The following post is a well written, and incisive comment upon the Christians of today. We should all examine ourselves in the light of God’s truth, evaluate our lives based upon it, and then make whatever changes are necessary. http://realityofchrist.me/2013/01/07/the-spiritual-disease-of-apathetic-christianity/
A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.
History has a voice, and if we choose to listen to it, rather than talk about it, we can still hear it’s echo….still trying to speak truth even now….
HUMAN REMEDIES FOR SIN UNAVAILING
Though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. – Jer_2:22
Education? Yes! it will do a great deal, but it will do nothing in regard of sin. It will alter the type of the disease, because the cultured man’s transgressions will be very different from those of the illiterate boor. But wise or foolish, professor, student, thinker, or savage with narrow forehead and all but dead brain, are alike in this, that they are sinners in God’s sight. I would that I could get through the fence that some of you have reared round you, on the ground of your superior enlightenment and education and refinement, and make you feel that there is something deeper than all that, and that you may be a very clever, and a very well educated, a very highly cultured, an extremely thoughtful and philosophical sinner, but you are a sinner all the same.
Again, we hear a great deal at present, and I do not desire that we should hear less, about social and economic and political changes, which some eager enthusiasts suppose will bring the millennium. Well, if the land were nationalized, and all “the means of production and distribution” were nationalized, and everybody got his share, and we were all brought to the communistic condition, what then? That would not make men better, in the deepest sense of the word. The fact is, these people are beginning at the wrong end. You cannot better humanity merely by altering its environment for the better. Christianity reverses the process. It begins with the inmost man, and it works outwards to the circumference; and that is the thorough way. Why? Suppose you took a company of people out of the slums, for instance, and put them into a model lodging-house, how long will it continue a model? They will take their dirty habits with them, and pull down the woodwork for firing, and make the place where they are as like as possible to the hovel whence they came in a very short time. You must change the men, and then you can change their circumstances, or, rather, they will change them for themselves. Now, all this is not to be taken as casting cold water on any such efforts to improve matters, but only as a protest against its being supposed that these alone are sufficient to rectify the ills and cure the sorrows of humanity. ” Ye have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly.” The patient is dying of cancer, and you are treating him for a skin disease. It is Jesus Christ alone that can cure the sins, and so the sorrows, of humanity.
This is the last in this particular series, but if you’ve enjoyed Bruce’s writing, and would like to see more I’d be happy to share more of his devotionals with you. I believe that Bruce has some of the best devotional writing I’ve ever had the privilege of reading. He has a heart for God through and through. I hope you’ve been as blessed through his writing as I have been.
WHAT KIND OF EXAMPLE ARE YOU (7)
The word “purity” refers to that which is not polluted. Pollution causes disease and death. The products on the grocery store shelf may be beautifully packaged, but when food-borne illness results, we must go back to the source and find the problem. What is it? Careless, cost-cutting methods that not only permit disease but promote it. Consider this: some of the things that entertain us today would have shocked our parents and grandparents. Is that because we are more enlightened? Look around you and judge for yourself! While living under his father’s authority the Prodigal Son was well off. But in search of enlightenment and entertainment, he ended up in a pigpen. Yes, he was forgiven and welcomed back home, but he lost a lot in the process. Today the world of politics, education, and entertainment are battling for your mind, your attention, and your allegiance. So here’s a Scripture you need to think about carefully: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Php 2:5 NKJV). In other words, submit your thoughts to God. If He approves them-they’re okay. Paul writes: “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (2Co 10:3-5 NLT). If you don’t “capture” wrong thoughts and submit them to the test of scriptural truth, they’ll lead you in the wrong direction.
wayneaugden 