Between Two Worlds quoted J.I. Packer on our preoccupation with the not-so-important things:

We have been brought to the point where we both can and must get our life’s priorities straight. From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that -ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have you. But our line of study makes the present day concentration on these things look like a gigantic conspiracy of misdirection. Of course, it is not that; the issues themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, and is, and always will be, the true priority for every human being. That is, learning to know God in Christ.

- From the last page of J.I. Packer’s 1973 classic, Knowing God

…whereas to the Puritans communion with God was a great thing, to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing. The Puritans were concerned about communion with God in a way that we are not. The measure of our unconcern is the little that we say about it. When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches, and the problems of theology—but rarely of their daily experience of God. Modern Christian books and magazines contain much about Christian doctrine, Christian standards, problems of Christian conduct, techniques of Christian service—but little about the inner realities of fellowship with God. Our sermons contain much sound doctrine—but little relating to the converse between the soul and the Saviour. We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters. Thus we make it plain that communion with God is a small thing to us. But how different were the Puritans! The whole aim of their ‘practical and experimental’ preaching and writing was to explore the reaches of the doctrine and practice of man’s communion with God.

- Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 215 (chapter 12).

This reminds me of a sister’s sharing of God’s work in her for these one-and-a-half years, where she realised that some things she were seeking were just peripherals, but what really matters is the matter of the heart. God should occupy our heart. What matters is knowing God and having communion with Him.

And as I think about the conversations in my fellowships with siblings, there were times that I would rather talk about the church culture, methods and strategies in sharing the gospel, etc, than to share about our encounter with God. I suppose it’s because I was afraid to show, or even to realise myself, really how shallow I am in my communion with God. Seriously, I’m not that much of a thinker. I quote people (and that’s what I often do on this blog), and share what others are talking about. But by the grace of God, He does use what I read to provoke me in my thoughts, so that they can be more Godward. Thank you, Abba. Indeed, every thought and act that leads me to you comes from the prompting of your Holy Spirit. You are exceedingly gracious to me.

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.

- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

This post on Desire Spiritual Growth made me uneasy, in a good way. I
wasn’t much of a pray-er when I was younger in my faith, particularly
because of my self-sufficient attitude. By the grace of God, that slowly
changed because I have learnt and am still learning to see much more of my
weakness and inadequacies. It bothered me that I wasn’t prayerful, and a
Christian cannot be prayerless, as these quotes from five spiritual giants
here suggest. And why not? In summary:

1. C.H. Spurgeon: All true Christians are marked by prayer
2. J.C. Ryle: Not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian
3. John Calvin: Claims of belief are worthless if prayer if of no account to us
4. Martin Luther: Prayer is the necessary breath of a Christian
5. Andrew Murray: Your Church is Powerless Because It is Prayerless

I encourage you to read the whole article here.

Ever since the fall, God has been active to reverse the effects of sin. He takes action to limit sin’s damage; he calls out a new nation, the Israelites, to mediate his teaching and his grace to others; he promises that one day he will send the promised Davidic king to overthrow sin and death and all their wretched effects. This is what Jesus does: he conquers death, inaugurates the kingdom of righteousness, and calls his followers to live out that righteousness now in prospect of the consummation still to come.

Is there anything wrong with this description of sin? According to D.A. Carson, plenty: It collapses human rebellion, God’s wrath, and assorted disasters into one construct, namely, the degradation of human life, while depersonalizing the wrath of God. It thus fails to wrestle with the fact that from the beginning, sin is an offense against God.

Yes, God takes sin personally. It is an active rebellion against Him. And sin occurs in the church as well because the church is filled with sinners, like me. Problem is, sometimes we try to hide the fact that it’s there.

Sin lives in a costume; that’s why it’s so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party. Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth. Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty. Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer. Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership. Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart. The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom. Evil simply doesn’t present itself as evil, which is part of its draw. You’ll never understand sin’s sleight of hand until you acknowledge that the DNA of sin is deception. Now, what this means personally is that as sinners we are all very committed and gifted self-swindlers… We’re all too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good.

- Paul David Tripp, Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy

Let’s not pretend or think that sin is not in the church because that’s the deceptiveness of sin itself. That’s why we battle to fight it every day. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matt 9:12). I am always sick with sin, so I always need to see the Doctor. Every day I need my dosage of forgiveness from God.

One word: wow.

***

Unbelief says:

Some other time, but not now;
some other place, but not here;
some other people, but not us.

Faith says:

Anything He did anywhere else He will do here;
anything He did any other time He is willing to do now;
anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!With our

feet on the ground,
and our head cool,
but with our heart ablaze with the love of God,we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey.

God wants to work through you!

- A.W. Tozer, The Counselor: Straight Talk About the Holy Spirit from a 20th Century Prophet