Morning Moments

The final words of John Bunyan’s final sermon are as follows:

"Lastly, If you be the children of God, learn that lesson--Gird up the loins of your mind, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former conversation; but be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Consider that the holy God is your Father, and let this oblige you to live like the children of God, that you may look your Father in the face, with comfort, another day."

I have a great concern that we live in an ignorant generation so far as “classics” are concerned. Many of the classics contained wonderful insight into the heart of humanity and the holiness of deity. The later usually focus upon the journey with Jesus, as opposed to the journey for Jesus. Bunyan’s final words of his final sermon give great insight into the quest of the righteous soul.

When I stand before the Lord, I am concerned that I might have spent too much time feeding my mind and too little time finding my heart. Sometimes at my age, I think of how I would re-educate myself. It may sound a bit silly to some but I would forget the many hours spent on theological curriculum, and do only the following, so far as educating me is concerned.

1. I would become a master of 4 languages: Latin, Hebrew, Greek, and whatever language is the people to whom I minister.
2. I would give myself to the reading and study of the classics.
3. I would not waste my time learning how to build a church. I would let God do that.
4. I would not waste my time learning how to communicate. I would leave that to Him also.
5. I would ignore all the books on How to Win Souls, How to Witness, How to have a good marriage, Church administration, and a million others like these.

The writers of the classics had insight and imagination and inspiration (general sense), and a spirit of investigation. The Christians had a quest for God and the others a quest for knowledge. I fear that many Christians today possess the quest for knowledge, but not for God. We are just too busy. We face the day with a thousand things to do, do few of them well, leave many undone, and leave our spirits to a brief devotion in the morning, often just to say we did it.

I like what my friend Ravenhill use to say about preaching in American: “Although you do not speak English, you do understand it.” Our forefathers were for the most part European Christians or those who sympathized and supported it. Today, some nut who is completely ignorant of the Author of our BOOK wants to tell us how to understand it. It is often mental, not spiritual.

In conclusion, let’s start a revolution of true revival, with the emphasis on God’s Truth rather than good tricks. Let’s give ourselves to reading the good books and the Good Book to such an extent that our “outsides” begin to reflect our “insides,” defining us as “holy” and “pure” men and women of God, who approach God as God and one another as brothers, sisters, and mothers.

PRAYER: AMEN !