Monday, April 28, 2008

Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment - Prepare for Change

I have adopted a new motto, partially due to my reading of Jeremiah Burrough's The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, and partially due to the fact that events in my life have shown me that fretting, worrying, and complaining are fruitless. Here it is:

Semper Gumby

That is it, two short little words, meaning "Always flexible". Both Scripture and real life experience show that change occurs without warning, and that any attempt to cling to the status quo is a fool's errand.

From Burroughs:

Every Christian should say: 'Have I wealth now? I should prepare for poverty. Have I health now? I should prepare for sickness. Have I liberty? Let me prepare myself for imprisonment. How do I know what God may call me to? Have I comfort and peace now in my conscience, does God shine upon me? While I have this let me prepare for God's withdrawing from me. Am I delivered from temptations? Let me prepare now for the time of temptations.' If you would do so, the change of your condition would not be so grievous to you. (pg. 203)

Semper Gumby

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whats up Jerry,
I too am Southern Baptists who is embracing reformed theology and the roots of our historic denomination. May God do his will through your life and use you for the glory of his name. I to have adopted a recent saying to live by which I stole from John Piper, "God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him". Anyway my blog is youngmissionalandreformed.blogspot.com check it out when you have a chance.

Jerry said...

Romans 11:33-36,

Good to hear from you. May I call you Rom 11 for short?

I was first introduced to "Desiring God" in my church music class, of all places, with Dr. Bruce Leafblad at SWBTS in the 80's. Even though I was already a proponent of the Doctrines of Grace, reading that book changed my life.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, and part of that satisfaction derives from knowing that all things are in His hand for His glory and for our good.