A sense of proportion
08/08/08 23:11 Filed in: Thinking Thoughts
It has been a while since I quoted from 'The Valley of Vision,' the collection of Puritan prayers. Not that it wouldn't be a rich source of quotations anytime, but that I don't want to overwhelm with material from the one place! This morning though I was reading from there the prayer called 'Contrition,' as usual a wonderfully balanced piece that I find so helpful in leading my own thoughts. Just the closing lines seemed so relevant, to me at least, and well worth sharing:
In all my affairs may I distinguish between duty and anxiety,
and may my character and not my circumstances chiefly engage me.
It is part of my personal weakness that anxiety often drives me, but I thought that the final part, that my character and not my circumstances should be at the centre was truly an important reminder. Circumstances can be (and are right now) very pressing! Lord, that my chief concern amidst the storm of circumstance and the pressure of dealing with it all, my be my character as your servant.
I have been made aware that the last post, 'Sunday: so what?,' might be somewhat controversial. I think I probably knew that, although it would be true that I have not been giving enough thought to how much the view of the Lord's Day has changed among conservative Christians. In any case, even sober reflection has not changed my mind! This morning I came to the end of Sinclair Ferguson's excellent book, 'In Christ Alone.' The close of the book includes a chapter called 'Sabbath Rest' in which Professor Ferguson gives a lovely and heart-warming exposition of the Hebrews 4 passage about the Sabbath. It is not an angle I would have thought of without reading it, but it is well worth reading by anyone who is concerned to understand why the Lord's Day matters. That it does matter is, I think, beyond question. It may be that it is far more important than any of us realise. I have certainly thought it 'a matter of opinion' in the past and as it is certainly not a salvation issue it has not been often central in my thinking. But I am increasingly of the opinion that the current willingness to abandon the sanctity of the Lord's Day says more about us than we would want. May the Lord Jesus Christ give me the grace not to allow this question to become more important than it is, but at the same time to have the zeal of Isaiah for the truth. I recommend a slow and prayerful reading of Isaiah 58, but here are the last two verses:
““If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.””
(Isaiah 58:13-14 ESV)
In all my affairs may I distinguish between duty and anxiety,
and may my character and not my circumstances chiefly engage me.
It is part of my personal weakness that anxiety often drives me, but I thought that the final part, that my character and not my circumstances should be at the centre was truly an important reminder. Circumstances can be (and are right now) very pressing! Lord, that my chief concern amidst the storm of circumstance and the pressure of dealing with it all, my be my character as your servant.
I have been made aware that the last post, 'Sunday: so what?,' might be somewhat controversial. I think I probably knew that, although it would be true that I have not been giving enough thought to how much the view of the Lord's Day has changed among conservative Christians. In any case, even sober reflection has not changed my mind! This morning I came to the end of Sinclair Ferguson's excellent book, 'In Christ Alone.' The close of the book includes a chapter called 'Sabbath Rest' in which Professor Ferguson gives a lovely and heart-warming exposition of the Hebrews 4 passage about the Sabbath. It is not an angle I would have thought of without reading it, but it is well worth reading by anyone who is concerned to understand why the Lord's Day matters. That it does matter is, I think, beyond question. It may be that it is far more important than any of us realise. I have certainly thought it 'a matter of opinion' in the past and as it is certainly not a salvation issue it has not been often central in my thinking. But I am increasingly of the opinion that the current willingness to abandon the sanctity of the Lord's Day says more about us than we would want. May the Lord Jesus Christ give me the grace not to allow this question to become more important than it is, but at the same time to have the zeal of Isaiah for the truth. I recommend a slow and prayerful reading of Isaiah 58, but here are the last two verses:
““If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.””
(Isaiah 58:13-14 ESV)