Christ has never been sweeter

I trust that Christ is sweet in your life!

LORD,

My sin has never been more repulsive to my spiritual senses, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My strength has never more acutely felt like weakness, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My awareness of living in a fallen world has never seemed more real, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My lovelessness has never seemed more insurmountable, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My unrest has never felt more like fleshly striving, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My selfishness has never appeared more pervasive, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My weariness has never seemed more soul-gripping, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My inadequacy has never felt more crippling, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My anxiety has never been more obvious as unbelief, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My perseverance has never felt so thin, but Christ has never been sweeter.

Come, my sweet Lord Jesus.

Written by Paul Tautages

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Throwing your hat over a wall, getting to the moon, Coca-Cola, and missions!

What a title for a blog post, eh? It comes from an essay from Jason that draws some great analogies between some boys throwing their hats over a wall, the race to space, the Coca-Cola Challenge and missions! Here are a few choice quotes!

“When it comes to the willingness to take the Gospel to those who have never heard it, I am convinced that we share a similar position and outlook that our nation held when considering the prospects of sending a man to the moon. Standing beside what seems an insurmountable wall of fear, excuses, distractions, and, if we are honest, selfishness, we sit down. Or we turn around. Or we try to find some other wall that is easier to climb.

Often though, all it would take for us to follow God to the ends of the earth is to stop the analysis and debate and instead take off our hats, hold them firmly in our hands, and throw them over the wall by faith. If we made that decision to reach the unreached, then we would have no choice but to find a way over the wall to reach them. . . . ”

“The U.S. Center for World Mission documents that more than 90 percent of the global evangelical missionary effort is concentrated among the 60 percent of the world that is reached or within reach. This means that only 10 percent of our missionary force is working among the remaining 40 percent who have never heard the Gospel or have access to the Gospel. . . ”

An early chairman of Coca-Cola set out as his goal to see a bottle of Coke within “an arm’s reach of desire” of every person on the globe. This strategy led to the exponential growth of the company throughout the 20th century and the virtual fulfillment of that dream by the 21st century.

While traveling among the tribal villages in Madagascar on sandy roads navigating quad-four-wheelers, there was little that reminded me of home in the USA. Stick huts, homemade canoes, and ragged clothing met me in every village. Yet along with these scenes came the familiar red signs with white script announcing the availability of Coca-Cola. Local missionaries told us that in many regions where drivable roads stop, porters are hired to carry Coca-Cola to the remotest villages, proving that if one is committed to achieving his mission in this world, few earthly obstacles remain to prevent it.”

“Difficult to reach does not mean unreachable.”

Yes, Jason, yes!

Read the whole challenging, visionary article!

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Holiness and scrubbing yourself clean

Is God pleased with me? Is He smiling on me with Fatherly favor?

The answer to that question is an unqualified yes. God is smiling on you with Fatherly favor. He is pleased with you because He sees you as holy and without blemish in Christ. Do you want to talk about performance? Then consider that Jesus could say matter-of-factly and without any pretentiousness, “I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8:29).

When our Father looks at us, He does not see our miserable performance. Instead, He sees the perfect performance of Jesus. And because of the perfect holiness of Jesus, He sees us as holy and without blemish.

I like the translation of Ephesians 1:6 in the King James Version: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Or to be more direct, God has made us acceptable to Himself through our union with Christ. You will never be accepted in yourself. You can never, to use a figure of speech, “scrub yourself clean.”

We never reach the point where we can look inside ourselves to find the holiness we need to stand before a holy God. But God in His grace has provided a perfect holiness in the person of His Son. Through our union with Him we have been made holy.

~Jerry Bridges~

Holiness: Day by Day (Colorado Springs, CO; Navpress; 2008) p. 190

HT: Crossquotes

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Matthew Henry on suffering

Here are five quotes on suffering by the well-known commentator Matthew Henry and compiled by Challies:

He never intended this world for our rest, and therefore never appointed us to take our ease in it. This travail is given to us to make us weary of the world and desirous of the remaining rest. It is given to us that we may be kept in action, and may always have something to do; for we were none of us sent into the world to be idle. Every change cuts us out some new work, which we should be more solicitous about, than the event.

The calamities of the righteous are preparing them for their future blessedness, and the wicked, while their days are prolonged, are but ripening for ruin. There is a judgment to come, which will rectify this seeming irregularity, to the glory of God and the full satisfaction of all his people, and we must wait with patience till then.

What life or light can we look for from those who have no light or life themselves? God tries what less judgments will do with a people before he brings greater; but if a light affliction do not do its work with us, to humble and reform us, we must expect to be afflicted more grievously; for when God judges he will overcome.

The reasons why the judgments of God are prolonged is because the point is not gained, sinners are not brought to repentance by them. “The people turn not to him who smites them,” and therefore he continues to smite them; for when God judges he will overcome, and the proudest, stoutest sinner shall either bend or break.

God usually gives a morning of opportunity before he sends a night of calamity, that his own people may be prepared for the storm and others left inexcusable.

Those who will not be persuaded now to fly to the arms of divine grace, which are stretched out to receive them, will not be able to flee from the arms of divine wrath, which will shortly be stretched out to destroy them.

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