An Encouragement to All Who Struggle

John Newton, writing to his good friend, the Rev. William Bull, gives this description of his struggle with an unwelcome "lodger":

I have many pleasant and kind connections; but I have a troublesome inmate, a lodger, who assumes as if the house were his own, and is a perpetual incumbrance, and spoils all. He has long been noted for his evil ways; but though generally known, is not easily avoided. He lodged with one Saul of Tarsus long before I was born, and made him groan and cry out lustily. Time was when I thought I would shut the door, to keep him out of my house, but my precaution came too late; he was already within ; and to turn him out by head and shoulders is beyond my power; nay, I cannot interdict him from any one single apartment. If I think of retiring into the closest corner, he is there before me. We often meet and jostle and snarl at each other; but sometimes (would you believe it ?) I lose all my suspicion, and am disposed to treat him as an intimate friend. This inconsistency of mine I believe greatly encourages him, for I verily believe he would be ashamed and afraid to be seen by me, if I always kept him at a proper distance. However, we both lay such a strong claim to the same dwelling, that I believe the only way of settling the dispute will be (which the Landlord himself has spoken of) to pull down the house over our heads. There seems something disagreeable in this mode of proceeding ; but from what I have read in an old book, I form a hope that when things come to this crisis, I shall escape, and my enemy will be crushed in the ruins.

June 7, 1783

If the author of "Amazing Grace" experienced the constant struggle against the sin nature (as described in Romans 7), why would we think that we would be exempt? Oh for that day when the building is pulled down and we are lifted up!

Affirmation

D.A. Carson, in A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities From Paul and His Prayers, speaks of the two extremes of offering praise to fellow Christians. There are those who heap accolades and "atta boys" to the extent that they appear phony. There are also those who believe that the only thanks that we should receive is the Lord's "well done" in the judgment.

Carson offers a middle-ground:

Paul's approach in many of his epistles, and not least here (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13) , is radically different from both of these extremes. He encourages Christians by thanking God for his grace in their lives. More precisely, he encourages Christians by telling them that he thanks God for the grace in their lives. Thus he has simultaneously drawn attention to the Thessalonians' spiritual growth, thereby encouraging them, and insisted that God is the one to be thanked for it, thereby humbling them. There is simply no way that these believers can thoughtfully listen to what Paul says and then smugly pat themselves on the back: God, and God alone, is to be praised for the signs of grace in their lives. yet nonetheless they cannot help but feel encouraged to learn that the apostle himself has observed God's work in their lives and rejoices bacause of it. ( pg. 87)

Are we in the habit of looking for signs of God's grace in others, thanking Him for it, and letting them know of our thankfulness?

Jesus Christ, first and last

HT: Sacred Sandwich

Steps to Foolishness

Good stuff from Dan Phillips:

Pyromaniacs: How to be a fool, in four easy steps

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - 1918-2008

There have been many words written this past week on the passing of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

This post, succinct and powerful, is my favorite to date.

For background on this remarkable life, see the Wikipedia entry for him.

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Piper on Humility

John Piper posted a clear and succinct post on 6 Aspects of Humility yesterday at the Desiring God blog.

I found Number 5 to be very challenging: Humility knows it is fallible, and so considers criticism and learns from it; but also knows that God has made provision for human conviction and that he calls us to persuade others.

And then, today, he follows up with this:

At the very moment when in the pulpit we are extolling the glories of Christ, we can in reality be seeking our own glory, and when we are exhorting the congregation to praise God, and are even ostensibly leading them in praise, we can be secretly hoping that they will spare a bit of praise for us. (found, here, quoting John Stott).

Ouch.

While we are talking about humility...

,,,I recognize that it has been some time since I last posted a selection from The Valley of Vision.

Reliance

My Father,
When thou art angry towards me for my wrongs
I try to pacify thee by abstaining from future sin;
But teach me
that I cannot satisfy thy law,
That this effort is resting in my righteousness,
that only Christ’s righteousness ready made,
already finished, is fit for that purpose;
that thy chastening me for my sin is not
that I should try to reform, but only
that I may be more humbled, afflicted and
separated from sin, by being reconciled,
and made righteous in Christ by faith;
that a sense of my sufficiency and ability in him
is one means of my being immovable;
that I can never be so by resting on my own faith,
but by trusting in thee as my only support,
by faith;
that if I cast away my faith I cast away thee,
for by faith I apprehend thee,
and as thou art very precious,
so is my faith very precious to me;
that I fall short of the purity thou requirest,
because in thinking I am holy I do not
seek holiness,
or, believing I am impotent, I do no more.
Humble me for not being as holy as I should be,
or as holy as I might be through Christ,
for thou art all, and to possess thee is to possess all.
But to make the creature something
is to make it stand between thee and me,
so that I do not walk humbly and holily.
Lord, forgive me for this.

Godly Man's Picture - True Humility

A man may be humbled and not humble. A sinner may be humbled by affliction. His condition is low but not his disposition. A godly man is not only humbled but humble. His heart is as low as his condition. (pg. 77)

This bears heeding. Many a time our circumstances have resulted in our being humbled, but if we regain pride once our condition improves then we know that we are not humble, but were only humbled for a time by our situation. It may be, even during the time of humiliation, that our pride was as great as at any time.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:10 ESV)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (1 Peter 5:6)

Are we truly humble, or only humbled?