Jesus wants us to ask earnestly, repeatedly, and desperately for things that are truly good for us, things we truly need. He tells us God is an extravagantly generous Father who loves to give those things. Here’s Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount teaching on prayer: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for [ Read More ]
Archive for May, 2011
A healthful, soul-curing prescription from Robert Murray McCheyne, 19th century Scottish pastor: “Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely . . . . Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in his beams. Feel his all-seeing eye settled on you in love. And repose in his almighty arms.” Do look at yourself. Look at your heart to know what is there. More than that, invite God to look inside you, shine into dark places, unearth sin. But then, ten times more, look at Jesus. That is [ Read More ]
John of Landsburg – 1555 “A letter from Jesus Christ to the soul that really loves him” “I know those moods when you sit there utterly alone, eaten up with unhappiness, in a pure state of grief. You don’t move towards me but desperately imagine that everything you have ever done has been utterly lost or forgotten. This near despair and self-pity are actually a form of pride. What you think was a state of absolute security from which you’ve fallen was really trusting too much in your own strength and ability. Profound depression and perplexity of mind often follow [ Read More ]