I am a traveller and I must not be finding fault, I am in another man’s house, and it would be bad manners to find fault in someone else’s house, even though things are not as much to my liking as at home. If a man meets with bad weather, he must be content; it is travellers’ fare, we say. Both fair weather and foul are the common travellers’ fare and we must be content with it….When sailors are at sea they do not care what clothes they have, though they are pitched and tarred….They think of when they come home…So they are contented while away…Â and though they have nothing but salt meat, and a little hard fare, yet when they come to their houses, then they shall have anything. Thus it should be with us in this world, for the truth is, we are all in this world but as seafaring men, tossed up and down on the waves of the sea of this world, and our haven is Heaven; here we are travelling, and our home is a distant home in another world….Though we meet with travellers’ fare sometimes, yet it should not be grievous to us… So let us not be troubled when we see that other men have great wealth, but we have not. -Why? We are going away to another country; you are, as it were, only lodging here for a night. -Jeremiah Burroughs
Monthly Archive for May, 2007
Have you ever wished you had something and then realized that you already do? Yesterday I was thinking that in my next kitchen I want to make sure that I have big wide drawers for all my kitchen utensils. I’ve been shoving them into two narrow drawers for the past ten years, and my toddling granddaughter Daphne loves to open them and dig out peelers and egg separators and whisks. This morning it surprised me when I realized I already have two big wide drawers in my kitchen. I’ve been using them for other things that could easily be stashed somewhere else. So, after ten years, I moved all my cooking utensils into those two wide drawers. Hoorah!
But later as I reflected on this, I thought how like the Christian life this is. Sometimes we think, “If only I had more self-control, more kindness, more graciousness…” And yet, God has already provided all these things for us in Christ. We just need to realize we have them, and then move in and take possession of these things. So here’s the thought for the day: Open your eyes!
How many times do men and women, when they are discontented, let their thoughts run, and are musing and contriving, through their present discontentedness and let their discontented thoughts work in them for some hours together, and they spend their time in vain! When you are alone you should spend your time in hold meditation, but you are spending your time in discontented thoughts. -Jeremiah Burroughs
Much has been written about humility; it is a grace that is entirely contrary to our fallen nature. Thomas Watson said, “Man is a proud piece of flesh,” and there is no denying this truth. All the more reason why we are to pursue this virtue: “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility” (Zeph. 2:3).
So, what is humility exactly? It is having a modest estimate of one’s own importance; not proud; not self-assertive; modest; lowly; unpretentious.That should give us enough to work with. Though this study was put together for married women, it certainly does not mean married women are the only ones who need humility. A humble woman, married or unmarried, will be a tremendous asset to her church, her home, her family, and her community.
God sets Himself against the proud, but He works with the humble of heart, guiding, teaching, lifting up, giving grace: “The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way” (Ps. 25:9). “The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground” (Ps. 147:6). “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10). “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6). “Pride goes before destruction, and a Continue reading ‘Humility’
Here is a lovely virtue that women are designed for. It isn’t in found in a list of virtues like some of the others we have discussed, but women are charged to be domestic, to be capable homemakers.
Domestic means simply, home-loving; enjoying household affairs; a devotion to home and family life.
Domesticity encompasses everything that has to do with managing a home.Women need to be trained to be domestic, just like they might be trained for any other job. Though women are designed for this, it does not follow that we know everything instinctively. It is a calling, not a hobby. The older women are to teach the younger women to be homemakers (Titus 2:4). That word maker is an important one. God is our Maker and He has given us the great privilege of making things in imitation of Him, whether it is a poem or a home. Women are given a glorious responsibility in homemaking.
Homekeeping refers to the nuts and bolts of managing a home, and homemaking has Continue reading ‘Home-Loving’
In speaking of obedience as fruit of love to God, Thomas Watson says this: “There are some sins which are not only near to us as the garment, but dear to us as the eye. If we love God, we shall set ourselves against these, both in purpose and practice. Also in forgiving our enemies…This is hard; it is crossing the stream. We are apt to forget kindnesses, and remember injuries; but if we love God, we shall pass by offences. When we seriously consider how many talents God has forgiven us, how many affronts and provocations He has put up with at our hands, this makes us write after His copy, and endeavour rather to bury an injury than to retaliate it.”
Recent Comments