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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Well... the time has come.. and I'm moving.
http://passingthejordan.blogspot.com/
This may be the last xanga... hopefully I'm not retiring like Cher....
Grace and peace. | | |
| "Consider the epitaph of all those blessed saints who fell asleep before the coming of our Lord! The issue is not how they died--whether of old age or by violent means--but that whatever their diverse experiences, they are united in Him: "These all died in faith." In faith they lived--it was their comfort, their guide, their motive, and their support; and in the same spiritual grace they died, ending their life-song in the sweet melody that had followed them through life. They did not die trusting in the flesh or their own attainments; they never wavered from their first way of acceptance with God but held to the way of faith to the end. Faith is as precious to die by as to live by." -C.H. Spurgeon, “Morning and Evening”
Is Christianity slightly bizarre? Absolutely, and to be honest, it is most bizarre. It claims, die that we may live. Be last that we may be first. Give up our most prized possession that we may have everything. As paradoxical as it sounds, I think with a little realism, that it might become much more sensible than the alternatives. After all, we will, regardless of how tight our grip, lose hold of what is precious to us. Our precious loved parents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, children, and friends will pass away, even leaving our memory vulnerable as time snatches remembrance away. All our achievements, honors, and skills will be forgotten, as records are broken, new heroes are born, and our talents fade for lack of practice and arthritis.Truly enough, our lives will slip through our hands like sand, and all the insurance in the universe will be nothing more than a fraud, offering security for a moment and then leaving town as soon as our head is turned. Christ answers this by asking, will you give me all that you have, so that I can make it eternal? He is far more than an insurance, and He will not fail. Rather than a safe to keep our filthy rags safe, He turns those rags into linens, robes, and jewels that are fit for a kingdom.
"Our passions are not too strong, they are too weak. We are far too easily pleased." -C.S. Lewis | | |
| Today has been long.
Somehow... I don't find my heart skipping at the idea of fighting the "battle" of classes and responsibilities here.
Maybe it's more of a battle than I thought. | | |
| Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ! Shall such a love as this have only half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love in return? Shall Jesus' marvelous loving-kindness and tender care be met with only faint response and delayed acknowledgment? - C.H. Spurgeon, “Morning and Evening,”
People will never satisfy... and nothing else comes even close to that. Drugs are a mere distraction, and to some very real extent- so are others. Augustine said that our souls are only at rest when we rest in Christ, and I'm convinced that this is one of the greatest challenges that we will ever face- that communion with a being that is invisible would fill our need for relationships. Further, this being is unknowable by any other senses unless that being would choose otherwise and we appropriate said presence by some sort of choice to desire him, to ask for him, to know him. All for what... for some astral sexth sense to be "felt." This is rediculous and yet Paul calls us to look alone to the unseen for "the things that are unseen are eternal." Our eyes will decay and fail; our hearing leaves us, and our memory of the past will fade. It is alone the eternal that reaches past this. And unless we sink ourselves into the unseen, we shall never look upon it. To know our saviour, the risen lord of heaven and earth, the victorious beauty that trumps all other beauties by his everlasting alone- this alone will satisfy because it will last.
All other banks will fail, and all other investments will depreciate and lose their worth. That we would cast ourselves upon Christ, that we would learn what it means to speak a resounding yes to Christ, to hold tightly to Him and loosely to this world, to really know what joy is, and not settle for the less, for the mediocre.
I'm convinced that I am still failing to do this as I ought. I'm filled with jealousy, envy, and cheap desires, settling to throw the ring into the sea instead of taking it up to mount doom. May I learn to throw away my cold love and put my whole heart on the line. It doesn't make sense any other way. | | |
| "But the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are still more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world--that is small; its flatteries, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy are far worse. Our danger is that we might grow rich and become proud; we might give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world and lose our faith. Or if wealth does not test us, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, we may be hugged to death by the bear. The devil cares very little which it is, as long as he destroys our love for Christ and our confidence in Him. I am afraid that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and easy days than in those rougher times. We must stay awake now, for we are crossing enchanted ground and are most likely to fall asleep to our own ruin, unless our faith in Jesus is a reality and our love for Jesus an ardent flame." - Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening | | |
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