"We conclude, therefore, that a Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. Otherwise he is not a Christian. He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor." - Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty HT: Of First Importance SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Not just in ourselves", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/07/29/not-just-in-ourselves/" });

"Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against." – Prayer entitled "Humiliation" in The Valley of Vision , ed. Arthur Bennet (Banner of Truth, 2002 edition). Quoted by Jonathan Leeman in "Individualism’s Not the Problem–Community’s Not the Solution ," Modern Reformation , July/Aug 2008. An excellent essay ! SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Let me never forget", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/07/26/let-me-never-forget/" });

" ‘Tis not that I did choose Thee, For Lord, that could not be; This heart would still refuse Three, Hadst Thou not chosen me … My heart owns none before Thee, For Thy rich grace I thirst; This knowing, if I love Thee, Thou must have loved me first." – Josiah Conder, 1836 Found in the front matter of the Jesus Storybook Bible we bought Dutch. Wow, that’s the type of Christ-exalting humility and truth I hope our young son to grasp. We hope to swim with him in the deep end of God’s perfections and grace (even from this young age). "We love becaus e...

God is to be enjoyed for His own sake and all other things are to be used as means to the end of enjoying God. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Enjoying + using", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/07/08/enjoying-using/" });

“God did not create us to get the cosmic, infinite joy of mutual love and glorification, but to share it. We were to join in the dance. If we center our lives on him, serving him not out of self-interest, but for the sake of who he is, for the sake of his beauty and glory, we will enter the dance and share in the joy and love he lives in. We were designed, then, not just for belief in God in some general way, nor for a vague kind of inspiration or spirituality. We were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting, and resembling...

By its nature, saving faith loves God and delights in God as the sum of all that could ever satisfy the soul. —John Piper, Future Grace , p. 252. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Saving faith delights in God", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/04/24/saving-faith-delights-in-god/" });

“How can we recover the new affection for Christ and his kingdom that so powerfully impacted our life-long worldliness, and in which we crucified the flesh with its lusts? What was it that created that first love in any case? Do you remember? It was our discovery of Christ’s grace in the realization of our own sin. We are not naturally capable of loving God for himself, indeed we hate him. But in discovering this about ourselves, and in learning of the Lord’s supernatural love for us, love for the Father was born. Forgiven much, we loved much. We rejoiced in the hope of glory, in suffering,...

In a Theology course we are working through personal doctrinal statements; one of the first was on Jesus Christ. The inherent problem with black letters on white paper is they do not convey the infinite beauty and worth of the One being depicted. (That is my weakness, not Christ’s.) Oh that I could state the supremacy of Jesus Christ with precision and passion in which John Piper does: From “Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 2” 2004 Desiring God National Conference SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Had to add some passion to my doctrinal statement", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/04/18/had-to-add-some-passion-to-my-doctrinal-statement/"...

God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1) By appearing to . . . their understanding. 2) In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in and enjoying the manifestations which He makes of Himself . . . . God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. (Jonathan Edwards, The “Miscellanies,” ed. by Thomas Schafer, The Works...

“The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching. Light praying will make light preaching. Prayer makes preaching strong, gives it unction, and makes it stick.” –E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer, p. 27 “Prayer, much prayer, is the price of preaching unction; prayer, much prayer is the one, sole condition of keeping this unction. Without unceasing prayer the unction never comes to the preacher. Without perseverance in prayer, the unction, like the manna overkept, breeds worms.” (p. 70) SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Prayer + preaching", url:...