Done!

18th year of homeschool accomplished! To God be the glory; great things He has done!

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So, my sweet and wonderful friend Cassia arrived last night and now our state is officially the "SUNSHINEY" state!

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God can take nothing and make a universe. Imagine what He can do with your problems today!

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An Imperishable Inheritance

In his book, Finally Alive, John Piper talks about the apostle Peter's emphasis on the living hope that we have. "I think Peter is emphasizing this because the overarching context of his letter is suffering. Don't be daunted by your suffering. Even if they take your physical life, they cannot take the life you have by the new birth. That is imperishable."

I think pondering these truths help me to grapple with the daily decision to be satisfied in Christ alone. What do I mean by that? Well, it is easy to get so caught up in this life as if it is all there is. Sometimes I face the challenges of my day without an eye to eternity, and without relishing the hope that should carry me through any struggle. We are just passing through this life, though it is all we know now. Certainly we have a lot to do here, and there are very real struggles that have to be faced with wisdom, but there is a far greater reality that we wait for. Christ has purchased for me an imperishable inheritance, and I pray that He will cause that to impact my attitude, moment by moment, with hope and joy!

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Happy to Be Nothing

Here is the first step toward killing an entitlement mentality: an accurate evaluation of who you are.

Galatians 6:3
For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

That is the best reality check ever!!!

Why do we ever complain and get angry when we don't get our way??!!? Why do we think more highly of ourselves than we ought??!?? This reminds me that before a holy God we are just unworthy sinners. We are nothing, and on even our best days, apart from Christ, we would still be under the wrath of God because of our sins. We deceive ourselves when we wrongly think that life is unfair and we deserve better than what we got.  Not true.  We deserved hell, but for those who are trusting in Christ alone, we got Jesus instead.  This verse is set in the context of bearing one another's burdens and helping restore a brother who is in sin. Humility must make us step back and say, "But for the grace of God, that would be me, too."

Yes, that puts a new day in proper perspective.  Thank you for the cross, Lord!

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Currently Reading...

It has been a while, but I recently picked up Gospel-Powered Parenting again, and remembered how much I love this book. Farley does a great job of showing that what we believe about Jesus Christ and the degree to which we are first transformed by His glorious Gospel will have everything to do with how we parent our children.

One chapter is about God being our gracious Father, and I appreciated this quote about how He proved that by giving His Son for us:

"...the knowledge of what we deserve, and what it cost God to be gracious, is the measure of his fatherly grace. When all is said and done, the cross is the tape that measures the length and breadth of God's grace."

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Quoteworthy

"Jesus is worthy—oh how worthy!—of our deepest, strongest, most self-consuming affection. And God, who gave us His Son, asks nothing in return but that we give Him our hearts. Let His love, then, constrain us to a more unreserved obedience, to a holier walk, to a more ardent, inseparable attachment to Him, to His people, and to His cause. Let us, .... under the influence of more simple faith, more fervent love, and brightening hope, “go forth unto Jesus without the camp, bearing His reproach,” resting amid our conflict and our toil, where the Father rests—where the sinner rests—where we may rest—in Jesus."

-Octavius Winslow, a contemporary of Spurgeon

http://octaviuswinslow.org/

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