The King's Own Face

"HOLINESS" by JC Ryle

"It would be well if professing Christians studied the four gospels more than they do. No doubt all Scripture is profitable - But I think it would be good for some who are very familiar with the Epistles, if they knew a little more about the Gospels....Because I want Christians to know more about Christ. It is well to be acquainted with all the doctrines and principles of Christianity. It is better to be acquainted with Christ Himself...to be familiar with Jesus Himself, to see the King's own face, to behold His beauty."

"Four different inspired hands have drawn the picture of the Savior: His ways, His manners, His feelings, His wisdom, His grace, His patience, His love, His power, are graciously unfolded to us by four different witnesses! Surely we cannot know this Christ too well! Surely there is not a word, nor a deed, nor a day, nor a step, nor a thought in the record of His life, which ought not to be precious to us. We should labor to be familiar with every line that is written about Jesus. Come now, and let us study a page in our Master's history!"

So, herein lies my heart's desire to read the gospels again starting right now - a lovely way to begin my summer. And in doing that, I like to have a particular 'way' to read through the gospels; a particular plan. The last time, I wrote down everything I observed about Jesus and who He is and how He acted and treated sinners He rubbed shoulders with on His life journey. I wanted to keenly and carefully see, with eyes of faith, my precious Savior. That was much fun.

This time the Lord has laid on my heart to take chunks of the gospel as I come to them in my chronological reading and s-l-o-w way down and meditate on what is revealed therein about Christ. Lately I've been convicted and challenged by the Lord to take the time to meditate and to chew over the Word. Usually I read, read, read, covering ground, rather than taking that precious time. My goal is to take a passage that highlights an event or story in the life of Jesus, and, like the great Puritan writers, I aim to carefully mine the treasures, digging deep.

Wanna join me?

Standing for Truth

During our family devotions we are reading out loud through “A Body of Divinity” by Thomas Watson, who was a Puritan writer. This book was written in 1692. What I love about the Puritan writers is their broad, sweeping grasp of the Word as well as how they can dissect verses, mining and digging out precious treasures, bringing gems to the surface for all to admire for their beauty.

This book takes the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “in which the main principles of Christianity that lie scattered in the Scriptures are brought together and set forth…” Practically devotional, the expounded truths are so lovely and draws one inexorably towards Christ. A book to feast on….

Where we are currently reading, Watson is expounding on the umpteen ways we glorify God, and I loved this one about truth. It related so beautifully to my last blog post.

Enjoy.

“We glorify God, by standing up for His truths. Much of God’s glory lies in His truth. God has entrusted us with His truth, as a master entrusts His servant with his purse to keep. We have not a richer jewel to trust God with than our souls, nor has God a richer jewel to trust us with than His truth. Truth is a beam that shines from God. Much of His glory lies in His truth. When we are advocates for truth we glorify God. Jude 3, “…contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” The Greek word to contend signifies great contending, as one would contend for his land, and not suffer his right to be taken from him; so we should contend for the truth.”

Girdle Up!

Truth matters. Truth is what we stand on. And truth expressed in Scripture is called theology. You could say that theology is our ‘girdle’ - it holds us all together so we don’t pop out in all directions...a little untruth bulging out here, and a little untruth bulging out there. We are to have tight, taut truth. Girdled up.

Hold God’s word and His truth dear. Don’t make light of it; don’t carelessly toss it overboard when it comes up against the false teachings of this age and generation. God cared to communicate with us; He gave us His perspective. I believe the huge conflict of our day is an all out attack against truth, against doctrine, against theology. (You know - who needs it? - just love one another….) Not only is God dead in this modern age, but also His Word is obsolete - sadly even in the midst of much of the church of today.

Many books are written that carve away at various truths of the Bible. Genesis is attacked. Revelation is attacked. The sovereign all-knowing God of Scripture is pulled down to man-size and His foreknowledge is taken away. His ability to control the events of history is ridiculed, His rule is considered passive and reactive and under the influence and power of evil.

Yuk. That is not MY God. That is not the God revealed in the doctrinal truths of Holy Scripture. THAT God is a God of all-knowledge, fully Sovereign over all of history in all of its minute aspects, and THAT God is a God who has spoken Words of truth and has breathed them into The Book. Believe it and stand on it.

Without truth we flounder and flop around in confusion and ride the waves of pain and doubt up and down and all around. But WITH truth we stand - and although buffeted and wind tossed - we stand. Plant your feet firmly on God’s truth; that truth ‘forever settled in heaven.’

Be careful of the modern Christian literature of today - fiction and non-fiction. Be discerning. Hold it up against the light of God’s word and don’t play with books that mess around and twist important truths of Scripture. There are popular books spreading falsehoods about God and His Word out there that your spirit should recoil from. Run from man rearranging God’s eternal truths. Be alert and watchful - GUARD these precious truths. They are words of life to us.

(I & II Timothy)

“They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.”

“…brought up in the truths of the faith...the good teaching that you have followed.”

“…the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”

“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them…”’

“If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing.”

“Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge…”

“What you heard from me (Paul), keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you - guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

“…correctly handle the word of truth.”

“…from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…”

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine…. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

So - GIRDLE UP my friends!

Biblical Self Talk

Are you in control of yourself? Or are you driven along by feelings, emotions, fears, worries and concerns? It is actually an indulgence to allow yourself to sit down at the table of your own private pity party…looking only to the doldrums and to your own discouraging circumstances.

There are times in our lives when we would do well not to listen to the messages we are telling ourselves. In times of depression or fear or worry we can have lies roiling and boiling around in our heads. Or maybe we have temperament tendencies that lead us into negativity, pessimism, doubt, despair, and over the years have built quite a repertoire of broken record messages that we fall into and allow to lead us around by the nose.

I want to share an amazing truth that has significantly made a difference in my life and walk with the Lord, and I learned it from the book 'Spiritual Depression' by Martin Lloyd Jones.

The truth is this: Learn to take yourself in hand. Don’t be content to lie there and commiserate with yourself, but do something about it, like the Psalmist in Psalm 42:

“Why are you downcast, Oh my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise Him,
Who is the health of my countenance
And my God.” Vs 5,11

He talks to himself. He turns to himself and says, ‘Self - why are you downcast? Why are you so disquieted?’ We must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ‘ourselves’ to talk to us! Much of our unhappiness in life is due to the fact that we listen to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves.

This man’s soul has been depressing him, crushing him. Self will always drag you down if it is in control; don’t placidly listen. So the Psalm writer stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’

Lloyd-Jones says that the main art of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, exhort yourself, upbraid yourself and say, ‘Hope in God!’ - instead of huddling down in a puddle of misery.

Instead lift your eyes and your face to the face of Christ and feast on Him by speaking truth TO yourself. Remind yourself of what you know to be true:

He is the sure anchor of my soul.
Jesus loves me.
He works all things for good - bar none.
All His ways are lovingkindness and truth.
I have a secure future hope.
His Word is true no matter how I feel.
In my weakness He is strong.
He purchased and sealed me in salvation.
I am a precious child of God.
He is the Way the Truth the Life.
He is the anchor for my soul in the storms of life.
He is able.

Turning 50

I'm back! The last weeks have been filled with fun and meaningful events to celebrate. I've missed the time to write and hope to blog my little heart out in the coming weeks.

I turned 50 - and boy did we celebrate! I have to say that becoming 50 turned out to be a blast beyond belief!! From a surprise breakfast out with a special girlfriend, to a hot-pink manicure, to a surprise lunch with my parents, to shopping at the mall with mall bucks, to a huge surprise party with many girlfriends at a sweet cafe. Our table overlooked a pond surrounded by weeping willows - absolutely gorgeous. Sigh. I have never felt so loved and cared for and so spoiled. Their gifts were way over-the-top abundant with many red dishes and bowls and pitchers and such for my kitchen. They all know how much I love color!!

The evening was wrapped up at my home with my special family. The girls decorated the table with my new birthday dishes, pink balloons, and pink, peach, and yellow tulips. They made homemade cauliflower soup, homemade garlic-rosemary bread, salad, and to top it off, a world-class Russian creme with raspberries. Num. Food centers large in any family event in our home! Did you notice I ate my way through the whole day? ;O] And I opened my traditional family gifts - perfume and candles. Ahhhh. Supplies replenished.

Then my oldest daughter graduated from nursing school. Wow! What fun celebrations!! There was the award breakfast, the pinning ceremony, and finally the graduation itself. She was the one down front with the huge grin on her face! We were the crowd at the very back hooting and hollering and waving with all arms and blowing kisses. All graduation weekend I felt overwhelmed with gratefulness to the Lord for His faithful mercy and grace as He carried her through four years of the most trying and painful trials of her life. Most of that time she struggled with seriously debilitating health issues that made us wonder if she'd even be able to make it. God is so good - and He sure has been good to her. Because of Him she is now a graduated nursing student! We know exactly Who to thank! Next comes her nursing board exam - one week away.

To continue the graduation theme, we celebrated with an open house this weekend. The Lord gave sunshine and blooming flowers. It was a fun time with very special family and friends. Thank you all!

Oh, and one weekend in the midst of all this hoopla, several of us in the family headed to the coast where my daughter shot a wedding. Since I grew up in this town and still have family and friends there, I piggybacked along. I had a blast with a wonderfully special girlfriend - we've been friends since the 8th grade. (You do the math.) Our birthdays are only one day apart and we found out early in our friendship that we had been born in the same hospital as consecutive babies. Then didn't meet for 13 years. AND, I actually reconnected with another friend I'd grown up with and hadn't seen since 7th grade. Such joys.

So I'm done gallivanting around for a wee bit. I intend to stay around and chat. I look forward to it. See ya -