Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"That one majestic, inconceivable, and
expressive word!" by J. A. James~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Look up!
(J. R. Miller, "Unto the Hills!" A Meditation on Psalm 121)
"I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2
It is good always to look up. Thousands of people dwarf their lives, and hinder the possibilities of growth in their souls--by looking downward. They keep their eyes ever entangled in mere earthly sights, and miss the glories of the hills that pierce the clouds, and of the heavens that bend over them!
A story is told of a boy who one day found a gold coin on the street. Ever after this--he kept his eyes on the ground as he walked, watching for coins. During a long lifetime, he found a good number of coins--but meanwhile he never saw the flowers and the trees which grew in such wondrous beauty everywhere; he never saw the hills, the mountains, the sweet valleys, the picturesque landscapes; he never saw the blue sky. To him, this lovely world meant only a dusty road, dreary and unbeautiful, merely a place in which to look for coins.
This really is the story of the life of most people. They never lift their eyes off the earth! They live only to gather money, to add field to field, to scheme for power or to find pleasure. Or, if their quest is a little higher, it is still only for earthly things. They never lift up their eyes to God! There is no blue sky in their picture. They cherish no heavenly visions. They are without God in the world.
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3:1-2~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We have added several more choice J. R. Miller articles:
Learning Our Lessons (Outstanding!)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Look up!
A grey head, and a carnal worldly heart
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"The sure conclusion of a godless life!"
by Henry Law~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A grey head, and a carnal worldly heart
(James Meikle, "The Traveler" Dec. 26, 1761)
Hitherto I have looked upon myself as young, and coming to the prime of my life. But henceforth I shall consider myself as in my declining years. I am certain how long I have lived in the world--but quite uncertain how soon I must leave the world. And therefore I should be preparing for my final departure, and daily be ripening for the regions of bliss!
A young man, and a holy life; one in his prime, and all his graces flourishing--is lovely to behold.
But a grey head, and a carnal worldly heart, is a wounding sight! Henceforth, be gone bewitching vanities, and all the enchantments of the world! The last years of my life are not to be trifled away with you!
Death attends me!
The grave awaits me!
Eternity is at hand!"It is appointed unto men once to die--but after this the judgment!" Hebrews 9:27
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Love
Monday, January 11, 2010
The 'picture' of the ideal Christian life!
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"The best way to be holy"
by Thomas Brooks
Play Audio! Download MP3~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The 'picture' of the ideal Christian life!
(J. R. Miller, "A Word About TEMPER" 1888)
Most of us are bad-tempered in various degrees. The dictionary has been well-near exhausted of adjectives, in giving the different shades of bad-temper: aggressive, angry, bickering, bitter, capricious, choleric, contentious, crotchety, despotic, domineering, easily offended, gloomy, grumpy, hasty, huffy, irritable, morose, obstinate, reproachful, peevish, sulky, surly, vindictive--these are some of the qualifying words!
We do not like to believe that the case is quite so serious--that many of us are unamiable in some offensive degree. It is easier to confess our neighbor's faults and infirmities, than our own! So, therefore, quietly taking refuge for ourselves among the few good-tempered people--we are willing to admit that a great many of the people we know, have at times rather ungentle tempers. They are easily provoked; they fly into a passion on very slight occasion; they are haughty, domineering, peevish, fretful or vindictive!
What is even worse, most of them appear to make no effort to grow out of their infirmities of disposition! The sour fruit does not come to mellow ripeness in the passing years; the roughness is not polished off the diamond to reveal its lustrous hidden beauty. The same petulance, pride, vanity, selfishness and other disagreeable qualities are found in the life, year after year!
Where there is a struggle to overcome one's faults and grow out of them, and where the progress toward better and more beautiful spiritual character is perceptible, though ever so slow--we should have sympathy. But where one appears unconscious of one's blemishes, and manifests no desire to conquer one's faults--there is little ground for encouragement!
Man-like it is--to fall into sin.
Fiend-like it is--to dwell therein.
Saint-like it is--for sin to grieve.
God-like it is--for sin to leave.
Bad temper is such a disfigurement of character, and, besides, works such harm to one's self and to one's neighbors, that no one should spare any pains or cost to have it cured!
The ideal Christian life--is one of unbroken kindliness. It is dominated by love--the love whose portrait is drawn for us in the immortal thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." That is the 'picture' of the ideal Christian life!
We have but to turn to the gospel pages--to find the story of a life in which all this was realized. Jesus never lost his temper. He lived among people who tried Him at every point--some by their dullness, others by their bitter enmity and persecution--but He never failed in sweetness of disposition, in patience, in self-denying love. Like the flowers which give out their perfume only when crushed; like the odoriferous wood which bathes the axe which hews it with fragrance; the life of Christ yielded only the tenderer, sweeter love--to the rough impact of men's harshness and wrong. That is the pattern, on which we should strive to fashion our life and our character! Every outbreak of violent temper, every shade of ugliness in disposition--mars the radiant loveliness of the 'picture' we are seeking to have fashioned in our souls!
Bad-tempered people are continually hurting others, ofttimes their best and truest friends.
Some people are sulky--and one person's sulkiness casts a chilling shadow over a whole household!
Others are so sensitive, ever watching for slights and offended by the merest trifles--that even their nearest friends have no freedom of fellowship with them!
Others are despotic, and will brook no kindly suggestion, nor listen to any expression of opinion!
Others are so quarrelsome that even the meekest and gentlest person cannot live peaceably with them!
It would be easy to extend this portrayal of the evils of bad temper--but it will be more profitable to inquire HOW a bad-tempered person may become good-tempered. There is no doubt that this happy change is possible in any case. There is no temper so obdurately bad--that it cannot be trained into sweetness. The grace of God can take the most unlovely life--and transform it into the image of Christ.
(You might want to read the remainder of this most insightful and helpful article.)~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We have published several more choice J. R. Miller articles:
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
Sunday, January 10, 2010
He who holds the pruning-knife!
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"Surely something must be amiss with
the scales!" by Charles Spurgeon
Play Audio! Download MP3~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He who holds the pruning-knife!
(J. R. Miller, "Looking at the Right Side" 1888)
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. . . . He prunes every branch that produces fruit--so that it will produce more fruit." John 15:1-2
Our Father is the gardener; we are branches under His care. He watches over our lives. The painful afflictions which cut into our very souls, the taking from us of objects that are dear to us, as when the gardener with his sharp knife removes luxuriant branches from the vine--are our Father's prunings! No hand but His--ever holds the knife! We are sure, then, that there is never any careless cutting, any unwise or mistaken pruning, any needless removing of rich branches or growths.
We really need to go no farther than this. A strong, abiding confidence that all the trials, sorrows and losses of our lives--are parts of our Father's prunings--ought to silence every question, quiet every fear and give peace and restful assurance to our hearts, in all their pain. We cannot know the reason for the painful strokes--but we know that He who holds the pruning-knife is our Father! That is all we need to know.
The other thought in the Lord's parable, is scarcely less full of comfort to a Christian. Jesus says, that it is the fruitful branches which the Father prunes: "He prunes every branch that produces fruit--so that it will produce more fruit."
Afflictions are not, then, a mark of God's anger or disapproval; rather, they are a mark of His favor. The branches into which He cuts, from which he trims away the luxuriant growths--are fruit-bearing already. He does not prune the fruitless branches--He cuts them off altogether as useless, as mere cumberers, absorbing life and yielding nothing of blessing or good.
Some Christians have the impression that their many troubles indicate that God does not love them--that they cannot be true Christians, or they would not be so chastened. This teaching of Christ shows how mistaken they are. The much chastening shows that the Father is pruning His fruitful branch--to make it more fruitful! All whom the Father loves--He chastens!
It is the fruitless branch that is never pruned; the fruitful branch is pruned, and pruned--not by one without skill, not by an enemy--but by the wise Father! Thus we see how we may rejoice--even in our trials and afflictions!
One who was altogether ignorant of the art and purpose of pruning, who should see a man with a sharp knife cutting off branch after branch of a luxuriant vine, would at first suppose that the pruner was ruining the vine. So at the time it seems--but by and by, it appears that the prunings have made the vine more fruitful. In the season of vintage, the grapes are more luscious, with a richer flavor in them--because of the cutting away of the superfluous branches.
In like manner, if an angel who had never witnessed anything of human suffering, and who knew nothing of its object, were to see the Father causing pain and affliction to His children, it would seem to him that these experiences could be only destructive of happiness and blessing; but if the angel were to follow those chastened lives on to the end, he would see untold blessing coming out of the chastenings! The Father was but pruning the branches--that they might bear more and better fruit!
We should never lose sight of the divine purpose in all trials--to make our lives more fruitful.
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We have published several more gems by J. R. Miller:Weekday Religion (superb 200 page book)
Life as a Ladder (challenging and insightful)
The Cost of Being a Blessing (must reading)
Looking at the Right Side (very helpful)
The Sweet Fragrance of Prayer (insightful)
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Our conception of Christian living
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"Do men make their own gods?"
by Charles Spurgeon
Play Audio! Download MP3~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Our conception of Christian living
(J. R. Miller, "Being Christians on Weekdays" 1888)
True religion is intensely practical. Only so far as it dominates one's life--is it real. We must get the commandments out of God's Word--and give them a place in the hard, dusty paths of our earthly toil and struggle. We must get them off the tables of stone--and have them written on the walls of our own hearts! We must bring the Golden Rule--into our daily, actual life.
We are too apt to imagine, that holiness consists in mere good feeling toward God. It does not! It consists in obedience in heart and life to the divine requirements. To be holy is, first, to be set apart for God and devoted to God's service, and it necessarily follows that we must live for God.
Our hands are God's--and can fitly be used only in doing His work; our feet are God's--and may be employed only in walking in His ways and running His errands; our lips are God's--and should speak words only that honor Him and bless others; our hearts are God's--and must not be profaned by thoughts and affections that are not pure.
True holiness is no vague sentiment--it is intensely practical. It is nothing less than the bringing of every thought and feeling and act--into obedience to Christ! We are quite in danger of leaving out the element of obedience, in our conception of Christian living. If we do this, our religion loses its strength and grandeur--and becomes weak, nerveless and forceless.
Our religion must touch every part of our life--and transform it all into the beauty of holiness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Our latest 'hardcopy' publication is Grace Gems Collection 2007. A wonderful book of choice quotes from various authors of past centuries. These rich nuggets of spiritual truths can be used in daily devotions or personal meditation.
Print: $13.68
Download: FREE
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
Friday, January 8, 2010
Why, papa, you have mamma and me left!
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"God's most stubborn enemy!"
by Jonathan Edwards
Play Audio! Download MP3~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Why, papa, you have mamma and me left!
(J. R. Miller, "Losses" 1880)
"God Himself has said--Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
This truth ought to bring unspeakable comfort to God's children, who are called to suffer earthly losses. If they have GOD left to them--no other loss is irreparable!
A wealthy man came home one evening with a heavy heart, and said that he had lost everything. Bankruptcy had overtaken him. "We are utterly beggared!" he said. "All is gone; there is nothing left! We must leave our home, and beg for tomorrow's bread!" His little five year old daughter crept up on his knee, and, looking earnestly into his despairing face, said, "Why, papa, you have mamma and me left!"
Just so, what are temporal and worldly losses of the sorest kind--while God remains? Yes, what is the loss of money, houses, costly furniture, and other possessions, while God's love remains? There is surely enough in Him--to compensate a thousand times for every earthly loss!Our lives may be stripped bare--home, friends, riches, comforts--gone; every sweet voice of love, every note of joy--silenced; and we may be driven out from brightness, tenderness and shelter--into the cold ways of sorrow! Yet if we have God Himself left--ought not this to suffice? Is He not in Himself, infinitely more than all His gifts? If we have Him--can we really need anything else?
"The Lord is my Shepherd--I have everything I need!" Psalm 23:1~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We have published several more J. R. Miller's 4 page articles:AMUSEMENTS (MUST reading for all)
Pictures in the Heart (Very practical--superb)
The Ethics of Home-decoration (Must reading for wives)
Losses (Very comforting)
The Service of Consecration (Very challenging)
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)