Thursday will be our son's first birthday. Hard to believe. Here is the invitation we made for his first birthday:

Make a Smilebox greeting

Remedy #8 and Devices

"By representing to the soul the outward mercies that vain men enjoy, and the outward miseries that they are freed from, whilst they have walked in the ways of sin."

In a perfect world bad things would happen to bad people and good things would happen to people that aren't quite so bad. Or at least that is the way we envision it should be. A common device that Satan uses is to point out the seemingly joyous exuberance of a man in a hellish condition whereas he makes our own personal discontentedness stick out like a sore thumb. In other words Satan confuses us into thinking that "following Christ simply doesn't work, look at the happiness of that man that does not follow Christ, what say you?" For remedies consider that:

• No man knows how the heart of God stands by his hand.
• There is nothing in the world that doth so provoke God to be wroth and angry, as men's taking encouragement from God's goodness and mercy to do wickedly.
• There is no greater misery in this life, than not to be in misery; no greater affliction, than not to be afflicted.
• That the wants of wicked men, under all their outward mercy and freedom from adversity, is far greater than all their outward enjoyments. [In other words they are never satisfied]
• That outward things are not as they seem and are esteemed.
• The end and the design of God in heaping up mercy upon the heads of the wicked, and in giving them...rest and quiet from those sorrows and suffering that others sigh under.
• That God doth often most plague and punish those whom others think he doth most spare and love.
• To dwell more upon that strict account that vain men must make for all that good that they do enjoy.

Quick Thoughts:

Brooks' point is really rather simple: Things are not as they seem. To look at the happiness of a man without Christ is to look at a mirage. Even if the Lord has given him this mercy it will soon fade. Often the happiness that is outward is only a mask for the deep pain that is inward. The man apart from Christ is never satisfied, and though he have all of this outward mercy he is still not fulfilled. Rather than focusing on the mirage of the lost man I would have rather Brooks' compared the glories of this world to the glory of heaven. Nevertheless, his points are effective.

Extracted Elixir's:

"No man knoweth either love or hatred by outward mercy or misery; for all things come alike to all, to the righteous and the unrighteous, to the good and the bad, to the clean and the unclean." (72)

"To render good for evil is divine, to render good for good is human, to render evil for evil is brutish; but to render evil for good is devilish; and from this evil deliver my soul, O God." (73)

"What is honor, and riches, and the favor of creatures, so long as I [lack] the favor of God, the pardon of my sins, an interest in Christ, and the hopes of glory! O Lord, give me these, or I die; give me these, or else I shall eternally die." (75)

Okay, I'm stretching the "ish" to a couple of weeks. I hope to get back to regular linkage soon. I hope you like the new Borrowed Light.

Dan Phillips introduces us to a new word: Sarkicophobia. I know...it sounds boring, but it's really not. Be sure to read this one.

What a quote from Cornelius Plantinga. Thanks to Of First Importance for this one.

If you need a visual picture of the number of abortions since 1973 then the Mississippi Baptist Covention has supplied one: see here.

This is the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. In honor Reformation 21 will be blogging through Calvin's Institutes. You can check out that blog here.

John Piper offers 9 Ways to Pray for your Soul.

Justin Taylor compiles suggestions on meditating on God's Word.

Is God's discipline teaching or chastisement? Mounce answers here.

And apparently this one is a good one, have yet to read it but everybody and their mom is linking to it. So, I'll just give the usual HT: to JT. Carl Trueman wonders why there are never enough parking spaces at the prostrate clinic.

This isn't a link but a final question for my football fan readers. Who do you think the Brownies will get as their GM and Head Coach? I'm pulling for Mangini as the HC.

Thanks to Brian for showing me this gem:

“Except the Lord endow us with power from on high, our labor must be in vain, and our hopes must end in disappointment” --Charles Spurgeon

The above quote comes on the heels of Spurgeon’s humorous comment that, “I shall not attempt to teach a tiger the virtues of vegetarianism; but I shall as hopefully attempt that task as I would try to convince an unregenerate man of the truths revealed by God concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment to come”. Spurgeon, an eloquent and highly gifted minister of the gospel, understood that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in converting souls, his ministry and labor would be in vain. He understood that our task of ministry (and here I am not speaking only of vocational ministry) is indeed impossible without being endowed with power from on high.

Spurgeon deeply believed with the Scriptures that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God”. Therefore, Spurgeon knew that his hope was not in “convincing” an unregenerate man of the truths revealed by God but a complete reliance upon the work of the Spirit. The only way that men will come to knowledge of truth is if God puts his Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:27). To really understand total human depravity is to understand that apart from the work of the Spirit of God no man will come to Christ.

It saddens me when believers balk at the notion of total depravity--the doctrine that sin has affected the totality of our humanness. This doctrine affirms with Paul that without Christ “you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). When we forget the doctrine of total depravity a happy confidence in the sovereign power of God is replaced with an idolatrous clinging to methods, programs, purpose statements, fads, and human ingenuity to spread the gospel grow churches. Unfortunately, church growth experts are not the only ones with amnesia in this area.

Those that are more theologically astute (or at least consider themselves as such) can be guilty of clinging to correct doctrine, beliefs, and "biblical practices" in the belief that such things will inevitably bring about spiritual growth. Yet, Spurgeon's quote must also sound the bell in this area, "Except the Lord endow us with power from on high, our labor must be in vain, and our hopes must end in disappointment”.

Instead of clinging to our human ingenuity let us cast ourselves wholly upon the mercy of God. Instead of clinching our hands around "correct doctrine" let us buckle our knees in prayer. If we really understand the state of fallen man and the power of the redeeming grace of the Lord then we will plead with God Almighty to send His Spirit upon us in our witness, and upon the lost and dying we are witnessing to. Our only hope is power from on high: please join in prayer with me that God might, by His grace and for His glory, send an outpouring of His Spirit upon His Bride and the broken world we live in.

Now if this truth will only go so deep in my heart that it causes action in the moments I'm caught off-guard.

I didn't do too bad last year. I finished close to 40 books and got half-way through probably another 20. Many of these I need to still write reviews for. The format this year will be similar to last year with a few minor changes. As always this is flexible...as new books come out and my desires change so does my reading plan. I ended up reading a far amount of books this year that I did not plan on, and I am certain the same thing will happen again this year.

This year's list will be broken up into six categories: Classical, Theological, Biographical, Historical, Pastoral, and Personal. This year I am going to focus on personal and biographical, hoping to read at least one book per month from each of these categories. Then I hope to read 8 books from the pastoral and classical categories. In the theological and historical category I hope to read a book every two months, or 6 books this year. That should leave me with 52 books--that would be one per week. It'd be great if I could do more...but that is my goal. Some of these books I still need to buy. Here are the books with links to purchase them if you so desire:

Classical

Finish:
Anatomy of Secret Sins by Obadiah Sedgwick
Precious Remedies...by Thomas Brooks

The Institutes of Christian Religion by John Calvin
Christ's Counsel to His Languishing Churchby Obadiah Sedwick
Christ's Last Disclosure of Himself by William Greenhill
The True Bounds of Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton
The Almost Christian Discovered by Matthew Mead
A Lifting up for the Downcast by William Bridge
The Christian’s Great Interest by William Guthrie

Historical

Finish: 2000 Year’s of Christ’s Power: Volume Two by NR Needham

2,000 Years of Christ's Power: Part One by N.R. Needham
The Story of Christianity Justo Gonzalez
Early Christian Doctrines J.N.D. Kelley
The Early Church by Henry Chadwick
Theology of the Reformers Timothy George

Biographical

Finish:
Christ Is All: The Piety of Horatius Bonar
Letters of C. H. Spurgeon
Letters of Samuel Rutherford

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH ALLEINE
Memoirs of Thomas Boston
RICHARD SIBBES by Mark Dever
Wesley: And the Men Who Followed Iain Murray
A Scottish Christian Heritage Iain Murray
Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCasland
Samuel Rutherford by Kingsley Rendell
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor DA Carson
God's Bestseller: William Tyndale by Brian Moynahan
A Quest for Godliness by JI Packer
George Whitfield (2 Vol.) Arnold Dallimore
Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2 Vol.) Iain Murray
John Calvin: A Heart for…. Buck Parsons (Editor)

Pastoral

Finish:
A Jesus-Shaped Ministry by Ajihith Fernando
A Pastor’s Sketches by Ichabod Spencer
Handbook of Church Discipline by Jay Adams

The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges
Jesus Christ: The Prince of preachers... by Mike Abendroth
Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry by Tom Ascol
The Christian Pastor's Manual by John Brown (compiler)
The Work of the Pastor William Still
The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor by John Stott
Preaching to a Post-Everything World by Zack Eswine
Kindled Fire by Zack Eswine
How to Help People Change by Jay Adams

Personal

Finish: When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey
True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer

Instruments in the Redeemers Hands by Paul Tripp
Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Timothy Lane/Paul Tripp
Seeing with New Eyes by David Powlison
Wordliness by CJ Mahaney
A Quest for More by Paul Tripp
The Christian Counselor's Casebook by Jay Adams
Craftsmen by John Crotts
Running Scared Ed Welch
Speaking Truth In Love by David Powlison
Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

Theological

Finish: Pierced for Our Transgressions by Steven Jeffery, etc.

Young, Restless, and Reformed by Colin Hansen
NT Theology by Thom Schreiner
The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll
The Reason for God by Timothy Keller

As you may have noticed the format here at Borrowed Light has changed. Instead of switching this blog over to Wordpress I will be staying here at Blogger. So, you can look forward to regular posting again. I hope to be more deliberate in blogging this year. We'll see.

I want to deepen my reading by reading more biographies. Who are the people of faith that you wish to explore? Who seems to have written the best biographies of Christian leaders?