The graces without The Giver?

We got Pollyanna on CD out of the library recently and have been listening to it and discussing it. Something stinks. Pollyanna spills over with the Christian graces of thankfulness, kindness, forgiveness, and long suffering. She always assumes the best about others. For example, wealthy Mr. John Pembleton could eat dollar bills if he wanted to but always eats cheap. Pollyanna assumes he is saving his money for the heathen. Yet she possesses these graces naturally without any need for Jesus Christ. There is no evidence that she ever sins. In fact, she herself transforms people's lives as if she were the savior. This is another gospel-- one with men being basically good (with a little bit of encouragement) and the suffering and death of Christ being therefore unnecessary. We can be good without God. A tenant of atheism.

Let us guard the gospel with our lives.

Love the bride of Christ

The church is the bride of Christ. We should love that bride. The most concrete expression of it is the local church. Just like any bride, she sometimes has bad breath and disheveled hair. Let's repent if we don't love her and then press on to love her. Here are some GREAT suggestions on how. They are gritty and practical such as bring fried chicken to the church potluck and greet the young man with tatoos.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2010/07/13/what-to-do-now/

Lost: Common Sense on Directing Children in Vocation Choice

Here is a fantastically sensible article by John Rosemont. Somebody needed to say it. YOU CAN'T BE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO BE!! Besides, what about the sovereignty of God and his call on our lives?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0710/rosemond_unrealistic.php3

Another Gospel

When people speak of saving America, are they thinking in terms of all men falling short of the glory of God? What do we need to be saved from? Doug Wilson writes insightfully on the subject. Here is a short excerpt of the article below.

"The assumption is that the underlying America is just fine the way it is unless some progressive has been messing with it. We need to "save America," the thinking goes, and so the language of salvation is used all the time. But in our heart of hearts, we are saving an innocent kidnapping victim, and not a skid row bum who became a drunk because of his own stupid choices."

https://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.dougwils.com%2Findex.php%3Fformat%3Dfeed%26type%3Drss

Good writers use word pictures

The Puritans did it all the time. When explaining the need for both prayer and the use of means in our afflictions, Thomas Brooks says: "As the pilot that guides the ship hath his hand upon the rudder, and his eye on the star that directs him at the same time; so when your hand is upon the means, let your eye be upon your God, and deliverance will come. We may neglect God as well by neglecting of means as by trusting in means; it is best to use them, and in the use of them, to live above them."

Permission to Roar

Thomas Brooks' booklet The mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod teaches us how to suffer and yet not sin. I recently recommended this book to a friend and she is finding her heart powerfully plowed up. Here is one choice line out of many: "A gracious , a prudent silence doth not exclude sighing, groaning, or roaring under afflictions. A man may sigh, and groan, and roar under the hand of God, and yet be silent. It is not signing, but muttering; it is not groaning, but grumbling; it is not roaring but murmuring, that is opposite to a holy silence."

I am so thankful that God is stirring his people to read the Puritans. They move us toward a robust and sturdy Christianity and a deeper, sweeter walk with God.

Gems from The Mischief of Sin

"Affliction is like a rent in the coat; sin is like a rent in the flesh."

"Affliction has a promise made to it...but there is no promise made to sin."

Thomas Watson