Category Archives: books

“Peace in believing”

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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing…”
(Romans 15:13a, ESV)

Peace is readily available to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A fantastic analogy is given in an eloquent sermon by the great Thomas Chalmers —

Should a powerful and offended neighbor, under the threats of whose resentment I had I had been living for months in fearful insecurity; should he send to my door an offer of reconciliation, it is not difficult to understand how, at the moment of my reliance upon the truth and honesty of this offer, I would be at rest. Nor would it at all disturb the peacefulness of my heart, that I were given to know that the proposed friendship was only yet mine in offer, and not mine in possssion, till I had perform certain conditions which I knew to be easily practicable. It would not, for example, abate the joy of the announcement, that I was told of an intended call on the part of my relenting adversary, and that I must give him a courteous reception, and stretch out my hand as the token of my having accepted his overture; and that then what was now mine in offer, would be come mine in possession also.

If I consented to all this, and felt not merely the possibility, but the perfect ease of it, I would not postpone my gladness till the hour of the expected visit. On my faith in the reality and integrity of the offer, I would consider my before formidable enemy to be now my placid and my attached friend. An instantaneous peace would arise in my bosom nor would I wait the coming formalities of reconciliation ere I threw aside the burden of my disquietude.

Thomas Chalmers, “Peace in Believing”
in Precious Seed: Discourses by Scottish Worthies

Read this again, slowly, and find profit for your own faith, and in believing find much joy!

pdb

Cutting edge Christianity?

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Modern day evangelicals have little appetite for sound doctrine, but have a hankering for “cutting edge” stuff. Dr Guy Waters, recently made this observation about the the evangelical church in our day:

Biblical doctrine and the Bible’s teaching on the Christian life is, at one level, quite boring. It is simply, lacking in gadgetry and spectacle, and unchanging. Whether it is the latest theological ‘hand-me-down’ from the academy, or the most recent technique or movement for living the Christian life, the church seems to have an unwholesome longing for what is promoted as ‘new, fresh and relevant.’ Of course, in reality there is nothing new under the sun. ‘Fresh’ and ‘cutting edge’ are terms that often mask our ignorance of church history. If we did enough digging, we would find that the church has long ago weighed, tried and discarded most of what is being presented to us as the ‘latest thing.’ God’s admonition is especially timely in our present age:

Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.”
(Jeremiah 6;16)

— Dr Guy Waters, Assoc. Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS; quoted on page 102 in Marin Downes’ book RISKING THE TRUTH