“You Are Mommy’s Gold”

Apr 11, 2012 by desiringvirtue

An Exerpt from Designing a Lifestyle That Pleases God:

One of the first lessons I learned when I transitioned from working outside the home to working at home was that motherhood changes every aspect of your life. Change is difficult for most of us. Acknowledging that there are adjustments to be made when becoming a mother does not mean that you are less committed or less capable of performing your role. Motherhood really changed everything–what I ate, how I dressed, when I slept, what I read, the friends I had, the amount of time with my husband, and even how I handled my time with the Lord each day! In an attempt to try to keep my sense of humor during this adjustment period, I began to write down ways my life had changed. I began each sentence with, “You know your a mommy when…” It helped me to see that most of the things that had changed were insignificant and not eternal in value–but they were still indicative of adjustments that needed to be made and pointed to why life often seemed unfamiliar and unorganized. here is a sampling from my list; perhaps you can relate to a few of the changes I experienced!

You Know You’re a Mommy When:

“Sleeping late” on a Saturday morning is 7 A.M.!

You get up on Sunday mornings at 5:30 A.M. and are still late for church!

You know the location of every drive-through bank, pharmacy, and restaurant (so you don’t have to do the car-seat-to-stroller/stroller-to-car-seat workout routine on every errand)!

The grocery store is an exciting family outing!

Weekly menu plans and recipes come from the 20 Minutes or Less Cookbook!

You have your “quiet times” with the Lord during the 2 A.M. baby feeding!

Macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches become your lunch delicacies!

You discover you really can talk on the phone, give the baby his bottle, and play cars with your toddler all at once!

You used to need an hour to get ready to go out but now are excited about having ten uninterrupted minutes to fix your hair and change your clothes!

Staying up late is 9 P.M.!

Adjusting to motherhood is like adjusting to a new culture. It takes time, effort, and plenty of patience to feel comfortable in your new surroundings.

I also learned as a part of my adjustment to motherhood that any sacrifice, life change, or inconvenience, pales in comparison to the rich blessing and reward of becoming a mother. The depth of love I experience toward my children is like no other I have ever experienced. the rewards of watching them grow are priceless! I would not trade being at home with my boys as their mom for anything this world has to offer me. I often tell my boys, “You are mommy’s gold!” (Designing a Lifestyle that Pleases God)

What would be on your “You Know You’re A Mommy When…” list? Share your additions in the comments and let’s fellowship in this glorious (but often tiring, confusing, defeating, and humbling) task of motherhood!

I would add….

Showering without a little head popping around the shower curtain to say “hello” becomes a luxury!
Half of your “date night” is spent talking about the children and the other half trying not to talk about the children.
Your meal is always left half eaten as you try to control the amount of your child’s ends up on the floor/table/ceiling.

…just to name a few! What would you add?

This post is linked up with A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and Raising Homemakers

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What is Representative Substitution? It’s What Easter is All About.

Mar 27, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21 ESV)

An excerpt from Knowing God by J.I. Packer:

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law”–how?–”by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). Christ bore the curse of the law which was directed against us, so that we might not have to bear it. This is representative substitution…

Representative substitution, as the way and means of atonement, was taught in typical form by the God-given Old Testament sacrificial system. There, the perfect animal that was to be offered for sin was first symbolically constituted a representative by the sinner’s laying his hand on its head and so identifying it with him and him with it (Lev 4:4, 24, 29, 33), and then it was killed as a substitute for the offerer, the blood being sprinkled “before the Lord” and applied to one or both of the altars in the sanctuary (Lev 4:6-7, 17-18, 25,30) as a sign that expiation had been made, averting wrath and restoring fellowship.

On the annual Day of Atonement, two goats were used. One as killed as a sin offering in the ordinary way, and the other, after the priest had laid hands on its head and put Israel’s sins “on the head” of the animal by confessing them there, was sent away to “bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited” (Lev 16:21-22). This double ritual taught a single lesson: that through the sacrifice of a representative substitute God’s wrath is averted and that sins are borne away out of sight, never to trouble our relationship with God again. The second goat (the scapegoat) illustrates what, in terms of the type, was accomplished by the death of the first goat. These rituals are the immediate background of Paul’s teaching on propitiation; it is the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial pattern that he proclaims.

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The Living Word of God is a Mother’s Greatest Resource

Mar 16, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4 ESV)

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. (Proverbs 31:26 ESV)

“While society relates discipline to an uncontrolled use of physical punishment, Biblical discipline involves love, the heart, and God’s Word. Because God is concerned with the issues of the heart, biblical discipline involves much more than outward behavior. Biblical discipline gets to the heart of the problem. After all, if you can reach the heart, the behavior will take care of itself. In order for us to reach the hearts of our children we must realize that there is far more to parenting than getting our children to act right. We have to get them to think right and to be motivated out of a love of virtue rather than a fear of punishment. We do this by training them in righteousness. Righteous training can only come from the Word of God.” (Don’t Make Me Count to Three!)

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Don’t Be Afraid to Pray

Mar 13, 2012 by desiringvirtue

An Excerpt from Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson (emphasis mine):

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16).

Jesus Christ has blazed a trail into heaven for us. He did this by sacrificing his blood, allowing his flesh to be torn so that the pathway into the Father’s presence would forever be open to us. He has annihilated every obstacle that would bar our entrance into the Most Holy Place, where our prayer-answering Father dwells. From his first breath he lived a life of perfect dependence on his Father, carrying on a continual conversation with him, giving thanks, submitting himself. Jesus Christ always prayed without ceasing and always in accordance with his Father’s will. He shed tears and voiced loud cries all the days of his flesh so that his prayer life would be completely righteous, one of perfect reliance and submission. He did this because he loved conversing with his Father but also so that our record before our Father would be one of perfect prayer and submission too.

We don’t need to try to pray to prove that we’re properly pious or really serious. Instead we pray because we are completely assured that the Father hears our prayers because they come to him through the lips of his dear Son. Are your prayers weak, scrambled, inconsistent, self-centered? Of course they are. If we think they are anything else, we are very close to sliding into the self-righteous prayer that Jesus warned against in Luke 18. Even so, we can take heart because the true cries of our heart are always voiced by the beloved Son, our Great High Priest.

So, lean into him. Don’t be afraid that you’ll fail at this. Don’t think he’ll judge you because you don’t say the right words with the right inflection and the proper theology. Don’t think that he’ll sniff at your requests because your family is such a mess. Be assured that these things will never happen, for one simple reason: the record of our prayer has already been written. The Father hears the perfectly worded, properly believing, and flawlessly theologically correct prayers of his beloved Son when you pray.

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The Just and the Justifier

Mar 9, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“The gospel tells us that our Creator has become our Redeemer. It announces that the Son of God has become man”for us men and for our salvation” and has died on the cross to save us from eternal judgement. The basic description of the saving death of Christ in the Bible is as a propitiation, that is, as that which quenched God’s wrath against us by obliterating our sins from his sight. God’s wrath is his righteousness reacting against unrighteousness; it shows itself in retributive justice. But Jesus Christ has shielded us from the nightmare prospect of retributive justice by becoming our representative substitute, in obedience to his Father’s will, and receiving the wages of our sin in our place.

By this means justice has been done, for the sins of all that will ever be pardoned were judged and punished in the person of God the Son, and it is on this basis that pardon is now offered to us offenders. Redeeming love and retributive justice joined hands, so to speak, at Calvary for there God showed himself to be ‘just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.’” (In My Place Condemned He Stood)

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You Can’t Change Your Child’s Heart

Mar 5, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“The greatest need our children have is to be born again. our children’s salvation is based on nothing we do as parents. Their salvation is an issue that can only be settled between them and God. Although we are responsible before God to point our children to the Savior, it is God who touches their hearts.

For several years, I felt that if I diligently trained them in the Scriptures, it would ensure their coming to Christ. When my son was seven years old, I realized that I could quote all the right Scriptures for every sinful issue which which he struggled and I could make him comply in accordance with those Scriptures, but only God could reach his heart. You see, he became really good at providing lip service. I would instruct him and he would verbalize all the right words, but his expression said, ‘I’ve said what you want me to say, now get out of my face!’

It was during this period that God taught me to stop relying on my own abilities. I had to let go of trying to control his heart and let God work. It was a tough time. It seemed that there was an ocean of distance between us. I am thankful for that time because it brought me into a closer dependence upon God. I sought Him with all my heart and asked Him to restore our relationship and bring Wesley to a point where he would receive my instruction with the love with which it was intended.

God led me to do two things. First, to take time alone with Wesley at bedtime each night. To not be in a hurry. To not spend that time instructing, but to simply sit on his bed and just listen to anything that he chose to talk about. Second, to go back in his room each night before I went to bed and pray over him as he slept. My prayer each night was for God to touch his heart. And He did.” (Don’t Make Me Count to Three!)

This post is linked up at Time~Warp Wife

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Clothe Yourself with the Dignity and Strength of the Gospel

Mar 1, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 ESV)

“Strength and dignity are her clothing…” (Proverbs 31:25 ESV)

“…likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control.” (1 Timothy 2:9 ESV)

“We women are God’s image-bearers; that’s where our dignity comes from. First God made us in His image; then He bought us. Christ’s purchase made us children of God, joint-heirs with Him–a position of highest rank. The woman clothed with “strength and dignity” will behave in a manner worthy of her honored position. She knows who she is, and she carries herself with that assurance–not to impress or intimidate anyone but to honor her Creator and Redeemer.” (Disciplines of a Godly Woman)

This post is linked up at Time~Warp Wife

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The Power & Pattern for Marriage

Feb 3, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keep us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us. The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent. The conviction and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God’s mercy and grace.

The hard times of marriage drive us to experience more of this transforming love of God. But a good marriage will also be a place where we experience more of this kind of transforming love at a human level. The gospel can fill our hearts with God’s love so that you can handle it when your spouse fails to love you as he or she should. That frees us to see our spouse’s sins and flaws to the bottom–and speak of them–and yet still love and accept our spouse fully. And when, by the power of the gospel, our spouse experiences that same kind of truthful yet committed love, it enables our spouses to show us that same kind of transforming love when the time comes for it.

This is the great secret! Through the gospel, we get both the power and the pattern for the journey of marriage.”

-The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller

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When There is No Earthly Joy to Be Found, There is Christ: Our Supreme Joy

Jan 19, 2012 by desiringvirtue

It Is Well With My Soul

By Horatio Spafford (A man acquainted with grief)

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, it is well,
With my soul, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath she’d His own blood for my soul.

It is well, It is well,
With my soul, with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
It was nailed trough his cross, and I bear it no more,
Bless the Lord, bless the Lord, O my soul!

It is well, It is well
With my soul, with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

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Love for God = Hospitality Toward Others

Jan 16, 2012 by desiringvirtue

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13 ESV)

“Hospitality is a practical way to love others. Therefore, a person practicing biblical hospitality would also be a loving person. This element separates biblical hospitality from social entertaining or even distinguishes between the hospitality of a believer and an unbeliever. Believers can uniquely display God’s love as they extend hospitality. Entertaining focuses on having a beautiful table decor or preparing gourmet food. Biblical hospitality is a demonstration of love. Food and other elements are merely tools used to express our love for people. Our motivation for being hospitable women is a response to God’s work in our lives. Hospitality is one way we can tangibly demonstrate our love for God.” Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock

Reader Feedback:

We are all commanded to be hospitable to those around us. How do you practically practice hospitality? Encourage, inspire, and challenge Desiring Virtue’s readers by sharing what hospitality means to you and/or how you specifically like to practice hospitality. Here are a couple examples from Lisa and Pat’s book:

Patti Morse shares, “We are military, so we move often. Within the first two weeks in a new home, I bake a batch of homemade cookies and take a plate of cookies around to all my neighbors. With each plate, I write a note containing our name, phone number, and a Scripture verse. To minister to my husband’s unit, I make every Monday special by sending in a back-to-work treat for them to enjoy with their morning cups of coffee. Each treat is accompanied by a special Scripture and word of appreciation.”

Elizabeth Gilbert reminds us, “Hospitality is the act of sharing one’s substance with kindness, graciousness, generosity, and genuine love (Luke 8:3). Just today in the midst of checking my son’s job of cleaning out the van, a man happened by with a child on his shoulders. He explained he had just run out of gas; his car was parked by the church across the way, and he asked if he could plea borrow some lawn mower gas just to get him to the nearby gas station. I had my eldest son run down to the shed and bring our lawn mower gas can with not much gas in it. We gladly gave the man what we had, and his immediate need was provided for. He brought back the gas can with more gas than it has held originally-a grateful man!”

So, how do you define hospitality? In what ways do you try to be hospitable to those around you? Share your thoughts in the comments and I will choose five of them to share in a post later in the week!

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Love is Risky

Jan 13, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up for safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.” (The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis)

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Submission as a Freedom?

Jan 10, 2012 by desiringvirtue

“In assuming the relation of a wife, the woman surrenders much; still, it is a surrender. There was a moment when her independence was undisputed; if it be resigned, it is through the election of her own will. The considerations which were addressed to her judgment, or to her fancy, led her to prefer the new condition; where, if her freedom be restrained, certain advantages accrue, which, in her esteem at least, more than compensate its loss. In the comparison between the two, she deliberately chooses to be less free in order to be more happy, and therefore, she submits herself.

In this, there is manifest reservation of all her original dignity. No sense of degradation can attach in the voluntary surrender of what she might easily have retained; and in all the friction of will she may hereafter experience, there is a pleasant recurrence to this fact. She retains a sense of freedom in the conscious freeness with which it was resigned and with which it continues to be resigned. The absolute freedom of her own surrender of freedom comprehends within it all the acts of subsequent submission; and it makes them as free as the very freedom which she has for ever renounced. So far from vein dishonored in her subordination, it is throughout life a conscious consecration of herself to the condition of her choice; and the sentiment is one by which she is consciously ennobled.” (The Family by B.M. Palmer)

In other words… the very act of submitting implies that we, as wives, actively lay down certain freedoms when we become wives. This purposeful submission is an expression of freedom that is granted through Jesus Christ and is continually used to sanctify us.

Good food for thought isn’t it?

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Encouragement for a New Year of Homemaking

Jan 2, 2012 by desiringvirtue

These are the quotes at the top of my daily planner this year:

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Titus 2:3-5 ESV)

“Mothers, the godly training of your offspring is your first and most pressing duty. Christian women, by teaching children the Holy Scriptures, are as much fulfilling their part for the Lord, as Moses in judging Israel, or Solomon in building the temple.” (Charles Spurgeon)

“Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of the this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,-she would see that in all of God’s world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other hands the sacred and holy trust given to her.” (J.R. Miller)

“The best way to make homemaking a joyous task is to offer it as unto the Lord; the only way to avoid the drudgery in such mundane tasks is to bathe the tasks with prayer and catch a vision of the divine challenge in making and nurturing a home.” (Dorothy Patterson)

“This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.” (Elisabeth Elliot)

“It is a high honor for a woman to be chosen from among all womankind to be the wife of a good and true man. She is lifted up to be a crowned queen. Her husband’s manly love laid at her feet exalts her to the throne of his life. Great power is placed in her hands. Sacred destinies are reposed in her keeping. Will she wear her crown beneficently? Will she fill her realm with beauty and with blessing? Or will she fail in her holy trust? Only her married life can be the answer.” (J.R. Miller)

“What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word of faith from which the obedience and the work flow.” (Martin Luther)

Be encouraged. The work you do, if you do it for the Lord, has profound worth. For that reason it is imperative that you take it seriously and put forth every effort to do it well. Let’s seek the Lord’s grace for a year of intentional homemaking!

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Christmas is the Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant

Dec 22, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“Many Christians share at least some Jewish heritage (I do), but most American Christians are Gentiles. Most of us are the descendants of pagans, not Israelites. Centuries ago, our ancestors worshiped Zeus or Thor, natural or ancestral deities. We were outside the covenant-strangers and aliens to God. The promise to Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” was our sole hope. We are sons of Abraham, sons and daughters of the covenant, through the grace of God that reaches out to the lost.

A funny thing happens to churchgoers in America. It begins to seem obvious to us that we are Christians. It seems like our birthright…most of us need to remember that we are Gentiles, not Israelites-outsiders, not insiders. The God of Israel is our God, even though we are German, English, French, Dutch, African, Irish, and Russian. Therefore we should still marvel at this grace. If we marvel, if we give thanks that we are included in the family of God, then we will include others and give thanks for the presence of them as well.

The Christmas season, along with Easter, certainly affords us an opportunity to welcome outsiders into our church. It is tempting to joke about, to mock, even to scorn the “Christmas and Easter Christians.” But why? In ourselves, none of us is a whit more spiritual or sincere than they. We should welcome all who stand outside the covenant, for the Lord alls outsiders to himself.”

-Daniel M. Doriani, The Incarnation in the Gospels

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Draw Near to God

Aug 24, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“In my early twenties I began praying fairly seriously, soon found myself leading others in prayer, and before too long was even teaching others to pray. Yet in my forties it began to dawn on me that I actually knew very little. My own outlook was evolving. I had begun my adult prayer pilgrimage with what I might call a ‘prayer list’ approach, repeating lists of objectives to God in the hope of good results. On the other end of this pilgrimage I began to see that prayer is primarily drawing near to God (e.g. Jas. 4:8-10; Heb. 4:15,16; 10:19-22). What am I doing in prayer? I am consciously moving into the presence of God. Prayer was evolving in my thinking from being primarily about requests (an experientially sterile idea) to being primarily about fellowship with God. Prayer is that time when I draw near to God to contemplate His greatness, search my soul, confess my sin, and plead for help. Prayer for me was becoming increasingly personal, relational, and indispensable. Moreover, it was also moving from being a discipline to be maintained with difficulty to being a privilege to be guarded jealously.” (When Grace Comes Alive by Terry L. Johnson)

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God’s Precious Gifts

Aug 10, 2011 by desiringvirtue

From Stepping Heavenward:

We are at a farmhouse; everything is plain but neat and nice. I asked Mrs. Brown, our hostess, the other day if she did not envy me my four little pets; she smiled, said they were the best children she ever saw, and that it was well to have a family if you have means to start them in the world. For her part, she lived from hand to mouth, as it was, and was sure she could never stand the worry and care of a house full of young ones.

“But the worry and care is only half the story, ” I said. “The other half is pure joy and delight.”

“Perhaps so to people that are well-to-do,” she replied; “but to poor folks, driven to death as we are, it’s another thing. I was telling my husband yesterday what a mercy it was there weren’t any young ones round under my feet, and I could take city boarders and help work off the mortgage on the farm.”

“And what did you husband say to that?”

“Well, he said we were young and hearty, and there was no such tearing hurry about the mortgage, and that he’d give his right hand to have a couple boys like yours.”

“Well?”

“Why, I said supposing we had a couple of boys, they wouldn’t be like yours, dressed to look genteel and to have their genteel ways, but a pair of wild colts, into everything, tearing their clothes off their backs, and wasting faster than we could earn. He said ’twasn’t the clothes, ’twasn the flesh and blood he wanted, and ’twasn’t no use to argufy about it; a man that hand’t got any children wasn’t mor’n half a man. ‘Well, ‘ Says I, ‘supposing you had a pack of ‘em, what have you got to give ‘em?’ ‘Jest exactly what my father and mother gave me,’ says he; ‘two hands to earn their bread with and a welcome you could have heard from Dan to Beersheba.’”

“I like to hear that!” I said. “And I hope many such welcomes will resound in this house. Suppose money does come in while little goes out; suppose you get possession of the whole farm; what then? Who will enjoy it with you? Who will you leave it to when you die? And in your old age, who will care for you?”

“You seem awful earnest,” she said.

“Yes, I am in earnest. I want to see little children adorning every home as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed to the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish and more and more loving because they have come. I want to see God’s precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused.”

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“How Rich I Am”

Jul 25, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“I celebrate my little Una’s third birthday by presenting her with a new brother. Both the children welcomed him with delight that was of itself compensation enough for all it cost me to get up such a celebration. Martha takes a most prosaic view of this proceeding, in which she detects malice prepense on my part. She says I shall now have one mouth the more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure or visiting, reading, music, and drawing.

Well! This is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look at the other. Here is a sweet fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God; and the body in which it dwells is worth all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ’s name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome in your mother’s heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!” (Kate Mortimer’s thoughts regarding her children in Stepping Heavenward)

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The Law’s Role in Grace Parenting

Jul 8, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“People frequently ask if I expected my children to become believers. I usually reply that the gospel is powerful and attractive. It uniquely meets the needs of fallen humanity. Therefore, I expected that God’s Word would be the power of God to salvation for my children, But that expectation was based on the power of the gospel and its suitability to human need, not on a correct formula for producing children who believe.

The central focus of parenting is the gospel. You need to direct not simply the behavior of your children, but the attitudes of their hearts. You need to show them not just the “what ” of their sin and failure, but the “why.” Your children desperately need to understand not only the external “what” they did wrong, but also the internal “why” they did it. You must help them see that God works from the inside out. Therefore, your parenting goal cannot simply be well-behaved children. your children must also understand why they sin and how to recognize internal change.

Parents sometimes give children a keepable standard. Parents think that if there children aren’t Christians, they can’t obey God from the heart anyway. For example, the Bible says to do good to whose who mistreat you. But when children are bullied in the school yard, parents tell them to ignore the bully. Or worse, parents tell them to hit others when they are hit first.

This non-biblical counsel drives children away from the cross. It doesn’t take grace from God to ignore the oppressor. It doesn’t take supernatural grace to stand up for your rights. To do good to oppressors, however, to pray for those who mistreat you, to entrust yourself to the just Judge, requires a child to come fact-to-face with the poverty of his own spirit and his need of the transforming power of the gospel.

The law of God is not easy for natural man. Its standard is high and cannot be achieved apart from God’s supernatural grace. God’s law teaches us our need of grace. When you fail to hold out God’s standard, you rob your children of the mercy of the gospel.” (Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Tedd Tripp)

You may also want to read: Gospel Parenting… Old, But New

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The Very Real Love of Christ

Jun 28, 2011 by desiringvirtue

‘“…The people talk strangely about [Christian]. Some say he now walks in white, that he has a chain of gold about his neck, or that he has on his head a crown of gold set with pearls. Others say the Shining Ones who sometimes showed themselves to him during his journey have become his companions, and that he is just as familiar with them in the place where he is as one neighbor is with another here. Besides, it’s confidently affirmed concerning him, that the King of that place where he is has bestowed upon him a very rich and pleasant dwelling at court and that every day he eats and drinks and walks and talks with Him and receives smiles and favors there from Him who is Judge of All.’

‘Moreover,’ continued Sagacity, ‘it is expected by some that his Prince, the Lord of that country, will soon come into these parts and will desire to know the reason-if they can give any-why his neighbors treated him so lightly and made fun of him so much when they saw that he would be a Pilgrim. For they say that he is now held in so much affection by his Prince, and that his King is so much concerned with the indignities that were cast upon Christian when he became a Pilgrim, that He will look upon everyone as if those things were done to himself. And it’s not surprising, for it was because of the love Christian had for his Prince that he did what he did.’” -John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

How deep is the love of Christ! Can we comprehend the weight of love that is lavished upon us? Can we even begin to comprehend the overwhelming joy that will fill us as we stand before the King of the Universe and feel his loving presence? To be so intimately acquainted with the one who’s love has no boundaries is an incomprehensible gift-one that we will thank him for all of eternity for.

It is hard to grasp the love of Christ daily without taking it for granted. It becomes a normal, everyday, tarnished thing. Its luster slowly fades as we talk about it over and over, as we sing about it over and over, as we hear about it over and over. It becomes a philosophical idea rather than a real emotional experience. Our religion becomes a list rather than a relationship, rather than a love. How do we keep this from happening? How do we revive our spirits, stir up those groanings and longings for the Savior?

We must remember the gospel.

We must remind ourselves of our sin and the just penalty of death that hung over us until Christ chose to love us. We must remind ourselves of our unloveliness, of our disgustingness. We must remember that we hated Christ, that our sin was a constant act of retaliation against his love. We must remember that in spite of all these things he chose to love us.

He died for our murderous, adulterous, perverse hearts. He bled and suffered for our filthiness. He chose to allow the disgusting sinners of this earth to nail his perfect, stainless hands and feet to a horrible cross. He chose to slowly suffocate to death in his own lung fluid as he gasped for enough breath to finish our salvation. He did all of this so that we could be cleansed. He cleansed us so that we could understand his love and feel his love. He took away our filthiness so that we could love him.

We must remember our hope.

We must remind ourselves of the promises he has made to us. He has promised to return for us. He has promised that our faith, our blind faith, will be rewarded with visual, physical affirmation. We will stand with him in glory and enjoy his presence forever without the guilt of sin hanging around our necks. Wrongs will be made right and evil will be punished. The suffering we encounter here has all been counted, it is all under his watch. He will avenge the wrong that has been done to us for the sake of his name; he will be glorified. He has promised to cleanse our heart forever and make us white as snow. We will be able to stand before the Holy God and not shrink away because of Christ’s love for us! When you remember these things it is pretty easy to feel his love, to love his love, to sing about his love, to preach his love. But there is something that leads us to love Christ even more than our experience and future with him.

We must enjoy our Savior.

Christ himself is enough to elicit the most profound love from the depths of our souls. Think about his pure character, his power, his gentleness, his generosity, his strength, his moral purity, his empathy, his ability to forgive sin, his eternality, his friendliness, his holiness, his majesty, the list could go on and on. Christ is supremely worthy of love because he is Christ.

Enjoy his love, and allow yourself to be transformed by it’s unique life-altering power!

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When Trials Come

May 23, 2011 by desiringvirtue

This song is really blessing me this morning, I pray it will do the same for you!

When Trials Come

by Keith and Kristyn Getty

When trials come no longer fear
For in the pain our God draws near
To fire a faith worth more than gold
And there His faithfulness is told
And there His faithfulness is told

Within the night I know Your peace
The breath of God brings strength to me
And new each morning mercy flows
As treasures of the darkness grow
As treasures of the darkness grow

I turn to Wisdom not my own
For every battle You have known
My confidence will rest in You
Your love endures Your ways are good
Your love endures Your ways are good

When I am weary with the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in it’s shadow I shall run
Till You completes the work begun
Till You completes the work begun

One day all things will be made new
I’ll see the hope You called me to
And in your kingdom paved with gold
I’ll praise your faithfulness of old
I’ll praise your faithfulness of old

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Riches in Store

May 19, 2011 by desiringvirtue

Wondering where you can find more goodness on the riches of God’s grace that I talked about on Tuesday? Let me recommend Paul David Tripp’s Book “War of Words” to you. I cannot tell you how much I love this book! If you have ever struggled with speaking in a loving, redeeming way… (really, can any of you say that you have never struggled with this?) then I would plead with you to read this book. Here is a particularly encouraging excerpt:

Paul says that there are “glorious riches in Christ.” What is he talking about here? Peter captures it well when he says that “his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Not a lot, not more than most, but everything we need. Consider the words here. The verb in the passage (“has given”) is in the perfect tense, which indicates an action in the past that has a continuing result into the future. It means that Christ has already placed in my storehouse everything that I need. “To do what?” you may ask. Peter says, “everything for life and godliness.” I have been given not just everything I need for eternal life, but everything I need to live a godly life from the time I am saved until the time God takes me home to be with him!

Let the power of these words sink in. The Lord will never put you in a situation without giving you everything you need to do what he has called you to do.

Let’s say that you are a wife, who is in a very difficult converstaion with you husband. There are riches in your storehouse for this momet. Perhaps you ar a worker struggling with a very critical boss. Everything you need to speak in a godly way has already been given. Parent, you are facing another day with a rebellious and disrespectful teenager. All the riches that you need to move beyond your own hurt an danger and to function as an instrument of the Lord have been given. The Word has come and in his hands are glorious riches. His supply is the only thing that will tame the human tongue!

Yes, this is life altering news from the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Let’s live it.

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Hot Cross Buns and Our Substitute

Apr 19, 2011 by desiringvirtue

Now, I am going to be as plain as I can, while I preach over again the precious doctrine of the atonement of Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ was an offering for sin, in the sense of a substitute. God longed to save; but if such a word may be allowed, Justice tied his hands. “I must be just,” said God; “that is a necessity of my nature. Stern as fate, and fast as immutability, is the truth that I must be just. But then my heart desires to forgive-to pass by man’s transgressions and pardon them. How can it be done?

Wisdom stepped in, and said, “It shall be done thus;” and Love agreed with Wisdom. “Christ Jesus, the Son of God, shall stand in man’s place, and he shall be offered upon Mount Calvary instead of man.

Now, mark: when you see Christ going up the Mount of Doom, you see man going there: when you see Christ hurled upon his back, upon the wooden cross, you see the whole company of his elect there; and when you see the nails driven through his blessed hands and feet, it is the whole body of his church who there, in their substitute, are nailed to the tree. (…click here to keep reading this post!)

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Take Me To the Cross

Apr 13, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“What myriads of eyes are casting their glances at the sun! What multitudes of men lift up their eyes, and behold the starry orbs of heaven! They are continually watched by thousands-but there is one great transaction in the world’s history, which every day commands far more spectators than that sun which goeth forth like a bridegroom, strong to run his race. there is one great event, which every day attracts more admiration than do the sun, and moon, and stars, when they march in their courses. That event is, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. To it, the eyes of all the saints who lived before the Christian era were always directed; and backwards, though the thousand years of history, the eyes of all modern saints are looking. Upon Christ, the angels in heaven perpetually gaze. ‘Which things the angels desire to look into,’ said the apostle. Upon Christ the myriad eyes of the redeemed are perpetually fixed; and thousands of pilgrims, through this world of tears, have no higher object for their faith, and no better desire for their vision, than to see Christ as he is in heaven, and in communion to behold his person.”

~Charles Spurgeon

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Are You More Connected, or Less?

Mar 24, 2011 by desiringvirtue

This is a screen shot from the blessed day my iPhone was activated. The Apple guy accidentally snapped it while trying to do something else, but I told him to keep it on there as a memento. Before about a month ago, Richard and I were still sporting the bottom of the line phone models that allow you to… call people (and text of course, if you want to deal with T9 which was always above me). Now we are truly connected. We can talk, text, surf, read books, play games, check my blog comments, change my Facebook status, tweet, and everything else the awesome commercial says you can do. Alleluia!

Then about the same time, John Piper uploads this video to YouTube and I am reminded to make sure that I am truly connected. Check it out and let me know what you think.

“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” (John Piper)

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Reaching Out

Mar 17, 2011 by desiringvirtue

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“But a wife’s ministry of mercy reaches outside her own doors. Every true home is an influence of blessing in the community where it stands. Its lights shine out. Its songs ring out. Its spirit breathes out. The neighbors know whether it is hospitable or inhospitable, warm or cold, inviting or repelling. Some homes bless no lives outside their own circle; others are perpetually pouring out sweetness and fragrance. The ideal Christian home is a far-reaching benediction. It sets its lamps in the windows, and while they give no less light and cheer to those within, they pour a little beam upon the gloom without, which may brighten some dark path and put a little cheer into the heart of some belated passer-by. Its doors stand ever open with a welcome to every one who comes seeking shelter from the storm, or sympathy in sorrow, or help in trial. It is a hospice, like those blessed refuges on the Alps, where the weary or the chilled or the fainting are sure always of refreshment, of warmth, of kindly friendship, of gently ministry, of mercy. It is a place where one who is in trouble may go confident ever of sympathy and comfort. It is a place where the young people love to go, because they know they are welcome and because they find inspiration and help there.”

~Home-Making (now sold as The Family) by J.R. Miller

It’s hard to find this beautiful balance isn’t it? Having so much light in your home that it intentionally spills out into the world? It seems like it is so easy to either keep all the light in your home (neglecting those outside) or spend all your time enlightening those outside the home (neglecting your primary ministry inside). What do you think?

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Longings After God

Mar 10, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“My Dear Lord,

I can but tell thee that thou knowest

I long for nothing but thyself,

nothing but holiness,

nothing but union with thy will.

Though hast given me these desires,

and thou alone canst give me the thing desired.

My soul longs for communion with thee,

for mortification of indwelling corruption,

especially spiritual pride.

How precious it is

to have a tender sense and clear apprehension

of the mystery of godliness,

of true holiness!

What a blessedness to be like thee

as much as it is possible for a creature

to be like its Creator!

Lord, give me more of thy likeness;

Enlarge my sould to contain fullness of holiness;

Engage me to live more for thee.

Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences,

and when I feel at ease after sweet communings,

teach me it is far too little I know and do.

Blessed Lord,

let me climb up near to thee,

and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with thee,

and pant for deliverance from the body of sin,

for my heart is wandering and lifeless,

and my soul mourns to think it should ever

lose sight of its Beloved.

Wrap my life in divine love,

and keep me ever desiring thee,

always humble and resigned to thy will,

more fixed on thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing

and suffering.”

~The Valley of Vision

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When You Feel Like It’s All For Nothing

Mar 2, 2011 by desiringvirtue

“What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word of faith from which the obedience and the work flow.” -Martin Luther

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The Valley

Dec 20, 2010 by desiringvirtue

Lord High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Though hast brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;

hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox

that the way down is the way up,

that to be low is to be high,

that the broken heart is the healed heart,

that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,

that to have nothing is to possess all,

that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,

that to give is to receive,

that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,

thy life in my death,

thy joy in my sorrow,

thy grace in my sin,

thy riches in my poverty

thy glory in my valley.

~The Valley of Vision

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Worldliness

Jul 26, 2010 by desiringvirtue

I’m thinking about how easy it is to blend in with the people around you.

“We have a gospel mission: not only to preach Christ but to live in a way consistent with out profession of faith. As women, you can actually detract from the gospel mission by dressing immodestly, or you can enhance the gospel mission by dressing in a way that reflects the transforming power of the gospel at work in you. The humble woman, the modest woman, is concerned about the lost. and her dress reflects that concern.

Make this your aim: that there be no contradiction between your gospel message and the clothes you wear. May your modest dress be a humble witness to the One who gave himself as a ransom for all.”

-C.J. Mahaney, Worldliness

Are you witnessing in the way you dress? Or are you blending in?

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What Will You Fight For?

Mar 23, 2010 by desiringvirtue

You may not have ever heard of a website called Abort73.com. Abort73 is a pro life organization that aims at educating our country about the truth of abortion. Their primary focus is toward college/high school aged people as you can tell by the cool graphics and fashionable T’s they sell to promote the cause. I would encourage you to check out this website to find a wealth of information on the topic of abortion and what we can do to prevent it. You could literally spend hours on this website learning about legislation, prevention, education, and much more regarding abortion. Here is a quote from John Piper that I found on their site today. It contains strong language, but as he says, “we must speak graphically or we lie.”

“I am frustrated that I have only one life to live for Christ. This morning after breakfast I was again distressed, very distressed, at the thought of the thousands of unborn children that are legally crushed to death by sterile medical instruments. I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. The immensity of the horror of bloody little legs and arms and heads dismembered and piled on a clinic mat returned again and again.

For three years Noël and I lived a few miles from Dachau, the concentration camp outside Munich, Germany. Today it is open to the public. There are pictures. It is only because there are pictures that we believe it happened. Without the photographic record there would be no belief. We walked through the terrible chambers. We walked through the oven rooms. We walked between the stacked bunks. But that is not real. They are like props. It didn’t really happen here in this very spot. Not really.

Then we saw the pictures. The pictures don’t lie. Everything can lie but the pictures. We can escape anything but the pictures. Worldwide indignation came from the pictures. Without the pictures it is unimaginable; it couldn’t have been like that. Or, yes, it could have, but I can’t come close to feeling what I should feel-not without the pictures.

So it is with abortion. It is the pictures that stun me this morning-the incredible scenes from Eclipse of Reason and the photographs of legally mangled corpses. What shall I do? Would petitions and prayers really have sufficed in Nazi Germany?

Then I think of the immensity and horror of the sin of disbelieving God. I think of the offense against his immeasurable honor. I think of the reality of hell and the word pictures in the Bible: “And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:11, RSV).

Suddenly, it hits me what an utter inconsistency it is to feel indignant as a Christian about the Holocaust of the Jews and the holocaust of abortion, but not about the holocaust of sinners perishing in unbelief. Killing babies is a horrendous evil and their destruction is hellish. But not trusting God is a more horrendous evil, and the destruction of unbelieving people is not hellish but hell. Therefore I am frustrated that I have only one life to live for the glory of Christ. One life should surely be devoted to stopping the carnage (we must speak graphically or we lie) of abortion. Another life should surely be devoted to saving people from hell.

What shall I do? What is the solution to my frustration? The solution is the diversity of the members of the church of Jesus Christ. I cannot go to all the unreached peoples of the world with the good news of salvation from sin. I cannot spend all the time I would like writing, speaking, traveling, and agitating for the cause of threatened children. The only solution I know is you! Which horror in the world today makes you ache most? Where will you pour yourself out in the few years you have before you give an account to the righteous Judge of all the earth?”

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The Gift of a Spirit

Mar 2, 2010 by desiringvirtue

“These considerations make us wonder if God’s spirituality should perhaps be called an incommunicable attribute. To do so would indeed be appropriate in some ways, since God’s being is so different from ours. Nevertheless, the fact remains that God has given us spirits in which we worship him…, in which we are united with the Lord’s spirit…, with which the Holy Spirit joins to bear witness to our adoption in God’s family…, and in which we pass into the Lord’s presence when we die…. Therefore there is clearly some communication from God to us of a spiritual nature that is something like his own nature, though certainly not in all respects. For this reason it also seems appropriate to think of God’s spirituality as a communicable attribute.”

-Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology

I have been tossing this idea around in my head for the past couple of weeks trying to grasp its weightiness. God’s word tells us that he “is spirit” (John 4:24) and that spacial dimensions cannot hold him: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings8:27) There is a part of his nature that is completely unlike anything our world can see, touch, or understand. Perhaps this is one of the biggest hindrances for the modern mind when presented with the idea of God. His spirituality is not something that can be tested by the scientific method or even pass the tests of reason or logic (as we define them). It is wholly incomprehensible. Our world is fashioned with matter, molecules and energy and we tend to think in these terms, reason with these terms. “Instead of these ideas of God, we must say that god is spirit. Whatever this means it is a kind of existence that is unlike anything else in creation. It is a kind of existence that is far superior to all our material existence. We might say that God is ‘pure being’ or ‘the fullness of essence of being.’” (Grudem)

We certainly are very unlike God in this way because we are limited. Our spirits were created by his spirit; they have a beginning. Our spirits are limited to one space while his is completely everywhere. Yet, these spirits of ours are mysterious, incomprehensible things themselves. In each material body the Creator placed an immortal, invisible soul… something that was like his own. Scientists debate the very existence of a soul just as they debate the existence of God himself-perhaps because they must disbelieve the validity of a soul if they disbelieve the validity of a Spiritual God. What purpose is there for a spirit if there is nothing for it to relate to beyond itself, if there is nothing like itself. But there is a Spiritual God and he chose to create men in his likeness. He chose to separate them from the rest of creation by giving them spirits that resembled his own… that resembled him.

This reminds me of the importance of the soul. Last week we looked at 1 Peter 3 and the priority that God puts on us cultivating the “inner person of the heart.” It occurs to me that our spiritual nature is all that has lasting value. These bodies are quickly fading growing more and more tired, broken, and diseased. Soon “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Eccl. 12:7) We will all, as Jesus vocally admitted on the cross, commit our spirits into the Father’s hands (Luke 23:46) when or mortal bodies fail. What kind of spirit do I want to commit to the Lord on that day?

It is a wonderful thing to realize our spirits were not made to resemble the things of this earth, but our loving God. It is ok that science cannot explain them, or that logic cannot understand them. God is beyond these arguments as well and he is the one we resemble. Just as a child is marked by a likeness to his biological parents, we as children of God are marked by our spiritual nature. It is not something that we should shy away from, but something that we should cling to and be grateful for. Just as all creation points to the powerful, creative, and beautiful Creator, our souls point to his personal and real spiritual existence. Today I am thanking God for the gift of my spirit…. that it is like his. But, more importantly, I am asking God to make it truly like his in holiness.

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A Morsel of B.M. Palmer

Feb 16, 2010 by desiringvirtue

“The fact is, that all comparisons between the [husband and wife], as to which should be pronounced the worthier are shallow and impertinent. Each is the best in its place; and neither is perfect without the other. The distinction of sex runs through the entire nature of both, so that they differ as truly in their spiritual, as in their corporeal structure; but this very distinction forbids the comparison between the two. What is called the weakness of woman is really her strength. It springs from the more exquisite delicacy of her organization, both intellectual and physical, by which she is fitted for the more delicate and tender offices which she is called to discharge. The dependence to which all this adapts her is not her degradation, but her glory. It betrays, then only the folly of him who is unable to distinguish betwixt subordination and inferiority; and who fails to remember that subordination in office often obtains where there is absolute equality in rank. There is not a bitterer bitter to a true woman than this disparagement, which degrades her in the eyes of him she is herself bound to honor.”

-The Family, by B.M. Palmer

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The Doorway of Marriage

Jan 8, 2010 by desiringvirtue

When planning a wedding it is easy to lose site of the real meaning of the day. In our culture weddings have been denigrated to mere social events that center around impressing the guests and being remembered as unique. But what is a wedding really supposed to be about? Nancy Wilson describes it as the beautiful doorway into marriage. It is the first of many days that a couple will spend in a covenant relationship that is meant to bring glory and honor to the Lord. Christian weddings should be grand celebrations of the Lord’s goodness to the couple and their public commitment to one and other, but that doesn’t mean they have to be extravagantly costly or stressful occasions. In a little section at the back of her book, The Fruit of Her Hands, Nancy addresses the wedding day and gives a little advice that is somewhat foreign to todays bride (and I am sure would never find its way into the latest bridal magazine!). Here are a couple of the highlights:

“Christians must learn and rejoice in the biblical significance of a wedding. Otherwise, our children might as well just elope and skip all the hoopla and save Mom and Dad a lot of time, money, and trouble. If we don’t understand, then what’s the use of all the planning and expense for a twenty to thirty-minute ceremony? Instead of taking signals from the modern wedding industry, Christians need to examine each aspect of the wedding from a biblical standpoint.”

“Another important consideration in wedding planning is the role of the bride and groom and parents: the bride and groom are the guests of honor at a big bash thrown by the bride’s parents. Whoever is paying for this event is the one who decides what is going to happen. In other words, the bride and groom should defer to the bride’s parents when it comes to wedding decisions. (Of course, if the bridal couple is paying for the wedding, this is not the case.)”

“The focus should not be about impressing our friends, but on honoring Christ and celebrating a joyous occasion with our friends and family. We should want our friends to have a wonderful time, not be impressed with our expensive taste.”

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The Fruit of Her Hands

Jan 6, 2010 by desiringvirtue

I have quickly made my way through the first book on my list for 2010, The Fruit of Her Hands, and I can’t tell you how much I have been blessed by it. It truly is the greatest book I have ever read on honoring and respecting your husband. Nancy’s writing style is not typical and makes you feel as though you are sitting across the table from her as she tells you simply how things need to be. I love this about the book and though it is not the most systematic approach to the topic of wifehood, the content is invaluable and will have a lasting impact on my relationship with my husband from here on out. Here are a few excerpts:

On Honoring Your Husband:

“Respect is a demeanor that should characterize wives in all their conduct toward their husbands and in all their communication to or about their husbands-this means courtesy in the home, where the husband is treated with honor.” (underlining me)

On Respecting With Your Speech

“When wife speaks to husband, she should not speak as though she were talking to one of the kids. Her tone should be courteous and kind, not critical, sharp, or flippant. Likewise, when her friends hear her speak of her husband, they should note that on her lips is the law of kindness, not railing and complaining.” (underlining me)

On Growing in Your Knowledge of God

“Because biblical learning is required of us, we ought not to be afraid of it. We must overcome our ignorance! Along with Bible reading, we must avoid bad teaching, whether it is on TV, in Christian books, or from the pulpit. We must seek out good teaching. We ought to read good, solid books on Christian doctrine. It is good for us! We must cultivate a taste for books that will build us up in the faith-not take us to fantasy land.” (underlining me)

On Gossips and Being a Busybody

“Let’s back up and examine how a woman becomes a busybody. First she must learn idleness, as our text says. But how does a woman learn idleness? The image seems contradictory! I suggest that it is learned by studiously avoiding the duties God has laid out for her. The budding busybody must shirk her domestic duties for the more pleasant task of ‘visiting.’” (underlining me)

On Seeking the Wisdom of Older Women

“Young women need to be taught, but not necessarily by other young women. Age brings wisdom and maturity which can only be gained through experience. Young women can be very strong in their opinions about what makes a good homemaker, but they can lack the wisdom and understanding needed to teach with balance.” (underlining me)

As you can see, there is much encouragement to find in this little gem and as you might be able to tell by how quickly I finished it, it is a very short read (just 109 pages). Now I am anxious to get started on her book focused on motherhood called, Praise Her in the Gates, but I think I will make myself wait and use it as incentive to finish a few more books. Visit Nancy’s blog by clicking here.

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Extremes

Dec 11, 2009 by desiringvirtue

My latest reading endeavor? Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets. I can’t tell you how much biographies have and continue to play a part in my spiritual formation. Reading accounts of people who chose to live for a better Kingdom by sacrificing ALL for a better King stirs in my soul an appetite for higher, loftier things. What is it about these people that makes them so unique? How do they manage to do such glorious works for the Lord and usher so many others closer to his throne? I believe that one of the greatest character qualities that they posses is their willingness to go to extremes for the sake of the Kingdom. It is their total abandon to God and passion for him and him alone.

When Mr. Taylor began to prepare for his calling to China he purposefully lived in a way that would prepare both his spirit and his body. Rice and Oatmeal became his ritual meals, he slept on a hard mat rather than a feather bed, he moved from a comfortable home to a shack among the poor. He knew that the Lord would require him to live upon His provision alone while in China and wanted to begin testing himself before he even left his home country. He prayed persistently and with great faith for all of his needs.

“At Hull my kind employer wished me to remind him whenever my salary became due. This I determined not to do directly, but to ask that God would bring the fact to his recollection, and thus encourage me by answering prayer.”

He wanted to test his faith in the Lord’s ability to answer his prayers. And so week after week he would pray that his employer would be prompted to pay his tiny wage and when he didn’t, he trusted that the Lord would provide all that he needed in the meantime.

I think that I would be much more likely to see this to be an unnecessary exercise of faith, after all there were times when he was close to starvation! Rather than give up the luxuries of home prematurely I think I would be tempted to gorge myself on Chick-fil-A and Pappasito’s minutes before my departure!

These exercises of faith were not necessary, but they were profitable. In my opinion, this is the difference between people who do amazing things for God and those who don’t. Normally we tend to do what we must, rather than what we could do. What if, instead of spending hundreds and even thousands of dollars on Christmas gifts we gave that money to the hungry people who live just miles down the road from us and shared the love of Christ (the one we are celebrating by the way) with them? We don’t have to but we could. What if we chose to live on much less than we make so that we could give more to the missionaries who are carrying the message of salvation to people who are on the road to Hell? We don’t have to, but we could. What if a boyfriend and girlfriend gave up kissing or even touching because they realized that the temptation was simply too great and they would rather do nothing physical than invite sin into their relationship? They don’t have to, but they could. What if a family purposefully moved to a lower income neighborhood even though they could afford much more just to be able to reach out to those families and relate to them in a way that would be impossible while living in the suburbs? They don’t have to, but they could. What if instead of filling our minds with the entertainment of this world every night we chose to fill it with the Word of God? We don’t have to but we could.

There are so many obvious choices that we make every day that are either sinful or not, but then there are other choices that we rarely think about. Choices that require discipline, denial, and sacrifice. They don’t come to mind very quickly, but they may make the difference between living the status quo and doing miraculous things.

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The Ends of the Earth

Sep 10, 2009 by desiringvirtue

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22

A couple nights ago Richard and I were reading Spurgeon’s sermon Sovereignty and Salvation. This was the third time I had read it and I plan on reading it again (many more times). Yes, it is that good, but really which Spurgeon sermon isn’t? The text he was teaching from was the verse from Isaiah quoted above. He first explains how the Lord brings glory to himself by proving time and time again that there is no other God besides himself. Idols have fallen and monarchies fail, but the One true God still stands. He then goes on to explain how simple the act of turning to the Lord is. God has made salvation as simple as looking to him and yet it is the hardest thing for a man to do. To do so means that you must acknowledge that the Lord is your only hope of salvation and that your eternity rests in his hands and not your own.

Toward the end of his sermon he addresses the “who” of this verse. Who does the Lord offer this salvation to; who can simply turn to the Lord, the only Lord, and find salvation to quench his thirsty soul? God says, “all the ends of the earth.” Spurgeon acknowledges that this certainly applies to the farthest, and most remote person on the face of our planet. We can surely go to them and tell them to simply turn to the Lord and be saved and they can be! Praise God that the Gospel is universal and meets the deepest needs of every nation, tribe, and tongue. But Spurgeon didn’t just stop there. He goes on to explain:

…I think “the ends of the earth” imply those who have gone the farthest away from Christ. I say, drunkard, that means you. You have been staggering back, till you have got right to the ends of the earth… you cannot be much worse. There is not a man breathing who is much worse than you. Is there? Ah! but God, in order to humble your pride, says to you, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” There is another who has lived a life of infamy and sin, until she has ruined herself, and even Satan seems to sweep her out at the back door; but God says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Methinks I see one trembling here and saying, “Ah, I have not been one of these, sir, but I have been something worse; for I have attended the house of God, and I have stifled convictions, and put off all thoughts of Jesus, and now I think he will never have mercy on me.” You are one of them. “Ends of the earth!” So long as I find any who feel like that I can tell them that they are “the ends of the earth.”

His point of course is that God loves to take the vilest, most repulsive sinners, the ones farthest from himself and give them salvation. He loves to take them from their addictions, lusts, pain, or hypocrisy and bring them into a right relationship with him. He loves to change them and make them into something beautiful, something lovely, something full of joy and purpose. If we know this about our God, it should change the way we preach the gospel. There is no end to the Lord’s mercy; there is no height to his love for sinners. Who are we to say who is beyond the Lord’s salvation? The Lord has made it very clear that even “the ends of the earth” can be saved when they simply turn to him. Therefore we must offer him to every person no matter how far they are from the Lord. We must plead to every soul as Spurgeon concludes:

O, taste and see that the Lord is good! Now believe on him; now cast thy guilty soul upon his righteousness; now plunge thy black soul into the bath of his blood; now put thy naked soul at the door of the wardrobe of his righteousness; now seat thy famished soul at the feast of plenty.

No brother, sister, friend, uncle, aunt, cousin, mom, dad, grandparent, stranger, or co-worker is too far from the Lord to receive his mercy.

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