead. But then there is more, God not only saves us from our own sinful selves and fits us for eternity. He makes us new creatures in Christ.

God deals differently which the person He saves, he guides them, He protects them, he disciplines them, o my friends! God is not an absentee Father! He is not blind to our spiritual state, or our moral depravity. In a very real sense, when God re-creates person anew, the miracle of our human birth is enlarged. It is miracle enough that God saves us from the wrath to come. But then He comes in to clean house, He makes us what we are not. Holy. Like Christ. He restores the image of God in man. He raises the spiritually dead and fills them with new life.

It is not fair to look at a person to look upon another person and pass judgement on another, the work of God in the heart of a man will be evident, a man saved for eternity will have certain difference about him.

He will be aware of his own sinful state, he will into look to his own self sufficiency, but instead will look to Christ. You do not rid yourself of sin, you run to Christ, who delivers you from evil. I have yet to save myself from some sin by my own moral or pious endeavors.

Look to Christ, look to Christ as it is written in the prophet Isaiah 45 :22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else’

The is no one else, so what’s in a look? can you look? Can you take a step outside of yourself and trust and unknown future to a known God?

Yes you can, we are made for better things, as it is in this world, There are many who claim to be what they are not, who claim to be self-sufficient when in themselves, but the heart knows, without God shaping it, moulding it and making it new, it remains what it is. And it remains in futility, the only hones a man can give with out regard to God is that everything is futile, as the atheist Bernard Shaw “life is full os sound and fury, signifying nothing” Well the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who lifts us out of the futility of our won thinking and makes us what we are not, from the inside out……

devotional · Random Interest · Theology

Considering Eternity

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Great numbers of persons have no concern about eternal things. They care more about their cats and dogs than about their souls. It is a great mercy to be made to think about ourselves, and how we stand towards God and the eternal world. This is full often a sign that salvation is coming to us. By nature we do not like the anxiety which spiritual concern causes us, and we try, like sluggards, to sleep again. This is great foolishness; for it is at our peril that we trifle when death is so near, and judgment is so sure. If the Lord has chosen us to eternal life, he will not let us return to our slumber. If we are sensible, we shall pray that our anxiety about our souls may never come to an end till we are really and truly saved. Let us say fromour hearts:—

 

“He that suffered in my stead,

Shall my Physician be;

I will not be comforted

Till Jesus comfort me.”

 

It would be an awful thing to go dreaming down to hell, and there to lift up our eyes with a great gulf fixed between us and heaven. It will be equally terrible to be aroused to escape from the wrath to come, and then to shake off the warning influence, and go back to our insensibility. I notice that those who overcome their convictions and continue in their sins are not so easily moved the next time: every awakening which is thrown away leaves the soul more drowsy than before, and less likely to be again stirred to holy feeling. Therefore our heart should be greatly troubled at the thought of getting rid of its trouble in any other than the right way. One who had the gout was cured of it by a quack medicine, which drove the disease within, and the patient died. To be cured of distress of mind by a false hope, would be a terrible business: the remedy would be worse than the disease. Better far that our tenderness of conscience should cause us long years of anguish, than that we shouldlose it, and perish in the hardness of our hearts. C.H Spurgeon

My Comment on this is simple, suffering is part of this life, and many experience distress in varying degrees, but the Lord chastises those he loves and so I must embrace my distress of soul. Suffering is to be my schoolmaster to conforming to Christ ( Galatians 5:22) so that all the worldliness and the sins of pride and arrogance may be dealt with. The Apostle Peter writes in another place, “ He that has suffered in his body is done with sin.

The temptation to want to escape suffering and following through on the conviction of the Holy Spirit is enormous, God shall surely cut, then bind up, wound then heal. It is a dangerous human tendency to want to seek relief other than in Christ. Has he not said even as he said to Paul “ My Grace is sufficient for thee?’ This world is not our home, and we must not make it so. Looking to Christ in our every waking moment is the only answer. The convictions that come through the Spirit and the Word are precious and we should not shy away from them. It is better that we be suspect of our own hearts and Trust in God, than seek for comfort or relief elsewhere when God is doing His work in convicting and sanctifying us.

I echo the sentiments of Spurgeon on this one “Better far that our tenderness of conscience should cause us long years of anguish, than that we should lose it, and perish in the hardness of our hearts.