I just couldn’t resist adding one more thought to the previous post. Think through this quote from Alexander MacLaren. “Brother! there is only one gladness that is worth calling so-and that is, that which comes to us, when we give ourselves utterly away to Jesus Christ, and let Him do with us as He will. It is better to have a joy that is central and perennial-though there may be, as there will be, a surface of sorrow and care-than to have the converse, a surface of joy, and a black, unsympathetic kernel of aching unrest and sadness. In one or other of these two states we all live. Either we have to say, ‘as sorrowful yet always rejoicing’ or we have to feel that ‘even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.’ Let us choose for ourselves, and let us choose aright, the gladness which coils round the heart, and endures for ever, and is found in submission to Jesus Christ, rather than the superficial, fleeting joys which are rooted on earth and perish with time.”
How is Joy Connected to an Eternal Perspective?
“A believer should count it a wasted day when he (she) does not learn something new from or is not more deeply enriched by the truth of God’s Word. Scripture is food for the believer’s growth and power— and there is no other….The most noble are still those who search the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11)” Quoted from John MacArthur’s study on 1 Peter. Connect these thoughts with John 15:11. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” Who could not want such a life as this? So simple, but so seldom believed. Does this verse describe your life?
Let’s encourage one another this Thursday morning in believing and living in a way that brings great glory to God and great joy to our souls. Our discussion will begin on page 18-question 5.
Daily Sacrificial Love
“…love one another fervently with a pure heart,…” 1 Peter 1:22b
How would you rate the love you have for other people? Do the words “fervently” and “pure” in the above verse stand out to you like they do to me? Do I really love fervently (intensely) and with a pure heart (a heart purified by obedience to Christ)? This standard for love leaves most “love” we are familiar with as far inferior in quality and quantity. In the 1700’s John Gill studied this passage deeply and made these conclusions. “…this is Christ’s new commandment, and the evidence of regeneration; a distinguishing badge of Christianity, and without which all profession of religion is a vain and empty thing; this should be mutual and cordial; and should proceed from the heart, and from an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience; and should be with warmth and fervency, and not with coldness and indifference; though the word here use…may not only design the intenseness of it, but the extensiveness of it also; as that it should reach to all the saints, the poor as well as the rich, and the lesser as well as the greater and more knowing believers;…”
Please join me this Thursday morning as we encourage one another to love as God directs and other topics as well from 1 Peter 1. We will begin our discussion with question 2 on page 16. Reagan comes every week to care for your little ones, so don’t hesitate to bring them along. As usual Livestream will begin about 9:30.