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ON A RATHER INSIGNIFICANT SPHERE
A senior angel is showing a very young angel around the splendors of the universe. They view whirling galaxies and blazing suns, and then flit across the infinite distances of space until at last they enter one particular galaxy of 500 billion stars.
As the two of them draw near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis ball to the angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
“I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
“Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel. “What’s special about that one?”
To the little angel, earth did not seem so impressive. He listened in stunned disbelief as the senior angel told him that this planet, small and insignificant and not overly clean, was the renowned Visited Planet.
“Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince … went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?” …
The little angel’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”
“I do, and I don’t think He would like you to call them ‘creeping, crawling creatures’ in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.”
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
SOURCE: From Phillip Yancey, "The Jesus I Never Knew," p. 43-44, quoting JB Phillips.
Steve Malone
O eternal, infinite God! O mad lover! And you have need of your creature? Is seems so to me, for you act as if you could not live without her, in spite of the fact that you are life itself. And everything has life from you and nothing can have life without you. Why then are you so mad? Because you have fallen in love with what you have made?...You clothed yourself in our humanity, and nearer than that you could not have come. - Catherine of Siena
In Coping With Grief. 1. FANNIE JOHNSTON FLINT, who was cancerous, arthritic, incontinent, blind, orphaned, managed enough ability to get a pen into her warped hands and write a hymn, many of them, in fact. Perhaps you know this one: He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater; He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To added affliction He addeth his mercy, To multiplied trials His multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed as the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving has only begun. His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, His power has no boundaries known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
WHAT KIDS NEED
Today’s kids desperately need Dads who:
. . . play catch, enjoy tea parties or wrestle because the heart of a child is there and they set out to capture it.
. . . laugh till their belly hurts and tears fall from their eyes while secretly creating deep friendships and memories that last a lifetime.
. . . place an out of tune preschool concert or a ten-year-old’s baseball game on life’s agenda because of the infinite worth of those playing.
. . . love at all times, because live is a gift freely given and not a reward for service well done.
. . . listen eye to eye and with both ears even if it means getting on one knee.
. . . admit when they are wrong and work to make things right.
. . . hear about those in need and say, "Let’s do something to help right now!" and set off an uncontrollable wildfire of generosity and kindness.
. . . give the credit to others and empower those they touch to succeed...
Listen to this great quote my Andrew Murray:
“Never forget for a moment that it is sin that has led to the great transaction between you and Christ Jesus; and that each day in your fellowship with God, His one aim is to deliver and keep you fully from its power, and lift you up into His likeness and His infinite love.” (Closer Walk Devotional, Walk Thru the Bible)
Kahlil Gibran, writes the following poem On Children:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you,
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
HISTORY OF CALVINISM
In 1610, just one year after the death of James Arminius (a Dutch Seminary professor) five articles of faith based on his teachings were drawn up by his followers. The Arminians, as his followers came to be called, presented these five doctrines to the State of Holland in the form of a "Remonstrance" (i.e., a protest). The Arminian party insisted that the Belgic Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism (the official expression of the doctrinal position of the Churches of Holland) be changed to conform to the doctrinal views contained in the Remonstrance. The Arminians objected to those doctrines upheld in both the Catechism and the Confession relating to divine sovereignty, human inability, unconditional election or predestination, particular redemption, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. It was in connection with these matters that they wanted the official standards of the Church of Holland revised.
A national Synod was called to meet in the city of Dort in Holland in 1618 for the purpose of examining the views contained in the Remonstrance in light of Scripture. The Great Synod was convened by the States-General of Holland on November 13, 1618. There were 84 members and 18 secular commissioners. Included were 27 delegates from Germany, the Palatinate, Switzerland, and England. There were 154 sessions held over a period of seven months that the Synod met to consider these matters, the last of which was held on May 9, 1619.
The Synod compared the "five points" presented in the Remonstrance with the teaching of Scripture. Upon close examination they were unable to reconcile the teaching of the Remonstrance with the teaching of Scripture, and so they unanimously rejected the "five points" of the Remonstrance. However, the Synod did not believe that a mere rejection of the views of the Remonstrance was sufficient. They believed that it was important to set out the true biblical teaching that had been called into question. They did this by embodying the biblical position in five chapters, which have ever since come to be known as "the five points of Calvinism." The name Calvinism was derived from the great French reformer, John Calvin (1509-1564), who had done so much in expounding and defending these biblical views.
The five points of Calvinism were organized into an acronym called TULIP by a theological student who was trying to devise a way to help him remember what the five points of Calvinism were. So, the five points of Calvinism, represented by the acronym TULIP, are as follows:
1. Total depravity. Both because of original sin and their own acts of sin, all mankind, excepting Christ, in their natural state are thoroughly corrupt and completely evil, though they are restrained from living out their corruptness in its fullness by the instrumentalities of God's common grace. Accordingly they are completely incapable of saving themselves.
2. Unconditional election. Before the creation of the world, out of his mere free grace and love, God elected many undeserving sinners to complete and final salvation without any foresight of faith or good works or any other thing in them as conditions or causes which moved him to choose them. That is to say, the ground of their election is not in them but in him.
3. Limited atonement. Christ died efficaciously, that is, truly savingly, only for the elect, although the infinite sufficiency of his atonement and the divine summons to all to repent and trust in Christ provide the warrant for the universal proclamation of the gospel to all men. I personally prefer the terms "definite atonement," "particular atonement," or "efficacious atonement" over "limited atonement," both because of possible misunderstanding of the word "limited" and because every evangelical "limits" the atonement either in its design (the Calvinist) or in its power to accomplish its purpose (the Arminian).
4. Irresistible grace. This doctrine does not mean that the non-elect will find God's grace irresistible; indeed, God's saving grace is not even extended to them. Nor does it mean that the elect will find God's saving grace irresistible the very first time it is extended to them, for even the elect may resist his overtures toward them for a time. What it does mean is that the elect are incapable of resisting forever God's gracious overtures toward them. At his appointed time, God draws the elect, one by one, to himself by removing their hostility and opposition to him and his Christ, making them willing to embrace his Son.
5. Perseverance of the saints. The elect are eternally secure in Christ, who preserves his own and enables them to persevere in him unto the end. Those professing Christians who have apostasized from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1), as John states, "went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us" (1 John 2:19).
(From a sermon by Freddy Fritz, Jesus Presents Believers to God, 6/25/2010)
Annie Johnson Flint’s life on earth could never be measured in any degree by comfort and ease; quite the contrary, from childhood her body endured the onslaught of Rheumatoid Arthritis until she could no longer rise from bed. Over the years the affliction took a great toll, leaving her with no choice but to seek some comfort from sleeping and resting on soft pillows. Her body developed serious bed sores and finally she suffered the ravages of cancer.
Yet her attitude through all the struggles with pain and confinement may best be expressed through one of her great Christian poems that has been set to music in many hymnals. Her faith in God and His purpose, reflected through these words, portray her deep commitment and disposition of hope and peace:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
His love has no limit;
His grace has no measure.
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
...
WE REQUIRE LOVING
A little girl was making but poor progress toward recovery, though the ailment had been checked and there seemed to be no reason why she should not rapidly improve. But it didn’t happen, and the doctor in charge was keenly interested to know why.
She was a very sensitive child, easily scared, responding quickly to kindness. Perhaps she was afraid of Nurse or Sister or her unfamiliar surroundings.
The doctor decided it was the lack of understanding which was retarding recovery, and so wrote a directive upon the temperature chart: "This child requires loving every four hours."
God is even better than that: He says, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
(Winship Storey in his Methodist Recorder. From a sermon by Bill Butsko, God’s Infinite Love, 12/25/2010)
WHY DON'T THEY LET HIM IN?
A picture of the Lord Jesus knocking at the door of a heart was taken one day by a parish visitor to a house where a father and mother lived with their small son. Some impulse made the mother pin the picture up in their little kitchen, and when the small boy came in from school, he was very interested in it.
His mother was too busy with the dinner to answer his questions, but presently Father came in from work. "Who is the Man, Daddy, and why is He knocking at the door?" the little fellow asked again and again. The father tried to ignore the question, but it was asked again and again with great persistence, and at last he replied that it was the Lord Jesus Christ knocking at a door. "Then why don't they let Him in?" asked the little boy, wonderingly.
Dinner came just then, and the father managed to change the subject, but again and again during the days which followed the little lad asked the same question: "Why don't they let Him in?" The question began ringing in the father's ears, until at last one day he fell on his knees and cried: "Lord Jesus, it's the door of my heart at which You are knocking. Please forgive me for keeping You waiting so many years. The door is open -- oh, come right in and take possession!"
(Gospel Herald. From a sermon by Bill Butsko, God's Infinite Love, 12/25/2010)
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