"O my heart, my haughty heart! Dost thou well to be discontent, when God has given thee the whole tree, with all the clusters of comfort growing on it, because he suffers the wind to blow down a few leaves? Christians have two kinds of goods; the goods of the throne and the goods of the footstool; immoveables and moveables. If God has secured those, never let my heart be troubled at the loss of these: indeed, if he had cut off his love, or discovenanted my soul, I had reason to be cast down; but this he hath not done, nor can he do it." (John Flavel, Keeping The Heart [Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2019], 42)
That’s a nice exhortation.
ReplyDeleteOne of those opportunities to remember what keeps us grounded in life.
Reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:13.
Also, I’ve always found Heidelberg’s 1563 Catechism’s Q & A #1 very helpful:
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong body and soul,
in life and in death
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven,
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.