Friday, October 23, 2015

God's Presence in Varying Degrees

"But just as persons may be present to one another in varying degrees or ways, God may be present in one way to the unjust and in a richer way to the just. You may be superficially present to a stranger on a bus, revealing little about yourself. However, you may be more significantly present with your godly mother who has prayed daily for you all your life, even though she is miles away. God is graciously present in forgiving love with the converted who by faith have been forgiven, reconciled, and redeemed by Christ’s precious blood. They become God’s people, and he becomes their moral and spiritual Father."

~ Gordon R. Lewis
   Integrative Theology

A Million Little Things

"Holiness is the sum of a million little things—the avoidance of little evils and little foibles, the setting aside of little bits of worldliness and little acts of compromise, the putting to death of little inconsistencies and little indiscretions, the attention to little duties and little dealings, the hard work of little self-denials and little self-restraints, the cultivation of little benevolences and little forbearances. Are you trustworthy? Are you kind? Are you patient? Are you joyful? Do you love? These qualities, worked out in all the little things of life, determine whether you are blight or blessing to everyone around you, whether you are an ugly spiritual eyesore or growing up into a good-looking Christian."

~ Kevin DeYoung
   The Hole in Our Holiness

Sin is Serious

God wants us to understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin. We dare not take it lightly or dismiss our own guilt frivolously. When we really see sin for what it is, we must hate it. Scripture goes even further than that: “You will remember your ways and all your deeds, with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done” (Ezekiel 20:43).

~John Macarthur
The Vanishing Conscience

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

When society silences its collective conscience

"It is a wretched and horrifying state of affairs. Our society openly condones and defends the worst kinds of evil. Civilization as we know it has reached the deepest level of corruption and abides under a sentence of divine condemnation. People’s consciences have been seared, debased, obstructed, repressed, and overturned. Without a functioning conscience, people are destined only to sink deeper and deeper into wickedness."

~ John Macarthur
   The Vanishing Conscience

Trust in the LORD! (Psalm 115:9-11)

  9 O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their...