REFLECTIONS

 Christ The Excellent Savior

“All the saints have their own measure of winter before the eternal summer. O! for the long day, and the high sun, and the fair garden, and the King’s great city up above these visible heavens!

What God layeth on, let us suffer, for some have one cross, some seven, some ten, some half a cross-yet all the saints have whole and full joy, and seven crosses have seven joys.

Glorify the Lord in your sufferings, and take his banner of love, and spread it over you. Others will follow you, if they see you strong in the lord; their courage shall take life from your Christian carriage.

The weightiest end of the cross of Christ that is laid upon you, lieth upon your strong Saviour.

O, if I could be master of that house-idol myself, my own, mine, my own will, wit, credit, and ease, how blessed were I! O, but we have need to be redeemed from ourselves rather than from the devil and the world; learn to put out yourselves, and to put in Christ for yourselves.

Christ all the seasons of the year, is dropping sweetness; if I had vessels I might fill them, but my old riven, holey, and running out dish, even when I am at the well, can bring little away. Nothing but glory will make tight and fast our leaking and rifty vessels...How little of the sea can a child carry in his hand; as little do I take away my great sea, my boundless and running-over Christ Jesus.

Sure I am he is the far best half of heaven; ye he is all heaven, and more than all heaven.

Ye may yourself ebb and flow, rise and fall, wax and wane; but your Lord is this day as he was yesterday; and it is your comfort that your salvation is not rolled upon wheels of your own making, neither have ye to do with a Christ of your own shaping.

Put your hand to the pen, and let the cross of your Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute Amen.

The floods may swell and roar; but our ark shall swim above the waters; it cannot sink, because a Saviour is in it.

Let not salvation be your by-work, or your holiday’s task only, or a work by the way: for men think, this may be done in three days’ space on a feather-bed, when death and they are fallen in hands together, and that with a word or two they shall make their souls right. Alas, this is to sit loose and unsure in the matters of our salvation.

How soon will some few years pass away, and then when the day is ended, and this life’s lease expired, what have men of the world’s glory, but dreams and thoughts? O happy soul for evermore, who can rightly compare this world life with that long-lasting life to come, and can balance the weighty glory of the one with the light golden vanity of the other.

Lay no more on the creatures than they are able to carry. Lay your soul and your weights upon God: make him your only, only best Beloved-your errand to this life is to make sure and eternity of glory to your soul and to match your soul with Christ: your love, if it were more than all the love of angels in one, is Christ’s due...I know not what ye have if ye want (lack) Christ.

It is not our part to make a treasure here: anything under the covering of heaven we can build upon is but ill ground and a sandy foundation: every good thing, except God, wanteth (lacks) a bottom, and cannot stand its alone: how can it bear the weight of us?”

-From The Loveliness Of Christ  Extracts from the Letters of Samuel Rutherford by Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)  Selected by Ellen Lister  Published by The Banner Of Truth Trust  Carlisle, PA  2007 

REFLECTIONS

Strong Spirit, Weak Flesh, Gracious Answers

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:

the spirit indeed is willing,

but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41

So that He may not terrify and discourage His disciples, Christ gently reproves their slothfulness, then adds consolation and good grounds for hope.

First, He reminds then that though they earnestly desire to do what is right, they must contend with the weakness of the flesh. Therefore, prayer is always necessary. We see that Christ praises their willingness so their weakness may not throw them into despair. Yet He urges them to pray because they are not sufficiently endued with the power of the Spirit.

This admonition properly relates to believers who, being regenerated by the Spirit of God, desire to do what is right but still labor under the weakness of the flesh. Though the grace of the Spirit is vigorous in them, they are “weak” according to the “flesh”. And through the disciples alone have their weakness pointed out to them, yet what Christ says of them applies to all. So we ought to draw from this a general rule that it is our duty to keep diligent watch by praying. We do not yet possess the power of the Spirit in such a measure mas not to frequently fall through the weakness of the flesh unless the Lord grants His assistance to raise us up and uphold us.

We have no reason to tremble with excessive anxiety, for an undoubted remedy is held out to us. We neither have to seek nor seek in vain for this remedy, for Christ promises that all who are in earnest in prayer shall perseveringly oppose the slothfulness of the flesh and will be victorious.”

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“For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

2 Corinthians 12:8

It may seem from the text that Paul has not prayed in faith, for we read everywhere in Scripture that we shall obtain whatever we ask in faith. Paul prays, and does not obtain what he asks for.

I address this problem by saying that as there are different ways of asking, so there are different ways of obtaining. We ask in simple terms for those things for which we have an express promise. For example, we ask for the perfecting work of God’s kingdom, the hallowing of His name (Matt. 6:9), the remission of our sins, and everything that is advantageous to us. But when we think that the kingdom of God can indeed, must be advanced in this particular manner or in that, and what is necessary for the following of His name, we are often mistaken in our opinion.

In like manner, we often commit a serious mistake about asking for what tends to promote our welfare. We ask for things confidently and without reservation, while we do not have the right to prescribe the means for receiving them. If, however, we specify the means, we always have an implied condition, even though we don’t express it.

Paul was not ignorant about this. Hence, as to the object of his prayer, there can be no doubt that he was heard, though he met with a refusal as to the express form of that answer. By this we are admonished not to give way to despondency in thinking our prayers are lost labor when God does not gratify or comply with our wishes. Rather, we must be satisfied with His grace in not forsaking us. For the reason what God sometimes mercifully refuses to give His own people what in His wrath He grants to the wicked is that He better foresees what is expedient for us rather than our understanding is able to apprehend.”

-From John Calvin (1509-1564)