Perfect Holiness and Love

Friday, July 6, 2007

From A Call to Spiritual Reformation:

The truth is that every Christian who has thought long and hard about the cross begins to understand that God is not merely a stern dispenser of justice, nor merely a lover who lavishly forgives, but the Sovereign who is simultaneously perfect in holiness and perfect in love. His holiness demands retribution; his love sends his own Son to absorb that retribution on behalf of others. The cross simultaneously stands as the irrefutable evidence that God demands retribution, and cries out that it is the measure of God's love (see Rom. 3:21-26). That is why, in the Christian view of things, forgiveness is never detached from the cross. In other words, forgiveness is never the product of love alone, still less of mawkish sentimentality. Forgiveness is possible only because there has been a real offense, and a real sacrifice to offset that offense.

Expect God's Blessing

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Looking again at The Christian in Complete Armour:

The sincere Christian cherishes such sweet thoughts of God that his meditations unite him with peace and he would not consider speaking unworthy of God's glory or goodness. We see this in David: "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it" (Ps 39:9). Both his spirit and body were afflicted at the same time; he was sad and sick, yet he remembered where the affliction came from. "This is from You, Lord, and I love You dearly; so I can take it without fear. After all, You might have thrown me into a bed of flames instead of a bed of sickness; so let me accept my correction thankfully." Thus he fielded the blow without sending words of resentment or anger back upon God. [July 3]

Husband Expressing Love

Monday, July 2, 2007

From Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart.

Brothers, as husbands (or future ones), our love is to be expressed as sacrifice. (Eph 5:25-27). [p138]

...Christ loved his bride, and it came throuh sacrifice. Christ did not sacrifice his headship (thereby abandoning his calling); he was expressing it. Christ's supreme act of headship was to go ahead and do what was required, even sacrificing his own life, to serve his bride the church. He did not say, to put in the creedal form of every passive husband, "Yeah, whatever." This is not sacrifice; it is abondonment. Nor even though he is God, did he lord it over people. He woos and wins through love and patience. [p138]

...Manly love looks to sacrifice. We lay our own wants and desires down in order to serve her wants and desires. This is not an absolute but a disposition. Not all her desires are consistent with God's desires, and so we must please Him above all others. But to the degree that there is no conflict between God's holiness and our wife's happiness, we are willing to make the sacrifice. [p139]