"The first device that Satan has to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition, and so making their life a hell, is by causing them to be still poring and musing upon sin, to mind their sins more than their Savior; yes, so to mind their sins as to forget, yes, to neglect their Savior, that, as the Psalmist speaks, 'The Lord is not in all their thoughts' (Psalm 10:4). Their eyes are so fixed upon their disease, that they cannot see the remedy, though it be near; and they do so muse upon their debts, that they have neither mind nor heart to think of their Surety. A Christian should wear Christ in his bosom as a flower of delight, for he is a whole paradise of delight. He who minds not Christ more than his sin, can never be thankful and fruitful as he should."
- Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
(via Tony Reinke)
2 Comments
Hi Thomas
I just wanted to comment, Re Satan, One of the earliest actual reference to Satan is probably in the book of Job, one of the earliest books written in the Bible. Satan is identified as a tester of mankind. Job under went great testing but God seems to have created Satan for this purpose. See Job 1-3 chapter. Satan tests Job's faith, hope and love for God. God even gave Satan permission to inflict suffering on Job. Latter in the pre-exile times idolatry was out of control. The Jews in this period saw Satan, the tester behind every false God. Tempting the Jews to worship other Gods. This was defined as sin, breaking the ten commandments. The Jews believed that those who sinned and broke the commandments would suffer. ie spiritual,health & provision problems, there are exceptions to this belief many of David Psalm speaks of the ungodly prosperity, and Solomon is puzzled why the godly suffer and the ungodly are prosperous.
May I say focusing on our sin really is a product of a guilty heart that has failed to worship and love God. A tested heart found wanting. Every time we are tested to offer our hearts to anything but God we give into testing.
Misfortune, suffering may have come from our own personal sin but it may have come from another's sin, community sin, church sin and or nation's sin.
The real lesson is not being health, wealthy, sexy and wise but that our hearts are true to God, we love God. In time God will bless us.
Im not sure If I should thank Josh, Tony or Thomas. Either way, thank you all for pointing us to Jesus. He is so legit isn't he? haha. The joy of the person of Jesus...I mean, to really know Him, to interact with Him, to get to know the Holy Spirit and His personality, it is just simply really fun! A relationship riddled with joy!
I think of John the Baptist, in John chapter 1 he sees Jesus and is overjoyed! What happens next is really special though. He meets Jesus on day 1 right, then on day 2 he still is not over his excitement! (John 1:35-36). It honestly cracks me up! It's like meeting your hero/favorite actor/sports star/famous person (w/e cultural example you want to use) and then getting to hangout with him for a few days. Everyday is just surreal and awesome! The thing is though, Jesus is greater than any example I could ever use! Cool.
So, reading this post just bought to memory how joyful Christ really is. Thanks.
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