“When the heart is fat with the love of Jesus!”

The following quote is from Of First Importance, a daily quote blog to help set your focus. They are great everyday, but this quote really speaks wonderful truth.

“On the most basic levels, I desire fullness, and fleshly lusts seduce me by attaching themselves to this basic desire. They exploit the empty spaces in me, and they promise that fullness will be mine if I give in to their demands. When my soul sits empty and is aching for something to fill it, such deceptive promises are extremely difficult to resist.

Consequently, the key to mortifying fleshly lusts is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace it with fullness; and I accomplish this by feasting on the gospel. Indeed, it is in the gospel that I experience a God who glorifies Himself by filling me with His fullness. . . . This is the God of the gospel, a God who is satisfied with nothing less than my experience of fullness in Him! . . .

Indeed, as I perpetually feast on Christ and all His blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free. Eyes do not rove, nor do fleshly lusts rule, when the heart is fat with the love of Jesus!”

- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians (2008), 45-46.

Leah’s Review of “Pasion Por Su Gloria en la Republica Dominicana”

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness that comes form God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11 Read more

Refreshed in Reading

I’ve returned from vacation and the many benefits that it brings.  One of those is that it allows you to hit the fast forward button on your reading agenda.  I’ve found that my reading schedule has sharply declined in the last two years, it’s still there, just stunted.   Excuses include family, church, ministry which has cut deeply into that time.  I set out on this vacation to re-immerse myself into reading, and I was greatly rewarded and have come home with a commitment to re-energizing my reading efforts.

One of the books I read was The Legacy of Sovereign Joy, by John Piper.  It was an excellent review of the connection of God’s grace in the lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin.  It is book one of “The Swans are Not Silent” series.  I would highly recommend the book, as it is a brief and pointed look at the core ministries and contributions of three of Christianity’s most influential leaders.  It will increase your appreciation for Christian history, but beyond that it will light your fire for God.  That regardless of weakness and flaw, a passion for God is critical to the Christian life, to find sovereign joy in the battle against sin and suffering, to seeing the supernatural work of God that comes from seeing Christ in Scripture, to an appreciation for the exposition of truth and the spread of it to all people.

I was convinced early in my Christian life that these three men where giants of the faith, in whose shadow we who are Protestant stand.  I’ve read many works of these men, Confessions by Augustine is in my top 10, Bondage of the Will by Luther is still a great work for understanding the will of man, and Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and his commentaries are timeless jewels that I frequent often.  Their works go far beyond those mentioned, and while each man had their own great weaknesses their impact upon the Christian faith is undeniable and illustrates the greatness of our God and His eternal truth.  We would all do well to take up and read Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, unfortunately too many Christians relegate them to the academy but that’s to our own demise, and the death of evangelicalism and the gospel.  I recommend this book as a great primer to the works of these men.

I also returned to some short stories by Georgia’s own Flannery O’Conner.  One short story I read was one of her most famous, A Good Man is Hard to Find.  In the midst of Flannery’s dark narrative, there is a great contrast of what looks like a good Christian and what is a good Christian.  The primary character, the grandmother, represents an old southern lady who is selfish.  She talks the talk but underneath is a rotten selfish woman who when faced with death reaches out to The Misfit for the reader to interpret as a final moment and act of grace or just another selfish attempt to save her life.  O’Conner’s genius is that it makes you think deeply about the stories she creates, mostly about the mystery of grace in everyday life. Her style is perhaps a lost art, but I’m drawn to her southern charm, wit, and mystery.  I believe it is in the midst of her characters rottenness that we connect, we are shocked and then we see parts of ourselves. This brings us back to our need for God and His grace.  Pure genius!