True wisdom manifests itself in the observance of the law.--John Calvin

Now for those of you who are screaming legalism, please bear with me. There are many who focus so much on the grace of God that they try to bury the law; those who do this fail to see God within the law. The law was given to point out sin and to show us that we could never be good enough for a holy and just God. It showed us our need for a savior. The law did more than that though. The law is also a revelation of who God is. Take the 10 Commandments as an example. In every commandment we see our inadequacy and we see the character of God. We see that we are sinful and cannot keep the law; this shows us the holy nature of God. Let us just name a few examples. The law points out our idolatry, dishonesty, adulterous nature, and murderous hearts. By contrast, knowing that the law is what is required of a holy God, the law shows us who God is; He is the One True God, He is honest, He is faithful, and He is life! Oh, May God be glorified!!

We cannot keep the law, we cannot present ourselves holy before a holy God. Oh, but the power of Jesus can! God sent His son to die in the place of sinners. Oh, May God be glorified!!

Many hold so tightly to that grace that they dismiss the law. After all, Jesus fulfilled the law. This is true but simply because it was fulfilled does not mean it was done away with completely. It was made full and complete, not discarded. The moral law remains in effect and we are to live in obedience to it.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. John 15:10

But what of those who cry legalism anytime the law is mentioned?

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2

Many simply use the cry against legalism as a way to avoid biblical obedience. I have seen several who use freedom in Christ as a way to avoid the truth of the scripture. Many are simply immature in their Christian faith and do not comprehend how the two work together.

So what is legalism? I submit to you that legalism is not the living out the law of God by the power of the Spirit. We are commanded to do so. Legalism is when the law of God becomes our means of salvation and our means of merit. Salvation and merit is the job of grace in Christ Jesus. Yet, we need not remove the law for grace to abound. They work together.

The next time you see someone who lives according to the law of God, maybe even more so than yourself, I would submit an evaluation is in order. Before exclaiming legalism or pharisee and dismissing them; perhaps one should consider that individual's heart or more importantly their own heart. The resistance toward another may in reality not be the other individual's problem of legalism but one's own sin of resisting the conviction of the Spirit upon their own life.

May we all exclaim, "Oh, May God be glorified!!"

Labels: Christianity, Conservative, Quotes

“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.”

–Charles Spurgeon

Labels: Christianity, Quotes

Being a stay at home mother, wife, and homeschooler can be a challenging position. Those on the outside tend to make comments and give nasty looks. I have experienced this many times. We are often made to feel as if we are wasting our lives and not making anything of ourselves. To be honest there are times at home when I will feel unappreciated. Thankfully, these times are rare!Often times in my household, it is usually because I am having a bad day and am reading to much into the actions and words of my family than is really there. I realize this is what I have caused myself to feel. I have let the voice of the world in rather than dwelling on the call and command of God. I found this quote from Martin Luther and think it is one of great encouragement. I hope it is to you as well.

What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. —Martin Luther

Labels: Encouragement, Family, Quiverfull, Quotes, Weekend Kindness

1. Since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
2. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 20:7
3. The Bible as a whole speaks more of God's holiness than of His love. Walter Chantry
4. Contemplating Jesus' sacrifice is the highest motive to holiness . J.L. Dagg
5. To be holy is to be morally blameless. It is to be separated from sin and, therefore, consecrated to God. The word signifies "separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated." Jerry Bridges
6. How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing...it is irresistible. If even 10 per cent of the world's population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before a year's end? C.S. Lewis
7. A true love of God must begin with a delight in His holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this. Jonathan Edwards
8. The Christian must be consumed by the conviction of the infinite beauty of holiness and the infinite damnability of sin. Thomas Carlyle
9. Christ is the most perfect image of God, into which we are so renewed as to bear the image of God, in knowledge, purity, righteousness, and true holiness. John Calvin
10. Christian holiness is not a matter of painstaking conformity to the individual precepts of an external law code; it is rather a question of the Holy Spirit's producing His fruit in the life, reproducing those graces which were seen in perfection in the life of Christ. F.F. Bruce
11. Holiness is the end of redemption, for Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Charles Hodge
12. A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine. Dwight L. Moody
13. It is an undoubted truth that every doctrine that comes from God, leads to God; and that which doth not tend to promote holiness is not of God. George Whitefield
    

Labels: Christianity, Quotes, Thursday Thirteen

John Owen (1616 - 1683) was an English theologian and "was without doubt not only the greatest theologian of the English Puritan movement but also one of the greatest European Reformed theologians of his day, and quite possibly possessed the finest theological mind that England ever produced" ("Owen, John", in Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, p. 494)

Dr. John Owen (Vice Chancellor - Oxford)

FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE?

The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for either:

1) All the sins of all men;

2) All the sins of some men; or

3) Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

1) If the last be true all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved;

2) That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth;

3) But if the first is the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!

FROM: T.U.L.I.P. The Canons of Dort

Labels: Christianity, Quotes, Sermons

John Bunyan ( 1628 - 1688 ) is considered a hero of the faith. He is a man who was imprisioned for 12 years for preaching the Gospel and is author of the famous and loved Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan clearly understood the state of man and his total dependence upon the Lord.

I would like to share with you John Bunyan's plea for prayer and may it also be the plea of every Christian.

Christians, pray for me to seek God with much earnestness, fervency, and frequently in all you knockings at our Father's door, because I do very much stand in need thereof, for my work is great, my heart is vile, and the devil lieth at watch, the world would fain be saying, aha, aha, thus would we have it! And of myself, keep myself I cannot, trust myself I dare not; if God does not help me, I am sure it will not be long before my heart deceive, and the world have advantage of me. John Bunyan

Labels: Christianity, Prayer, Quotes

"It is a remarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have had a decided tendency to 'dishonor God and to flatter man.'"
~Charles Spurgeon~

Labels: Christianity, Quotes

There are only two surviving descriptions of the first Thanksgiving. One is contained a letter by colonist Edward Winslow. The second description was in a book written by William Bradford 20 years afterward.

In the fall of 1621, 90 Wampanoag Indians, led by Chief Massasoit, and 52 English colonists gathered for a three-day harvest feast. This event also included recreation and entertainment. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag communicated through Squanto, who was a member of the Patuxet tribe. Other than this very little is actually known about what actually took place at that feast from which our Thanksgiving holiday comes. Our annual holiday was named Thanksgiving by Abraham Lincoln in the year 1863. I found a quote from 1621, written by Edward Winslow, as he remembered that first gathering, and the sentiment he expressed
called for sharing and giving thanks.

"And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

Labels: journal, Quotes

1. "The family fireside is the best of schools." Arnold Glasow
2. "There is no cure for laziness, but a large family helps." Herbert V. Prochnow
3. Home---"The place in which you are treated the best and grumble the most." Author Unknown
4. "The soul is healed by being with children." Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. "Train up a fig tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade of it." Charles Dickens
6. "It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself." Charles Dickens
7. "One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters." George Herbert
8. "Mothers are the most instinctive philosophers." Harriet Beecher Stowe
9. "Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy." G.K. Chesterton
10. "Such a blessed people should be a thankful people." Cotton Mather
11. "There is no more lovely, friendly or charming relationship, communion or company, than a good marriage." Martin Luther
12. "The children will follow the example, instead of following the advice." Lord Palmerston
13. "This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it." Richard Baxter

Labels: Quotes, Thursday Thirteen

“The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them……providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church……the need is for Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt that it sets men aflame.”

Labels: Christianity, Quotes

“Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One.”
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]

Labels: Quotes

"Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born."

- President Ronald Reagan

Labels: Quiverfull, Quotes

I thought this was a great quote for each and everyone of us, myself included, to consider as we daily evaluate our lives.

"Involuntary ignorance is not charged against you as a fault; but your fault is this---you neglect to inquire into the things you are ignorant of."
~Augustine~

Labels: Quotes

"Few are they who by faith touch Him; multitudes are they who throng about Him."
~Augustine~

Labels: Christianity, Quotes

Thomas Jefferson:

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

Labels: Conservative, Quotes

George Washington:

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

Labels: Conservative, Quotes

George Washington:

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”

Labels: Quotes

Abraham Lincoln:

"It is the duty of nations as well as men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."

"All the good from the Saviour of the World is communicated through this Book; but for the Book we could not know right from wrong. All the things desirable to man are contained in it."

Labels: Quotes

Noah Webster:
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.”

Labels: Homeschooling, newsletter, Quotes

Martin Luther:

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess”

Labels: Christianity, Encouragement, Quotes