We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

What is the surest character of true, divine, supernatural love that distinguishes it from counterfeits that arise from a natural self-love? It is the Christian virtue of humility that shines in it. Divine love above all others renounces and abases what we term “self.” Christian love or true love is a humble love… In that person we see a sense of his own smallness, vileness, weakness, and utter insufficiency. We see a lack of self-confidence. We see self-emptiness, self-denial, and poverty of spirit. These are the manifest tokens of the Spirit of God.
Jonathan Edwards

Isn’t it strange how a $100 'looks' so big when you take it to church, but so small when you take it to the mall. Isn’t it strange how long it takes to serve God for an hour, but how quickly a team plays 60 minutes of basketball. Isn’t it strange how long a couple of hours spent at church are, but how short they are when watching a movie. Isn’t it strange how we can't think of anything to say when we pray, but don't have difficulty thinking of things to talk about to a friend. Isn’t it strange how we get thrilled when a baseball game goes into extra innings, but we complain when a sermon is longer than the regular time. Isn’t it strange how hard it is to read a chapter in the Bible, but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a bestselling novel. Isn’t it strange how people want to get a front seat at any game or concert, but scramble to get a back seat at church services. Isn’t it strange how we need 2 or 3 weeks advance notice to fit a church event into our schedule, but can adjust our schedule for other events at the last moment. Isn’t it strange how hard it is for people to learn a simple gospel well enough to tell others, but how simple it is for the same people to understand and repeat gossip. Isn’t it strange how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, or to think, or to say, or do anything. Isn’t it strange how you can send a thousand ';jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Isn’t it strange how we set our clocks to arise at 4:00am or 5:00am to be at the job by 7:30, yet when Sunday comes we can't get to church for 11:00am to praise the one who gave us the jobs! Isn’t it strange how we call God our Father and Jesus our brother, but find it hard to introduce them to our family. Isn’t it strange how small our sins seem, but how big 'their' sins are. Isn’t it strange how we demand justice for others, but expect mercy from God. Isn’t it strange how we are so quick to take directions from a total stranger when we are lost, but are hesitant to take God's direction for our lives. Isn’t it strange how so many churchgoers sing 'Standing on the Promises' but all they do is sit on the premises. Isn’t it strange how people want God to answer their prayers, but refuse to listen to His counsel. Isn’t it strange how we sing about heaven, but live only for today. Isn’t it strange how people think they are going to Heaven, but don't think there is a Hell. Isn’t it strange how it is okay to blame God for evil and suffering in the world, but it is not necessary to thank Him for what is good and pleasant. Isn’t it strange how when something goes wrong, we cry, 'Lord, why me?' but when something goes right, we think, 'Hey, it must be me!'
Unknown Author

A MEDITATION

Hail, happy morning! In great mercy,
Lord Jesus, thou hast permitted me to see
the day on which I am to renew my Bap-
tismal vows, and receive my solemn conse-
cration to thy blessed service. Hail, holy
day of my soul, day of my Lord, day of grace
and salvation such as has never yet dawned
on my life, and which I shall never again
behold; day of solemn decision for life! As
it is a day of hope and joy to my soul, so may it
be a day of blessing, and of pleasant remem-
brances to my life’s end!

Before the solemn transaction, I once more
call in my thoughts, and pray:

Lord, my God, I am consecrated to Thee
in Thy holy covenant, I will now also devote
myself to Thee by a solemn vow. At the
thought of this a new holy feeling streams
through my soul! May these hopeful emo-
tions be first-fruits of the blessedness which
awaits me at Thine altar, when Thou, by the
hands of Thy servant, wilt fully and finally
claim me as Thine, and seal me for Thy-
self.

Lord, add grace to grace, mercifully
granting me in this hour of preparation what
may still be wanting to me. Bestow on me
a deep sense of my weakness and sinfulness,
repentance for the follies of my youth, grati-
tude for Thy manifold mercy, true faith in
Jesus Christ my Saviour, and love for His
love. O be strength in my weakness!

Lord Jesus, instruct and direct me by Thy
Spirit in this solemn hour. Holy Spirit,
fill me with Thy light and comfort. O eter-
nal Father, receive me as Thy child, and
make me Thy heir of the life eternal.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, deliver me
from darkness, sin, and everlasting death.

Lord Jesus, I desire to be Thine in soul
and body, in life and in death. Be Thou
henceforth my Prophet, to teach me; my
Priest, to atone and intercede for me; my
King, to direct and defend me. Be Thou my
way, my truth, and my life. Whom have I
in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire besides Thee. Thou shalt
guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward
receive me to glory!

O blessed Advocate, who art able to save
them for ever who come unto God by Thee,
seeing thou livest to make intercession for
us, I put my cause into Thy hands. Let Thy
power defend me; Thy Blood and Merits
plead for me. Supply all the defects of my
repentance and faith, and procure a full dis-
charge of all my sins.

By Thy mighty grace, confirm and
strengthen me in all goodness during the
remainder of my life, so that I may not live
unto myself, but for Him who died for me
and rose again, and so come at last to Thine
everlasting kingdom.

Keep me, Lord, in union and fellowship
with Thy Church, of which I am now to be
made a complete member, that I may im-
prove all the means of grace vouchsafed in
it, and be gathered at last, with all the
ransomed, into the Church triumphant in
heaven.

Possess my mind, O heavenly Father, with
a constant sense of that vow, which I am
this day going to renew, before Thee and
Thy Church; that, knowing I am the servant
of the living God, I may walk in His sight,
avoid all such things as are contrary to my
profession, and follow all such things as are
agreeable to the same: through Jesus Christ
our Lord.

O Father Almighty, who hast made me
Thy child by adoption and grace, fill me with
such a measure of Thy Spirit, that in Thy
good time I may come to Thine everlasting
kingdom and glory: through Jesus Christ
our Lord.

O my Father, for Jesus’ sake, impart to
me this day, through the laying on of hands,
in larger measure, the Holy Ghost, by whose
help alone I shall be able to put off more and
more the old man, which is corrupt accord-
ing to the deceitful lusts, and to be renewed
in the spirit of my mind, that I may put on
the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.

This, O God, is what I desire and purpose
by Thy grace to do.

I do most solemnly renew those vows
which were made in my behalf in my bap-
tism, and which I have since often renewed,
but too often broken.

I renounce the devil with all his ways and
works.

I renounce the world with its vain pomp
and glory.

I renounce the flesh with all its sinful de-
sires.

I resolve, by Thy grace, neither to follow,
or be led by them.

I steadfastly believe all the Articles of the
Christian Faith: In God, the Father, who
created me; in God, the Son, who has re-
deemed me; in God, the Holy Ghost, who
sanctifies me. This Holy, Blessed, and Ado-
rable Trinity, Three in One and One in Three,
is my only True and Eternal God, in whom
is all my trust and hope of salvation.

Protected by the Love of the Father, sus-
tained and furthered by the Grace of the
Son, quickened and comforted by the Com-
munion of the Holy Ghost, grant, my God,
that I may live in Thy fear, die in Thy favor
and peace, rest in hope, and attain to the
resurrection of the just.

Our Father, etc.