Watson points two two great truths in one beautiful sentence: 1) We are not promised another day and 2) we are promised eternity. Or you could put it this way: We do not know what tomorrow brings, but nonetheless we know the future. We therefore should number our days and count on eternity – be mindful of the shortness of life, and of everlasting life.

We should improve the time while being mindful of the time of improvement. Make much of the time, knowing that eternity looms on the horizon.

Be mindful of the tomb and of the empty tomb.

James 4:14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 ¶ Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

July 11, 2013

Faith’s Greater Son

[Faith] is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistence: All other graces like birds in the nest depend upon what faith brings them.

– John Flavel, The Method of Grace, etc, p. 133

A while back I noted (HERE) Henry Scougal’s description of faith as the trunk of a tree stretching out into the life-giving soil that is Jesus Christ. The other graces are branches that reach heavenward toward God and outward toward man. The nutrition, in this analogy, comes from faith’s contact with Christ.

Flavel’s analogy sees faith as a mother-bird feeding her nestlings. Without the spiritual provision of faith, uniting us to Christ, all other graces remain unfed.

If faith is so vital, then, if all else depends on faith, how can the Apostle Paul say that love is greater than faith?:

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Because, as Jesus is David’s greater Son, so love is faith’s greater son. Without David, there is no Jesus. His genealogy would be completely different. Yet Jesus is greater than David. And so, without faith there would be no true love. But love is greater. This is the case because, as Thomas Watson puts it,

Other graces make us like Christ, faith makes us members of Christ (A Body of Practical Divinity, p. 126).

It all starts with faith, which stretches out to the soil for nutrition and life. But without love, we will never be able to say that we are like our Savior. And believing in Christ, while essential, is not the ultimate goal – the ultimate goal is being like him. Do not read me wrong here. Faith is essential even to being like him. It is necessary at every step along the way, for faith, like a mother-bird, feeds love. But she is feeding one that is greater than herself.

This also means that it is right to say that sanctification is spurred on as we continually look to our justification. Looking to our justification, using our analogy, is like looking to our mother for food. That is, we look by faith to Christ crucified to find strength to love.

Note: I originally found both quotes in a book I highly, and I mean highly, recommend: A Puritan Golden Treasury, which, as of my writing this, is available for a penny (yes 1 measly cent, plus shipping) on Amazon!

May 23, 2013

He Presents Nothing but the Flowers (Prayer)

This quote relates to my recent post, God Fixes Our Prayers On the Way Up:

Christ’s prayer takes away the sins of our prayers. As a child, says Ambrose, that is willing to present his father with a posy, goes into the garden, and there gathers some flowers and some weeds together, but coming to his mother, she picks out the weeds and binds the flowers, and so it is presented to the father: thus when we have put up our prayers, Christ comes, and picks away the weeds, the sin our our prayer, and presents nothing but flowers to His Father, which are a sweet-smelling savour.

-Thomas Watson, All Things for Good, p. 23

November 9, 2012

God Works the Good Things for Good

Romans 8:28 ¶ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I’ve just finished reading Thomas Watson’s classic, All Things for Good, which is an exposition of Romans 8:28. It’s difficult to review books by the Puritans (they did, after all, write entire books based on one verse of Scripture). It’s easier to quote them.

This is my second time reading the book. The first time was several years ago. I remember vividly the first time I read the book being struck by Watson’s first point – the best things work for good to the godly. In my experience, as Christians cite Romans 8:28, we always tend to focus on how God works the bad things for good. This focus is understandable. This is one of our great assurances in the Christian life. Joseph’s slavery and imprisonment leads to the salvation of his family. Christ’s cross leads to the salvation of his people. Our suffering leads to glory. His strength is made perfect in weakness. Amen.

Yet, if we focus solely on the negative side of the verse, the bad things, we might forget the point – that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. All things, of course, includes the good along with the bad.

It is easy, I think, in focusing on the bad things, to imply, albeit unintentionally, that the good things don’t really matter. We, perhaps, tend to think that we can’t spiritually flourish during the good times – it’s really only the bad things that will work for our good ultimately. But this, of course, is not true. There is a time for fasting, but also a time for feasting (more on this to come in a future post). We tend to think that God only moves in the fast – but the truth is he also moves in the feast.

Watson puts his finger on this – if he works the bad things for good, how much more will he work the good things for good?:

If the cross has so much good in it, what has the crown? If such precious clusters grow in Golgotha, how delicious is the fruit which grows in Canaan? If there be any sweetness in the waters of Marah, what is there in the wine of Paradise? If God’s rod has honey at the end of it, what has His golden sceptre? If the bread of affliction tastes so savoury, what is manna? what is the heavenly ambrosia? If God’s blow and stroke work for good, what shall the smiles of His face do? If temptations and sufferings have matter of joy in them, what shall glory have? If there be so much good out of evil, what then is that good where there shall be no evil? If God’s chastening mercies are so great, what will his crowning mercies be? Wherefore comfort one another with these words (p. 63).

That’s good news. He works all things for good to those who love him. The bad is for good and the good is for good. Why then is your soul cast down?