The Ship Is Always Sailing On
One of Charles Spurgeon’s more interesting projects was to write a volume of illustrations, all of which were borrowed from the writings of Thomas Manton. Essentially, he would quote a short illustration from Manton, then expand it into a kind of devotional. The result was called Flowers from a Puritan’s Garden. Here is one of them, beginning with Manton’s original quote and then continuing with Spurgeon’s reflection on it.
“The ship holds on her course, and makes for the desired port, whether they on board sit, lie or walk, eat or sleep.”
Thus time is at all times bearing us onward to the land where time shall be no more. There is never a pause in our progress toward eternity, whether we trifle or are in earnest. Even while we read these lines the great ship is still speeding onward at the same rapid and unvarying rate. We shall soon see the shore of eternity; far sooner than we think! It becomes us to be ready for the landing, and for the weighty business which will then engage us, namely, judgment at the hands of Christ.
If we could lie becalmed a while and make no movement toward eternity we could afford to sport; but if we look over the ship’s stern we may see by her shining wake how she is cutting through the waves. Past time urges us to diligence, for it has reported us in heaven; and future time calls us to earnestness, for it must be short, and may end this very day. And then!
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Free Stuff Fridays (TMAI)
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by The Master’s Academy International (TMAI). They are giving away the 42-volume Essential MacArthur Library set.
The Master’s Academy International (TMAI) is a worldwide network of pastoral training centers that equip indigenous church leaders to preach the word and shepherd their people. They have 19 Training Centers around the world, with dozens currently in development, as they are now under the most significant demand for student enrollment in their history. For example, in places like Ukraine—while many seek to flee to safety—the TMAI training center saw the largest incoming class in its history this academic year. These men are not only serving their families, comforting hurting communities, and shepherding their churches in times of war, but many are risking their lives each and every day for the sake of proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ.
The central focus of TMAI is training indigenous men in how to study, preach, and live out the word of God. TMAI recognizes that the most effective missions strategy is not primarily for Western missionaries to go and preach in every nation—rather, to train indigenous men to effectively serve and minister in Japan, Myanmar, Croatia, Ukraine, Argentina, Malawi, and many other places. This is why funding student scholarships is necessary for missions and a strategic effort for TMAI. To provide maximum opportunity for impact, TMAI aims to raise $1.9 million by December 31st to help fund indigenous student scholarships. As you fill out the form below, consider making a year-end gift to help these efforts.
Giveaway: The Essential MacArthur Library
The Master’s Academy International (TMAI) is giving away a 42-volume Essential MacArthur Library. This set includes key resources designed to help believers better understand the Bible, the most important resource for anyone. The Essential MacArthur Library remains one of the top translation projects for TMAI as they seek to resource the global church with God-honoring books. To learn more about TMAI’s indigenous publishing efforts, go here.
The Essential MacArthur Library includes:The MacArthur New Testament Commentary series (33 vols.)
The MacArthur Study Bible
The MacArthur Bible Commentary
Biblical Doctrine
Essential Christian Doctrine
The Master’s Plan for the Church
The MacArthur Pastoral Library—4 vols. (Preaching Pastoral Ministry · Counseling · Evangelism)To win the Essential MacArthur Library (in English), please enter below. One winner will be selected.
TO ENTER:
Giveaway Rules: Entries are limited to 1 per person. U.S. Addresses only. By submitting your information, you agree to receive regular updates about the ministry of The Master’s Academy International. The winner will be notified by email. The giveaway closes at midnight on Friday, January 5th, 2023. Enter your information into the form below or HERE. -
Love Keeps No Record of Rights
We’ve heard it at both weddings and funerals, as both aspiration for a life lived together and as commemoration of a life lived well. In these two contexts and so many others we’ve heard the “love passage,” the Bible’s beautiful description of love enacted in the life of the Christian: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.” And so on.
One of the descriptions can be rendered in a couple of different ways, but most translations understand it as a term related to accounting: “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” Here we have the image of a person opening an accounting book to carefully record every wrong that has been done against him. He writes a date, he writes a name, he writes a description of the hurt or harm, the insult or injury. And he does this not only to chronicle it all but to justify future retaliation.
To keep such a close accounting, a person must first be observant. He must look for every wrong that has been done to him, he must make a careful study of it, and he must write out a precise record. He has to be more than a casual observer of wrongs, but a scrupulous student of them.
In contrast to this, the Bible admonishes us toward something like a self-controlled modesty in which, just as we might avert our eyes from another person’s nakedness, we avert our eyes from another person’s sinfulness. Just as we do our best not to dishonor loved ones by allowing our eyes to linger on their exposed immodesty, we do not allow our minds to linger on their exposed depravity. And, because we haven’t permitted ourselves to see it, we do not permit ourselves to make a record of it.
And so the Christian is to keep no record of wrongs. Yet I find it every bit as important to keep no record of rights—of the right and good things we have done to others. And that’s because the accounting we are always tempted to keep is not merely of other people’s bad deeds but our own good deeds. Our ledger doesn’t only have a column of their debits, but also of our credits. And when we become convinced there is a disparity between the two, we can become despondent and entitled—despondent that we are not being loved as well as we are loving and entitled to be loved more and better.
Yet this is not the way of the Christian, for love rejects all basis of comparison to simply love according to the second great commandment: “love your neighbor as yourself.” And, indeed, this is how we are to love because this is how we have been loved—loved by Christ himself. Jesus loved us without keeping an accounting, without ensuring that he was being loved to the same degree that he was loving. Jesus loved us without maintaining an exhaustive record of all the ways he had succeeded and we had failed. The heavenly books are not storing up a record of misdeeds for which he will someday retaliate against us. But neither are the heavenly books storing up a record of all the right deeds he did so he can condemn us in the comparison.
Love simply loves—it loves humbly and joyfully, it loves purely and sweetly, it loves freely and completely. Love loves without analyzing, without comparing, without accounting. Love keeps no record of wrongs and love keeps no record of rights. -
What is a Disciple?
Today’s blog is sponsored by the D3 Youth Conference, March 8-9, 2024 at Boyce College in Louisville, KY.
Some words become so familiar they risk losing their meaning. For Christians, the term “disciple” carries just such a risk. We read about Jesus calling forth disciples in the pages of the Gospels. We recognize the command to “make disciples of every nation” in the Great Commission. We sign up for discipleship programming at our churches. But what exactly do we mean when we speak of being a disciple of Jesus?
Early in the Gospel accounts (Mk. 2:18), we see a recognition that Jesus’s disciples live differently from the disciples of other teachers or schools. The disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus why his followers don’t fast like those of John or the Pharisees. Jesus’s response clarifies that his disciples live differently because his coming represents an inbreaking of a new sort of kingdom. Whereas the disciples of other groups primarily reflect the teaching of a great master or school, Jesus’s disciples reflect his relationship to the Father and share in his power for ministry.
A right relationship with Jesus grounds our life lived as his disciple.Share
Everyone is a disciple of someone to some degree. Whether you follow the latest new age teacher, model your life after a guru on the manosphere, or just consider yourself a devoted Swiftie, we are all pupils of some sort of life teaching. And in a day when content has become so accessible, we can be influenced by more teachers than any generation in history. Considering our current reality, the question “What is a disciple” has never been more important to answer faithfully.
When Jesus gathered his disciples in Mark 3:13, he “called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.” First and foremost, Jesus’s disciples are summoned to be with him. The empowerment for ministry that will come to the disciples flows from the relationship the disciples have with Jesus. Such will be the same for us. A right relationship with Jesus grounds our life lived as his disciple.
During the upcoming D3 Youth Conference, your student will learn what it means to be a disciple, and in turn, understand their role in making disciples of others. Join us March 8-9 on the campus of Boyce College in Louisville to explore topics such as these:How Do I Follow Jesus in a Digital Age?
How Spiritual Disciplines Motivate Our Hearts Toward Holiness
The Missional Heart of a Disciple
Space is limited so secure your student’s registration today!
REGISTER NOW FOR D3