“Approach your marriage, as all of life, with a God-centered perspective shaped by the five great solas of the Reformation: Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and the glory of God alone. Reject any ambition to use marriage as a means to glorify a mere human, and live for the glory of God alone. Do not rely on your own understanding but follow Scripture alone as the rule of life. Do not be self-righteous or trust in the merit of your own works, but humbly receive and rest in God’s gift of justification by faith alone. After committing to change and growth, do not depend on your own strength, but labor with prayer for sanctification by grace alone. And seek all blessings by looking to Christ alone. He is the mediator of all grace and the friend of sinners.”
~Joel R. Beeke, Friends And Lovers
Category Archives: Christianity
In Christ Alone
‘In Christ Alone‘
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
~Stuart Townsend & Keith Getty~
We must not be silent…
Please, pray for the people of Syria. I have been.
The silence amongst Christians in relation to the situation in Syria has dumbfounded me. I’m sure many are concerned, I’m sure many have prayed. But I don’t hear it. I spend time on social media… I’ve seen no Christians speaking up about the attrocities going on in Syria nor anyone talking about praying for these poor people who are being targeted and murdered by their own goverment. The world at large has been somewhat quiet…but an outcry from within the body of Christ has not happened…the silence is deafening. The world has an excuse. The church does not.
I think for some, it is confusion. We don’t know exactly what is going on…what we can do…so we say nothing. I admit, the feeling of helplessness is disheartening. I feel the same way. Yet, we can pray. We can raise our voices and speak up. If there is nothing else we can do, at least we can do this. I’m sure there are other things we can do…but as of right now, I don’t know what that is. I’ve looked around on the internet, but didn’t find much. Still, I pray. Still, you can pray.
I think for others, it is simply a lack of caring. It doesn’t affect us, so we have little concern. This is unexcusable. As human beings in general, this would be bad enough. If we are Christians, this is shameful, and a gross misunderstanding of who we are called to be. As Christians we are called to stand up for the oppressed, the powerless, the ones who can’t speak up for themselves. We are called to speak against, and to do what we can to stop the shedding of innocent blood. This is true whether these people are of our ‘tribe’ or not. If we can turn a blind eye to murder…I think it says much about our heart. This is a frightening thought.
I admit. I don’t have many ideas of what we can do. What I can do… We can pray. We can talk about what is going on to the best of our knowledge. We can express our hearts…which is why I am writing this post. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t seem like much. Yet, we must not be silent. There is no excuse for that.
I acknowledge there are many situations in the world that demand our attention. I know there are people all over the world being oppressed and murdered. I know there are many people in the world suffering and dying of things that are preventable. All of the things I spoke about above are true for these situations as well. We must not be silent…
I am not dismissing any of those things. The situation in Syria though, has really brought to light a major problem in the Church for me. Silence within the body of Christ as regards the suffering of other human beings who were created in the image of God. Tragic. We must not be silent…There is no excuse for our silence.
