Monthly Archive for July, 2007

Self Control/Temperance

Published by on July 31, 2007 in Fruit of the Spirit. 6 Comments

Definition: To exercise authority over oneself by submitting one’s own emotions, desires, thoughts, and actions to the Word of God. This includes being sober, clear-minded, serious, watchful, alert, and vigilant.

God is the source of self-control; God’s grace teaches us to live soberly.

Galatians 5:22- 23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age…

We glorify God by bearing such fruit.

Philippians 1:9-11 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

John 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples. Continue reading ‘Self Control/Temperance’

The Presumption Chest

Published by on July 29, 2007 in Domesticity. 12 Comments

When my dad was a young man, he once went to pick up a young lady for a date, and while he waited for her, her mother hauled out her daughter’s hope chest to show my dad how much loot she had. Far from impressing him, had she been trying her best to scare him off, she could not have done anything that would have worked quite so well.
Though we don’t have the same culture-wide tradition of the hope chest anymore, the principle of a young woman gathering up stuff that will come in handy later is a really wise idea. (It just shouldn’t be used to impress the guys!) When my younger daughter was in college, she began accumulating quite a load of things for her future kitchen. She bought herself a big, beautiful, red kitchen aid mixer with the proceeds of a catering event, and she collected vintage tablecloths and aprons, and lots of kitchen gadgets. At one point I remember her saying something like, “I don’t have a hope chest. I have a presumption chest!” But she enjoyed using her pasta maker and her collection of cookboots, etc. while she was still living with us. Continue reading ‘The Presumption Chest’

To Walk Worthy

Published by on July 24, 2007 in Commonplaces. 2 Comments

From Thomas Watson’s All Things For Good: 

To walk worthy of our calling is to walk wisely. Walking wisely implies three things.

1. To walk warily. “The wise man’s eyes are in his head” (Eccles. 2:14). Others watch for our halting, therefore we had need look to our standing. We must beware, not only of scandals, but of all that is unbecoming, lest thereby we open the mouth of others with a fresh cry against religion. If our piety will not convert men, our prudence may silence them.

2. To walk courteously. The spirit of the gospel is full of meekness and candour. “Be courteous” (1 Pet. 3:8). Take heed of a morose, supercilious behaviour. Religion does not take away civility, but refines it. “Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the children of Heth” (Gen. 23:7). Though they were of a heathenish race, yet Abraham gave them a civil respect. Paul the apostle was of an affable temper. “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). In lesser matters the apostle yielded to others, that by his obliging manner he might win upon them.

3. To walk magnanimously. Though we must be humble, yet not base. It is unworthy to prostitute ourselves to the lusts of men. What is sinfully imposed ought to be zealously opposed. Conscience is God’s diocese, where none has right to visit, but He who is the Bishop of our souls (1 Pet. 2:25). We must not be like hot iron, which may be beaten into any form. A brave spirited Christian will rather suffer, than let his conscience be violated. Here is the serpent and the dove united, sagacity and innocence. This prudential walking comports with our high calling, and does not a little adorn the gospel of Christ.

What kind of man are you looking for?

Published by on July 23, 2007 in Unmarried Sisters. 14 Comments

You might answer, “I’m not looking for a man!” But let’s be honest about this. Of course you are looking for a man, and there is not one thing wrong with that. The wrong would be for you to flat out deny it. Now I don’t think it is godly or healthy or wise to be obsessed with watching out for the right man to show up. But it is only natural for a woman who wants to be married to have her eyes open. The important thing is to know what kind of man you are looking for and to keep from being tricked into thinking you have found him when you haven’t.

Because of loneliness women are tempted to respond to the wrong kind of man. And as I have said before, there is one thing worse than being unmarried (actually there are lots of things), and that is being married to the wrong man. I have talked with many miserable married women over the years, and I sometimes ask them, “Why did you marry him?” Sometimes they saw him as a ticket out of their hard circumstances, but in reality he was a ticket to newer and harder circumstances. Marrying someone for the wrong reason will never lead to long-term happiness.

Continue reading ‘What kind of man are you looking for?’

Simple Amiability

Published by on July 20, 2007 in Commonplaces. 1 Comment

My husband is a big fan of H.L. Mencken, who wrote on just about every subject. Here is a Mencken quote he came across on how women tend to over-estimate the importance of “mere physical beauty” to men.
 ”. . . of infinitely more value is a quality that women often neglect, to wit, the quality of simple amiability. The most steadily charming of all human beings, male or female, is the one who is tolerant, unprovocative, good-humored, kind. A man wants a show only
intermittently, but he wants peace and comfort every day.”

The Lesson of Self-Denial

Published by on July 19, 2007 in Contentment. 2 Comments

“It is a hard lesson. You know that when a child is first taught, he complains: This is hard; it is just like that. I remember Bradford the martyr said, ‘Whoever has not learned the lesson of the cross, has not learned his ABC in Christianity.’ This is where Christ begins with his scholars, and those in the lowest form must begin with this; if you mean to be Christians at all, you must buckle to this or you can never be Christians. Just as no-one can be a scholar unless he learns his ABC, so you must learn the lesson of self-denial or you can never become a scholar in Christ’s school, and be learned in this mystery of contentment. That is the first lesson that Christ teaches any soul, self-denial, which brings contentment, which brings down and softens a man’s heart.” –Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment