Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is bornUnto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world[2]
[2] “Welcome To Our World” – Chris Rice, Deep Enough to Dream, 1997.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Thoughts about John Wesley
I read this morning that John Wesley was "a man whose eloquence and logical acuteness might have made him eminent in literature, whose genius for government was not inferior to that of Richelieu, and who, whatever his errors may have been, devoted all his powers in defiance of obloquy and derision, to what he sincerely considered as the highest good of his species."(from Journal of John Wesley, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
As I read this thought I'm struck by the part that says, "in spite of his errors" and "in defiance of obloquy and derision" (obloquy-1 : a strongly condemnatory utterance : abusive language 2 : the condition of one that is discredited : bad repute ) devoted all his powers to what he considered the highest good of his species.
How many times are we deterred by our own knowledge of our weaknesses and errors and because of them a fear of people's condemnation and derision?
I have watched people struggle and quit when others derided them, criticized them, and condemned them. Most often the comments that hurt us the most have a grain of truth and a bushel of falsity, but our minds, most often most acutely aware of our own shortcomings and sin, magnify the grain until it becomes a huge bog of quick sand which drags us down.
The only way I know of dealing with this is to own our sinfulness and failures and errors(repentance), lay them before God (confession) and accept our forgiveness and renewed status in Jesus (the positive part of confession) and bodly move forward secure in the fact that Phil. 1:6 is being worked out in our lives.
As I read this thought I'm struck by the part that says, "in spite of his errors" and "in defiance of obloquy and derision" (obloquy-1 : a strongly condemnatory utterance : abusive language 2 : the condition of one that is discredited : bad repute ) devoted all his powers to what he considered the highest good of his species.
How many times are we deterred by our own knowledge of our weaknesses and errors and because of them a fear of people's condemnation and derision?
I have watched people struggle and quit when others derided them, criticized them, and condemned them. Most often the comments that hurt us the most have a grain of truth and a bushel of falsity, but our minds, most often most acutely aware of our own shortcomings and sin, magnify the grain until it becomes a huge bog of quick sand which drags us down.
The only way I know of dealing with this is to own our sinfulness and failures and errors(repentance), lay them before God (confession) and accept our forgiveness and renewed status in Jesus (the positive part of confession) and bodly move forward secure in the fact that Phil. 1:6 is being worked out in our lives.
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