Today’s Quote (9/6/08)

John Piper, God is the Gospel: Gratitude that is pleasing to God is not first a delight in the benefits God gives (though that will be part of it). True gratitude must be rooted in something else that comes first — namely, a delight int he beauty and excellency of God’s character. If this is […]

Too much to read?

Do you ever feel like your “to read” book stack is out of control — that you will never get caught up on your reading? Sometimes the problem is not just a question about the amount of time needed to read, but knowing what to read. That’s where a group like Christian Book Summaries is […]

Today’s Quote (9/5/08)

Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture: What shall we do to be thankful? Answer 1: If you wish to be thankful, get a heart deeply humbled with the sense of your own vileness. A broken heart is the best pipe to sound forth God’s praise.…Answer 2: Strive for sound evidences of God’s love to you. […]

Today’s Quote (9/4/08)

Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture: A gracious soul is thankful and rejoices that he is drawn nearer to God, though it may be by the cords of affliction.…When God has a rod in his hand, a godly man will have a psalm in his mouth.

The marriage gene?

I unfolded the front section of my newspaper yesterday to find this headline: “Men’s genes may be the key to good fit.” It seems that researchers in Sweden concluded that men with the presence of a particular gene variant (approximately 40% have an extra copy of allele, a variant of a gene that influences brain […]

Today’s Quote (9/3/08)

Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture: Let me tell you, it is a sin not to rejoice. You disparage your Husband, Christ. When a wife is always sighing and weeping, what will others say? ‘This woman has a bad husband.’ Is this the fruit of Christ’s love to you, to reflect dishonour upon Him? A […]

Today’s Quote (9/2/08)

J. I. Packer, Knowing God: Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under […]

Today’s Quote (9/1/08)

A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: It is not what a man does that determines whether or not his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.

Do I believe I need to be holy?

This morning, Oswald Chambers’ devotional echoed the themes from the sermons of the last two Sundays: Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is. The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. Nowadays we have far too many affinities, we are dissipated with them; right, good, noble affinities […]

What angels know

One of the things we talked about in the Systematic Theology class a few weeks ago was angels, including what they are, how they function, and what they know and don’t know. Writing about good angels in today’s blog, John Piper notes that it is clear angels are not omniscient — that they are always […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/31/08)

J. C. Ryle offers two questions to help believers determine the significance and weight of holiness in their lives: (1)…let me ask everyone who may read these pages, Are you holy? Listen, I pray you, to the question I put to you this day. Do you know anything of the holiness of which I have […]

Today’s quote (8/31/08)

Paul Wells, Cross Words: the Biblical Doctrine of the Atonement: Among the momentous events of history that come and go, buried in the sands of the past, [the cross] holds the fascination of eternal newness. When the dramatic events woven into the tapestry of time are consigned to the pages of the history books, or […]

Today’s Quote (8/30/08)

Oswald Chambers, The Highest Good: The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.

What to do when happily married

“What do you do when you are happily married?” The question isn’t “how do you become happily married?” but “since you are happily married, what should you do?” Why, prepare for a divorce, of course. At least that is the logic of Ellen Tien, in her essay “She’s happily married, dreaming of divorce.” [The original […]

Today’s quote (8/29/08)

J. C. Ryle, Holiness: When people talk of having received “…a blessing” and of having found “the higher life,” after hearing some earnest advocate of “holiness by faith and self-consecration,” while their families and friends see no improvement and no increased sanctity in their daily tempers and behaviour, immense harm is done to the cause […]