Women, modesty is more of an issue than you think.  If you’re not sure about this ask your husband or your father.  It is one of those areas that exhibits itself in external realms but really springs from the heart.

Recently a series of posts by C.J. Mahaney were posted over at his blog.  These posts form a chapter in his upcoming book on worldliness.  I haven’t read every post but what I did read seemed quite helpful.

Here is a link that will take you to the chapter in pdf format.

By the way, this is important stuff for men as well as we serve our wives and daughters in pursuing holiness in their appearance.  Our standards also must be formed not simply by what we think looks good but by what we believe reflects our Savior.

The following was recently posted at the Blazing Center blog. Note the final application- how can we not praise Him? I would add- how can we not strive to tell the doomed world around us about this Savior?

“Look at the cross, therefore, and you see what form God’s judicial reaction to human sin will finally take. What form is that? In a word, withdrawal and deprivation of good. On the cross Jesus lost all the good that he had before: all sense of his Father’s presence and love, all sense of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, all enjoyment of God and of created things, all ease and solace of friendship, were taken from him, and in their place was nothing but loneliness, pain, a killing sense of human malice and callousness, and a horror of great spiritual darkness.” (from In My Place, Condemned He Stood by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever)

“Withdrawal and deprivation of all good.” We can’t imagine this, for we enjoy and take for granted thousands of blessings every day. Fresh water, fried chicken, eyesight, jazz, baseball, pileated woodpeckers, espresso, sleep, and green grass. Just take away electricity or coffee and we immediately begin to smart. Imagine every pleasure and good thing being removed.

But imagine being stripped of all “physical, mental and spiritual well-being.” When Jesus became a curse for us on the cross he experienced not even a shred of mercy. No relief, no comfort from God or friends. No encouragement, no hope, no light.

Our sufferings are clothed in mercies. God comforts us by his Spirit and gives us hope through his Word. He provides pain relievers and grants respite in sleep. He gives us family and friends to pray for and encourage us. Jesus had none of this on the cross. He enjoyed no relief from the racking pain of crucifixion and suffered in his soul immeasurable agony, despair, loneliness, and horror.

What is hell like? Jesus experienced hell on the cross – so that we who have in trusted him never will. How can we not praise him?

This last week Tim Challies posted the following quote from Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks.

Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.

Today I came across another quote from John Piper that Colin Adams posted. It is addressing preaching specifically but applies to all of us in our study of the word.

We make a great mistake when we think that study consists mainly in reading (as commonly understood)—even reading the Bible. Many think they have studied well when they have spent the morning reading through some worthy book of divinity. And thus the measure of our study becomes the number of books that we have read.

But my own conviction is that fruitful study is primarily thinking not reading. My guess is that reading, which was meant to become a stimulus and guide to independent thinking, usually becomes a substitute for it. The evidence for this is how many books we read and how little we write down. Fresh thinking must always be put down on paper to get it clear and preserve it for use. Much reading and little thinking makes for a second-hand pastor. And it is not easy to preach and teach second-hand truths with power.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As you plan your weekend, don’t forget about the picnic on Monday. Should be a beautiful day to relax outdoors and enjoy the food and games. Here are the details…

• 11am-4pm at the Myers/Thornton’s-

• Activities-

1. Brief Memorial Day remembrance service
2. Water balloon toss
3. Foot races
4. BB gun shooting contest
5. Golf chipping context
6. Children’s craft
7. And much more…

• Hamburgers and hot dogs will be provided

• Bring a salad and/or dessert to share, your own drinks, and your own chairs.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

This morning my daily Bible reading took me to Numbers 31. Numbers 31 is essentially an account of the Israelites exterminating the Midianites at God’s command.

In verse 2 God instructs Moses to, “Avenge the people of Israelites on the MIdianites.” Then again in verse 3- “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD’s vengeance on Midian.”

This got me thinking about the concept of vengeance and particular God’s vengeance. Think about the Midianites. Because they had led God’s people into idolatry and immorality they were objects of God’s fierce and irresistible vengeance. What a terrifying place to be!

In instructing believers not to take vengeance Paul, in Romans 12:19 states the following. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

God’s vengeance will come- every evil deed will be repaid. This is really what vengeance is about- the payment of wrath and judgment for wrong done. God’s vengeance is perfect, irresistible, and inevitable.

As those who are sinners by both nature and deed we deserve God’s vengeance no less than the Midianites.   What a terrifying place to be!

O the beauty of the work of Christ! If we are in Christ, He has taken the vengeance- the payment for our wrongdoing on Himself. He received the fury of God’s wrath for our evil deeds. He drank the cup of God’s vengeance.

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [wrath absorbing substitute] for our sins.” (I John 4:10).

That is amazing love! This is a love that makes knowing and enjoying God for eternity supremely sweet!

This last week David Matthis posted the following quote from D.A. Carson on the Desiring God blog.

The Christian’s whole desire, at its best and highest, is that Jesus Christ be praised. It is always a wretched bastardization of our goals when we want to win glory for ourselves instead of for him…. Lying at the heart of all sin is the desire to be the center, to be like God. So if we take on Christian service, and think of such service as the vehicle that will make us central, we have paganized Christian service; we have domesticated Christian living and set it to servitude in a pagan cause. (57—58)

Do you see this in yourself? Do you see this in your children? It’s there and its ugly. We can so easily take good things and turn them into instruments for serving sin.  Praise God for the cross where Jesus took the Father’s wrath for our self-idolatry!

Let us relentlessly make God and His glory central if we are going to fight the self-worshiping tendency in us all. And it is a fight, isn’t it? May God give grace through His Spirit for this fight.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sunday, I shared that we have given a sum of money to help support the Anthonys, a couple ministering in Marseile, France. We are not supporting them because we don’t know what to do with our money but because we long to see others come to embrace Christ and become God’s children. It is about God being glorified throughout the whole earth. We believe God is active in France and we want to be a part of what He is doing there.

In case you missed it here are a couple of links that give more information on them and their ministry.

The blog- contains a number of posts that give a picture of what their ministry is like and challenges they are facing.

Grace Community Church Missionary Site- less frequently updated and used by the Anthonys but it does have information about them and their ministry (you do have to create a log in and register to view their full profile).

Here is a link to my article in today’s edition of the Auburn Journal.  Please pray that God uses it encourage believers in our area and to draw lost sinners to Himself.