“Yet the duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks. This is a law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment. But alas, this is a secret we often fail to discover.”
John Owen
“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”
-A. W. Tozer
“He who grows in grace remembers that he is but dust, and he therefore does not expect his fellow Christians to be anything more. He overlooks ten thousand of their faults, because he knows his God overlooks twenty thousand in his own case. He does not expect perfection in the creature, and, therefore, he is not disappointed when he does not find it.”
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Sermons, p. 448
Have you ever, during or after doing something right or something for the Lord, become conscious of a desire to be thought well of or noticed or acclaimed for what you were doing?
I’m ashamed to say I have. It’s something I battle all too often.
That’s why a quote from Puritan preacher Richard Baxter recorded in the September/October 2007 issue of Frontline magazine arrested me. I searched online to try to find out where this quote was from, and found it was from a book titled The Reformed Pastor by Baxter. It’s words are true for anyone.
Truly, brethren, a man may as certainly, and more slyly, make haste to hell, in the way of earnest preaching of the gospel, and seeming zeal for a holy life, as in a way of drunkeness and filthiness. For what is holiness, but a devotedness to God and a living to him? And what is a damnable state, but a devotedness to carnal self and a living to ourselves? And doth any one live more to himself, or less to God, than the proud man? And may not pride make a preacher study for himself and pray and preach, and live to himself, even when he seemeth to surpass others in the work? It is not the work without the right principle and end that will prove us upright. The work may be God’s, and yet we may do it, not for God, but for ourselves.
But woe to him that takes up the fame of godliness instead of godliness! ‘Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.’ When the times were all for learning and empty formalities, the temptation of the proud did lie that way. But now, when, through the unspeakable mercy of God, the most lively practical preaching is in credit, and godliness itself is in credit, the temptation of the proud is to pretend to be zealous preachers and godly men. Oh, what a fine thing is it to have the people crowding to hear us, and affected with what we say, and yielding up to us their judgments and affections! What a taking thing is it to be cried up as the ablest and godliest man in the country, to be famed through the land for the highest spiritual excellencies!
Oh, therefore, be jealous of yourselves, and, amidst all your studies, be sure to study humility. ‘He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’
Many people begin with new year with a goal to read the Bible through, or at least to read it more. And that is a worthy goal. There are many good reasons to read the Bible.
I’d like to suggest, though, that if you don’t have some kind of plan of action, this goal, like many others, will likely fizzle out and you’ll get discouraged: likely either making the time will fall to the wayside, or you’ll hit or miss in favorite passages and not venture out into others.
So I would like to suggest that you make some kind of plan. Let me say up front, though, that not every day will go according to plan, and that’s ok. Don’t let it discourage you that you can’t do the exact same thing every day, when someone is sick, when on vacation, when something unexpected comes up. On “those days” just do what you can and then get back into routine as soon as you are able.
That’s one reason I like the Daily Light devotional book. I like to use it to begin my devotions and get my mind in gear, but there are some days that that may be all I can do, and on those days I know I’ve had a good “bite” into God’s Word — kind of like those days that you don’t have time for a proper breakfast but you grab a multi-grain nutrition bar rather than a donut.
I’ll confess that on Sundays I only read Daily Light (and sometimes other devotional books I am going through). Our routine is different on Sunday and everyone is home, making it a little harder to find a quiet time to concentrate, plus we’re at church 3+ hours with Sunday School and the morning and evening services. I look at it like going to Grandma’s house for a big Sunday dinner rather than eating at home: I am going to church for the “family meal” my pastor and teachers have prepared that day.
There are a number of plans online for reading the Bible through. One here is based, I believe, on the One Year Bible plan. BibleGateway.com has a few different ones: a comprehensive one for reading the Bible through in a year, a 121-day biographical one covering some of the major people in the Bible, a 61-day survey schedule, and a 61-day chronological reading plan.
There is a plan developed by Robert Murray McCheyne (or M’cheyne) here that will take you though the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalm twice in a year’s time.
Susan at By Grace posted links to some other Bible reading plans that I’m going to “borrow” and share with you here. One she saw at Mountain Musings is here with five different plans for many different versions (even foreign language ones). Another one has you reading from different parts of the Bible (Epistles, Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, Gospels) each day. Susan also shared a link to a free online version of Alexander Scourby’s audio reading of the KJV for those who learn better by listening than by reading (or who sometimes like to listen while reading).
There is a list of thirteen other Bible reading plans here.
Surely with all of those plans there is one to strike everyone’s fancy. 🙂
I’ve mentioned many times that I love reading the Bible through, and when I first started a plan kept me at it and on track. Over the past several years I have continued to read the Bible through, but not in a year. I usually read a couple of chapters a day, but in some of the narrative passages or some of the shorter epistles I’ll read more at a time. There are some places in the Bible that, if I try reading more, I am not comprehending it, and that’s the goal — understanding and meditating on what you read, not just getting through a list. Plus I want to be free to study out something that strikes me in my reading or look up cross references, etc., without feeling like I don’t have time to because I need to keep with the plan.
Sometimes I take a break in my regular reading to do a particular study or to go through a Christian book, like Changed Into His Image.
A few other posts I have written on this topic are Devotional tips, Having devotions when you’re not feeling very devoted, God’s Word, When there is no hunger for God’s Word, and What do you say about this book? One of my passions is getting people into the Word of God for themselves. It’s such a treasure.
In closing, here are some quotes from other well-known voices of the past about reading the Word of God:
“Above all theologies, and creeds, and catechisms, and books, and hymns, must the Word be meditated on, that we may grow in the knowledge of all its parts and in assimilation to its models. Our souls must be steeped in it; not in certain favorite parts of it, but the whole. We must know it, not from the report of others but from our own experience and vision,…Another cannot breathe the air for us, nor eat for us, nor drink for us.”
–Horatius Bonar from They Walked With God“It will greatly help you to understand scripture if you note – not only what is spoken and written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goes before and what follows. “
–Miles Coverdale“Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! “
–Charles Haddon Spurgeon“The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” –AW. Tozer
“When you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bibles to Christ.” –Robert Murray M’Cheyne
“If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” — Daniel Webster
“Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as… served the company almost a week… Many of the Indians came amongst us and… their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought… And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are…far from want.”
~ Edward Winslow, Plymouth, Massachusetts, December, 1621
Christian, Pilgrim
A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues
~ Cicero
O Lord, that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.
~ William Shakespeare
The Pilgrims came to America not to accumulate riches but to worship God, and the greatest wealth they left unborn generations was their heroic example of sacrifice that their souls might be free.
~ Harry Moyle Tippett
Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow, A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves
~ Henry Ward Beecher
Measured by the standards of men of their time, [the Pilgrims] were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came – rejected, despised – an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy destined to free mankind.
~ Calvin Coolidge
Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.
~ Henry Ward Beecher
We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is “good,” because is it good, if “bad” because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.
~ C. S. Lewis
No people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with the gratitude to the Giver of good who has blessed us.
~ Theodore Roosevelt
Thanksgiving, to be truly thanksgiving, is first thanks, then giving.
~ Unknown
In the old Anglo-Saxon, to be “thankful” meant to be “thinkful.” Thinking of one’s blessings should stir one to gratitude.
~ Unknown
This is the holy reasoning of love; it draws no license from grace, but rather feels the strong constraints of gratitude leading it to holiness.
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon
O Thou Who has given us so much, mercifully grant us one more thing: a grateful heart.
~George Herbert
More Thanksgiving -related content on this blog:
Thanksgiving Bible Study
Thanksgiving devotional reading is here.
Last year’s collection of Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here and A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.
Thanksgiving poems are here and More Thanksgiving Poems are here.
Join us for Kelli’s “Giving Thanks” event this week at There’s No Place Like Home.
And since I have thirteen quotes, I’ll include this for a Thursday Thirteen. 😀
(Top and bottom graphics are from Snapshots of Joy)
From the September 8 reading of Joy and Peace compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston:
Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.
–PSALMS 30:4
GLAD with Thy light, and glowing with Thy love,
So let me ever speak and think and move
As fits a soul new-touched with life from heaven;
That seeks but so to order all her course
As most to show the glory of that Source
By whom alone her strength, her life are given.
–C. J. P. SPITTA
OUR Christianity is apt to be of a very “dutiful” kind. We mean to do our duty, we attend church and go to our communions. But our hearts are full of the difficulties, the hardships, the obstacles which the situation presents, and we go on our way sadly, downhearted and despondent. We need to learn that true Christianity is inseparable from deep joy; and the secret of that joy lies in a continual looking away from all else–away from sin and its ways, and from the manifold hindrances to the good we would do–up to God, His love, His purpose, His will. In proportion as we do look up to Him we shall rejoice, and in proportion as we rejoice in the Lord will our religion have tone and power and attractiveness.
–CHARLES GORE
I turn 50 today. 50! Wow. I can hardly believe it. Doesn’t seem like I’ve been around for 50 years!
I guess I’ll need to change the “40-something” designation in my profile. But I don’t want to say “50-something” since that sounds so much older than just barely 50. Maybe I’ll just say “middle-aged.” 😀
I had thought about doing something special here to celebrate this milestone, but it ended up being a busy week. So I’ll share something that brought me a few chuckles and eased me into the transition into a new decade:
Perks of Being Over 50
~~~~~
When Sally discovered her first gray hair she immediately wrote to her parents: “Dear Dad and Mom, You saw my first steps. You might want to experience this with me too.” She taped the offending hair to the paper and mailed it. Her father’s response was in the form of a poem:
It’s a trustworthy observation
That nothing can compare
In the process of aging
With finding the first gray hair.
He signed off with this observation: “That gray hair you sent is not the first one you gave us!”
~~~~~
Finally, here are some quotes I saved especially for this birthday from a Thursday Thirteen I saw at Echoes of Grace when she was also facing a milestone birthday:
1. Happiness is inward, and not outward, and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on who we are. ~Henry Van Dyke
2. Regrets are the natural property of gray hairs. ~Charles Dickens
3. I suppose real old age begins when one looks backward rather than forward. ~May Sarton
4. There is no cure for the common birthday. ~John Glenn
5. It is not how old you are, but how you are old.~ Marie Dressler
6. The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.~ English Proverb
7. Old age is like flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.~ Golda Meir
8. The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. ~Jean Paul
9. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. ~Douglas MacArthur
10. Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. ~Mark Twain
11. Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. ~Jim Fiebig
12. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? ~Satchel Paige
13. Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many ~Anonymous
From A Lamp For My Feet by Elisabeth Elliot:
How can this person who so annoys or offends me be God’s messenger? Is God so unkind as to send that sort across my path? Insofar as his treatment of me requires more kindness than I can find in my own heart, demands love of a quality I do not possess, asks of me patience which only the Spirit of God can produce in me, he is God’s messenger. God sends him in order that he may send me running to God for help.
Some quotes for the Fourth of July:
From John Adams’ famous letter of July 3, 1776, in which he wrote to his wife Abigail what his thoughts were about celebrating the Independence Day, with his original spellings:
The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.
~ Henry Ward Beecher
Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens. ~ Daniel Webster
Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint. ~ Daniel Webster
If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. ~ Hamilton Fish
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
—Thomas Paine
Stray Thoughts 