But I love myself better than God or you?

"Let us for a moment imagine what would have happened on the Galilean hillside, when our Lord fed the five thousand, if the Apostles had acted as some act now. The twelve would be going backwards, helping the first rank over and over again, and leaving the back rows unsupplied. Let us suppose one of them, say Andrew, venturing to say to his brother Simon Peter, 'Ought we all to be feeding the front row? Ought we not to divide, and some of us go to the back rows?' Then suppose Peter replying 'Oh no; don't you see these front people are so hungry? They have not had half enough yet; besides, they are nearest to us, so we are more responsible for them.' Then, if Andrew resumes his appeal, suppose Peter going on to say, 'Very well; you are quite right. You go and feed all those back rows; but I can't spare anyone else, I and the other ten of us have more than we can do here.' Once more, suppose Andrew persuades Philip to go with him; then, perhaps, Matthew will cry out and say, 'Why, they're all going to those farther rows! Is no one to be left to these needy people in front?'

"Let me ask the members of Congress, Do you recognise these sentences at all?"
                                                      --Eugene Stock, at Shewsbury Church Congress

......The women looked very reproachful. Then one of them said, looking up at me, "You say this is very important. If it is so very important, why did you not come before? You say you will come back again if you can, but how can we be sure that nothing will happen to stop you? We, are some of us, very old; we may die before you come back. This going away is not good." And again and again she repeated, "If it is so very important, why did you not come before?"

Don't think that the question meant more than it did. It was only a human expression of wonder; it was not a real desire after God. But the force of the question was stronger far than the poor old questioner knew; it appealed to our very hearts.

The people saw we were greatly moved, and they pressed closer round us to comfort us, and one dear old grandmother put her arms around me, and strocked my face with her wrinkled old hand and said, "Don't be troubled; we will worship your God. We will worship Him just as we worship our own. Now, will you go away glad?"

The dear old woman was really in earnest, she wanted so much to comfort us. But her voice seemed to mingle with the voices from the homeland; and another -- we heard another -- the Voice I had heard on the precipice edge -- voice of our brothers', our sisters' blood calling unto God from the ground.

Friends, are these women real to you? .....Can you looks at it [pictures of the indian people/women] and say, "Yes, I am no my way to the Light, and you are on your way to the Dark. At least, this is what I profess to believe. And I am Sorry for you, but this is all I can do for you; I can be very sorry for you. I know that this will not show you the way from the Dark, where you are, to the Light, where I am. To show you the way I must go to you, or, perhaps, send you one whom I want for myself, or do without omething I wish to have; and this, of course is impossible. It might be done if I loved God enough -- but I love myself better than God or you."

You would not say such at thing, I know, but "Whoso hath this world good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

--Amy Carmichael, Things As They Are: Mission Work in Southern India.

God forgive us! God Arouse! Shame us out of our callousness!

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step...it trod into air. She was over, and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over!

We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. --Bonhoeffer

Why Would God Start His Bible Like That?

Have you ever contemplated the first book God ever wrote? I don't mean the bible as  whole, but which of the many books within  the larger bible came first? Well, I am certain many of you are answering Job. A lot of people who have been in church or around church or Judiaism at all know this simple fact. But have you ever asked yourself Why? Why would God start His story to people with a message Like JOB? I mean really, thats not the way to get converts! Admitting that You allow Satan to punish followers to test their faith?! It seems sadly cruel to start out the message of the God's story with God admitting to allowing the persecution of followers. So why would God do that? Maybe to set the stage for What following God/Christ would really entail?

Command Most Often Given??

"I heard recently of a small boy asked to write down in order the worst things that humans could do, and wrote: Number 1 : Murder; Number 2: running down the school corridor. We all get things out of proportion. But this conception of God is in fact a lie. The ressurection of Jesus proves that it's a lie. Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible turns out to be? What instruction, what order, is given, again and again,

Fiery Trials

What I needed To Hear Today!

Why do I try to be lukewarm when God wants to light me up like a firecracker?

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that was burried in a field and a man finding it, runs home sells everything he has and goes to buy that field!" (larissa paraphrase of Jesus!)

Stop wanting human security, Larissa! Stop fighting the refiners fire!

One-ism or Two-ism?

While looking into Worldviews I came across an argument I had been thinking about more recently since I read the book Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton (BUY AND READ IT!!) where he argues that God made the creation distinct from Himself and He was not part of it, therefore an eternal and inoperable distinction exists that makes Him the creator and us the creation. I don't think that Chesterton fully fleshed out this argument (from my memory) but it was such a touching onto truth that it sat niggling at the back of my mind and mulling through my brain. Till the other morning while doing some research for my husbands class I came across this awesome article by Peter Jones which just baited my taste for more of this information got me to thinking. One or Two? Is it really that simple?

Courage

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it," is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heros. it is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. This paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice.

He can only get away from death by continually stepping withing an inch of it. A soldier sirrounded by enemies, is he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape.

He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indiffernce to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.

                                                                                -G.K. Chesterton

Tribulation in the World and The Idea We Can Avoid It

photo credit Pmsocialmedia

"The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do. They are to be streams of living water, channels of mercy to those who are still in the world. It is possible for them to do this because they are overcomers.
Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They are representatives from Heaven to this dying world. And because of our presence here, things will change.

My sister, Betsy, and I were in the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck because we committed the crime of loving Jews. Seven hundred of us from Holland, France, Russia, Poland and Belgium were herded into a room built for two hundred. As far as I knew, Betsy and I were the only two representatives of Heaven in that room.

We may have been the Lord's only representatives in that place of hatred, yet because of our presence there, things changed. Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." We too, are to be overcomers – bringing the light of Jesus into a world filled with darkness and hate.

Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" for I have found where it is written that Jesus said,

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things:
and I will be His God,
and he shall be My son."
This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive – but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.
Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick.
"Yes, the Lord will heal me,", Betsy said with confidence.

She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.

It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy's death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured." Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,


"We have failed.
We should have made the people strong for persecution,
rather than telling them Jesus would come first.
Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution,
how to stand when the tribulation comes,
– to stand and not faint."

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it.

We are next.

Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus' sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, "Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation." Then I write it down and learn it by heart.

When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, "Nothing could be any worse than today." But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.

"If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;
on their part evil is spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified."
(I Peter 3:14)

I found myself saying, "Hallelujah!
Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!"

In America, the churches sing, "Let the congregation escape tribulation", but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.

Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, "Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?"

The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.

When I was a little girl, I went to my father and said, "Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ."

 "Tell me," said Father, "When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?"

"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."

"That is right," my father said, "and so it is with God's strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need – just in time…"

My African friends were nodding and smiling.
Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing,

" In the sweet, by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore."

Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed.
I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago.

But I must tell you something. I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.

How can we get ready for the persecution?

First we need to feed on the Word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being. This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorize long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.

Next we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.

In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other. But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting. The fruit of the Spirit should be the dominant force of every Christian's life.

Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years, including the horrible Nazi concentration camp, that I might have to go through the tribulation also. But then I read the Bible and I am glad.

When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord, we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us. That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through. No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes. Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you. For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has He ever left me, or let me down.

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him", (Job 13:15)
for I know that to all who overcome,
He shall give the crown of life.
Hallelujah!"
- Corrie Ten Boom - 1974

Note: you can find several copies on the internet of this letter by searching for "corrie ten boom on the rapture".

Fear God, Not Man

“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose heart is my law;

fear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

Isaiah 51:7

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 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.  Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:2-6

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 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.  Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.  For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.  Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:12-16

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The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Proverbs 29:25

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 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,  if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 corinthians 5:1-10

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"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

-Jim Elliot

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If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand", or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

-Amy Carmichael

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There is no more blessed way of living, than the life of faith based upon a covenant-keeping God - to know that we have no care, for He cares for us; that we need have no fear, except to fear Him; that we need have no troubles, because we have cast our burdens upon the Lord, and are conscience that He will sustain us.

The good man has his enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for the friendship of the world is enmity to God.

-Charles Spurgeon

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Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men, but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.-Bonhoeffer

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Fear is faithlessness. -George MacDonald

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Many... would like glory, who have no wish for grace. They would [want to] have the wages, but not the work; the harvest, but not the labor; the reaping, but not the sowing; the reward, but not the battle. But it may not be.

-J.C. Ryle

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Christian, let God's distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.

-John Bunyan

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Seeing that a pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.

-JOhn Calvin

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Therefore, if we give into the fear of man and do not allow wisdom to rule in our hearts and manifest fear of God bringing holiness to completion then we are denying the power of the cross and saying that He has not overcome the world. Christ Himself says "DO NOT FEAR THE WORLD, FOR I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!" How much more certainty do we need that no matter what occurs in this present season, this fleshly time, we are still held in the power of the Master who knows the paths we will tread. There is no need to dread or fear what man can do, but there is much to fear from God if we do not attribute to Him the wonders and glories due not just to His name, but also to His character!

FEAR GOD! DO NOT FEAR MAN!

Our hearts have room for only one all embracing devotion and we can only cleve to one Lord. Every copetitor to that devotion must be hated. As Jesus says, there is no alternative--either we love God or we hate him. We are confronted by an "either--or": either we love God, or we love earthly goods. If we love God, we hate the world, and if we love the world, we hate God. It makes no difference whether that love be conscious and deliberate or not; in fact it is morally certain that it will be neither, and that our conscious and deliberate desire will be to serve two masters, to love God and the good things of life. We shall indignantly repudiate the suggestion that we hate God, and will be firmly convinced that we love him, whereas by tryng to combine love for him with love for the world, we are turning our love for him into hatred. And then we have lost the single eye, and our heart is no longer in fellowship with Jesus. Our deliberate intentions make no difference to the inevitable result; Ye cannot serve two masters, if ye be followers of Jesus Christ.

-Bonhoeffer "Cost of Discipleship"

** Seriously if you call yourself a Christian you MUST read this awesome book for yourself! You cannot but profit from the wisdom of this suffering saint who really knew what the fire was like! And what the COST really meant! For him it meant everything! As it also should for us!

Wise Words

To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.
–Elizabeth Elliot

Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.
–Corrie ten Boom

The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.
–C.S. Lewis

We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle.
–Oswald Chambers

There is a Cost

This is really Will's Post as this is a quote he found from the theologian. But I was thinking about it tonight so I am giving him props for finding a great note of wisdom. You're so awesome, babe!!!


“Whenever God is at work, there is a cost. Whenever we are called to follow Jesus there will be a cross."


- N.T. Wright

What If?

"Suppose God wants to teach you to say, "I know how to be abased"--are you ready to be offered up like that? Are you ready to be not so much as a drop in a bucket--to be so hopelessly insignificant that you are never thought of again in connection with the life you served? Are you willing to spend and be spent; not seeking to be ministered unto, but to minister?"

— Oswald Chambers

Here, O Lord, Our Supplication

Hear, O Lord, our supplication;
Let our souls on Thee repose!
Be our refuge, our salvation,
’Mid ten thousand threatening foes.

Lord, Thy saints have many troubles,
In their path lies many a snare:
But before Thy breath like bubbles,
Melt they soon in idle air.

Cunning are the foe’s devices,
Bitter are his words of gall;
Sin on every side entices;
Lord, conduct us safe through all.

Be our foes by Thee confounded,
Let the world Thy goodness see,
While, by might and love surrounded,
We rejoice, and trust in Thee.

Henry F. Lyte

My 5 Musts

As we all know I am a die hard reader. I think if you added up all the hours I spend with my head stuck in a book of some sort it would be pretty embarrassing. I don't even get in the car without a book, on the off chance I will end up waiting for someone or something and thinking to myself...."Man wish I had a book!" So since I love to read and have read a lot of books, here are five books I think you MUST read before you die!


Five books I think you should read all the way through before you die are................

We all probably know what my first recommendation will be. Yeah, I am also a die hard Bible Fan! So many people complain about inconsistencies in the bible or the total inaccuracies without ever having read it. They say it is totally unbelievable and totally irrelevant to their lives, when they have never cracked it open, much less read the entire thing! So I say, if you think you cannot complain about the president if you didn't vote, then you cannot complain about the Bible if you have never even read it! And I bet you heard that argument from someone else who never has read it either!

The second book I think every one should read is by Francine Rivers. All of her work is fabulous, but these five novellas especially are amazing. They are about women and so women will definitely identify well with these novellas, but they are also very applicable to men and I think everyone should read them once. It makes the bible come to life almost a nearly as a bible class can. You can almost smell the world of the Old Testament in these short books. All are wonderful and all are unique in that they reveal the human condition is the same over thousands of generations! You must read these!

My third book is a memoir of the wife of Richard Baxter, Margaret. I ordered this book online from a paperback sharing organization, based solely on the fact that it was Baxter and also Packer wrote the introduction. I never imagined to find such a jewel in this little and very poignant book. I have never seen the puritans as more human (I mean the English puritans since the American puritans make it hard to see than in any way but human!) here we find the struggle with the flesh and the Love of a man for his wife who even in her struggles still sought after Christ! And Hoe Baxter Loved her! Loved her so much this was his act of grief. To record their love story, but more than that their path through life alongside one another. Man this is loving one
another as Christ calls us to. LOVED this book!

My fourth recommendation is a book that I read in college and while I enjoyed it, I don't think I really understood it then. Now about 8 years later I have begun to revisit it and have found such a gem of christian life and truth that I don't know why I wasn't more astounded that this man was able to pen this book. I cannot figure whether he was able to understand these truths because of the era or simply because God gifted him at the right place at the right time. It is just amazing his understanding of the cost the gospel carries and the huge responsibility we have, if we are truly disciples, to follow Him totally! If you are a christian or even if you think you are a christian, you must read this!

My last recommendation is a classic of Christianity. The confessions of St. Augustine and while I don't agree with all the things that he says, obviously. Overall this man is still being printed for a reason! I mean seriously, he understood his own heart so transparently it's amazing! He wasn't afraid to reveal himself as a base and unrighteous person. He also wasn't afraid to trust the Lord in all things and at all times. Here is a book that must be read by anyone. Augustine wasn't playing at church. He wasn't pretending to follow after Christ for some unknown reason. He understood he had been ransomed from a very sinful life and therefore he dedicated his life to the service of Christ. Read it, Seriously!




There are several other books I want to recommend for everyone to read. I haven't read all that much, there is still so much left for me to read. I hope though that you join me in reading these gifted authors as they impart their wisdom to us. Obviously the bible is inspired of God, but the others have used their creative minds to His glory and I know if you read these books you cannot help but understand the glories of Calvary better and our God in a deeper manner than ever before!

Cheap Grace Or Costly Grace?

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners 'even in the best life' as Luther said. Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world's standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin. That was the heresy of the enthusiasts, the Anabaptists and their kind. Let the Christian beware of rebelling against the tree and boundless grace of God and desecrating it. Let him not attempt to erect a new religion of the letter by endeavoring to live a life of obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ! The world has been justified by grace. The Christian knows that, and takes it seriously. He knows he must not strive against indispensable grace. Therefore—let him live like the rest of the world! Of course he would like to go and do something extraordinary, and it does demand a good deal of self-restraint to refrain from the attempt and content himself with living as the world lives. Yet it is imperative for the Christian to achieve renunciation, to practice self-effacement, to distinguish his life from the life of the world. He must let grace be grace indeed, otherwise he will destroy the world's faith in the free gift of grace. Let the Christian rest content with his worldliness and with this renunciation of any higher standard than the world. He is doing it for the sake of the world rather than for the sake of grace. Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of this grace—for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.

Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light' ...

...This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself, now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer Cost of Discipleship

I praise God for this man! Oh, how his conviction and astuteness has been a balm to my heart! What an encouragement he is in following wholeheartedly the Gospel of Grace, not of cheap grace, but grace which cost my Savior's life. I pray that the Lord would raise up more men and women like Bonhoeffer, for this generation. People willing to say "no matter what it costs me, no matter how people reject and malign me, no matter how unpopular I am, I must stand on the Cross! I must remember the truth! I must herald the Gospel in all it's costliness! For it cost my Savior HIS LIFE and now it will cost MY LIFE!" I pray I too will be such a one as he was, following Christ's word in total unadulterated obediance! Oh, to follow Christ, to believe His words, therein is life! And cheap grace....no that's not for me!!

Unfathomable Oceans of Grace

Robert Murray McCheyne

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!" Hebrews 12:2

For every look at self--take ten looks at Christ! Live near to Jesus--and all things will appear little to you in comparison with eternal realities.How many millions of dazzling pearls and gems are at this moment hidden in the deep recesses of the ocean caves. Likewise, unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again--you will never come to the bottom of these depths!When you gaze upon the sun--it makes everything else dark; when you taste honey--it makes everything else tasteless. Likewise, when your soul feeds on Jesus--it takes away the sweetness of all earthly things; praise, pleasure, fleshly lusts, all lose their sweetness. Keep a continued gaze! Run, looking unto Jesus. So will the world be crucified to you--and you unto the world!


It has been a hard week to say the least. I have truly been driven to cleve more to my Savior, this was a providential reminder to me today of where my heart should be. Often my focus is so earthly and my willingness to bend non-existent. Truly I must look toward Him and His glory so often that it drowns out even the momentary thought that another thing can satisfy as only He can and does.One thing our former pastor said once that pierced my heart-- "How come, within the storm, we are always so quick to doubt and loose faith? Did God's promises change?"

Just some food for thought.

Indelible Grace