This post from Of First Importance blog is among the most heartening human words I've read:

“The stone will be rolled away for each of us”

“He came back.

After that brutal Friday, and that long, quiet Saturday, he came back.

And that one intake of breath in the tomb changes everything. It changes the very reason I drew breath today and the way I move about in this world because I believe he’s coming back again. The world has gone on for more than two millennia since Jesus’ feet tread the earth he made. What would they have said back then if someone had told them that some two thousand years later we’d still be waiting? They would’ve thought back to that long Saturday and said, ‘Two thousand years will seem like a breath to you when you finally lay your crown at his feet. We don’t even remember what we were doing on that Saturday, but let me tell you about Sunday morning. Now that was something.’

These many years of waiting will only be a sentence in the story. This long day will come to an end, and I believe it will end in glory, when we will shine like suns and stride the green hills with those we love and the One who loves. We will look with our new eyes and speak with our new tongues and turn to each other and say, ‘Do you remember the waiting? The long years, the bitter pain, the gnawing doubt, the relentless ache?’ And like Mary at the tomb, we will say: ‘I remember only the light, and the voice calling my name, and the overwhelming joy that the waiting was finally over.’

The stone will be rolled away for each of us. May we wait with faithful hearts.”

—Andrew Peterson, CD liner notes for Resurrection Letters Volume II (Centricity Music: 2008)

"Gratitude Becomes Us"

"Gratitude Becomes Us"

I appreciated this statement from Charles Spurgeon's sermon entitled "Unconditional Surrender". It's what I needed to hear when I was a younger teenager who was rather ungrateful for the way God made me, the things I had and the family I was born into. (And what I need to hear now too!):

"Have you accepted your position in the scale of worldly wealth? Are you satisfied to be sickly, obscure or of small ability? Are God's appointments your contentments? Too many professors [professing believers] are quarreling with God that they are not other than they are. This is evil, and shows that pride is still in their hearts, for were they conscious of their own deserts they would know that anything short of hell is more than we deserve, and as long as we are not in the pit of torment gratitude becomes us."

If only I always realized how unworthy I am - I should never complain. To think of what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God! He has given us so much! And the things we don't understand, the things that are hard, He has designed with love far greater than we can imagine. Ingratitude from the redeemed is unfitting. Gratitude becomes us.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God"

- James 4:7 ESV

"Having given them grace, I will give them a crown."

"Having given them grace, I will give them a crown."

After "consuming" quite a number of Charles Spurgeon's sermons, I finally decided to read his biography, and found this quote simply encouraging,

"I think how surprised some of God's people will be" he exclaims, "when they get to heaven. They will see the Master and He will give them a crown.
'Lord, what is this crown for?'
'That is because thou didst give a cup of cold water to one of my disciples.'
'What, a crown for a cup of cold water?'
'Yes,' says the Master, 'that is how I pay my servants. First I give them grace to give the cup of water, and then, having given them grace, I will give them a crown.''"

- from Charles Spurgeon - London's Most Popular Preacher by W.Y. Fullerton

my friend Wei...

an interesting email I received from my Chinese friend who is trying to learn English. I thought it had a jumbled, poetic beauty

Learn Swimming

I heard the person say a word:

Speak mother tongue like nature of breathe, Speak English like labor-consuming of swimming."

I living a small town of P.A America. So I swimming in English of foreign language sea now. One year,I like floating and sinking in the sea. A float and a Sink.

I speak English with from different country and the American. I want to except tempo breathe out, I also want speak with the help of gestures.

I sometime like breast stroke, Sometime like butterfly stroke ect...

Do you say I like learn swimming?

Wei also taught me a Chinese phrase while we were working one day....

"gauw nnei yah!-hei-ii choh-gung yongk-yii"

We work together, it's easy! :-)

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” - 1 Cor. 10:31

If everything is to be done for God’s glory, shopping must also be done to that end. But there often comes a mental or spiritual disconnect when I walk into a store and I shop for reasons other than this one noble, righteous purpose.

How do I shop for God's glory?
Here's what I came up with - for myself and for all who might read it and perhaps be helped:

1) Sometimes I shop for the sake of my appearance before others. My underlying ambition is the praise and approval of man. Is this an ‘in’ thing to have? Will others think I have good taste? Will I impress, or will I be thought ‘un-cool’ for possessing this item? These are not the questions of a faith-filled heart, but of a worldly heart. As Jesus said, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)

2) Sometimes I shop because I actually think that the stuff I’m buying will make me happy. That’s idolatry and idolatry is a sin. It shows disbelief of the word of God: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” (Isaiah 55:2) Those who thirst for joy and satisfaction are to go to Christ who said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:37)

3) Sometimes I shop with an eye to saving. How can I get the most for my money? This can be a good motive, and again it could be a bad one. Money is rarely an end in itself, so I must ask: “Why do I want to save money?” Is it to buy more things to make me happy, or more things to make me cool? (see 1. and 2.) Or is it for a better reason? (which I shall explore shortly.)

The question remains then, “How do I shop for the glory of God?” As wrong motives have different aspects, so also does the God-ward motive:

1) Shopping for the glory of God means that I shop to make Him look good. That is, I will buy things that will best help me, or others I buy for, to live to God’s glory. This might mean that I won’t buy the hottest stuff - and then again it might mean that I do - that’s not the issue. The issue is not my coolness, but what will bring God most glory.
It will mean that I won’t buy that very chic, but very skimpy outfit, because no matter how fashionable it might make me, that outfit will not equip me to live for God’s glory. It might mean buying less of the cool junk food that everyone else is eating so I can get food that will give me strength to serve God.
It will mean that I buy more of what is useful than what is showy.
It will mean many other things which I’ll discover as I apply this mentality to every aspect of my shopping.

2) Shopping for the glory of God means that I won’t want all the stuff that the people of the world run after, because I am satisfied in God. It means I won’t believe the advertisements and displays that promise me happiness in the possession of their product, because I know that “the world and its desires pass away”.
It will sometimes mean that I buy less, because my desire is not to have things tomake me happy, but to be satisfied in God who meets all my needs. It will mean telling myself that I don’t “have to have” that adorable pair of shoes that I don’t need and had no intention of buying until I saw them and coveted them. It will mean buying with calm judiciousness and not whimsical lust.

3) Shopping for the glory of God does mean shopping with an eye to saving money. But not saving so I can have more cash to make me feel secure, and buy more stuff to make me happy. The question on my mind will be: “How can I save money on buying less of what I want, but don’t need, so that I can buy what I do need to live for God’s glory?” (see pt. 1.) And as a member of Christ’s kingdom, I should even more be asking: “How much can I save that I may have more to give to the needy and to God’s people and the advancement of God’s kingdom?”

In my notebook I found this short line that I copied from Amy Carmichael's biography.* I am still finding it true:

"'Home with all its prohibitions and opportunities to die daily.'"

Maybe it sounds negative. There are so many good things about home. But wait - this is one of them. This is one of the good things about home: opportunities to die daily. Daily dwelling with other imperfect people is something God uses to sanctify me. The wait outside the bathroom door, the dirty shoes on the rug, the instrument being practiced while I'm trying to study - these are the nitty gritty parts of home-life. But they are chances to die, to look not only to my own interests but also to the interests of others, to lay down my life for my brothers. Everything can't always be the way I want it, and that's actually good. When I see dirty shoes on the rug, I can mentally take them up like a sword, and instead of pricking the negligent "culprit" with it, I can turn it on my sin nature and plunge it to the hilt whispering - "Die! Die old self that loves clean carpets more than Jesus. Die!" (I am not saying that such things should not be corrected, but sisterly nagging is not the loving way.) And in those moments, I am amazed at the rebellious strength of my old nature. I feel it kicking, screaming inside me, "No don't kill me, you'll be so much happier if you turn and nag them." Sometimes I have listened to its pleading, and let it spring back up and do its thing, and I lose the chance to die and the chance to show love. But I want to die more often so I can say this in truth:

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Gal. 2:20 ESV

* A Chance to Die - the life and legacy of Amy Carmichael, by Elisabeth Elliot

Love is...

Love is...

Love is the
active desire for the
well-being and joy
of others.

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

- 1 John 3:18 ESV

By Mighty Hands

Faint am I and cannot hold
My Savior for my strength is small
My heart grows feeble, waxes cold
A hopeless voice says, "You shall fall"

Unto my weary soul.

If my endurance rests on me,
O God, no hope have I,
But woefully to wane from Thee
With hollow sighing, till I die -

Unless Thou holdst my soul.

My Lord! My God! Thou Sovereign One,
Help me see those mighty bands
That bind me to Thy righteous Son
Fastened by Thy mighty hands -

In this may rest my soul.

I have no power - Thou hast all
And all my strivings turn to dust
And in my dust-bound self I'd fall
But thou hast promised and art just

By grace to hold my soul.

I rest in Thee. In Thee I trust
Predestined, Thou hast called me,
And in Christ Jesus made me just,
And thou shalt glorify me,

And never loose my soul.

These are the strong eternal bands
By sovereign grace bound iron-fast.
By great and, never-failing hands
That shall uphold me to the last.

Believe Thy God, my soul.

My new Second Verse to "Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man":

Zacchaeus was a selfish little man
And a tax-collector was He
And when He took the people's tax
He took too much money
But when the Savior came to Him
He repented fully
And He said:
"All the money I ever stole -
I fully will repay
I fully will repay".

"Herein is Love" - Thoughts from Spurgeon

"Herein is Love" - Thoughts from Spurgeon

The other day I borrowed Humility and How to Get It - by Charles Spurgeon from our church library. (Humility is something I dearly need more of.) The book is a collection of Spurgeon's sermons, many on humility. The first sermon, however, is on love. I appreciated one of Spurgeon's colorful illustrations:
I am looking for "the springs of the sea," and you point me to a little pool amid the rocks which has been filled by the flowing tide. I am glad to see that pool: how bright! how blue! how like the sea from whence it came! But do not point to this as the source of the great waterfloods; for if you do I shall smile at your childish ignorance, and point you to yon great rolling main which tosses its waves on high. What is your little pool to the vast Atlantic? Do you point me to the love in the believer's heart, and say, "Herein is love!" You make me smile. I know that there is love in that true heart; but who can mention it in the presence of the great rolling ocean of the love of God, without bottom and without shore? The word not is not only upon my lip but in my heart as I think of the two things, "NOT that we loved God, but that God loved us." What poor love ours is at its very best when compared with the love wherewith God loves us!...I do rejoice in the love of saints to their Lord. Yet this is but a streamlet; the unfathomable deep, the eternal souce from which all love proceeds, infinitely exceeds all human affection, and it is found in God, and in God alone.

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

- 1 John 4:10 ESV

Accepted in the Beloved

Accepted in the Beloved

"The pure, full love of God streams through the blood and obedience of Jesus to every soul that is lying under them, however vile and wretched in themselves."


"See what Christ thinks of the believer: 'As the lily among thorns so is my love among the daughters.' The believer is like a lovely flower in the eyes of Christ, washed in His blood, as pure and white as a lily. Christ can see no spot in His own righteousness, and therefore He sees no spot on the believer."

"You have drawn the Savior's blood and righteousness over your souls, and you know that the Father himself loveth you." - Robert Murray McCheyne

~~~~~

"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." - Revelation 1:5-6 ESV

"Who is This Fair One in Distress?"
- by Isaac Watts

Who is this fair one in distress,
That travels from the wilderness?
And pressed with sorrows and with sins,
On her belovèd Lord she leans.

This is the spouse of Christ our God,
Bought with the treasure of His blood;
And her request and her complaint
Is but the voice of every saint.

“O let my name engraven stand
Both on Thy heart and on Thy hand;
Seal me upon Thine arm, and wear
That pledge of love for ever there.

“Stronger than death Thy love is known,
Which floods of wrath could never drown;
And hell and earth in vain combine
To quench a fire so much divine.

“But I am jealous of my heart,
Lest it should once from Thee depart;
Then let Thy Name be well impressed,
As a fair signet on my breast.

“Till Thou hast brought me to Thy home,
Where fears and doubts can never come,
Thy countenance let me often see,
And often Thou shalt hear from me.

“Come, my Belovèd, haste away,
Cut short the hours of Thy delay;
Fly like a youthful hart or roe
Over the hills where spices grow.”

Christ in Matthew 12

"I tell you, something greater than the temple is here" (v. 6).
- Christ as Priest

"behold, something greater than Jonah is here" (v. 41).
- Christ as Prophet

"something greater than Solomon is here" (v. 42).
- Christ as King

Hope Kept Alive by Holiness and Deadened by Corruption

"Men are doubtless to blame for being in a dead, carnal frame; but when they are in such a frame, and have no sensible experience of the exercises of grace, but on the contrary, are much under the prevalence of lusts and an unchristian spirit, they are not to blame for doubting their state. It is as impossible, in the nature of things, that a holy and Christian hope be kept alive, in its clearness and strength, in such circumstances, as it is to keep the light in the room, when the candle is put out; or to maintain the bright sunshine in the air, when the sun is gone down. Distant experiences, when darkened by present prevailing lust and corruption, never keep alive a gracious confidence and assurance; but that sickens and decays upon it, as necessarily as a little child by repeated blows on the head with a hammer."

- Jonathan Edwards - Religious Affections, pt. 2, sect. 11

Acrostic Hope

Again I look unto that Word
Beholding light in Your decrees
Comfort I find, for I have heard
Delightful promises like these:

Entrust your way unto the Lord
Fret nor fear, for He is good
Great things for those who trust His word
He does as mere men never could.

I have no helper, Lord, but You.
Joy lights my soul because You shall
Keep every promise. You are true -
Love those weak ones who trust You well.

My cup of hope does overflow
Not doubting once your promise dear
Oh, can I worry when I know
Pure grace for all my want is here.

Quiet my heart, O Mighty One
Rejoice my soul with mercy new
Sustain my hope when day is done -
That what I cannot, You can do.

Until I see full well that not
Vain, foolish were my hopes in you.
When all is past and tears forgot
Your promise will be proven true.

- Alyssa Colby 2008

John Newton....

"What a comfortable thought is this to be a believer, to know that amid all the various interfering designs of men, the Lord has one constant design, which he cannot, will not miss, namely, His own glory in the complete salvation of His people; and that He is wise and strong and faithful, to make even those things which seem contrary to this design, subservient to it." - John Newton

~ ~ ~

"He used to improve every occurence which he could, with propriety, bring into the pulpit. One night he found a notice put up at St. Mary Woolnoth's upon which he commented a great deal when he came to preach. The notice was to this effect: 'A young man, having come to the possession of a very considerable fortune, desires the prayers of the congregation, that he may be preserved from the snares to which it exposes him.'

'Now if the man,' said Newton, 'had lost a fortune, the world would not have wondered to have seen him put up a notice, but this man has been better taught.'"

~ ~ ~

After the death of his beloved wife:

"I saw what , indeed, I knew before, but never till then so strongly and clearly perceived that , as a sinner, I had no right, and as a believer, I could have no reason to complain."

- from John Newton-Out of the Depths - by Rev. R. Cecil

Reading for history class, I came upon this interesting viewpoint. At the moment I'm not sure what to make of it, but it seemed worth taking note of:

"On the matter of female prayer...Beecher argued that praying in public distorts the sensibilities and therefore the moral character of women - with actresses as the leading example of such corruption:

There is generally, and should be always, in the female character, a softness and delicacy of feeling which shrinks from the notoriety of public performance. It is the guard of female virtue, and invaluable in its soothing, civilizing influence on man; and a greater evil, next to the loss of conscience and chastity, could not befal the female sex, or the community at large, than to disrobe the female mind of these ornaments of sensibility, and clothe it with the rough texture of masculine fibre....and, if we need further testimony, the general character of actresses is a standing memorial of the influence of female elocution before public assemblies."

- from Gospel Hymns and Social Religion by Sandra S. Sizer