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Skriven 2006-02-19 08:35:20 av Bob Hoffman (8:8/2)
Ärende: Better Farther On
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Faith's Checkbook

February 19

Better Farther On

"Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more" (Nahum 1:12).

There is a limit to affliction. God sends it, and God removes it. Do you sigh
and say, "When will the end be?" Remember that our griefs will surely and
finally end when this poor earthly life is over. Let us quietly wait and
patiently endure the will of the LORD till He cometh.

Meanwhile, our Father in heaven takes away the rod when His design in using it
is fully served. When He has whipped away our folly, there will be no more
strokes. Or, if the affliction is sent for testing us, that our graces may
glorify God, it will end when the LORD has made us bear witness to His praise.
We would not wish the affliction to depart till God has gotten out of us all
the honor which we can possibly yield Him.

There may today be "a great calm." Who knows how soon those raging billows will
give place to a sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves? After
long tribulation the flail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner. We
may, before many hours are past, be just as happy as now we are sorrowful. It
is not hard for the LORD to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can
as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better on before. Let
us sing hallelujah by anticipation.
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Vital Godliness: A Treatise on
Experimental and Practical Piety
By William S. Plumer

CONTENTMENT (Part 2 of 3)

............. continued ................ 4. If the truly contented have been
been wronged by others in any way'they are not malignant, but benevolent
towards them. They look upon their enemies as God's hand and God's sword, the
rod of his anger, the scourge of his people. Their enemies may be violent and
unreasonable, and so wholly culpable'but the contented Christian does not
forget who has said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Everything is committed
to God's unerring wisdom and eternal love. The MATTERS of discontent are
chiefly such as relate to wealth, honor, or pleasure. These are the objects of
both lawful and unlawful care and desire. It is quite reasonable that we should
be contented in regard to each of them. 1. As to WEALTH. The judgment of the
sober, and especially of the wise and godly of all ages, might reasonably be
expected to have some influence over us to check our discontent on this point.
Sages and saints, teachers from earth and teachers sent from God have united in
bearing a solemn testimony against the love of money, and in favor of
contentment with our lot. Hear their words. Socrates: "Content is natural
wealth." Democritus: "If you do not desire much, a little will seem to you an
abundance." Horace: "Care and thirst for more, attend a growing fortune."
Woolstoncraft: "The middle rank contains most virtue and abilities." Clarkson:
"There is no greater calamity than that of leaving children an affluent
inheritance." Dymond: "The most rational, the wisest, the best portion of
mankind, belong to the class who possess neither poverty nor riches."
Wilberforce: "A much looser code of morals commonly prevails among the rich
than in the lower and middling orders of society." Lord Bacon: "As baggage is
to an army, so are riches to virtue. It hinders the march, yes, and the care of
it sometimes loses or disturbs the victory." Hannah More: "It is to be feared
that the general tendency of rank, and especially of riches, is to withdraw the
heart from spiritual exercises." Mason: "To have a portion in the world is a
mercy; but to have the world for a portion is a misery." "We must answer for
our riches; but our riches cannot answer for us." "If the world be our portion
here'hell will be our portion hereafter." Johnson:
"Wealth heaped on wealth'neither truth nor safety buys, The dangers gather'as
the treasures rise."

When his vast estates were confiscated for his adherence to God's truth, the
Marquis of Vico said, "Their gold and silver perish with them, who count all
the wealth of the world worth one hour's communion with Christ." Pollok: "Gold
many hunted, sweat and bled for'wasting all the nights, and laboring all the
days. And what was this allurement, do you ask? Some dust dug from the bowels
of the earth'which, being cast into the fire, came out a shining thing'which
fools admired, and called a god'and in devout manner before it kneeled'and on
its altar sacrificed ease, peace, truth, faith, integrity, good conscience,
friends, love, charity, benevolence."

Bunyan: "Nothing more hinders a soul from coming to Christ than a vain love of
the world; and until a soul is freed from it, it can never have a true love for
God." Beveridge: "There is one piece of folly which all mankind are naturally
guilty of, and that is desire of riches'whereby men love and long for fine
houses and lands, and silver and gold, and such like things. Just as we may
have sometimes seen an idiot pleasing himself with having his pocket full of
stones or dirt; or rather, as deranged people desire swords or such like
weapons, whereby to destroy themselves. Just so, to others who have lost their
senses and the right use of their reason, nothing will serve them but a great
deal of wealth'however they come by it, and therefore they go through a
thousand temptations and dangers to get it. And when they have got it, what
then? Then they are in a thousand times worse condition than they were before!"

Richard Baxter shows the malignity of the sin of worldliness, in several
particulars.
1. It is a deliberate and intentional sin. 2. It is a sin against our chief
interest. 3. It is idolatry.
4. It is contempt of heaven. Eternal glory is neglected'and a miserable world
preferred.
5. It shows that unbelief prevails in the heart. 6. It is a debasing of the
soul of man. 7. It perverts and debases the very drift of a man's life. 8. It
is a perverting of God's creatures to an end and use clean contrary to that
which they were made and given for." John Owen: "Learn to be contented with
your lot. Our wise God gave you exactly what is commensurate for your good. Had
He known that a foot's breadth more had been needful, you would have had it."
Thomas Scott: "An inordinate desire for increasing riches, however obtained, is
idolatry, and totally inconsistent with the life of faith." Arndt: "Riches are
like a stream, which soon flows to a person, and may also soon flow away."
Home: "Of all things here below, wealth is that on which poor deluded man is
chiefly tempted, even to the loss of life, to place his confidence; and when
riches increase, it proves a hard task for the human heart to keep its
affections sufficiently detached from them." Such are the views of some of the
wisest poets, philosophers, statesmen, nobles, and divines, who have warned us
of the folly of loving the world. These men spoke from their natural sense, or
were guided by pious principle; but they were all uninspired. When we open the
oracles of God, they speak in a manner still more clear and solemn.

King David, who had personally tried both humble life and great wealth, said,
"The little that a righteous man has, is better than the treasures of many
wicked." "If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them." Like unto his,
is the testimony of his son. Solomon says, "He who is greedy for gain, troubles
his own house." "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath." "He who trusts in
his riches shall fall." "There is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing:
there is that makes himself poor, yet has great riches." "A good name is rather
to be chosen than great riches." "Labor not to be rich: for riches certainly
make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven." "He who makes
haste to be rich shall not be innocent." Ezekiel says, "Now this was the
iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, plenty of food,
and comfortable security, but didn't support the poor and needy." Agur: "Two
things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me
falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food
that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?"
or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God."

John: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." James: "Go now, you rich
men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are
corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered;
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh
as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days." Paul:
"those who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love
of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have
pierced themselves through with many sorrows." "Charge those who are rich in
this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in
the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good,
that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to give; laying
up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay
hold on eternal life."

But of all the teachers ever sent by God to men, his dear Son spoke the most
fully and clearly respecting riches. Jesus Christ said, "It is more blessed to
give than to receive." "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also." "You cannot serve God and mammon." "Seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you." "Take heed, and beware of covetousness." "Therefore do not be anxious,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them all." "It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. of God." "make friends for
yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed
in the eternal home. If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon,
who will commit to you the true riches?" "The cares of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the word." "He lifted up his eyes to his
disciples, and said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of
God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you
who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and
when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the
Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your
reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the
prophets. But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.
Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh
now, for you will mourn and weep."

Thus spoke the Messiah, the one Mediator between God and man. Shall not we be
wiser for all these instructions? The Author of our religion was the only
sinless being ever born of woman. He lived and died in poverty. He knows, and
he has felt, the humiliation of dependence. God has greatly honored virtuous
poverty in every age'as the history of science, of literature, of philosophy,
of poetry, and of piety in every country shows. He takes the poor from the
ash-heap, and sets him among princes. Though poverty is no virtue, yet most of
the striking examples of virtue have been from humble life. POVERTY brought on
by indolence, extravagance or waste is a disgrace, because it is a punishment!
But WEALTH is the great corrupter of all who have it’ who do not have
extraordinary grace.

........ to be continued ............
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