“When a man is speaking to God he is at his very acme. It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man’s true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life. Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.”
“Prayer is the product of [our] passion for people… Unaffected fervency in prayer is not whipped-up emotionalism but the overflow of [our] love for brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. That means that if we are to improve our praying, we must strengthen our loving. As we grow in disciplined, self-sacrificing love, so we will grow in intercessory prayer. Superficially fervent prayers devoid of such love are finally phony, hollow, shallow.”
“What is both surprising and depressing is the sheer prayerlessness that characterizes so much of the Western church. It is surprising, because it is out of step with the Bible that portrays what Christian living should be; it is depressing, because it frequently coexists with abounding Christian activity that somehow seems hollow, frivolous and superficial.”
“Knowledge without love inflates the ego and deceives the mind. It can lead to intellectual snobbery, an attitude of mockery and making fun of other’s views, a spirit of contempt for those with lesser knowledge, and a demeaning way of dealing with people who disagree.”
May we not be that way. May we share the truth in love and power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Man’s Chief End: To Glorify God
“whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11, ESV)
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. The glory of is a silver thread that must run through all our actions: “whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial. Man, being a rational creature, must propose some end to himself and that should be that he may lift up God in the world. He had better lose his life than the purpose of his living. The great truth asserted is that the end of each man’s living should be to glorify God-to glorify God the Father who gave us life; God the Son, who lost His life for us; and God the Holy Ghost, who produces a new life in us. We must bring glory to the whole Trinity.
And what are we to understand by “God’s glory”? There is a twofold glory. First is the glory that God has in Himself, His intrinsic glory. Glory is essential to the Godhead as light is to the sun: He is called the “God of glory” (Acts 7:2). Second is the glory ascribed to God, that which His children labor to bring to Him. We are to “give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name’ (1 Chronicles 16:29). Paul wrote, “Glorify God in your body. and in your spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:20). The glory we give God lifts His name up in the world, magnifying Him in the eyes of others. “Christ shall be magnified in my body” (Philippians 1:20). From Thomas Watson
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“The exclusive claim of Christianity about Christ is not centered on our belief that Jesus was right about God. It is centered on our claim that God was fully present in Christ to reconcile the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18). It is the theological claim about Jesus (that He is God) that makes the spiritual claims of Jesus potent. Jesus’ words are right because those words are God’s words (Jn. 14:10b). Jesus’ “way” is not superior because it promotes a higher ethic or because it champions values that resonate with our spiritual sensitivities. Jesus’ way is true because in Him we find God drawing us to Himself.”
