There are Christian circles that disdain education and
glorify ignorance. This is part of a larger anti-establishment, anti-institutional,
anti-intellectual mood based on the idea that the less you know, the more
spiritual you are and the more faith you have. That attitude has no place among
us. We must continue to learn as long as we live. Dr. E. Y. Mullins preached on
the importance of education. Afterward, a man remarked to him: “The way you
talk, it sounds like God can’t use an ignorant preacher.” Dr. Mullins replied, “My
brother, sure He can. That is the only kind He has. We are all ignorant, just
in varying degrees. But he can’t use our ignorance. He uses what we know, and
the more you know the more He can use you.”
Minutes
later, this man was asked to pray. His prayer went something like this. “Lord,
I thank you for my ignorance. Make me ignorant-er than a mule. Amen. When Dr.
Mullins returned to seminary, he addressed the faculty: “Brethren, that is one
prayer I believe God answered before it was ever prayed.” Brains were God’s idea; He expects us to use
them.
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION
When
our poor souls in doubt are cast and darkness hides the Savior’s face, His love
and truth will hold us fast, for He will keep us by His grace. Never doubt in
the dark what God has shown you in the light (Our Daily Bread, August 3,
1992).
LET THE THIRSTY COME TO
JESUS
If anyone is thirsty, Jesus said once, let him come
to me and drink. Admission of thirst doesn’t come easy for us. False fountains
pacify our cravings with sugary swallows of pleasure. But there comes a time
when pleasure doesn’t satisfy. There comes a dark hour in every life when the
world caves in and we are left trapped in the rubble of reality, parched and
dying. Some would rather die than admit it. Others admit it and escape death
(Anonymous).
ELIJAH AT ZAREPHATH
Sometimes your Cherith must fail in order to force you
to hurt with other people. If the brook had kept on flowing, Elijah might have
counted on it and forgotten the God who gave it. The means by which God
maintains us are always in danger of becoming the barriers that shut us out
from Him. Cheriths can’t be permanent (Winkie Pratney, The Thomas Factor,
122).
BEEN FORGOTTEN?
There
is something even worse than being betrayed or tempted and that is to be
forgotten.
“The
central neurosis of our time,” said a famous psychiatrist, “is emptiness.” It
is the ultimate terror; it is the final level at which faith is tried to see if
it may be found finally true (Winkie Pratney).
FORGIVENESS
John Wesley met a man who said, “Sir, I never forgive.”
John Wesley said, “Then, sir I hope you never sin” (Quoted in Winkie Pratney, The
Thomas Factor).
THE THINGS THAT CAUSE US TO
RESIST GRACE
Guilt and shame. It can’t be real . . . or is it? God
is saying the same thing He said forty years ago—but it can’t be God? No way would
He gives me another chance!
GRACE
means God uses nobodies. Grace also means He makes nobodies into somebodies.
The problem is this: Our shame screams so loudly and our guilt is so huge, we
convince ourselves we are not useful and we think we cannot measure up. We
resist grace when our shame and our guilt have not been dealt with adequately.
Most
people are better acquainted with their guilt and shame than with their God.
Grace nullifies guilt. It renders shame powerless. The last person on earth we
forgive is ourselves.
Principles
about Grace
We accept grace when we release all our expectations
(Sampson). We accept grace when we no longer put confidence in the flesh (human
efforts) Paul in Philippians 3).
ZACCHAEUS
Jesus has a peculiar passion for the forgotten. What
society puts out, Jesus puts in. What the world writes off, Jesus picks up. Jesus
said, “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus said, “I came not
for the healthy but for the sick.” Jesus said, “I came not for the righteous
but for sinners.” Are you glad that Jesus chose you not because of your
goodness but because of His grace? (Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent).
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