Another Book to Recommend

I have begun reading When People Are Big and God Is Small by Edward T. Welch. Though I am only three chapters into the book, I believe that this may be one of the most important books I read (and reread) this year.

The book asserts that we struggle with a fear of man that keeps us from doing what we ought. We look to men to give us what we ought to be seeking for in God. Our remedy is a true fear of God and love for men. Sounds remarkably simple, but it is profoundly poignant.

The book meets a personal need. I pray that God would use its Biblical truth to teach me to live before God and man in the way that I ought to.

A Prayer upon the Commencement of a Spiritual Endeavor

Father, we stand upon the threshold of a new endeavor for You.

Help us to remember the imperfect vessels that we are;
the dullness of our minds with respect to Your Word,
the waywardness of our steps with respect to Your will,
the idleness of our hands with respect to Your work,
the foolishness of our tongues with respect to Your wisdom;
and may it drive us to our knees.

May we seek Your perfection in our imperfection,
Your illumination in our dullness,
Your guidance in our waywardness,
Your compulsion in our idleness,
Your wisdom in our foolishness.

Forgive us for the many sins that we commit before You every day.

By Your sovereign power alone shall any good be accomplished,
And so we beg You for Your power.

Unless the Lord build the house, we labour in vain and so we seek the sovereign operation of Your power at this time.

May our God be glorifed,
our Saviour magnified,
and Your Spirit depended upon
in every detail of our service for You.

By Your grace alone and for Your glory alone be the Captain of this endeavor.

Arminius on Calvin's Commentaries

I read this the other day at The Thirsty Theologian (An excellent site that I will add to my links.) Reminds me of the thoughts of my own father. He would never wear the label of "Calvinist," but he has read Calvin extensively and on more than one occaision has told me that Calvin's Commentaries have been of more personal benefit to him than any other commentary or commentary set that he has.

"Next to the study of the Scriptures which I earnestly inculcate, I exhort my pupils to peruse Calvin’s Commentaries, which I extol in loftier terms than Helmich himself [a Dutch divine, 1551–1608]; for I affirm that he excels beyond comparison in the interpretation of Scripture, and that his commentaries ought to be more highly valued than all that is handed down to us by the library of the fathers; so that I acknowledge him to have possessed above most others, or rather above all other men, what may be called an eminent spirit of prophecy. His Institutes ought to be studied after the [Heidelberg] Catechism, as containing a fuller explanation, but with discrimination, like the writings of all men."

—Jacob Arminius

Another Favorite Quote

"Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

One of My Favorite Quotes

"The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us." —John Stott

Melito, Bishop of Sardis from a message on the Passover—

“And so He was lifted upon a tree and an inscription was attached indicating who was being killed. Who was it? It is a grievous thing to tell, but a most fearful thing to refrain from telling. But listen, as you tremble before Him on Whose account the earth trembled!

He who hung the earth in place is hanged.
He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place.
He who made all things is made fast on a tree.
The Sovereign is insulted.
God is murdered.
The King of Israel is destroyed by an Israelite hand.

This is the One who made the heavens and the earth, and formed mankind in the beginning,
The One proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets,
The One enfleshed in a virgin,
The One hanged on a tree,
The One buried in the earth,
The One raised from the dead and who went up into the heights of heaven,
The One sitting at the right hand of the Father,
The One having all authority to judge and save,
Through whom the Father made all things which exist from the beginning of time.
This One is “the Alpha and Omega,”
This One is “the Beginning and the End”…the beginning indescribable and the end incomprehensible.
This One is the Christ.
This One is the King.
This One is Jesus.
This One is the Leader.
This One is the Lord.
This One is the One who rose from the dead.
This One is the One sitting on the right hand of the Father.
He bears the Father and is borne of the Father.
“To Him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.”

—as quoted by James White in The Forgotten Trinity, p 184-185