Bully's Blog

Live More Than the Length of It

The life that Christ has called us into is a life that is not just everlasting in duration. The eternal life that He welcomes us into is qualitative. Jesus says that He is the resurrection and the life, and that life is one that the Holy Spirit weaves us into. This affects the texture and the breadth of our lives — or it is intended to. Our natural resistance to this is one the things that God deals with in us.

We want to walk with our heads down, as though we were walking along a railroad track, keeping our balance there, we don’t want to live expansively, the way a Christian ought to live. We forget that God is sovereign over all things, and we forget that He is the God of dangers, the God of adventures, the God of the unexpected. The wrong kind of concern for safety, for security, for a life of predictable and cozy conservatism is, at the end of the day, a form of idolatry.

Think of it this way. Remember this exhortation as you understand the tasks before you — your vocation, your family life, your worship of God. Everyone here will live the entire length of their lives. Everyone lives until their dying day. All of us go the appointed distance. But not all of us live the width of our lives.

Doug Wilson, www.dougwils.com

“If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).

Spiritual hunger and thirst are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, while at the same time they are enlarged for more of Him. This satisfaction overwhelms all lesser longings. Fleshly yearnings are never fulfilled, and every attempt at such satisfaction soon cloys.

“Do we think of, and rejoice in, our blessings more than in the Person in whom we have them? As to even our doctrinal blessings, there is a wonderful charm about them when they are new to us, and they sustain the soul for a certain time; but when the first joy of them passes away, a settling-down process commences. Every new bit of blessing may seem to put a new bit of life into us, but it gradually loses its luster and power, and we become just ordinary Christians–we make very little progress.

“It is as we take the Lord Jesus by faith into the affections of our hearts that we make spiritual progress. It is as He occupies an enlarged place in our affections that we go on. The head may be filled with general theological information without producing one spark of heart-affection for the Lord Jesus, and the soul remains in a state of spiritual emaciation.”

“Many have been misled by thinking that by reading the Bible you become like Christ–transformed; but you will find diligent students of the Word, who may never say anything incorrect in doctrine, yet who never seem to grow in grace and walk in spiritual reality.”

“All blessings of this dispensation of grace are wrapped up in a Person, and, by means of the Word of God, we make spiritual progress as our hearts learn to find everything in Him–the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.”

“He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107:9).

from None But The Hungry Heart, compiled by Miles J. Stanford
www.withchrist.org

by a Wesleyan Missionary (updated)

Keep a restful heart. Hurts, slights, frustrations, misunderstandings, differences of opinions, or unhappiness with God’s providences—may quickly ferment into resentments, critical feelings, and bitterness of spirit—which in turn bubble over in words that cut and bruise.

To avoid this, I determine to drop each disturbing thing at the foot of the Cross, appropriating the healing of Christ’s cleansing Blood, and accepting each unwanted thing as His choice for me, remembering that “…God…maketh my way perfect” (Psalm 18:32). Thus shall His peace and rest prevail (1 John 1:9; 1 Peter 5:7; 1 Thess. 5:18).

Operate on the basis of short accounts with God and man. At the earliest awareness of a fault, a failing to measure up to the Divine will for me—being too earthly minded, God’s kingdom and righteousness not of first importance, carelessness about some duty, words unkindly spoken, a temper of heart toward anyone that is not of love—I will, humbly seeking His forgiveness and enabling, measure up to whatever adjustments He designates.

By vigilance and obedience keeping the heavenly connection clear, I shall maintain the spiritual glow that permits God to flow constantly through my life in revival.

Saturate myself with God’s Word. I shall be judged by this Word (John 12:48). Faith is strengthened and stimulated by the Word (Rom. 10:17). God reveals Himself through the Word, and its knowledge will make me a better witness. Therefore, I shall give it, with prayer, top priority in my daily schedule (Psa. 119:11, 105,130).

Develop my prayer time beyond the “gimme” stage. I purpose to enter more fully into the joys of worship and fellowship with the Lord, allowing Him to talk to me, too (John 4:23,24; Psa. 27:14; 1 John 1:3-7).

Let God use me. My hands, my strength, my possessions, my sympathy, my friendliness, my interest in and concern for those I contact—I will keep submitted to God as channels for revealing Himself to others.

Give as God directs. I will give as much as He chooses, and seek His will as to where He wants it to be used (2 Cor. 9:6-15).

Love. My goal shall be to love my God with an undivided heart and my fellowmen out of “a pure heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22), because I allow His love to spill itself out through my day by day life (Rom. 5:5).